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tepkunset · 8 months

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Representation vs. Appropriation

When I made a tumblr blog post pointing out that the character creator in Baldur’s Gate 3 included culturally appropriative face tattoos, lot of people decided to bend over backwards to defend this. Excuses I have found while giving my blocking finger a routine work-out thus far have ranged from “Larian Studios is European so they don’t know any better”, to a classic “it’s just a fantasy game, stop being so oversensitive”. But by far the most common poor reaction was, “what if it’s representation?”

Now, two Māori people were quick to jump into this post and say themselves, clear as day, that this is not representation, it is appropriation. That should be enough right there—settlers do not get to decide what is and isn’t representation for us Indigenous folks. But white people not listening to Indigenous voices is nothing new. I’ve been forced to learn that if you want to be taken seriously by settlers, your best chance is to coddle and appease their poor little delicate feelings. So, let’s pretend for a second that these “what if it’s representation?” questions are actually asked in good, albeit ignorant faith, and not just a pathetic gut-reaction to avoid having to critically think about a beloved game. (Which, by the way, I still overall adore myself, mind you.) Let’s pretend they actually want an answer, and give it to them.

It’s very easy to list the examples of positive Indigenous representation I’ve personally experienced in video games, not made by Indigenous folks ourselves, because there’s only one game that comes to mind: Assassin’s Creed 3. The protagonist of AC3 is Ratonhnhaké:ton of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka people. Ubisoft is a terrible company for other reasons, but they did one thing right in the development of this game: They hired a cultural consultant, Thomas Deer. Deer was able to guide them through avoiding offensiveness and stereotypes, and include proper cultural touchstones that Indigenous players, especially Mohawk players, would want to see. For example, Ubisoft originally wanted to include sacred ceremonial masks in the game, but Deer told them that depictions of these masks would be taboo. He also helped them choose what clothing and jewellery was authentic to the Nation. This, among much more, helped create a truly representative experience. What makes it representation is that it features an Indigenous character in a positive way, without crossing lines into what should not be touched by outsiders. But had Ubisoft decided to ignore Deer’s consultation and go ahead with using those sacred masks… that would have been cultural appropriation.

Cultural appropriation is taking a closed cultural practice and using it yourself, despite not belonging to the culture it comes from. The key word there is closed, as in, something not for outsiders to touch. Eating frybread is not cultural appropriation, because it’s something freely shared by Natives to others. But wearing a fake headdress to your local musical festival is cultural appropriation, because headdresses are sacred regalia not freely shared by Natives to others. It really is that simple: just listen to boundaries set by the People.

“But my fake headdress is just clothing.” “But a fake kakiniit is just ink.” “But my fake totem pole is just decoration.” Except not, and the very fact that you have no respect for the history and meaning behind these things is the perfect example as to why they are not for you. But being told something isn’t for them has always been a hard a pill for settlers to swallow.

The phrase “nothing about us without us” is often used when advocating for rights and respect of minorities. It was first brought into English vocabulary by South Africa’s disability activism in the 1990’s, and has since been adapted across the world as a slogan to mean uplifting voices of the people you claim to want to help, instead of speaking over them. I personally first heard it through EDIRA work (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Reconciliation and Accessibility) at my job, and I feel like it can be applied in many different ways, this being one of them. The best representation comes from listening to the people you want to represent. Had Larian done that, they would have known that imitating those tattoos was off limits. But since they didn’t, they took what wasn’t theirs to take. And that’s appropriation.

#cultural appropriation #appropriation #representation #racism

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maplewozapi · 4 months

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Looking at a the asks you answered about indigenous people in fantasy and about indigenous rep by non-indigenous writers, I have a follow up question, if you don't mind- Seeing how common it is for fantasy works to use cultural mish-mashes, especially like medieval Europe-ish or Warring States fantasy Japan, is there a way to respectfully incorporate indigenous cultures into that sort of world (particularly ones near to each other), or should it be avoided entirely, in your opinion?

Surprisingly Peter Pan 2023 did a great job, still it’s weird that native people are just chilling in neverland but I appreciate that they faced their past and hired native people. I think about harry potter’s little grubby hands trying to world build magic lore for the United States AND IM HORRIFIED. Already the four houses and eventual "monsters" in that setting is making my stomach hurt, honestly that is cultural appropriation and commodification at its finest, the worst example. Then I think about ATLAB and the mixing of cultures is kinda crazy like I love the show so much! But at the same time this is kinda crazy! I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with the level of commodification and the melting pot of cultures. If I saw someone cosplaying the "sun warriors" like🧍‍♀️it scares me. We know that culture isn’t a custom 😣🙏 right? Right? At what point do they say "put a headdress in the show" and everyone starts cosplaying, like a Disney Pocahontas/mulan/moana custom situation, ITS CRAZY. I’m saying this because you don’t want to go the avatar or the Harry Potter direction there is some crazy nuances that can only be created and managed by indigenous people.

I can’t recommend their videos enough because they really do get into cultural sensitivity and misappropriation of them.

#ask

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chaethewriter · 1 year

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Opposites attract [1]

aged!Neteyam Sully x human!warrior!reader

In which the cruel ways of the RDA to save humanity come to light and a movement against the killing of Pandora begins. With young people receiving training in the resistance army to become warriors and protect the indigenous. You get put into cryosleep and sent to Pandora as one of the finest warriors. Here, you come face-to-face with the future Olo'eyktan. What if the two of you butt heads? And something forbidden blooms?

warning: english isn't my first language, based on my series 'You're dead to me' so also recycled parts for this introduction (not everything, I added different details so you better read👹), mentions of historic events.

Word count: 3,6k

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A century ago, the planet earth changed for the worst. More oil was extracted from beneath the ground, and the oil production was more massive than ever. The air worsened by the second to the point that humanity needed breathing masks to walk through overpopulated cities. Climate change also took its toll, as the icebergs from Antarctica completely melted as well as the permafrost and bacteria from billion years ago started spreading over the planet. The RDA took action on this and people were thankful for the fact that they took their chance to save humanity. Yet no one knew what they were actually doing behind the scenes. Humanity held their breaths waiting for all these years of great sorrow, thanks to the greed of the rich, to end. Nothing is what it seems, and the hopes of a minority was soon stripped away from them, as the secrets of the RDA came to light. Sending trained marines and scientists to this other planet in our galaxy: Pandora. A planet so far away that resembled our planet Earth. Their living circumstances natural, like the age of the hunters and collectors. No electricity, no mass production and no capitalism, just spiritual beings living in the name of their god. Yet, their peaceful lives soon came to an end, because the humans came to Pandora in greed. A planet not corrupted with technology or the rich, meant a healthy planet. A planet with lots of green. A planet where climate change doesn't play a role. A planet not destroyed. A planet able to inhabit. Coming in peace was never an option for humans, as taking something what is not theirs is their habit. Columbus and America, Europeans and Asia. Slavery. The occupations during all the world wars. They feed onto power. Pandora wasn't any different, as they planned to extrude the natives, forcefully take Pandora's sacred resources and inhabit the planet. While many humans didn't mind this, their focus laying on the fact they'll soon be saved from the dangers they caused, there was a minority in the billions of people that decided to set their foot down. The resistance, starting as a demonstrating group on the streets soon turned into a professional organization to protect Pandora of their own species. Gathering people who actively wanted to prevent Pandora into going extinct, protecting the natives from the monster one calls humanity.

You, (Y/N) (L/N), belonged to said minority. You despised your species. The way they could think they could get anything they wanted. So greedy, so narcissistic. When the news came out about the RDA, you were beyond furious. 'The past is the past. Let it go' they said when they spoke about history— slavery. Yet look at this, the past just repeats itself in different scenarios. 'The government wouldn't do that' some didn't believe it, no one could be that cruel in their eyes. Living in their fantasy world and not being realistic. The government would do it, definitely. Anything for getting their greedy hands on any form of money. Being around ignorant people isn't your cup of tea. 'It doesn't affect me', say the same people that found apologizing about slavery bullshit. The same people that didn't care about climate change and global warming. You didn't deem yourself fit, but you wanted to do something to help the innocent natives. They didn't do anything to deserve that kind of treatment, so you went against the greedy hands. You got questioned, interviewed and monitored for at least a year until you were allowed into the organization. You were beyond enthralled to know you could finally be useful.

You soon started training at the organization with a few others that got accepted for their loyalty and perseverance, but it was no usual military training. You all learned about life on Pandora, you and the others that had potential in them learned to live like the people of Pandora: the bow and arrow, spears, but also hand-to-hand combat if anything were to go wrong. The training honestly went great, you didn't regret taking this step for one bit. You felt fit and worthy, and most importantly you found people around you that had the same mindset as you about this whole ordeal. You had friends that went through this entire process with you, telling each other about their lives and how they ended up here. While they were almost like warriors following orders, every night the group would sneak away to be like teenagers again, kids having fun and playing games. For a long time, it was the same routine. Wake up, eat, and train for almost the entire day, do homework, have dinner, sneak out, and sleep. The homework might have been one of your favorite parts of this training. It was to learn the language of the people, Na'vi. It took some time to master it, as you weren't very familiar with pronounciation. "Oel nati kamy?", your voice sounded unsure as you tried to say the formal way of greeting someone in Na'vi, but you earned a slap against your forehead in return from one of your friends. "No, it's Oel Ngati Kameie, skxwang!"

Years of training together ended up being so worth it, because when all of you reached the end of your teenage years, it got announced that you were finally ready to head to Pandora. You 'graduated' as one of the finest warriors of your class. You felt so delighted to know that all of your hard work paid off in the end. The day that you would finally get shot into space and sent to Pandora to fulfill your duty, you felt the adrenaline travel through your body as you felt incredibly nervous. You were about to leave everyone you have ever known behind on planet Earth to fight for your norms and values. What will feel like only a few years to you, will be a decade for your friends and family. Saying goodbye, definitely was hard. The resistance thought that it was best to not say goodbye on the day you were to leave, but a few days before that. They reasoned it would have been harder to leave your loved ones behind and you actually second that. A lot of tears were shed, but everyone was proud of you for standing behind you thought was correct. This was only a temporary duty, as you would get sent back to earth once you fulfilled your duties, but what if you wanted to stay? In the books, you read and learned that Pandora was like something unrealistic, out of a fairy tale. What if you would want to stay instead and guard said fairy tale til your last breath? You all follow your superiors' suit to the air travel that will sent all of you to your final destination, putting your stuff where they tell you to. With no seconds left to spare, they immediately tell you to follow them to your tubes, you were getting put into cryosleep. You still couldn't believe it. They were going to put you to sleep for six years and you're gonna wake up looking the same, but temporarily living in a dream world you trained your entire teen years for. You lay down in your tube, ready to get put to sleep. The nerves were truly getting to you. "See you on the other side!", you jokingly said to lift up the mood, and your friends started joking around, telling one another goodbyes and what they should do if one of them doesn't wake up. You just lay there quietly, closing your eyes as you waited to get put to sleep.

What actually took six years didn't feel like that to you at all. One moment you closed your eyes as you were put into cryosleep and after what felt like one second passed, you got woken up from your deep slumber. The claustrophobic space you are in makes something inside of you itch. Good thing you were into cryosleep, you couldn't have survived sleeping in this tube every night for six years in a row. Once your tube was pulled out of the wall, you immediately feel yourself floating. So this is what space felt like.

"Drink and eat lots, since you will feel very weak!", a loud voice echoes through the room as one by one everyone left their cryosleep. You float through the room with a smile on your face as you hold onto handles, lockers, anything to keep your balance. An excited scream could be heard from behind you, it was your friend Siria. "You are not dead I see," she jokes as she floats towards you, her arms wide open to invite you in a hug, "this is honestly insane, I can't believe that we are actually doing this!" You wrap your arms around you as you share her excitement, "I know right? We worked so hard for this, I can't believe this is happening." You met Siria on your first day being at the resistance base. She shared her passion for nature with pride and you always admired her for this. A cough is heard behind your back and Siria looks over your shoulder to see who it was, "Kai!" she squeals as she carefully gets out of your hug, floating towards their other friend to engulf him in a hug. You watch as Siria and Kai share their excitement with each other. They really didn't age at all while being in cryosleep, such an interestingly concept it was. You float towards them, holding onto Kai's shoulder to keep your balance and not pass out, because damn they were right. You feel so tired and weak. If you weren't in space right now you probably would have fallen to the floor. Your limbs felt like cooked noodles, you really needed to eat. "The trio is back at it again to cause havoc!!" Kai ruffles your head, your hair tangling in between his fingers as he did so. The three of you were the inseparable trio. While you had a group of friends you hung out with, you three always just stuck together like glue. It may have been the fact you bonded over being reckless warriors, thriving on the thrill and action, or the fact all three of you were top students, but that doesn't matter. Siria and Kai are your partners in crime til death do you all part. The two are engaged in a deep conversation, but you didn't bother to listen or chime in. You wanted to explore, and see what you worked your entire teenagehood for. Grabbing onto the handle against the walls, you made your way towards the huge window, were also most of the crew was floating around. You had to see this for yourself, you had to believe it with your own eyes. What if you were still dreaming?

"Excuse me, Pardon me!", still not used to not having any gravity, you keep bumping into other warriors. A 'watch where you're going!' was screamed your way, but you paid no mind to it as you had more important things to do. Floating past the last person that kept you from seeing outside, your eyes immediately widen at the beauty that lay in front of you. A planet, looking exactly like earth, right in front of you. It was beautiful, the true meaning behind mother nature. You bring your hand towards your cheek to pinch yourself, was this real? Were you truly experiencing this? When you pinched yourself so hard, leaving a red mark on your skin, and you didn't wake up you knew this was real. You were knocked out of your senses pretty quickly, as everyone was told to dress up, eat and get together in the common area. Where that was? No idea, but what you knew is that you were excited as hell. You basically swam through the air towards the lockers, where your supposed gear would be. The sight was probably incredibly silly, you thought, you probably looked like a swimming frog. Yet you didn't care about the stares that were given you. The only thing on your mind was to see Pandora with your own eyes- not out of books, notes you had to read, or drawings. You left without telling Kai or Siria, but you would probably find them, considering you're going to the same destination and those two definitely weren't to miss.

You float past all the lockers with nameplates, looking for your name. You proceed to float, using the lockers to pull yourself up and speed up towards the lockers that start with your last initial. Upon floating in front of the locker that had your last name written on top of it, you slam the locker open in excitement. Clothes sealed in recycled plastic, a pair of shoes, and an oxygen mask. Fortunately, it wasn't those old aquarium-like masks. When you learned about those you thought they were ugly as hell: a head in an aquarium. Those were designed like gas masks. Was that the best way to explain them? They only covered the mouth and nose part to breathe properly, it didn't cover the entire face anymore. You flash a skeptical expression towards the clothes in your arms. They were dark colors, dark colors in a hot amazon-like forest? If it were up to you, you wouldn't have chosen a little more, bare, clothes. For the sweat to at least dry up and not soak in the clothes. "Weird choice of clothes, right?", Siria appeared next to you, out of the blue, making you flinch. You quickly managed to cover it up and compose yourself, "I'm gonna end up looking like a crab while fighting a villain, kind of embarrassing." she laughs at your reply and grabs a hold of your forearm, "come on let's go change. Kai already went to change!" And with that, your friend pulls you with her. Changing your clothes was kind of awkward. The room was a big space where all women changed next to one another. It gave PE class vibes. You felt sticky and disgusting as you changed out of the clothes you wore for six years. Wearing fresh, clean clothes is always better than nothing. The material feels nice against your skin, and very cooling. As you look in the mirror, fixing every detail to look as neat as possible. You roll your sleeves up just a tad bit and tried to loosen the corset-like clothing piece around your upper body. It doesn't look exactly like a corset, but it's one of those clothing pieces that have a corset built into it. The mask is hanging against your hip, ready to be used 24/7 once you stepped foot on Pandora. The pants were a little wide thankfully, enough space to move into.

"What is it with the corset though? Who wears a corset while fighting?"

"Maybe it's bulletproof or something?"

After this whole ordeal in the dressing room with some people whining about the clothes being too hot, while others were second guessing if the outfit was nice to fight in, you finally made your way towards this common area. There everyone was awkwardly sitting, what one could call sitting in space. Everyone was given a granola bar to snack on and a sealed bag with a sweet drink in it. You leaned against Kai, as you were too tired to use your strength to hold onto anything. Eating the bar and sipping from the overly-sweetened drink, you listened to the peptalk your superiors were giving you all. They were mainly talking about how the RDA is sending more backup and technology, so it will be very tough to defeat them. There was also something about dead marines in Avatar bodies that really got your interest. The resistance's insider got this information the moment your air travel left to Pandora. Shit really is about to go down soon, so there is no time to dwell and laze around.

What almost felt like a decade to you, actually took just a few hours before you finally landed on Pandora. During the landing all, maybe twenty of you in total, were seated as you braced for impact. It wasn't too bad, it was like a plane landing. Before the doors opened, the duffel bags you took with you were placed on your laps. You were allowed to take your most important stuffs and put it in this bag. So what did you take? Your phone and Polaroid camera. I mean, you were barely twenty and missed a lot of your childhood, a little living and enjoying Pandora's scenery couldn't be too bad? You put your mask against your face, pressing it down and securing it as you breathe in the oxygen from the earth. Red lights flash through the area you're in with the others as the secured door lowers to the Pandorean ground, revealing the beauty of mother nature. You rise from your seat as your seat belt was already unclasped. Without waiting any longer, you rushed to the outside world in a heartbeat. Watching your surroundings, it seems like you landed on the resistance base. Unlike the RDA base, which you saw during your learning process, this one was more integrated with mother nature rather than destroying it to make space. It was so organic, so natural. A team was already waiting for your arrival, all standing in a row as you lock gazes with a Na'vi. Unlike the things you were taught about Na'vi clothing, this one was wearing human clothes. This was an avatar, the ones the RDA founded. If this already got you excited, imagine what will happen if you met a Na'vi.

You all greeted them in the formal Na'vi way. The sun was burning your skin as you listened to your superiors talk, but the fresh wind blowing through the air made you feel at home. "All of you here, thank you so much for being here and help the Na'vi." One of the people spoke. You learned that she was of importance to the resistance. "Over the past six years, while all of you where in cryosleep, we have decided where all of you will settle and with whom. RDA's focus is on the forest, so that is where we will place you at. We will divide you over the different forest clans, who are aware of your arrival and help." The warriors in front of you held a file, as they all opened it up and divided you all into teams. You waited patiently with your arms behind your back. You were pretty confident about where you would be placed at. Surely it would be a clan where you would come of great use, right?

"And last, for the Omatikaya clan. The top three warriors of the class: warrior (Y/N), warrior Kai and warrior Siria. Ending on top of the class in both theories and physical, they will get placed into the clan in the most danger: the clan with RDA traitor Jake Sully. You will be taken with Norm, who is of importance to the Omatikaya clan." So Norm was his name. A pretty goofy one if you had to be honest. The avatar named Norm stood at least 10 feet tall as he looked down at all of you, literally. You just reached around his crotch area, which is kinda embarrassing because imagining running into his front. Hopefully, he likes to travel in his human body more. "Then that's settled, Oel Ngati Kameie." His hand rested against his forehead, slowly bringing it down to his chest as he watched the three of you proudly, who were standing at front confidently. You flashed him a kind smile in return, ready for whatever adventure you will come across, "Oel Ngati Kameie."

Before you knew it, you were on your way to high camp, the base of the Omatikaya clan. Since the doors of the helicopters were slid open, you could peek out of the helicopter and admire the beauty of Pandora. Your eyes lit up as you saw mother nature herself and the animals that lived within it. It was something so magical, something unbelievable. A group of birds flew past you and you looked back at them in awe. It was a species you never saw before, a species that doesn't exist on planet Earth. "Are those the hallelujah mountains?!?" Kai almost fell out of his seat at the sight, heading over to your body that was basically sitting at the edge of the helicopter. He took a seat next to you as he threw his arm around your shoulders, "they're floating, like literally!" You reached for your bag, taking your Polaroid camera out and snapping a pretty picture of the sight. The Polaroid left the bottom of the camera and you ripped it off, shaking it to make the picture appear, "this is going to be in my travel journal." You announced proudly as you stared at the way the ink slowly faded in. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this, I might throw up and pass out!" Siria leaned back as her head tolled back as well, as if accepting it all if she died right now. Norm watched the three youngsters with proud smiles on his face. He remembered being this excited himself when he first got to Pandora and saw the beauty for himself, "we are almost there kids, brace yourself. You will be staying at high camp to integrate with the Omatikaya." A squeal left Siria's lips as you could only watch the horizon,

excited for what's about to come.

A/N: hii!! Thank you sm for reading! This was an introduction type of part, so it's similar to the introduction of "You're dead to me". Do not worry, this is a Neteyam x reader so he's coming in the next part. Stay tuned and let me know what you thought. <3

comment on the TAGLIST if you want to get tagged for this series.

Taglist in the comments!!

#neteyam sully #neteyam te suli tsyeyk'itan #neteyam x reader #neteyam #neteyam x human reader #neteyam x human!reader #avatar the way of water #avatar #chaethewriter #opposites attract #avatar x you #avatar x reader

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the-final-sif · 1 year

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Hiya! I just saw the QSMP post you made and I have a genuine question! If you can't answer me yourself, it's totally fine, it's just that you seemed to know something about this.

I'm from central Europe, and looking at the mob from the modpack, I never would have guessed that it was offensive in any way whatsoever. To me it just looked like a fantasy creature based on tribes or very very old human history (like uhh.. neanderthals for example). My question is, what part of the mob is offensive? Is it based on something that exists? I'm just really trying to see what I should avoid for future reference. Again, I absolutely mean no harm, this was just my first time hearing about this.

Hello!

So, first up, I want to say that nothing I'm going to go into next should be taken with any sort of malice. It's really really good that when you saw something and didn't understand it and you went to ask questions to understand the topic better! That's wonderful! I am very proud of you for taking that step!

I will also preface this discussion with a general disclaimer that I am white, the reason I've made these posts is because native people who I follow and am friends with were hurt by the really racist portrayal but didn't feel comfortable risking harassment. I am completely fine with risking harassment, and I want my friends' hurt to be acknowledged and addressed. That being said, there's millions upon millions of different indigenous people from all different places and backgrounds. They live all over the world and they are not a single unified voice. My goal here is to just give a rough overview of some of the basics.

That being said, when you say "it just looked like a fantasy creature based on tribes or very very old human history (like uhh.. neanderthals for example)." that's honestly kind of a big part of why this imagery is so racist. Because it is based on tribes. It's a racist conglomerate of indigenous/tribal cultures that all get bundled into an age old racist "savages" trope. These cultures are not dead, they are not gone, they are not primitive or a relic of history, and they deserve the same respect as any other culture.

"savages" and "brutes" are both extremely racist stereotypes of indigenous cultures. Through history it's been used to justify colonization and genocide throughout the world. Nowadays, people often attempt to portray tribes and indigenous cultures as either gone or archaic. Just a thing of history. Ignoring the fact that there are still people that belong to these cultures who deserve to have their histories treated with respect & to not have their cultures and images treated like some sort of monster.

The mobs in question have a stereotypical "tribal" look to them, and they attack players on sight that don't look like them (until you murder them and take their masks). The resemblance was bad enough that the streamers I heard were all calling these "natives". It was very obvious what they were supposed to represent. An idea of native people as primitive savages that player can (and are encouraged to) murder without consequence or feeling bad for their actions.

In fact, in order to be able to trade with or not be attacked by the mobs, you have to murder them to get their masks. It's really bad. You can also murder and enslave their "Chief". Which is. Bad. It's really bad.

Now, just to be clear, Quackity/the other streamers didn't create the mod. However, it should've never been added to the server, and streamers should address the way that they reacted to the mobs. FitMC in particular reacted very racistily and clearly knew what he was mocking when he did.

Overall, this mob is a deeply racist stereotype, and while it's inclusion was probably accidental, it's still very important that Quackity be an adult about it, take responsibility, apologize & set out a plan going forward so this doesn't happen again. That's his job as the owner of the server. FitMC also needs to apologize for the comments that he made and do better in the future, or Quackity needs to remove him from the server because that shit really wasn't okay.

Hopefully that's helpful? It's something that's kinda hard to explain how racist the imagery is because of how bad it is.

#sif answers #feminetomboy #qsmp #qsmp quackity #quackity #qsmp fitmc #fitmc #sif speaks

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trans-cuchulainn · 3 months

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What do you think about using Irish as a stand-in for a dying Indigenous language in a Gaelic-inspired fantasy story? It would be spoken by sí, but also just be the native language colonialism has done a lot of damage to. If you don't have the time/spoons to answer this, completely understand and I appreciate you just having your ask box open and taking the time to read this. No ill will meant, your earlier post is just making me reconsider things. I am am Irish person, but I've been living abroad most of my life.

i am not the irish police or anything but i think it is worth considering the impact of continuing to use irish in fantasy as an unnamed magical or dead language that belongs to the distant past without naming and acknowledging it as a real language that real people speak everyday in the real world

because a lot of people will see this unnamed language and think "this is a fictional language" or "this is a dead language" and then when they see irish IRL it will seem magical and mystical and they won't think about it as something entwined with politics and language rights and funding and people's everyday existence

and a lot of them will also not realise it is irish at all. it is obviously difficult in a fantasy setting to refer to things by their real names but you can often tell the difference between an author with knowledge of irish who has deliberately chosen to use it to evoke certain real world parallels, and an author who has borrowed it because they think it's mystical and none of their readers will be able to understand it (and part of the difference comes from how the reader is cued to experience that language and indeed whether it appears to occur to the author that the reader might well understand every word of it)

there are certainly ways to use Irish in fantasy that are respectful and whatever, but i would caution that having otherworld beings be the speakers (i assume this is what you mean by "sí" although usually the word needs a person word with it since it refers to the place not its inhabitants, hence aes sidhe, daoine sidhe etc) and presenting the language as a "dying" language feels like it falls into some of those harmful tropes

(irish in the real world is a minority language, but it is also language with a growing number of urban speakers, new words being coined all the time, influencers and social media as gaeilge, growing support for language rights in the north, etc. that doesn't mean it's not endangered. but it does mean it is not a relic of the past found only in forgotten villages that haven't changed in 100 years, and the popular depiction of it hasn't really caught on to that fact)

but also i'm not the irish police. i'm not even irish. the language is not in my blood, i just went out and chose to learn it bc it interests me (maybe this is part of why i resist the Magical Language Of Our Ancestors spiel so much)

#answered #anonymous #irish

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geyadronedihada · 8 months

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Here’s to Old Gods of Appalachia for being the first rpg/fantasy I’ve ever seen do this???? Based

Text: ‘Land Acknowledgment

We would like to acknowledge the many Indigenous peoples who are the original inhabitants of the lands in which this game is set, including the nations of Eriechronon (Erie), Haudenosaunee (Iroqouis/Six Nation), Iswa (Catawba), Kanien kehá:ka (Mohawk), Lenni Lenape (Delaware), Onödowá ga: (Seneca), S'atsoyaha (Yuchi), Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee), Susquehannock (Conestoga), Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee/East), Wyandot (Huron), and others. We pay our respects to those true stewards of these hills and hollers who left their mark on this land before it was taken from them.

For additional information, visit the Native Land website and app at https://native-land.ca/‘

#old gods of appalachia #RPGs

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thydungeongal · 26 days

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I was thinking about searching for Oriental Adventures because to my understanding it's not as much a setting as its a sourcebook for vaguely Postclassical East Asian settings, but I am kind of worried regarding Gygax's reputation. Like not everything that he wrote about non-European (or demi-human) cultures is horrible, at least not the way it was presented to me through second-hand sources, but plenty of things were, so like, is Oriental Adventures specifically horrible?

(Also from reading tvtropes for Greyhawk it apparently featured not only first instance of dark elves redemption but they weren't even inherently evil, just subjects of an evil god, and also while small an entire population of good orcs coexisting with humans, and that Gygax's plan was to dedicate more and more time to developing non-European regions. But also it mentioned that most orcs were even more monstrous than in mainstream fantasy, that the equivalent of South American civilisations was some kind of ancient degenerate empire and that Greyhawk had an equivalent of Indigenous people of North America who were an option for PCs but also it didn't say anything about them being treated respectfully so. Like obviously being racist is not aligning yourself with some gold standard of racism, people can be racist only towards certain groups or in more subtle ways, but this confusion is basically the reason I even consider searching for Oriental Adventures)

This is sadly way outside my wheelhouse because I haven't read Oriental Adventures 1e and even if I had I'm not the right person to critique whether it's good or bad or somewhere in between.

I did however remember having heard about an all-Asian TTRPG podcast having done a deep dive into it, and was able to find it pretty quick! I recommend you give them a listen! :)

youtube

As far as Gygax's own attitudes go, he was very opinionated about his own idea of what lawful and good meant in the universe of his game and in his opinion it could accommodate the killing of noncombatants provided they were "evil humanoids," and the justification for this was "nits make lice," which is a phrase historically used to justify the killing of Native children. This was in 2005 and the way the answer was framed was that this was his opinion of the way this issue would be seen in-universe, but the vibes are still off. I don't think this was necessarily an indication of his own moral outlook (he may have personally found these ideas abhorrent but considered that within the setting of the game these ideas would be accepted as aspirational), but even then the most charitable reading I can give it is that his way of articulating it was highly insensitive.

#thydungeongal answers

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onegoodscare · 2 years

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Prey (AKA Predator 5) is live on Hulu (US) & Disney+ (UK) right now!

Set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago, “Prey” is the story of a young woman, Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.

“Prey” is directed by Dan Trachtenberg, written by Patrick Aison (“Jack Ryan,” “Treadstone”), and produced by John Davis (“Jungle Cruise,” “The Predator”) and Jhane Myers (“Monsters of God”), with Lawrence Gordon (“Watchmen”), Marty Ewing (“It: Chapter Two”), James E. Thomas, John C. Thomas and Marc Toberoff (“Fantasy Island”) serving as executive producers.

The filmmakers were committed to creating a film that provides an accurate portrayal of the Comanche and brings a level of authenticity that rings true to its Indigenous peoples. Myers, an acclaimed filmmaker, Sundance Fellow and member of the Comanche nation herself, is known for her attention and dedication to films surrounding the Comanche and Blackfeet nations and her passion for honoring the legacies of the Native communities. As a result, the film features a cast comprised almost entirely of Native and First Nation’s talent, including Amber Midthunder (“The Ice Road,” “Roswell, New Mexico”), newcomer Dakota Beavers, Stormee Kipp (“Sooyii”), Michelle Thrush (“The Journey Home”), Julian Black Antelope (“Tribal”).

#Predator #Yautja #Prey #Prey Movie #Amber Midthunder

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athousandlights · 2 months

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Note: We’re Arab, not Native American, so listen to their opinions on this before ours.

I wanted to have hope that Outlaws of Thunder Junction would be handled well, or even just not awfully. But the evidence is starting to rack up, folks, and it aint pretty:

At MagicCon, Blake Rasmussen (mtg’s Senior Communications Manager) said that, “everyone’s a newcomer to Thunder Junction.”

Also at that MagicCon panel, Aaron Forsythe (VP of Magic Design) called it an “unspoiled land.”

Mark Rosewater (mtg Head Designer) says that, “prior to omen paths [sic], it was uninhabited.”

Could this just be three white guys saying White Guy Things? Sure. Especially since they’ve all shown themselves in the past to be kinda uninformed on the particulars of their product’s storyline. But it’s not a great look.

The narrative that lands are uninhabited and ripe for plunder is inextricable from the American colonial genocide of indigenous nations (which has never stopped). This is especially the case in a setting based on the American West, rife with the trappings of the imperialist genre of American Westerns, and fraught with the colonialist propaganda of “frontier fantasy.” For this world, they’ve even created an ethnic group explicitly based on the Diné nation, per the official MTG Twitter account. Yet they still chose to center the set’s story around the genocidal selling point of “exploring uninhabited lands to find untold treasure and fortune.”

Yes, they’ve said they used cultural consultants. And, sure, that’s gone well-ish (though not without great flaws) for NEO and LCI. But whatever influence those consultants were allowed to have on OTJ, it was clearly not enough. Because holy shit, even the (otherwise amazing) side story, No Tells, says, “Thunder Junction’s a new plane, one that’s still beginning.” (Do NOT go hating on the author; I doubt he had control over that level of worldbuilding.)

All of this has shattered my hope in the set being respectful, or even not actively harmful. You can say, “wait and see,” and we will, but we’ve seen a lot already—and gang, it has not looked good.

#Glittancy #Yasmin #Fifi #mtg #magic the gathering #outlaws of thunder junction #mtg community #mtg lore #vorthos #mtg spoilers #mtgcommunity #mtgotj #colonialism #indigenous #genocide #america is committing genocide #racism #imperialism #magic the card game

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neechees · 1 year

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I searched through your blog to see if you've answered a question like this before - if you have I missed it so sorry if I'm making you repeat yourself ^^

Are there things you see in Indigenous characters in media that you wish were less common ? What about things you want to see more in Indigenous characters in media ?

I dont think I have actually so you're fine! :)

So this is just my opinion obvi & some ppl might not agree with everything below, but here are some tropes or really common devices I see in Indigenous characters I hate and/or would like to see less of:

Interracial relationships but ONLY White person/Native person. I don't think this should stop or not be portrayed at all, but at this point it feels like we have more interracial relationships featuring a white person than we actually do depicting relationships between even Native people with each other. ESPECIALLY NATIVE WOMEN PAIRED WITH A WHITE MAN. God I am so sick of it, please give us Native/poc & Native/Native relationships for once, I promise it happens irl

That trope where a White person joins a Native tribe & essentially becomes one of them. For similar reasons as above, and again I don't think this portrayal should stop 100% & it's not necessarily "bad", but I'd like to see more diversity or a different approach to it. It seems like most of these are inspired by historical accounts of this happening irl, but most aren't historical depictions of actual historical people, which I actually WOULD like to see (White or not) more of, instead of just fiction. Also just kinda seems like wish fulfillment with White audiences who have a fetishization of Native people sometimes. Maybe I also hate it so much since it very often goes in with the white savior narrative too

Native women being brutalized on screen, oh my god. Seeing this over & over as a Native woman is literally so retraumatizing. A lot of times it gets to torture porn or voyeuristic, & wasn't even necessary to begin with. I don't care if it's to show how "bad" things are for us, I know, show it some other way.

White ppl making shit off of our Spirits & legends. Just leave us alone. They never get it right.

Just a lot of Native tropes in general because they're overdone. The Noble savage? Indian burial ground? Booooring. Unoriginal. Lazy.

Things I want to see MORE of:

This is just me because I LOVE history, but more historical Native settings BUT, set during Pre-colonization & precolombus. So many historic films about us are during colonization & being persecuted, & I think this is why so many Native people hate films with ndns set in history (in addition to making it seem like we ONLY exist in the past, which is fair), & other than that, makes it seem like our history begins & ends with being colonized

More badass Native ladies. I wanna see Native women who are femme fatales, wrestlers, assassins, martial artists, warriors, gunslingers, athletes, the works. I wanna see untouchable, dangerous Native women.

More fantasy & horror stuff I'm begging, I'm on my knees

The list for what we should STOP seeing in Native characters is honestly shorter because of 1. how severely underrepresented we are, and 2. Where we DO have rep has a lot of tropes that are very very overdone & constantly reuses those tropes, (besides the much lesser known, obscure stuff made by us for us, which isn't as high in number by comparison) so like the list for what we SHOULD try is literally so big I'll just end it here

#ndn

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liesmyth · 1 year

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do you have any book recommendations? anything like the locked tomb or just fantasy/science fiction in general? :)

Hi anon I LOVE GIVING BOOK RECS!

Unfortunately I haven’t found anything quite like TLT, but when you break it into main themes some other series come close. So, if you liked The Locked Tomb for…

Morally ambiguous lesbians and oppressive empires? Try The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. I love Baru as a character and I love and what the book does with themes of cultural assimilation and how the road to a righteous goal is paved with moral compromises until you’re not sure you’re still on the right path. Content warning for institutional homophobia, which affects the plot and the main character. It’s never gratuitous, but it’s pretty much the opposite of TLT under that point of view so heads up.

Unique worldbuilding, queer characters, distinctive sense of place in a land that was once Earth? Try The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin. This isn’t to everybody’s tastes (usually people love it or hate it) but it does some VERY cool things with scifi and deservedly won a Hugo.

Intricate worldbuilding, necromancy, gothic vibes? Try The Bone Orchard by Sara Mueller. This definitely hits the same “confused and confusing female main character who doesn’t know her own mind” vibes as HtN, which can be good or bad depending on your tastes, but the necromancy bits are fantastic.

Oppressive planetary empires and queer characters? Try A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. This too is about cultural assimilation and has a main murder mystery plot. Space opera about a young diplomat in a precarious position who is sort of sharing her mind space with someone else. Bonus: fun scifi worldbuilding based on some lesser-known historical empires.

Other SFF I read or reread in 2022

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett for worldbuilding, shady empires, female MC, urban fantasy vibes with a strong sense of place and a murder mystery thrown in for flavour.

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge. YA fantasy with horror vibes that I very much enjoyed as an adult not usually keen on YA. There are scary eldritch gods, toxic relationships with a hopeful ending, excellent fantasy worldbuilding, a really solid sense of civilization (especially the Deaf culture of the divers that is really interwoven in the setting). Sea monsters! Secrets! Street urchins! This is one of my all-time favourites.

The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik, starting with A Deadly Education; the third book came out two weeks after Nona and it gave me emotional whiplash, because (spoiler!) the angry goth girl gets to be happy in this one! YA, very vivid very fun worldbuilding, spunky teenage heroine with a cynical disposition and death powers.

Obligatory rec for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell just because it’s one of those books that make me feel like I’m a richer person for having read them. It’s an impressive alternate history fantasy, the writing is masterful, the fae villain is unsettling and inhumanly evil, the mundane villains (pettiness, spite, centuries-old institutions) provide excellent dramatic irony. Everyone is insufferable in a petty way that’s also endlessly entertaining, and the two titular characters are absolutely obsessed with each other. The prose is a pastiche and tremendously well written. My only nitpick is that there are way too many men. I get why, given the setting the premise and the characters, and I loved the book, but since this rec originated with an ask about TLT I feel like I have to clarify that the gender ratio is pretty much the polar opposite.

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones if you like spunky teenage girl protagonists, poetically described gore, critique of colonialism and indigenous displacement. This is a horror thriller not a sff, sent in the contemporary US, and it’s basically a love letter to the horror movie genre + Native American folk legends. Reccing it anyway because YMMV but to to me it really hit some of the spots that HtN does. (Content warning for off-screen CSA)

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. Speculative fiction thriller, lots of jumping between alternate timelines and wondering what exactly is going on. It’s not flawless but it’s unabashedly weird in a very fun, very unique way that I really appreciated.

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng. Unique worldbuilding, distinct narrative voices, gothic vibes, weird religious imagery. Fantasy historical fiction about cruel inhuman fae, the worldbuilding is brilliant and very vivid (and what an aesthetic it is!), the story is fucked up in a delicious way, and the prose is a delightful Brontë pastiche. Content warnings for consensual sibling incest and Christian missionaries on a mission of “civilization” through faith (it’s not portrayed in a positive way but the colonialism is definitely there).

[I only flagged content warnings that aren't canon-typical for TLT, but definitely more apply. If you need clarification on a specific book HMU]

#reading recs #reading list #the traitor baru cormorant #teixcalaan #the broken earth #the scholomance #ask #anonymous #@anon if you've read any of these and have Opinions whether good or bad lmk #so i can narrow it down to tailor made recs AND have an excuse to do more BookTalk #baru cormorant

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tosahobi-if · 3 months

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different anon, if it's okay with you, i'm interested in how you come up with the names! i've been using random generators but perhaps seeing a different approach is what i need...

this took me forever to answer and i'm so sorry about that, but this is about to be a lengthy post so strap in!

i'll give an overview of korean names and i'll explain some ideas for how you can go about naming your characters! for now i'll stick to korean names, but i've also done research into go-on kanji and chinese given names during the late three kingdoms period, so i can offer a little bit of help on those if people are curious about those as well! i can't promise it'll be as comprehensive tho hehe

a "brief" overview: modern korean names are made up of a surname followed by a given name. for the period tosahobi is set in it was exceedingly common to NOT have a last name. historical records state that last names typically only belonged to nobility and/or royalty, hence why certain characters have last names (jinwol) and other characters don't (yul). korean names are written with hangul, which was invented in 1443 however murim stories are an amalgamation of historical fact and fantasy, which is why i used the "modern" naming system.

korean was originally written using chinese characters. that's why there are typically two versions of a korean name, one in hangul and one in hanja. there are tens of thousands of characters in chinese and many of them have similar sounds which can be differentiated by intonation.

rather than being read logographically, korean is phonographic (modern korean no longer has intonations and different phonemes than chinese) so the same reading can be attached to different characters. (this is called sino-korean!)

hangul was designed to simplify the language to spread literacy to the population. each character represents a sound, and written together they form a syllable. for example, jin (진) has multiple hanja (進, 鎭, 眞, 振, etc.) and are all read as just jin, but in mandarin, they could be read as jìn, zhēn, chén, and so on.

thus korean names are chosen in hangul (ex; jinwol or 진월) then each syllable is assigned a hanja which carries the sound of the syllable used, but carries a corresponding meaning! i did a little breakdown of the hanja used in jinwol's name here!

some things to think about: if you take away anything here, it's that there's no single definition for any name! the components of a name make up the meaning. unless it's a name like yul with a singular character, the two syllables can be built to signify a wideeee variety of things. (that's why you shouldn't trust Name Your Baby sites that are like xyz means This Exactly HAHA!)

gender! hangul names are typically gender neutral, however, hanja can sometimes denote birth gender as there are masculine, feminine, and neutral character radicals. (ex the syllable "yeon" is gnc, but with the hanja 延 (to stretch, lengthen) it can be seen as masculine since that's a more "masculine" quality whereas the hanja 媛 (beauty) it is seen as feminine.)

there are indigenous korean names that come from native korean words being used as names. iseul is one such example! her name 이슬 means "dew" and does not have a corresponding hanja.

important!!! one can still assign arbitrary hanja to syllables, which is why in iseul's case i chose corresponding characters that i thought suited her personality! vibes are a really easy way to go about it. the hanja i chose for "i" (이) is 怡 for joy and 瑟 as in the guse, (known in korea as a seul) which is a type of zither. all together her name signifies "rejoicing at the pleasing sound of the guse".

how i make a name: names are usually one or two characters, for example, iseul is (怡 and 瑟) while yul (律) is one character. some nobility had three character given names, but since this already getting super long i won't be delving into those today.

typically i make the name in hangul first. i think you could do this in reverse (hanja -> hangul) but it'd probably be harder. most given names consist of sino-korean morphemes for each syllable, but you could def give your character a native name like iseul! (ex; garam, naro, roda)

you can theoretically choose any hanja you want (jsyk there's a korean law with a list of hanja you can't use in a name HAHAHA) parents, especially well-educated ones put together names with deep meanings and cultural references.

a common practice is to visit a naming-place where a fortune teller or a scholar (almost always a fortune teller, i've never met any naming scholars but they're out there!) they'll assist parents with hanja meanings for names after receiving information like due date estimations and personal details!

this is where elements of anthroponymy come in and they analyze things like stroke count and the five elements of nature to come up with a "beneficial" name for the child! (for example, if a child was lacking in the water element, the fortune teller could suggest a hanja related to water in some way -> balance achieved!)

vibes are a great way to name your character. one of the first things i consider is personality (are they happy? sad? thoughtful?) followed by things like birthplace (topographic names are popular!) and goals/achievements (what kind of person do i want them to become? brave? smart?) and then start looking up the hanja to attach to their name!

if this seems overwhelming, you're not alone! i take foreverrrrr to name my characters for that exact reason. names are considered very special and sacred (maybe not so much nowadays LOL) but back then they were thought to be a vital part of the soul and identity, which is why it's such a lengthy process!

anyways if you've somehow read to here, thank you so much for sticking through my (unedited) rambling. i'm really excited to be sharing this with you guys! and i'm also happy to help you guys come up with names if you send me asks or dms for your mc if you're having a hard time thinking of a name.

#anon #ch: mc #long post #i'm so sorry guys #don't click read more #unless you're ready to be hit by 1k of unedited info dumping #this took me an hour to write up JAFSJDAFJ

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lil-tachyon · 6 months

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You mentioned Clark Ashton Smith. Which of his stories would you recommend? So far I've been underwhelmed.

Context for anyone who doesn't know: Clark Ashton Smith was one of the "Big Three" of Weird Tales (the other two being Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard) and is certainly the least famous. Even if you don't know who Lovecraft or Howard are, you've probably heard of Cthulu and Conan the Barbarian. Smith is also certainly the weirdest of them all by a good margin and the most inconsistent in his writing. You pick up a Lovecraft story and 90% of the time it's going to be at least competently written and you know the broad strokes of what the content will be (unnameable cosmic horrors, nervous breakdowns, and often very explicit racism). A Smith story is just as likely to feel like it was written by an accomplished poet as it is to feel like a teenager's drivel. And it could be about wizards at the end of time, or spacewrecked astronauts, or medieval French bishops. The only consistent thing about his work is that you'll need a dictionary by your side while you read it. Get ready for words like "mephitic," "hippocephalic," and "cyclopean" to be abused in ways that even Lovecraft probably found egregious. (Emperor of Dreams? More like Emperor of Purple Prose! Haha, good joke Logan.) The bizzarity and unevenness of his output are probably the qualities that I find so engaging about it and also the things that have kept him from being as beloved as his peers into the present day.

Anyway, I haven't done a deep-dive on Smith since I read his complete works all the way through. Some of his stories are pretty fresh in my mind, but most of them I haven't read in 5-6 years. Keep all that in mind and I'll put my recommendations below the break:

"The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis": Definitely my personal favorite Smith story and probably one of his best. If you don't like this one, it's unlikely you'll be a fan. On its own a very good "ancient cosmic horror" story, what really makes it stand out is it's setting: a near-future (relative to the 1932 publication date) Mars that has been colonized (in a very 19th century sense of the word) by humans. The Martian city of Ignarh is apparently a hub for interplanetary commerce and the subaltern Martian indigenous population provide local guides for human archaeologists to study (and no doubt exploit) the ruins of ancient civilizations that abound on the planet. Smith wrote two other stories in the same setting, "The Dweller in the Gulf" and "Vulthoom" that re-tread the same plot beats but lend a little more color to the Martians themselves. A writer capable of viewing the Martians as sympathetic peoples rather than as "native savages" could've spun this setting into something truly great. Richard Corben also does a fantastic comic adaptation.

"The Abominations of Yondo": Didn't like the first recommendation? I'll take one more shot at making you a fan. "Abominations" is a very short read that manages to contain all the hallmarks of a classic Smith story. Nobody else does it like him and if you don't like it then you just don't like it.

"City of the Singing Flame": A story of inter-dimensional exploration that manages to weave together Smith's obvious love for his home state of California with his penchant for imaginary places beyond time and space. It has a sequel that I thought was okay but most people dislike. If you like this story, it's probably better to treat it as a standalone.

"A Night in Malnéant": A somber, dreary horror tale that I don't think gets enough love or at least isn't anthologized particularly often. Tones down the weirdness a bit, but in a good way.

"Isle of the Torturers": Far-future horror-fantasy that really sticks the ending. Also does the same thing as "Yoh-Vombis" where it has a setting that's only briefly introduced but could easily be spun into a full-on novel. Great Halloween read.

Off the top of my head, those are some of my personal favorites. "Return of the Sorcerer" gets anthologized a lot. It's not weird enough for me but I think it's considered one of his better stories. Similarly I'm not a big fan of his Averoigne cycle of stories (set in medieval France), but if you want some dark ages sword and sorcery, "Mother of Toads" and "The Colossus of Ylourgne" are the ones I liked best.

I'd also like to mention "The Great God Awto" which is a truly bad short story but notable for being one of the earliest pieces of anti-car fiction of which I'm aware. Predates Bradbury's "The Pedestrian" by more than a decade.

Also if you can't find any of Smith's work at your local library, check out eldritchdark.org. I believe all his fiction is available for free here as well as his visual art and other resources.

#send me an ask!#clark ashton smith #h. p. lovecraft #robert e. howard #weird fiction

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thesihaya · 5 months

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indigenous rep in modern media sucks and we really need to talk about it.

trigger warnings include: rape, violence, abuse, slurs, and general bigotry against native people

let’s start with the most (in)famous example of indigenous rep in modern film: pocahontas.

pocahontas is the most prominent modern native character and she is terrible, terrible representation. if you’re a part of the native community, i’m sure you’ve already heard of this. but in case you’re not aware, pocahontas is based on a real girl named montauke who was only 11-12 when she was taken from her home, raped. abused, and later forced into marriage with john rofle who she even had a child with. pocahontas was not even her real name, it was a nickname. disney took this story and turned it into a love story between a native girl and her colonizer. even if it wasn’t based on a true story, it’s still incredibly disrespectful and set many terrible stereotypes for native peoples and characters that are still present in modern media.

here is an article on the historical inaccuracies of pocahontas - https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/the-true-story-behind-disneys-pocahontas

now let’s move onto the general problems pocahontas created for not only native characters, but native people in real life.

pocahontas sends a bad message to not only young native girls, but all people of color by romanticizing a relationship between a woman of color and her oppressor. i’m aware this trope was around before pocahontas, but it was popularized by this movie, and the effects of it are still around to this day. popular examples of this trope are —

the second big problem with this movie is it’s portrayal of natives. the character of pocahontas is basically a walking “magical native” stereotype who talks to animals and communicates with spirits. it’s also important to note how the designs were clearly designed by a bunch of white men who probably did little to no research on natives. sadly i’m not surprised because this isn’t the first time disney has done natives wrong. i’ll save that for another post though.

now let’s get to the sexualization of pocahontas. as i said in my last point, pocahontas was clearly drawn by white men. pocahontas is hardly 18 in this movie yet she’s drawn as a typical white mans fantasy. she has big lips, curves, and long flowing hair. she has next to no native features of the time. of course natives features can vary, but her design makes absolutely no sense considering the conditions and living state of natives in the 1600’s. this is already bad enough on it’s own, but it’s especially bad considering the true story of montauke. a girl who was raped was romanticized and turned into a sex symbol centuries later…

one of the other effects of pocahontas i don’t see many people talk about is how it popularized halloween costumes of native culture (where the sexualization continues). do i even have to explain why this is terrible? OUR CULTURE IS NOT HALLOWEEN COSTUMES AND WE ARE NOT ITEMS FOR YOU TO JERK OFF TO.

last but not least, let’s talk about how it affects natives in general. as a native person, i have been compared to pocahontas my whole life. it’s easy to write it off as harmless jokes or remarks, but i believe we should call this behavior out. these “jokes” are not only in horrible taste, but they’re deeply harmful to the indigenous community. the name “pocahontas” is one of the most common insults for native people.

all this stems from one film, a glamorized & romanticized adaptation of a real girl’s story. to even call it an “adaptation” is a stretch. this film is an insult to the indigenous community and everything our ancestors went through.

#pocahontas #anti pocahontas #disney #anti disney #indigenous #indigineous people #indigenous awareness #native american #awareness

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moniquill · 1 year

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https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/706010/to-shape-a-dragons-breath-by-moniquill-blackgoose/

“To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose is an early contender for the best fantasy novel of 2023. It’s one of those books that you have to thrust into the hands of everyone you know, just so you’ll have people to talk about it with. An Indigenous girl, Anequs, finds an egg, which hatches to produce a dragon that’s bonded to her — but according to the laws of the Anglish, who’ve colonized this alternate version of North America, Anequs must go to a special school to learn to control her baby dragon. If she fails her classes, her dragon, Kasaqua, will be slaughtered. What follows is reminiscent of R.F. Kuang’s “Babel”: Anequs is one of two Indigenous people at an elite school full of colonizers, who expect her to assimilate to their more “civilized” mores — but Anequs resists any suggestion that her own people’s knowledge or culture is inferior. Blackgoose’s worldbuilding is rich and fascinating, from the Norse-inspired Anglish culture, to the complex layers of Anequs’s society on Naquipaug island, to the alchemical properties of dragons’ exhalations. But what makes “Dragon’s Breath” such an absorbing read is Anequs herself: clever, resourceful, generous and uncompromising in the face of colonial condescension. This novel has garden parties and classroom scenes that are more suspenseful than most books’ epic battles.”

—The Washington Post

“[To Shape A Dragon’s Breath] has strong The Traitor Baru Cormorant vibes… it will reshape epic fantasy itself, in addition to the breath of a dragon.”

—LitHub

“To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is a remarkable novel that is bound to be a staple of fantasy shelves for years to come.”

—BuzzFeed

“Tender, thrilling and brimming with fire, this indigenous dragon story is one of the more exciting books I’ve had the pleasure of reading recently.”

—In Between Drafts

“Throughout the book, Blackgoose digs up the older roots of fantasy and plants new life with original ideas… a daring, entirely hot, take on dragonriders and worldbuilding… To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is one blazing epic gulp of a fantastic tale. Queer, anticolonialist, and full of dragons. Moniquill Blackgoose’s writing is easy to love: cutthroat, smooth, and reminds me of a story being told over an open fire.”

—Grimdark Magazine

“This is a classic fantasy at its finest, in which a young, underestimated outcast is introduced to a magical boarding school and all the friendships, drama, prejudice, and romance that immersion entails. The indigenous quest to maintain culture and identity within a paralyzingly restrictive imperialism determined to stamp out natives and their beliefs, and Anequs’ stubborn will to remain herself, create a fresh take on this setup and make this a must-read high-fantasy series. Blackgoose's focus on how storytelling and myth influence our culture and worldviews is also compelling. The relationships are exciting, the queer and polyamorous representation appealing, and it’s easy to fall hard for Anequs, her world, and her love for her dragon.”

—Booklist, STARRED review

“Dragons are never out of style, but To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose is set to explore them in a way that feels incredibly fresh and intriguing in this indigenous-inspired fantasy novel.”

—Fansided

“Moniquill Blackgoose combines dragon mythology with sharp commentary on colonization and the struggles of indigenous populations in "To Shape a Dragon's Breath."

—PopSugar

“The fantasy and wonder of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath started immediately. But it didn’t feel like I was thrown into the story; more like I was joining characters and a world that existed without me. To Shape a Dragon’s Breath didn’t feel like there was an on-ramp to the world or culture. It would have been difficult in many books, but Blackgoose crafted a deep culture, society, and world that felt engaging to follow.”

—Lightspeed Magazine

“Blackgoose blends Indigenous history with fantastical beasts, taking themes of inequality and social agency in new directions. An excellent crossover novel for adults and young adults alike.”

—Library Journal

“Between the social commentary (couched in the fantasy world setting), the action, and detailed world-building, there’s a lot to love. It’s an engrossing story/world, and having the Indigenous perspective makes it hit all the harder.”

—Cinelinx

“To Shape a Dragon’s Breath has so many things going for it. It centers on a queer, poly, Indigenous character, dragon-riding and a boarding school setting. With a focus on dismantling colonialism and taking back heritage, what more could you ask for in a young adult fantasy?”

—Geek Girl Authority

“Incredible.”

—BookRiot

“Brilliant.”

—The Nerd Daily

“A fantastic world with wonderful characters, dragons, and places to explore.”

—Girl Who Reads

NATIONAL PRINT

Washington Post—review—5/8

Locus—review—May 2023 issue

Booklist—STARRED review—4/15

Lightspeed Magazine—review—December 2022 issue

Library Journal—what to read in 2023—2/7

Library Journal—review—1/30

Publishers Weekly—forthcoming books by indigenous authors—1/20

Booklist—series starters spotlight—1/1

Library Journal—SFF preview 2023—11/1

ONLINE

Cinelinx—5 new books—5/9

Geek Girl Authority—new books roundup—5/9

BookRiot—new releases today—5/9

Girl Who Reads—8 new Fantasy Novels—5/9

BuzzFeed—most anticipated of spring—3/14

PopSugar—new fantasy to read in May—4/25

Fangirlish—10 LGBTQ books coming out in May—5/7

Grimdark Magazine—review—2/3

The Lesbrary—sapphic May books—5/6

Fansided—new SFF in May—5/6

Fantasy Book Café—most anticipated books of May—5/7

The Nerd daily—new May books—5/4

Ms Magazine—best new May books—5/3

io9—new May books—5/1

Tor.com—new fantasy in May—5/1

In Between Drafts—best of May—5/1

BookRiot—best of May—5/1

LitHub—Dragons, Decolonization, and More: May’s best SFF—5/1

Distractify—best of May—4/26

American Booksellers Association—Q&A—4/26

Yahoo—best of spring—3/14

Ms Magazine—most anticipated books of 2023—1/25

Reads Rainbow—most anticipated—1/25

Tor.com—most anticipated—1/18

PopSugar—most anticipated books of 2023—1/25

Geek Girl Authority—most anticipated—1/2

BookRiot—SFF debuts to watch for—12/29

Lightspeed Mag—review—12/8

LOCAL MEDIA

Arlington Magazine—best new books of May—5/1

Galesburg Public Library Blog—review—5/8

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