#and i do know how immediately vitriolic ppl get when race/racism in fandom is talked about.

[jennycalendar]

coming back with some more thoughts on ted lasso --

i did not like how they handled sam. i think it's a mark of progress and how far things have come but at the same time a spotlight on the new problems created by underlying racism/racial anxiety, even within the most loving narrative.

sam's storyline was all over the place! there is definitely a through-line, but none of the things he faces are about him Growing and Learning, really, because he is Already Perfect And Good. his narrative purpose is to serve as an example of how a good dad can positively impact you going forward, which is great, but they will just throw random shit at him like the stuff w/ edwin akufo and then just never fully resolve it! i think it's so so clear that they were making an effort to research and represent nigerian culture, which is wonderful in and of itself, but there is this really sticky issue with race within ted lasso that keeps showing up and i do not like it.

edwin akufo is a one-note character who shows up, torments sam, and then disappears from the narrative after he is bested by rebecca, without ANY explanation as to how this besting impacts his stuff with sam. are we to assume that, because his plans for a football league fell through, he's backed off re: sam? his frankly obscene amount of wealth which the narrative CONSTANTLY alludes to is very clearly more than enough for him to torment sam until the end of time, and he very clearly expresses a desire to do this -- yet the finale shows sam ostensibly a part of the nigerian team, with no bumps or hiccups! edwin akufo is never brought up again!

and also like, shandy? why was she necessary? we have only had two women of color in semi-regular roles and one of them is presented as an impulsive, unkind, selfish nightmare. it really fucking sucked to see that, and it feels weird that ted lasso's line of defense against negative portrayals of women of color is having one Really Really Good One and one Really Incredibly Bad One. there was no need for shandy to be a woman of color if her entire point was to Be Terrible and Then Leave. she was a wholly unnecessary character to begin with & to make her a woc is just icing on top of the cake.

BUT I DIGRESS. i'm bugged the most by sam because, outside of nate, he is the nonwhite character who gets the most screen time! (and the fandom racism towards nate TURNS MY STOMACH, but that is not actually an issue that exists within the text of the show itself, so i'll leave that alone!) i think there was definitely an understanding within the writers' room that portraying a dark-skinned black man as sensitive, soft, and emotionally intelligent was a deeply important move for representation, but they just did not go that extra mile and actually create a consistent storyline for sam. he could have absolutely been that gentle, perfect guy without throwing in That Cartoon Villain Ghanaian Billionaire who shows up to yell at him and be terrible and ruin his life (and then, after one angsty episode in s3, disappear without explanation, clearing the way for sam to do whatever he wants).

it kinda reminds me of colin -- that finale bugged me re: him too a little! certainly it was utterly wonderful to see him kiss his fella at the end of the game, but the way we left things with him was very clearly "the team knows, and that's enough for me." this guy has been closeted for the entire time he's been a football player. telling the team was already so much more than he ever planned to do. kissing his boyfriend in public in the middle of the pitch, where any number of cameras would likely have picked up on them both??? PEOPLE ARE GOING TO SEE THAT. i found that one really hard to swallow as well.

it just bugs me because there is absolutely this understanding of systemic oppression that hovers around the edges of ted lasso, but then they will do things like everything that they did with sam! an awareness that There Is A Problem, but no time spent on the solution. and i totally understand that, tonally speaking, systemic oppression is not ted lasso's focus -- but this season they went out of their way to Make It Their Focus! & yet we get this absolutely bizarre storyline for sam where they just don't tell us what happened or why akufo backed down or ANYTHING. despite multiple hour-long episodes this season. don't like it.

#ted lasso spoilers #let's hope this one goes over ok!!!! #i did my best to form my thoughts in a way that makes sense #and i do know how immediately vitriolic ppl get when race/racism in fandom is talked about. #(glances pointedly at a certain subsection of the spike fans.) #but idk man this was the part of the finale i had a lot of trouble with.... #and i am worried that fandom at large is gonna b complaining big time about how the ball was dropped with t/r #when imo there was A LOT of stuff about that finale that dropped the ball. #A LOT.

[sofipitch]

If you're comfortable can you talk about more about your experience in the fandom because I share similar sentiments, in a separate fandom. I received death threats every day and my friend's account was hacked into and certain posts of hers were deleted. It lasted years. It was horrible. Did you write your fic Long Way Home (I love the title!) before amc iwtv was announced? Are those fans of the books who drove other fans out still around and may I know who they are so that I may block them? (1/2)

If I may, I want to share that when the HP books were first released--before JKR exposed herself and before the movies aired and ruined my inner version of the books-- I read them and certain characters in my mind were never as they were in the books, Hermione was Indian in my mind, as was Lupin, based on real life friends. Ron was definitely not a redhead. I don't know why there is so much hate towards race change, but it seems that a majority of those haters are on FB, as immortalconclusions mentioned about the FB group, I am a part of it and there is much vitriol in that group, especially aimed towards the actors. I am horrified that so many fans of the little mermaid are offended by the beautiful Halle Bailey, she's the perfect Ariel as I see it. Also I hate that some fans want to see Timothee Chalamette as Armand, what a ridiculous choice. (2/2)

So I don't really want to go into it, last time someone sent me an anon shitting on one of these ppl and I answered it the person was harassing all my friends for HOURS in like .3 seconds. Like we are block mutuals and yet she knew immediately, creepy much? There have been doxxing threats on here which is fun, I have gotten threats of violence and idk how related but a friend got one of sexual assault. So I'm not waking the beast by invoking these ppl. If anyone wants specific ppl I would recommend blocking you can dm me. It's honestly not hard to tell, if you see a VC fan who refuses to acknowledge the TV show or overwhelming speaks negatively, that's them. For some reason a lot of ppl try to keep up public appearances on Tumblr yet will say the most vile shit with their IRL name attached in the FB group

I actually came up with the idea for that fic after JA's casting announcement based on ppl saying there was no way for Louis to be black without changing "everything about Louis" or that Louis and Lestat as an interracial couple would be abusive. When you are so woke you think respecting cultural differences means ppl of other races aren't ppl who go through ppl experiences and so woke that the races shouldn't mix (but for POC protection). I just wanted a way to say yes POC are (get this) ppl. And it also turned into a way for my cowriter and I to talk about our own experiences and hopefully make something for other fans of color to hopefully relate too

I'm so sorry about what you are your friend went through, fandom in general has a lot of racism and I think some of it is the anonymity, white ppl feel safer being openly racist. Like all the slurs and stuff I and others have gotten is always done via anon or sock puppet accounts. So they KNOW what they are doing is wrong bc they don't want to attach their name to it. It's both disgusting and pathetic

And yeah this is not a unique situation for VC, when ppl were objecting to JA's casting they tried to come up with a PLETHORA or reasons VC is different and you just can't with Louis and yeah it's always bullshit. Same thing with Ariel, I love The Little Mermaid and I hate the Disney remakes but I will likely see this one in theaters bc that's my girl, I get the appeal of the remakes when it is specifically one of my fave movies 😂 But someone IRL asked me my opinion bc she knows I love Ariel and I was like "she seems good" and she went on to say that "She was always made to feel bad she was a redhead growing up (this girl is like strawberry blonde so barely, 0 freckles) and Ariel made her feel better". Like they were taking away HER representation. I don't even need to go into how fucking stupid that is. They ALWAYS claim to have specific and valid rationales for this one casting, they aren't a racist (maybe they even have POC friends!) 🙄

#vc #asks