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bookishfeylin · 1 year

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Racebending vs Whitewashing 101

In this essay we’re going to be answering two questions: Why is it ok, from a race perspective, to make white characters POC but not the other way around? And why don’t you make original characters that are POC instead?

There are quite a few reasons, and I’ll be discussing them all below the cut for anyone who's genuinely curious about this and wants to educate themselves :)

⭕️ Firstly: most white characters have no plot relevant reason to be white. White people are considered the default human being, so their race or culture *usually* does not affect or contribute to the plot or story or game in any way. Like, pick your average piece of media with white characters in it and see if they actually *have* to be white for the story to work/make sense. Unless being WHITE plays some important role in the story, then in most cases, characters do not need to be white. This is especially true for non human characters depicted as white (mermaids, faeries, aliens, etc.). Unless being a *white* non human is important to the story for a specific reason and then they can be almost ANY race. For example: In Gremlins do Billy and his family have to be white for the story to still work? Does making the Skywalker family POC impact the plot in any way, shape or form in Star Wars? Is being white relevant to Iron Man's, Batman's, or Superman's stories at all? Why do the main characters of Jaws have to be white? Do Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, and Claire Dearing and Owen Grady, from Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, respectively, need to be white in order for the movies to make sense? Does being white play an important role in Indiana Jones' character, or would the movies still work if he was another race? Does it impact the story if I were to change the Russels (Maddie, Emma, and Mark) in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, from white to black?

⭕️ Conversely, people aren’t as used to seeing POC in media, so often their existence is “justified” with some form of racism. It would not make sense to make a character facing racism (say, antiblackness) white (for example, in Disney's The Princess and the Frog, Tiana lives in a segregated Black community that is decidedly poorer than the wealthy white community Lottie lives in, and is denied the ability to buy the mill to make into a restaurant because it would’ve been too hard for a woman of her “background” to run a business)

⭕️ Another way POC are “justified” in western media is making something specifically about their culture. Unlike most white people in media, we cannot simply *exist* and, say, survive an alien invasion, or steal the Declaration of Independence, or get sucked into portal to a magical land, or survive a natural disaster, or have a very very very bad day, or solve a mystery about a haunted house, or worry about prom. No, our culture almost always has to play some SIGNIFICANT role to “explain” to the audience why that character is not white. Not that that’s a bad thing. For example, Mulan is about a Chinese woman overcoming the deeply ingrained sexism in China and becoming a soldier. The movie is all about China and Chinese culture, so it makes no sense to make her white.

⭕️ Making a POC white plays into whitewashing and colorism (the basic idea that paler skin is better/more beautiful/less “savage”). For example, in slavery lighter skinned ppl were “better,” and were allowed to serve in the house because, being lighter, they were viewed as closer to white and as being “more human.” Changing or “improving” a POC by making them white is just feeding into that nasty idea that people with darker skin tones are “less than” or aren’t real humans. Conversely, there is no relevant history of white people being considered “less-than”, or, you know, NOT HUMAN for having lighter skin, in fact lighter skin tones have been promoted as desirable for centuries. White people by and large aren't harmed psychologically from seeing a character being redesigned with darker skin/being racebent, because society has never told them that their lighter skin makes them nonhuman or undesirable, unlike I, a Black woman, who’s been told all my life that darker skin is masculine and ugly on a girl and that I would be pretty if I only had lighter skin :)

⭕️ All those reasons are important, but there is one MAIN reason why racebending works but whitewashing does not: representation. Representation is very important and very powerful, impacting our own self esteem as well as impacting how we perceive groups of people who are different than us (x, x, x, x, x). Representation can help you develop empathy for a certain group, or it can perpetuate harmful stereotypes about them. White people are represented literally everywhere in Western media--books, movies, TV shows. Even most toys. It’s not taking representation away from them if we make a white character a POC--they have tons of other characters to make up for it! Even if we NEVER had a white main character in any movie or TV show ever again, white people still have the past century's worth of media with themselves as the main characters for them to watch. Conversely, we have comparatively few prominent characters that are POC in Western media, and even fewer that aren't just side characters or walking stereotypes. Making them white takes away the limited representation POC have in the west. Racebending (either in fan art or in reboots of a series/movie) is typically done by people who lack representation and want more.

Why don’t you make original characters that are POC?

⭕️ Most of us would prefer original characters. I WANT original characters of color. But when we do make new characters that are POC, or new stories with POC leads (especially if they are dark skinned POC) they are usually ignored or overlooked by consumers in favor of white characters or white-led stories (Finn and Rose vs Kylo Ren and Hux from Star Wars; and Black Lightning being wayyyyyy less popular than white-led DC shows; Still Star Crossed being, like, forgotten?). This often happens on movies and on television shows, and usually the end result is that the new characters of color are written off or are minimized in the show/following movies because they are not profitable (once again, what happened to Finn and Rose in Star Wars) or the shows are canceled (Black Lightning, Still Star Crossed). Or the story is labeled “woke” and “political” and is boycotted by the same people who said we should make original characters in the first place.

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I'm not saying you have to *like* racebending white characters. I am merely EXPLAINING why one way is racist and the other way around is not. But the sad thing is, all these reasons are common sense. Most people know we have a racist history, they know it’s wrong to make Tiana or Black Panther white even if they have problems articulating *exactly* why: because the point of these characters existing in the first place is to show that we’re human too. That we can be heroes and princesses and role models too, despite centuries of being told we were nothing. We still live in a world where being white is considered the default human, and nonwhite people have to be *justified* in their existence, because most of us weren't viewed as human for centuries. If it truly bothers you that much, then support original characters of color and diverse franchises instead of white characters and predominately white franchises. That way you will send a message—we all will—that we want more original characters of color. In the meantime? I, a Black woman living in a white-centric world, am going to enjoy all the characters of color I can get.

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shezowhero · 2 years

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Virichie and fandom racism towards ships with black characters.

I may not ship Virichie as hard as I do Static X Frieda but I’m glad and appreciate it being popular cause interracial ships with black characters and ships with black characters in general get very screwed over by fandoms. Black characters get very screwed over when it comes to shipping.

They face alot of backlash and hate. Black characters in interracial ships with white characters especially get alot of hate and backlash. In fact people will lose their absolute god damn minds when black characters are paired up with white characters.

Ships with black characters often get the least fan content if they get any at all. They’re the least popular ship. They could be a ship that’s been canon for a long time but be the least popular ship in the fandom like Guardianbee for example. Guardianbee has been canon in Teen Titans for a very long time but its the least popular ship and has very little fan content. It doesn’t help that they’re not together in alot of media and the Teen Titans are more outside of comics so its a lack of exposure and racism.

They will make up all kinds of excuses to to why they don’t ship ships with black characters in them. They’ll things like “They’re just friend” or “Why can’t men and women just be friends” and I totally get this as a girl who had alot of guy friends as a kid and was always asked if we liked each other but people say this alot to ships with characters of color. They say it way too much that its weird. The only one I agree with is Star and Marco. And its never said to all white ships that should just be friends. Also what’s wrong with interracial friends to lovers ? Interracial best friends to lovers is really cool. Its one of the things I like about Virichie and Static x Frieda.

Another excuse is Familyzone, they say they’re like family or like siblings or they’ll straight up say its incest when its clearly not. They try to familyzone them when it’s never stated in canon that the characters see each other as family. Its more of a fan interpretation or headcanon. I see people trying to familyzone Virichie saying that Virgil and Richie are brothers but its never stated in the show that they see each other as brothers. Its just a fan interpretation. Just because you see them as brothers doesn’t mean we everyone else sees them as brothers. I also use to see Virgil and Richie as brothers but not anymore so I get why people do but maybe don’t say that about a interracial ship. I still see them as family but not in a incest way but in a ”they’re a important part of the family like a family friend” way.

Another excuse they say is its forced while at the same time shipping a all white ship that’s forced. I understand not liking ships that are forced but just like the they’re just friends excuse they say this alot about ships with black characters and interracial ships. And like I said before the only one I agree with is Star and Marco. People ship white characters together all willy nilly all the time but they’re not willing to do the same with black characters and characters of color.

Another excuse when it comes to black women is she too strong. The strong black women trope. The strong independent women trope is progress for white women but its not progress for black women and women of color. You’re saying that black women and women of color don’t deserve love. You’re denying their humanity. Not every black woman is strong and not every black woman can be strong.

My favorite excuse is the “They don’t like good together” Its my favorite cause its very obviously racist like they do not hear themself. It doesn’t matter if they don’t look good together its about the chemistry, how they make each other grow and how the relationship fits the characters and story and other actual shipping reasons. “They don’t look good together” is a very shallow and racist reason to not ship a interracial ship.

The next excuse(s) is a big lie and its “There’s no good well written black characters to ship” and ”there’s no good ships with black characters” The reason why its a totally lie is that there’s alot of good black characters. You just need to consume more diverse media especially diverse media that star black characters. The problem though is that when people do consume diverse media they still only focus on white characters. I see this in the Static Shock fandom with Hotstreak and to a extent Richie. So consume more diverse media and stop focusing so much on the white characters. The whole “there’s no good ships with black characters” It sounds like they’re only caring about canon ships and there’s alot of good ships with black characters that aren’t canon and there’s good ones that are canon. You’re just not looking hard enough. As a mainly canon shipper you don’t always have to ship canon ships especially if they’re not good. Talisto Talia X Mephisto from Lolirock is a good ship and a low key crack ship and its one of the most popular ships in the fandom and it has a black girl in it. People will ship random white characters together all the time but won’t do the same with black characters and characters of color. Talisto isn’t treat as a crackship, if people can ship that than you can ship ships with black characters in them. There’s alot of good black characters and alot of good ships with black characters you’re just not paying attention to them.

Besides making up excuses to why they don’t ship interracial ships with black characters they will make a all white ship to go against it. Reylo and Snowbarry are good example of this. We call them racist ships cause they were made to erase a black character from their romantic relationships whether it’s canon or heavily shipped in the fandom like Finnrey. Reylo was very much created to keep Finn away from Rey and you can tell by how racist Reylo shippers are to Finn and his actor John. Snowbarry was created before the show even aired on TV when only the trailer was out after it was announced Iris was casted as a black girl. Reylo shippers and Snowbarry shippers act the same way to Finn and Iris. And I see this in the Static Shock fandom with the ship Hotgear Hotstreak X Richie. Hotgear was very much created to go against Virichie in the same way Reylo and Snowbarry were except they’re not all that toxic and racist to Static but it’s still very much erases Static in his own story, his own fandom and is white prioritization or white favorism.

White prioritization is when white characters are prioritize over characters of color despite the characters of color being more important like being the main character like Static. Static Shock is a black lead cartoon when it comes to diverse media you shouldn’t be shipping the only 2 white characters together unless it’s canon cause its racist to only focus on the only white characters in a diverse show. Virichie has no way or power to become canon but Hotgear was very much created to go against cause its heavily shipped in the fandom. Even if not all Hotgear shippers are racist it’s the existence of the ship that’s racist. It doesn’t need to exist. Same with Reylo and Snowbarry. You don’t have to ship Virichie but you don’t need create and ship a rival ship to go against it especially if it made to erase a black character.

This is apart of Fandom racism. Fandom racism is the rejecting of diversity in fandoms and media and the attempt to push characters of color and fans of color out of fandoms to focus on white people, white characters and white fans. Refusing to ships with black characters is apart of Fandom racism.

And it doesn’t matter what type of relationship a black character is in. It doesn’t matter if its a black man with a white girl, it doesn’t matter if its a black girl with a white guy, it doesn’t matter if its a gay, straight or bi ship. It doesn’t matter if its a black character with another person of color. It doesn’t matter if its a black character with another black character. It also doesn’t matter if it’s canon, hinted/being built up to be canon or meant to be canon or canon in past or other materials like comics. It also doesn’t matter if its some what popular, shippable and well liked, it will get hate, backlash and have the least fan content.

For the black man with white girl part I was thinking of Finnrey and Karolsen. Sure black man are paired up with white women alot in media but never in a big sci fi franchise like Star Wars. Comics do it alot too but never in comic adaptations like the Supergirl TV show. The racist backlash to Finnrey and Karolsen is why I don’t care that black men and white women are paired alot with each other but I do agree media should do other types of interracial relationships besides them.

Finn and Rey actually were going to get together but Disney decide against, most likely cause of the racist backlash. The worst part is that Finn and Rey didn’t even get together, and racists were still threatened by a black man being with a white girl. Besides being meant to be canon, it was just a strong possibility that Finn and Rey were going together and that drive’s them crazy. To this day they’re still racist about Finn. Racist fans treated Finn and James like they were the Black brute trope. Like they were sexual threats to white women which is apart of the Black brute trope but they’re the nicest, sweetest guys in their series.

For the black girl with white guy part I was mostly thinking of Westallen but also Thorkyrie and any time a black girl is paired with a white guy. I’ve made posts about this before with Winx Club about how black women hardly get to be the love interest or get to have a love interest especially a non black love interest. And by love interest I mean the endgame love interest cause the few times they get to be a love interest they’re not the endgame love interest and the white character they were a love interest to gets with a white love interest. A very good example of this is Danny Phantom with Valerie and Danny and how he got with Sam. We call this the Disposable Black Girlfriend trope or Disposable Black love interest trope cause it happens to black men too.

Back to Westallen remember when I said people will straight up say a interracial ship is incest. They do this to Westallen all the time just because Iris’s dad Joe took Barry in when his mom died and his dad was arrested. Barry only see’s Joe as a father figure. Barry and Iris don’t see or think of each other as siblings. They never acted as siblings. The show never states that they’re siblings just best friends. I’m against incest ships too but Westallen isn’t incest. Keep in mind that Iris has always been Barry’s love interest in the comics, y’know other material. People never had a problem with their relationship until Iris was black.

For the gay bi ships part I was thinking of Dansen and Thundergrace. The Arrowverse has alot of femslash ships but the ones with white women are the only ones that are really popular and some of them aren’t even canon. The Supergirl TV fandom likes to act like they were queerbaited and that there was no lesbian representation but they weren’t queerbaited and there is lesbian representation with Kelly and Alex but since Kelly is black they don’t care, almost as if she don’t count as representation cause she’s black. Kelly and Alex even got married at the end of the show how’s that not representation ? Its a example of how when people say they want LGBT representation they mean white LGBT representation.

This is getting too long so its time to talk about the most important part so really listen to this part. This isn’t about shipping, this is about a pattern in fandoms in how black characters are treated. Its about how you think black characters are unworthy of being loved. Its about how if this is how you feel about and treat fictional black characters then how do you feel about and treat real black people outside of fandoms ? You probably don’t treat real black people good. If this is how you feel about and think about fictional interracial couples than how do feel and think about real interracial couples ? Probably not good. This is about how black fans and fans of color feel unsafe and unwelcome in fandoms.

We live in a society were white people are the default cause they made themselves the default. So when white people are not the focus they get mad. Which is why ships with black characters are less popular cause fandoms are very white dominant. By always attacking black characters and ships with black characters has made black fans and fans of color feel unsafe and unwelcome in fandoms making them leave fandoms or have low interacts in fandoms causing black characters and ships with black characters to have less fan content and be less popular. Black fans are the pillars that hold up black characters and ships with black characters up besides unracist white fans. Black fans and fans of color support ships with black characters and characters of color more than white fans. They are more likely to support them than white fans. I have seem white fans shipping Virichie but the major are black fans since it’s a major black fandom. Some of the most recent Virichie fan art have been by white fans. There are Pick me POCs/ White align people of color with internalized racism that are racist to other fans of color and characters of color and its important to point them out cause they are just as hurtful and racist as racist white people.

Virichie being so popular with everyone is so important. The only time I’ve seen a whole fandom ship a interracial ship is the WordGirl fandom with Tobecky (WordGirl X Tobey). Interracial ships with black characters aren’t that popular. Gay bi slash interracial ships like Virichie are especially not popular. The closest I’ve seen be popular is Finnpoe from Star Wars. Virichie being popular is a good thing. The only problems I have with Virichie is that alot of fan content mainly alot of fanfics focuses more on Richie and his point of view of the relationship than Virgil. This is the slight White prioritization towards Richie I mention earlier. I’ve only seen one person point this problem out. There’s only a few fanfics that focus on Virgil’s point of view on the relationship. I like it when there’s fics that give both of their point of views. Like what does Virgil think of being in a relationship with Richie ? How does he feel about liking his best friend ? I also don’t like how it dominants the fan content for Static Shock especially fanfics. There’s almost no gen fanfics and the gen fics that are there are unfinished most likely abandon. Virichie has good fanfics but I don’t always read fics for shipping so it’s a bit annoying.

Virichie being popular is a good thing. Characters of color in general get screwed by shipping but black characters get it much worst. The only time I see characters of colors being in popular ships are light skin east Asian characters especially from Asian media like anime and Latino/Hispanic characters. Shipping is a big part of fandom, it can say some things about a person. Ship what you want but don’t be surprised when people think you’re racist for refusing to ship ships with black characters and interracial ships with black characters especially when there’s nothing wrong them and black fans are okay with them. There’s nothing wrong with Virichie, there’s nothing with Friegil (Static X Frieda ) there’s nothing wrong with Karolsen, there’s nothing wrong with Finnrey, there’s nothing wrong with Dansen and there’s nothing wrong with Westallen and other interracial ships with black characters that get alot of hate for no reasons other than racism.

#Static Shock #Virgil Hawkins #Richie Foley #fandom racism #finnrey #westallen #Karolsen #dansen #friegil #fandomshatepeopleofcolor #supergirl #anti reylo #anti snowbarry #anti hotgear

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shrinkthisviolet · 3 months

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character ask game for Iris and Caitlin? :)

Iris

Sexuality headcanon:

Bi or pan!

OTP:

Westallen 🥰 I also love Westhallen, Snowest, and Barriscowest!

BROTP:

Iris & Cisco 💞 sunshine twins for the win

NOTP:

Iris/Eobard, Iris/Snart

First headcanon that pops into my head:

Iris is a decent singer, but she hates singing solo. She loves singing with Barry 💞

(She misses him so much when she loses him 😭 she can hardly bear to sing a single note without him there to harmonize)

Favorite line from this character:

"In this world, the bravest thing you can be is optimistic" words to live by!

One way in which I relate to this character:

I also can't cook very well 😅 working on it though

Thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character:

Her Three List. Also the waterfront kiss. I just...*sigh*

Cinnamon roll or problematic fave?:

Cinnamon roll!

Caitlin

Sexuality headcanon:

Bi and/or aromantic!

OTP:

Snowstorm and Snowest 🥰

BROTP:

Caitlin and Cisco! I used to really ship them, but...as time goes on, I ship them less. I don't see them as siblings necessarily, though I do see that vision, but...idk. They're cute as a ship but I mostly prefer them as a brotp lately

NOTP:

Caitlin/Eobard, Caitlin/Wells (any of them). Also Caitlin/KF (I personally love the sisters angle for them)

First headcanon that pops into my head:

Caitlin had a toy doctor set and proudly carried it around everywhere 💞 she used it most often on her dad

(This is in fact me projecting, I miss my toy doctor set)

Favorite line from this character:

"It's not a burden if we shoulder it together"

One way in which I relate to this character:

I'm also a pre-med like her who had a passion for it from a young age!

Thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character:

The way she treated Jax in 2x5...yikes. (And the way some people on Tumblr apparently called that "a mom encouraging her son"...double yikes)

Also her stint with Amunet...girl wtf??

Cinnamon roll or problematic fave?:

Cinnamon roll! Though…problematic fave in some seasons (like s4 💀)

character ask game!

#character ask game #the flash #iris west #iris west allen #anti eoiris #anti coldwest #westallen #westhallen #snowest #barriscowest #caitlin snow #anti reversesnow #anti snowells #anti killersnow #snowstorm

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nyikondlovu · 2 years

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I ain’t ever hate shippers more than Snowbarries and Choni stans. Like y’all bottom of the barrel because you NEVER take into account the black woman. Y’all wanted Toni ‘saved’ from Fangs because Cheryl was sad and thus you villainized a HEALTHY brown ship because your white girlboss slay is sad.

Snowbarries actively try to rewrite canon and give Caitlin Iris’s life. Y’all hate black women getting love so much that you’ll try to minimize Iris’s role in Barry’s life as if she isn’t the only woman he’s loved, the mother of his children and lightning rod. She is a physical manifestation of his powers but “nope! Let’s downplay Iris and say Snowbarry makes more sense because Barry and Caitlin are both white and like science ig?”

Some stand from that Mickey Mouse alphabet show are working their way up my list pretty fucking quick because wdym yall don’t want Gina with Ricky even those she’s basically said he’s her person? Like wdym you ship Ricky with therapy but turn and say you ship him with Jet in the next breath? “I hope they dont make Rina a thing because poor EJ”, “EJ better not get hurt”, waa waaa waaa poor EJ oh brother. Wouldn’t you want Gina with someone who got her? Someone who understands her?

Y’all ain’t shit. Idk what you want me to tell y’all.

#anti choni #anti snowbarry #anti cheryl blossom #anti caitlin snow #Barry Allen #iris westallen #toni topaz #i hate those people #fangs forgarty #sickening #bite me #anti portwell #gina porter #ricky bowen #Rina #westallen

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keishara-korianthil · 3 months

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Multifandom Ships #4

I find annoying how in shows/movies there are straight couples that share certain scenes and people are like "Awww cute", "They look so good together" and "OMG They are a perfect couple" but if two boys/two girls share the same scene or a scene that definitely shows how much they care about each other, if you ship those two boys/two girls people are like "They are just brothers/sisters", "They are very good friends", "They don't see each other romantically".

I mean, if you insist that much in two boys/two girls having a platonic relationship with those kind of scenes then you can accept that a girl and a boy also share only a friendship having the same scenes 🤷

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supermanliveson · 6 months

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if theres something i found funny about westallen fans is that they were celebrating when hartley was fired beacuse he is "racist" but candice also made weird tweets from the same time as hartley (early 2010s) and was literally besties with him. check his instagram. she appears there more than any other cast member. if he is so terrible than so is she

They wouldn't be WA stans if they weren't total hypocrites.

#anti westallen #anti westallen stans #anti westallen fandom #anti iris west #anti candice patton

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drnotreallystrange · 8 months

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Yeah, the writing bothers a lot, like, the savitar thing, for example. In a earlier season ep there was a time remant that died, and barry's friends cared about this remant (well, caitilyn did, like she got sad bc he died, i don't remember the others), and savitar was the only remant that survived yet they excluded him from things, or something like that, and i even saw some peole arguing that the friend's behaviour towards him makes sense bc there was already the original barry, and savitar wouldn't be able to do thing as a regular person, such as getting a job, because of it...

Yet it doesn't make sense, like, as i said caitilyn wouldn't do it, and about two barrys and the living normally thing, getting a job... isn't joe a cop and his adoptive father? even barry himself is a csi and friends with many cops... so like one of them could just tell savitar to pretend some mental illness and not having memories, go to registry him by using a excuse like "oh, well, I was walking in a park from a countryside city, then saw this young man that looks exactly like my son, begging around, and both of my son's bio parents are death, and none of them had contact with extended family, I asked him his name but he doesn't answer, my son also has no idea about him, and we did a dna test and they are identical twins", then go to the shitiest doctor just to get any diagnosis to kinda justify the lack of answers, give him another name, and done! barry just got a twin brother with documents and whatever....

The writers did it without checking previous episodes, it was done in a way in which shows barry's friends and family don't actually care about barry.

And about i/ris / barry relationship it was in my view more somthing like she going in a relationship with the flash, not barry himself, since in episode 1 when barry in in the emergency room and someone is pushing her out of there she says "i am family" which means she used to see him as her brother..............

Yeah, all good points.

Good writing is hard, of course, and maybe the original show runner had some sort of incest fetish, I can't otherwise explain the adopted family thing, which they kept referencing right up until the end of the show. It's so weird, why would you do that.

Apart from a few glitches (*cough* waste-allen *cough*) the first two seasons are very good, and parts of 3, 4 and 5 and even 6 are sort of good, but all in all the series got really bad.

#anti westallen #the flash

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westidia · 1 year

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Kayla Compton who plays Allegra on the flash is directing episode 11…TWO episodes before the series final. Two episodes before the show is done for good, done forever. Man you can’t make this shit up. There’s is only two people on that set that can actually act and that is Grant and Candice, I wonder why they don’t get these type of opportunities given that they are the LEADS of the show. Just goes to show if you do enough ass kissing it can get you somewhere…(but nowhere at the same time)

#anti allegra #the flash #the flash season 9 #candice patton #grant gustin #westallen #iris west allen #barry allen #kayla compton #Allegra Garcia #grandice

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kyliafanfiction · 1 year

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“Your sad little nerdy wet dream”

Like, who the fuck says that to someone who is at least nominally her best friend?

#Anti-Iris West #Anti-Westallen #Jesus Christ

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positively--speculative · 2 years

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I've been thinking about this a lot lately...for some reason, The Flash, a series that I have not touched for a few years now has come to mind. I'm thinking about how much of a big deal it was that Candice Patton was cast to play Iris West, the love interest of Barry Allen. But not only was it a big deal for Black girls and women who rarely saw themselves in such a role, but it was also a big deal for white women who always saw themselves in that role...and not in a good way. From the time the first trailer dropped, Candice was harassed relentlessly by these women online and endured it with such strength and grace that, frankly, I could never see myself having in the same position. I cannot imagine the silent mental breakdowns she must have had away from the public light.

But what has me thinking about this is the number of Black women I've seen with white and non-Black men since the premiere of the show. I am absolutely not saying that The Flash is the sole reason I'm seeing more of this, but I do not think there is any denying that this show along with other media has given Black women, at least partly, the push they needed to explore our options.

Contrary to what many have believed, Black women have always been attracted to white and non-Black men, but we've kind of always been pressured to be "loyal" to Black men even if a number of Black men have not shown us the same loyalty and have not hyped us up to the extent that we've done for them. And Black men always tended to be more open to dating a marrying interracially than Black women have. When I was in college, I had more than one conversation with white and non-Black men who were surprised to know that I was open to dating them.

I think what happened as a result of this loyalty was two things:

People, especially white women, developed this idea that Black women were not desirable and the least threatening when it came to *competing* for the attention of desirable men of any race (though, they largely prefer white men).

White and non-Black men determined it was best to not even approach attractive Black women because they assumed we were not interested.

So, it should be no surprise that Black women such as Candice, Anna Diop, and even literal children like Leah Sava get so much hate when they are placed in a role that is opposite a white guy. And it should be no surprise the anger that comes from white women when their favorite real-life white men, such as Tom Hiddleston, choose to marry and have children with Black women.

A lot of white women don't want to say it, but there is little difference between entitled white women and the entitled white man with the incel mindset. White men are raised with the promise that they have an advantage over everyone else and will have it a bit easier when it comes to companionship and success in life. But what they don't realize is that while their whiteness will get them further than most people, they will still struggle to a certain extent if they're not also conventionally attractive, able-bodied, neurotypical, etc. And instead of being critical of a system that provides these struggles, they turn their rage on the people who have even more socioeconomic disadvantages than they do. Now, because (believe it or not) most women are still brought up to believe that their worth lies in how attractive they are to men, entitled white women pride themselves--regardless of how conventionally attractive they are--on being the most desirable of any other women. So, it comes as a shock to them when one of "their" men chooses a Black woman when he has his choice of white women.

The simplest way to describe what has happened within the last decade or so is that at some point, whether it was partly influenced by media representation of interracial relationships involving Black women or just Black women being sick and tired of limiting themselves to who they can and cannot date (or both), is that Black women decided to explore and open their minds to dating white men and non-Black men. White and non-Black men who were always interested in Black women took notice and responded in Black women's favor. White women responded with anger. The same anger that triggered tignon laws that forced Black women to cover up their hair so their white husbands would stop looking. All I can say is that if you're a white woman and seeing a Black woman being loved by a white or non-Black man angers you, you should probably work on that because after 200+ years, it's kind of pathetic to be holding onto the same jealousy your ancestors have had towards us.

#misogynoir #racism #anti-blackness #interracial relationships #the flash #westallen #candice patton #anna diop #leah sava jeffries #Zawe Ashton #Tom Hiddleston

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