#but martha wells writes books that are queer and brown and INFLUENCED by being queer and brown but

[prince-liest]

I’m reading Witch King by Martha Wells, and now that I have read more than one (1) series by this author, I have been suddenly brained with a two-by-four sharpied over with “realizing that I really enjoy novels by Martha Wells because they live in the specific niche created by the intersection of casually and thoroughly queer casts and non-romance storylines”

I am as ever a sucker for non-human main characters struggling with their very human feelings, which is why I jumped on Witch King the moment I saw “the author of Murderbot wrote another book with a main character that’s non-human,” but I live in this dichotomy where I can really enjoy reading queer romances but I don’t really identify with non-ace characters (which is not actually something I figured out how to differentiate until I was Last Week Years Old). so there are lots of books out there that I enjoy reading but it’s comparatively rare for me to read something that feels like it was written For Me and Martha Wells does that very well

anyway, give me more ace it-pronouns human-spliced robot main characters and people-eating demons who consider rank over gender when finding new bodies to inhabit

#text posts #martha wells #witch king #personal #her castes and universes are also very culturally and ethnically diverse but I've had ace-ness on the mind lately #so it was relevant to my ongoing thoughts #I never really read books that are advertised as specific types of diversity representation #especially with queer books what I like to read is books that are very queer but aren't ABOUT being queer #so I tend to steer clear when people are like read this the mc is a nonbinary lesbian witch without even really saying what the plot is #but martha wells writes books that are queer and brown and INFLUENCED by being queer and brown but #the characters still get to have their stories be ABOUT whatever fun sci fi fantasy shenanigans are ongoing #((inb4: this is my preference not an overal value judgment)) #((I just want to read the same books I read when I was a little kid and have them just ALSO be lovingly diverse)) #((and I only really read SFF)) #in other news I was trying to figure out how to name my flavor of ace #and then I looked up the difference between demi and gray #and I realized gray is what I am looking for #very very dark gray

[haich-slash-cee]

Murderbot TV show thoughts

Looking over the casting choice and also who is making the murderbot TV show and I'm just not excited :/

Rambling post with lots of opinions follows....

"Alexander Skarsgård will lead the series and will serve as executive producer." (source)

:(

All the queer, PoC, ace, aro, agender, non binary actors out there.... All the fascinating choices... who the hell is this. Did the people making this show even read the books, like all the characters in there are PoC. Also, executive producer? To be clear I do not know this actor at all. I am seeing posts that he does deadpan well, and speculation that exec producer roles means he's excited to do the books, which is prob good news.... but as if there's not PoC actors who are also deadpan etc etc?? Also, again repeating other tumblr posts, the effect this will have on fanart, too.

"Martha Wells will serve as consulting producer." Well I'm glad she's getting moneys, but how much influence is she going to have??

although - THIS is why you have to specify if a book character is PoC instead of being vague about it (as white authors seem want to do)! Because otherwise people (esp white people) just assume the character is white! this is just how system racism works, it's not interesting or novel, I'm just parroting what so many PoC authors have pointed out. It means that a character who describes itself in the book as a mishmash of generic human while surrounded by a lot of brown skinned humans somehow gets a casting of Alexander Skarsgård. (even if secunit was explicitly described as having brown skin or being not white in appearance, Paramount might just whitewash the character anyway, but still)

Going on..... "The Weitz brothers will write, direct, and produce under their Depth of Field banner. "

The Pinocchio movie here is a live action disney remake, not the Guillermo del Toro stop motion one. If you're like me and perked up a little, on seeing the title, because you got the Pinocchio wrong.

I guess "Rogue One" was a little interesting if depressing, idk.

The company is also linked to the movie "Prospect" (gorgeous scenery and scifi immersion and really nice soundtrack, but I found the movie rather racist and the characters lacking and I personally didn't vibe with it) and "The Farewell" which I mean to watch because people have told me they liked it.

Well, not much of this combination feels like the Murderbot books, to me, tho. I'm kind of puzzled. Like what are they getting from the books. What am I supposed to expect with "Murderbot diaries" being part of the filmography above.

Well how about the execute producers. " David S. Goyer executive produces alongside Keith Levine for Phantom Four. "

What in the hell?? Noooo! This is like the direct opposite of the core of murderbot! It's like these people skimmed the skin of space dystopian gun pew pew elements and were "yeah this is what the books are about".

Earlier, I was jokingly telling someone "I feel like these people are trying to make James Bond or the Bourne Trilogy in space or something with Murderbot, sheesh" and I fear that is in fact what is happening.

(deep breath)

Murderbot stars an autistic agender aro ace icon character who in the 2nd book hides away in a transport watching TV shows for weeks on end or whatever and then gets called out for that by Pin-Lee in the 4th book. Murderbot and a university space ship bond over the space ship being afraid to watch its fav blorbo die in a fictional show and also the two do their best impression of trying to act like a human.

Also there's fighting and stuff.

Like, that juxtaposition is the fun of the books - like finally, the awkward get-your-gender-stuff-away-from-me a-spec neurodivergent characters have their day in bringing humanity into space dystopia pew pew gun theater. We want to play in this setting, too.

Oh and the books and SecUnit hate corporations and everyone is genderqueer with neo pronouns and polyamory abounds, and there's PoC everywhere.

"the fact that we're getting the corporation rim version of Murderbot and that everyone is kinda bummed about it" is a pretty good summary.

From a specific hurt/comfort whump blog POV -

How are any of these main producer etc people, above, going to grasp the emotional hurt comfort and humor and warm heart of these books? The Tenderness??

Like listen, I need to be clear, I had a blast watching "Blade" with some people a few years ago. It was great. Really fun late night party movie with the right people, A+ experience. However, do I trust Call of Duty Batman vs Superman any of these people to Grasp The Murderbot Books and Handle the Tenderness. No, I Do No, not especially.

. . . . .

Okay fine haich slash cee, who would you cast and hire as directors producers etc. Well first of all a bunch of queer people and PoC and queer PoC. Do you know how many of us want to play in space opera dystopian explosion gunfight theater too. Also I saw someone suggest Tig Notaro play SecUnit - and honestly, that's a fun idea, I would maybe hire a bunch of comedians and also activist types to grab the dry humor and and absolute abhorrance of corporations that permeates the books.

And I'd get a more indie studio production if possible. I know there's the action sequences and special effects and all that IS important in a genre way. Like we are here for all that. We are here for death agriculture robots attacking people and violent robot fights and space kaboom moments. I personally don't immediately know how or which producers studios etc to hire for all that to be included, while keeping slightly smaller studio vibes. Yes SFX action money, but like, more in the spectrum of doctor who budget money and special effects, if that makes sense.

The gunfights and special effects are still more of a secondary feature in my mind. I want to watch the awkwardness of SecUnit and a room full of caring compassionate researchers fully hit the mark but in the most subtle way. I'm here for Ratthi once again saying "what?" in the middle of like the 5th melee situation he's been a part of and Ratthi still is confused as anything. And also, there's some explosions and space travel happening.

As for actors, I'm not really up on actors much, but these tumblr posts have suggestions.

Actually.... Ok, so I like explosions as much as anyone, but what if some small but acclaimed indie character drama creators made Murderbot. Like what if that was one specific flavor of an adaptation. What if the murderbot books were shot primarily as a quirky indie character study tv show set in space. The filmography of the people making it are like: Indie drama - Indie comedy - Murderbot - quirky indie drama - (implying they made murderbot and then went right back to indie movies I guess) I'd be like, "huh, what version of space gunfight drama are we watching here?". Idk, I think it'd be fun.

thanks for reading along in my murderbot ramblings!

#murderbot #I agree with other commentators that this actor would be fine as like Gurathin maybe #Gurathrin is dry too he can be deadpan he'd be a fan fav with this casting easily come on

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Unmasking a Female Luchador Serial Killer and Studying “Pigmentocracy” in Mexico

Juana Barraza Samperio (La Mataviejitas) as “La Dama del Silencio” (all images courtesy of Susana Vargas)

MEXICO CITY — Following a recent study published by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) about race and class, I sat down with Susana Vargas, one of Mexico’s leading feminist academics and an expert on what she calls “pigmentocracy,” to talk about the visualization of machismo, sexism, race, and class in Mexico. Vargas, who has a PhD in philosophy from McGill University in Montreal, is the author of the book Mujercitos, which employs images from the Alarma! tabloid of trans men who “were being criminalized [for] their failure of masculinity.” In the book, she writes about the contradiction of exhibiting men who pretended to be women within the pages of the tabloid, in an extremely homophobic/transphobic culture — thereby using the tabloid as a space of resistance.

Vargas’s next book, which she’d just finished writing at the time of this interview and which will be published in 2018, is about the legendary serial killer “La Mataviejitas” (which means “the old woman killer”) and how the lucha libre wrestler turned murderer transcended stereotypes about femininity and masculinity in Mexico. Police searched for years for a stereotypical evil-genius man, before eventually catching the female Mataviejitas. Vargas argues that she was then persecuted as much for the killings as for her transgression of femininity; authorities regularly used images of the “manly” woman to demonize her in the eyes of the public. Vargas further posits that characters like the mujercitos (trans men) and Mataviejitas reveal long-standing patterns of machismo and pigmentocracy in Mexican culture, which she visualizes and illustrates through images of these two specific cases.

Vargas has also curated exhibitions such as Colección Jumex, In Girum Imus Nocte et Consumimur Igni at the Jumex Museum and written extensively about contemporary art. Her work has been cited by journalists and academics in Mexico and internationally. She’s also an educator and has participated in multiple roundtables and seminars about “queering curatorial practices” and the queer body.

*     *     *

Devon Van Houten Maldonado: Who was Mataviejitas and who were the mujercitos? How do you use these characters in your writing to demonstrate conflicts of pigmentocracy and machismo in Mexico?

Susana Vargas: El/La Mataviejitas is the nickname given by media and authorities to the alleged serial killer of elderly women whom police struggled to find from 2004 to 2006.  Finally, in 2006, police caught a female [lucha libre] wrestler red-handed: Juana Barraza Samperio, as she fled the scene where an 82-year-old woman had been strangled with a stethoscope. Barraza, who came to be known as La Mataviejitas, now lives in Santa Martha Acatitla, where she is serving a sentence of 759 years in prison for killing between 11 and 16 elderly women, depending on the source. I first wrote about Barraza in my MA thesis, and I also wrote about Performing Mexicanidad.

Images from Mujercitos by Susana Vargas

The Mujercitos were assigned masculine gender at birth but they identify with different versions of femininity. They were photographed for the “nota roja” [“red news”] magazine Alarma! as they were either getting married or at a party raided by police. What’s interesting about these photographs is that, in a country with alarming rates of homophobia and transphobia, Mujercitos were allowed in the photographs, a space of feminine subjectivity that the rest of the society denies them. I studied these photographs because I was interested in the juxtaposition of the visual text and the contrast of the photographs with the rest of photographs in Alarma!, which is known for its gruesome content.

DVHM: What’s the difference between pigmentocracy and racism?

Image from Mujercitos by Susana Vargas

SV: For me, the way I use pigmentocracy in my work, I’m able to talk [about] the subtleness of racism and classism together. I see these positions as relational; they depend on other factors. It’s not a pigment per se, but how a person is perceived according to the combination of their skin tonality and their class, and how that position can change very fast if that person is hanging out with other friends in a lower-class neighborhood. What I am interested in exploring is how racism and classism work at the same time.

I started using the term “pigmentocracy” during my dissertation to analyze the relationship between class and skin tonalities as constitutive of [subjectivity] as much as gender and sex identification. The photographs of mujercitos posing for the camera of Alarma!, I argued, worked as a site of resistance to the machismo in Mexico. The photographs show mujercitos posing for the camera and not really wanting to be women, but to occupy feminine subjectivity. Many of these mujercitos worked as sex workers and maybe profited more from the fantasy of many Mexican men. That is “macho probado” [proven macho] — to have sex with a woman who has a penis.

Juana Barraza Samperio (La Mataviejitas)

So I use pigmentocracy as a system in which skin tones are perceived from social and cultural interventions, linked to a certain socioeconomic level. This ties with La Mataviejitas because criminality plays an important part in pigmentocracy. After the revolution, the ideal Mexican was mestizo and macho. In both scenarios, Barraza transgresses the ideal of a Mexican. I have argued that Barraza has not [only] been made responsible for her crimes but has been criminalized for how she looks: She transgresses the normative standards for women.

DVHM: What are the unique challenges of queer, feminist, anti-racist and other activism in Mexico, as opposed to somewhere like Canada, where you were partially raised, or the United States?

SV: I would say the persistent machismo, though not as a biological determination of men or how men are raised to occupy the public space, for example. I’m thinking of machismo more as a space of power, the space of power that men hold and that many women desire, too. I think many women can be macho [as well], and that comes precisely from the desire of wanting to have power and not be oppressed. To feel free to walk at night on the street, to call the shots, to be heard, to be taken seriously, to be respected, to be paid fairly. But the disadvantages are that it seems to come in a package with territoriality, possessiveness, and, to me the most dangerous, wanting to occupy that space of power to reproduce the same hegemony and oppression that you have been subjected to. I need to work more on this, but that’s my intuition — how that oppression generates so much hate and resentment and, if not made conscious, comes out frequently, especially now that we have a very precarious situation in Mexico.

DVHM: Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) recently published a study which, you said, reveals how pigmentocracy works here. What did the study say, and did anything surprise you about the findings?

SV: On June 16, INEGI [published] the results of a study on intergenerational social mobility. They made surveys all around the country, asking people between 25 and 64 years old about their socioeconomic status and the variables that influenced the way they lived. This was the first time that questions about ethnicity were asked to people who are considered “indigenous” in Mexico. People were asked to self-identify their skin tonality, and the person taking the survey also had a sort of Pantone palette of possible skin tonality results. The results show, for the first time, the relationship between skin tonalities, [education], and type of work. The results didn’t surprise me, because whiteness is seen as a space of privilege, and this is not new in Mexico or in the rest of the world. Moreno Figueroa said that darker skin tones cannot consistently occupy the space of racial privilege — whiteness.

DVHM: Hopefully most of our readers are familiar with the ways that machismo and sexism manifest in visual culture, but can you explain some of the ways that pigmentocracy is visualized in the images that surround us?

SV: In pigmentocracy, skin tones exist relationally and contextually: The social meaning of each “color” is shaped by human intervention on biological raw material. Within this system, who is “white” is also “rich” — that is, whiteness works as a space of desired privilege, an aspiration of social belonging. Thus, following Monica Figueroa, whiteness is not always associated with a “white body.” Not all white-skinned people occupy a place of legitimacy, but whiteness is an issue that, while it includes pigmentation as one of its elements, goes beyond that. Being “white” in Mexico is not only a matter of a certain color but also of social relations and cultural context.

Examples of this are everywhere. In 2013, there was a scandal because for the casting of a commercial for Aeroméxico the producer requested actors of “white complexion” who seemed “upper class” and “not morenos” [brown], because, we know, brown people are perceived as having fewer economic resources and, therefore, are not [likely] customers of the airline’s Premier Club. Also, in politics, during electoral campaigns, you can see the faces of politicians, both men and women, photoshopped to occupy the space of whiteness and be more likable and trustworthy. Last year I wrote about some of the contemporary artists working with this subject for Terremoto Magazine: Santiago Sierra, Erik Meyenberg, Colectivo Zunga, Yutzil Cruz, Zac Blas.

The post Unmasking a Female Luchador Serial Killer and Studying “Pigmentocracy” in Mexico appeared first on Hyperallergic.

from Hyperallergic http://ift.tt/2eyvlaD via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Hyperallergic