#poc male directors

[yourdailyqueer]

Ian Iqbal Rashid

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: Born 1968  

Ethnicity: Indian

Nationality: Tanzanian / Canadian

Occupation: Poet, writer, screenwriter, journalist, producer, director

#Ian Iqbal Rashid #qpoc #lgbt #lgbtq #mlm #male #gay #1968 #indian #asian #poc #Tanzanian #Canadian #poet #writer #screenwriter #journalist #producer #director #muslim

[omarfor-orchestra]

No hold on a second imagine if they do end up casting one of the supernatural guys. How am I supposed to feel about it

#oh my god is an english guy gonna be filippo #for the cultural thing #is he going to be called john smith #imagine if misha collins were the commander #is it gonna be called the sea outside #the ocean outside #is there an ocean in texas #IMAGINE IF THEY HAD CHOSEN ANOTHER STATE WITHOUT THE SEA IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HILARIOUS TO ME #is there gonna be references to the og show #I'm going insane thinking about this #imagine the american actors coming here to talk with the cast #imagine Nicolas what does he think about it #is there gonna be more gay sex #it is the hbo after all #who am i kidding j*red would be the guard #maybe the director #a male director? #ew #the point is I know there's only gonna be pocs in that jail because GUESS WHAT. THE FORMAT CHANGES WHEN YOU MOVE IT TO ANOTHER PLACE #oh my god #mare fuotag

[writingwithcolor]

What is Tokenism?

Tokenism refers to giving the empty appearance of inclusivity or diversity, often to avoid criticism. In writing, tokenism refers to adding minorities to an otherwise homogenous cast (think a cast of white male characters in the West) in name or appearance only, without putting in the effort to develop these characters.

The problem with tokenism is that token characters are forced to be the sole representation of their particular group. The consequence is twofold. First, undeveloped token characters often become platforms for stereotypes. Think the sassy Black friend, the smart Asian friend, etc.

Second, token characters often become creator mouthpieces. Many of us have heard someone excuse their racism by saying they have a POC friend. The token character, the proverbial Friend of Color, can be made to excuse or even promote biases about their race, ethnicity, or culture.

There is no inherent issue with having only one of a particular identity, or having a white protagonist and a POC best friend. The problem comes when you make the character a spokesperson for their identity and/or saddle them with stereotypes and cliches. To avoid tokenism, write the character from a place of empathy, make them three dimensional, do your research on their identity, and avoid stereotypes.

Further Reading:

Why We Need More Directors of Color

---

This Q&A is an excerpt from our General FAQ for Newcomers, which can be found in our new Masterpost of rules and FAQs. Take a look to learn more about writing POC representation!

-Writing With Color

#writing with color #writeblr #representation #poc representation #writers on tumblr #tokenism #writing advice #writing tips #faq

[celluloidbroomcloset]

all other criticism of taika aside, the one where people get mad he's "egotistical" always just makes me hysterical like ??? he's JOKING. he is a deeply unserious person and while i do believe he has an immense amount of pride for his work and does mean what he's saying he's hamming it up to be silly because the joke he's telling is "no one cares this much about the work of some jewish indigenous guy", he LIVES by fake it til you make it and he just so happens to live Up to the hype by being a brilliant filmmaker so people can't process it in their twitter-fried brains.

he's ironically one of the least egotistical people i've ever seen, without being parasocial he seems to be actually very anxious and reserved and has said himself he hates events and talking to people and gets nervous, and he likes to ham up the personality for laughs. like his entire reaction oh the daily show when leslie asked him if he knew he was fine and he did preen a little but every other word after was 100% a joke 😭 people loved his irreverent kiwi humour until he proved he uses it consistently himself and then they're like oh... he's an egomaniac hollywood a lister who has threesomes and cheats on his pregnant wife!!!!! all this is one hundred percent true my source is (checks hand) an anonymous gossip instagram account that anyone can submit to. like that joke he made about the bible everyone on twitter got mad about more recently.

Yeah, from what I've observed of his interviews and general sense of humor, that seems to be true (it is interesting that David Jenkins has talked about Rhys making Taika feel safer to be vulnerable, so one does wonder how much both of them use humor to protect themselves - again, though, I don't want to get into analyzing the psychology of performers or making generalizations about people I do not know).

I think you have to have a pretty strong ego to be an artist at all, especially one in an industry so heavily run on ego, where getting a film or show made in the first place is a supreme effort. My point generally is that we often celebrate white male directors and artists for their egos - "well, he's egotistical, but he's a GENIUS!" - and don't extend that to...everyone else. Everyone else needs to be humble and have humility and be grateful - and if they're not, they're difficult and self-centered and they have to be brought down a peg.

Taika is a PoC (not just that - an indigenous, Jewish) man who has been very successful and he talks a lot and often without thinking, so he's been targeted by a lot of people that seem to have a problem with him from the outset (wonder why?), who then scrutinize every statement he makes to determine if he's being a proper example of what they believe a man like him should be.

Generally, we refuse to let artists be human beings with human emotions and opinions. We especially refuse the right of humanity to anyone who isn't straight and white and cisgender and male. The number of times I've seen critics and commentators and fans explain away the absolute worst things done by white male artists and not extend even a modicum of understanding to anyone else.

This, again, is not a defense of any specific thing that Taika, or anyone else, has said or done. There are lots of artists with terrible opinions whose work I like and will continue to like, and there are lots of artists I can no longer enjoy because of what I know their opinions and actions to be. But this whole thing is shaded with racism and vitriol.

#reply #ofmd #taika waititi

[my-mt-heart]

NYCC 23 Thoughts

I know Caryl fans are more than ready to celebrate. I am too for what it's worth. Believe me, I'm so ready, but I also have concerns that some may not want or need to hear right now. And I get it. Fandom is supposed to provide a space for us to enjoy our favorite shows and characters without real life obstacles bleeding into it. My blog has really pushed those boundaries over the past year and half, so if that's not what you're looking for, feel free to scroll on by or block. If for some reason my rants are of any use to you, however, then here goes another one. Ahem.

Four middle-aged white men walk onto a stage...

…And proceed to make complete asses of themselves.

This is my biggest gripe with TWDU right now. It perpetuates the same tired, limited perspective of the upper class, middle-aged white man in not one, but all of the new spinoffs. TOWL is supposed to be about Rick and Michonne, but it's no secret Gimple favors Rick. Dead City is supposed to be about Negan and Maggie, but the showrunner only goes on and on and on about Negan/JDM in his interviews. S2 of le spinoff is supposed to be about Daryl and Carol, but...well, I'll get to that. My point is, representation offscreen matters because it affects what we see onscreen and which viewers will be drawn to watch. Personally, I didn’t feel drawn to anything during that panel, not because Melissa finally being announced isn’t exciting, but because the people speaking on her behalf always find ways to ruin the moment.

If Gimple wasn't going to talk about his show, I don't understand why he needed to be there. If it was a tradeoff, I would've rather seen Melissa up there and hear what she had to say about her own return and her own character in her own voice. If that still wasn't possible, I fully respect that, but there has to be some other way to deliver news besides constantly relying on male EPs who don't understand what her fans value about her. I worry this is how it's going to feel when I'm watching S2. I want Carol, but not a misrepresentation of her. Greg Nicotero is directing the premiere. Okay...and what about the other two blocks? Any women/POC directors? Anyone who's going to honor Carol the way she deserves instead of treating her like an extension of Daryl's story?

So, yeah. About that title. First of all, “The Book of Carol” is an odd choice in itself. The biblical allusions are annoying because they don't speak to who Carol is as a character. I’m not mad that it implies we’re getting Carol’s POV—quite the opposite—but I don’t like the confusion it’s causing either. Let’s be clear, Carol is not a short chapter in Daryl's story. She is Daryl’s story. Calling Melissa a "series regular" is extremely poor wording, and a sincere fuck you to whoever approved it for the announcement. She is a lead with EP credit and creative input. I am so sick of AMC leaving it up to the fans to debate her worth. Tell us she’s vital to the show, tell us it’s her show, and use clear language. Stop giving her haters more ammo they don't need and stop giving her fans more anxiety they really don't need.

Honestly, it would’ve been easier to accept if S2 was formally called TWD: Book of Carol. The problem is "The Book of Carol" is not the title. It's a subtitle of a (sub)title, and it's bullshit. It feels like a scam, another way to try to convince us we're getting what we want when we're not really getting much of anything. I don’t know if they're worried about false advertising since S2 won't be a Daryl and Carol story—more like a Carol story which, again, I’m not mad about as long as it leads to a reunion and canon by the end. Or maybe they’re stubbornly clinging to the belief that Daryl’s name is what sells despite the atrocious ratings suggesting otherwise. Daryl AND Carol do sell though, so why not lean all the way into it? Why risk turning the show into a laughing stock with obnoxious titles? These characters don’t deserve that.

Another thing that worries me is how it'll be promoted. As "The Book of Carol" or Daryl Dixon S2? Is it going to vary based on who AMC is trying to placate? Is "The Book of Carol" going to be smaller than Daryl Dixon on all the key art? Including Carol in the title was supposed to show that Daryl and Carol are equals. That way, Norman and Melissa would also be treated as equals by viewers and by co-workers. This doesn't look very equal to me...

Why —why 😩— do they need to keep rehashing the filming location's origin story, and by rehashing, I mean lying about it and dragging Melissa and her fans through the mud when all we want to do is move the fuck on? I don't like that Gimple (savagely) threw Norman under the bus, and I don't like that Norman, whatever his intentions were, threw Melissa under the bus. Again, this is why we need to hear Melissa's thoughts on the show, specifically what Carol's (and Caryl's) journey will entail not just plot-wise, but emotionally. It's not fair to put all that responsibility on her to make everybody else look good, and I hope it won't come to that, but the people on that panel yesterday really weren't doing themselves or the show any favors. I was pretty unsettled by the number of times I heard the phrases "I wanted this" or "we wanted that." Has anyone ever taken the time to understand what their audience wants? Or has the show really just been a vanity project all along?

I was wary about Zabel pretty much from the start, but finally getting to hear him talk about Daryl cemented how poorly he understands who he is and more importantly what he means to fans. A man being torn between his former way of life and his new one is nothing groundbreaking. It's actually a pretty standard formula that can fit a lot of conventional heroes, but it does not work for Daryl Dixon. Daryl Dixon is not a conventional hero. Daryl Dixon is the most loyal character in TWD history, and it's been well established his loyalty is to his found family of over a decade--Rick, Michonne, Maggie, and especially Carol. We will never buy that Daryl could be torn between them and people he's only known for weeks/months. Someone who tries to force that should not be showrunning. Period. I am terrified to learn more about how Zabel views Carol because so far, it sounds like he doesn't think much of her at all. If he did, maybe he would've written something more substantial for her in the finale.

We'll see what happens on Sunday. Hopefully they'll release the S2 teaser. Hopefully it’ll provide more reassurance. Hopefully something will. At the moment it just doesn't seem like AMC is capitalizing on Melissa's return as much as they could, and they're definitely not capitalizing on Caryl yet. That being said, and I can’t stress this enough, I do trust Melissa’s judgment. If she chose to come back��and she did—it’s for good reason. The wait is going to be difficult, but next year we’ll have six full episodes of Carol trying to find her soulmate. Nobody is taking that away from us no matter how many times the men put their foot in their mouths.

#caryl #carol peletier #melissa mcbride #caryl spinoff #darylneedscarol #the book of carol

[scriptscribbles]

Any hopes/worries for rtd2

I hope it makes me cry again. I think it's off to a really good start and making a lot of the moves I want to see. I'm thrilled that we're getting an all PoC TARDIS team next year, too, massively overdue. And I'm hoping we get some proper queer romances for the Doctor after the underdeveloped afterthought that was Thasmin.

Worries are always easier for me to voice cuz I'm the kind of person who's wired to be interested in criticism. I'm very worried that so far the writer and director slate has been hella white, especially with some clunky lines already (I can take "male-presenting Time Lord", but "range of colors" was too much, cut that). I'm also being reminded that while RTD is a very good writer, one of the best Who has ever had and a big step up from the last 5 years of the show, he's not as much my kind of Who as Moffat is and his storytelling choices don't necessarily land for me as well. I'm having to recalibrate expectations as a result and get back into his groove. (Thankfully, let's be real, it sounds like Moffat is back for this year's series and I bet that'll be the best episode).

I'm also worried that people continue not to be normal about those missteps. Already seen so many accusations of RTD fostering abusive environments, RTD being transphobic, RTD being racist, RTD being misogynistic, none of which actually line up with a single report I've heard of working with the guy (yes, Eccleston was mishandled, no, nobody else on the first run or his other shows seems to have had as negative an experience) or the lengthy history of being generally leftist and on the right side of things he's got to his name. It's gonna be another ridiculous era of discourse.

#anonymous #replies #doctor who #russell t davies

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

Louis is consistently racist. His whole tour crew are white and 90 % men again. Always white and male. But a white southerner like you must feel like home. No wonder you are such a Louis fan. No POC, no POC women is Louis' rule.

What’s wrong with white Southern people? Stereotype much? Clarence Thomas is a racist.

Do you think it’s important to hire a few POCs in your band and crew to look woke because your management consist of the most powerful white men in the entire entertainment industry?

Do you think musicians should pose more next to POC women to give them cover to write more songs about choking them with a sea view? About their hard candy dripping on your feet? So you can splash graphics depicting vaginas on your stage performance?

Do you think it’s good to pose with POCs while marching for Black Lives Matter so you can hyperlink donations through a datamining site? Because that would be morally bankrupt, wouldn’t it. Despicable behavior.

Maybe the few women in a touring band could have stopped a male-gazey summer soft porn video from focusing on women’s sex organs. A female creative director laughs along with spreading rampant misogyny because … power is about going along with those who oppress, isn’t it.

(I bet you’re fun at parties.)

#Harry come get your trash

[torinighthawk]

Harry Potter Head-canons (1/?)

First off let me just say that I have always and will always adore the actors and actresses who portrayed all our favorite and not so favorite characters, and the crew and directors who brought Harry Potter to life. They made magic real and their contributions can never be understated.

This is not about them though. It’s hard to remember but the Harry Potter films were made in a time before the current push for more and more representation, that’s not an excuse, just the facts (with the one exception that will be brought up, obvs). And the same is true for the books, though that is a whole can of worms I do not feel like getting into in this very positive post.

Representation matters. When POC voices say they need representation, listen. When we change media to suit that need, it’s not a dig at what came before.

That being said, I dropped out of the fandom a few years ago, and after heavy reflection I’m back, but on my terms this time, no one else’s, canon or not.

My Hermione Granger is biracial (like me). Her father, Robert, is a strong Black father from a strong Black Family with deep ties to their heritage and culture, and a drive for excellence in all things done. Her mother, who’s name varies from fic to fic tbh, is biracial too. She grew up in a very different but still loving family from her husband, with a Black mom who immersed her in Black culture and an Irish father who taught her how to fight for what she wanted, no matter what others had to say about it. Hermione grew up in a secure and happy home with parents and grandparents who gave her culture and valued and fostered her intelligence, and made sure she had a stiff upper lip to make it through other people’s bs opinion of her. She might falter, but she never breaks. Also, she really has a thing for older guys (Ron is the only exception and a total fluke).

My Harry Potter has heavy Welsh and Desi roots from James’ side of the family. Unfortunately, thanks to Petunia and Vernon he is constantly put down for both of these things and grows up without the rich culture his father had been born into and hoped to pass on to his son. The amount of Desi blood Harry has depends on the fic. The big one I’m currently working on has his father’s, father’s mother being full Indian. James’ father was adopted but his maternal aunt was still a huge part of his life and worked hand in hand with his adoptive parents to give him a life filled with his mother’s culture, which he passed on to James. Oh and he’s bisexual, it’s just that Cedric was the only guy in school that he really lusted after and we all know how that ended up. He and Ginny (who is also bi) love to occasionally rate celebrities and random strangers both male and female, its kinda adorable.

My Lavender Brown is Black. My one true bone to pick with the movies, is the one I think we all in the know have, with Lavender being Black until she became a main love interest for Ron and then was recast to a white actress (maybe it was incidental, maybe it wasn’t, doesn’t matter my brain fixed it). Lavender had two loving Black parents (I’m done with the broken home stereotype for Black parents can you tell?). After her failure dating Ron she finally came out of the closet as a lesbian and started dating Parvati. In most of my fics, Lavender survives (usually as a werewolf) and Parvati sticks with her and the two live happily ever after.

My Ginny Weasley (as stated above) is bisexual. She and Luna definitely had a thing going throughout their school time together and Luna was really there for Ginny in the last year of the war with Harry and the gang gone and all the stress. My Ginny is also a non-binary demigirl [she/they], not a tomboy, who starts to really explore her gender after the war is out of the way. Harry is a super supportive boyfriend/husband and he helps her through her gender diaspora during their pregnancy with some their children (which never gets easier so they switch to surrogacy).

My Ron Weasley really has a thing for POC women, he is completely incurable (thank merlin). Whoever he ends up with (in my head its not always Hermione) they are 10 times out of 10 going to be POC in some way. And he really immerses himself in whatever culture he has to to ensure his children grow up in their mother’s culture, no matter what they come out looking like.

My Remus Lupin is/was pansexual and was in love with Sirius most of his life. Part of his guilt and reluctance with Tonks is because of Sirius. I have very strong feelings about his werewolf nature (and werewolf demonization in general), but I’ll leave that to another post. I do still have Sirius die in most fics, but I believe there are worlds where these two make it every time and get to have some freaking peace and quiet together.

My Sirius Black is aro-ace and has only ever thought about Remus as a partner in those categories. Because he is emotionally stunted, he has no idea how to handle it and needs help to get a relationship started.

My Ted Tonks is Black or at least mixed race, and the only thing the Black Family hate about him is that he is muggleborn. Wizards do not care about colorism they way we muggles do, nor do they really care about sexuality and gender (Pure-blood families only care that their children procreate with other untainted people), they legitimately couldn’t care less. Totally headcanon that this has always been a point in contention of why Pure-blood Families see themselves as morally superior to muggles while missing the point of the other serious societal problems they have.

My Nymphadora Tonks is as genderfluid as her metamorphic abilities and pansexual. She never really had to think to hard about it and was pretty much born out of the closet. It helps really spice up her love life, especially her relationship with Remus. She’s aware of the Sirius thing and tries to help Remus through his grief and doesn’t really push him even though she’s hopelessly in love with him.

My Severus Snape is somewhere on the aro-ace spectrum, he doesn’t think about it much. I do love letting him live to have an actually redemption arc where he finally breaks the cycle of abuse.

My Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan are gay and in love. It took Dean longer to get there but Seamus is stupidly happy when he does. The two go on to raise an adorable little family.

My Theodore Nott is demisexual and not evil. He got out from under his father’s influence to great risk to himself and later became an Auror. He and Harry are good friends. He has a massive crush on Harry. Also, he dated Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini at some point in his life.

My Blaise Zabini is gay. Very gay. Need I say more?

My Mrs. Zabini isn’t a serial murderess, she was cursed to love again and again and for all those she married to die horrible deaths. She has tried to go celibate but part of the curse is that she cannot. Blaise and Theodore Nott go on a side quest at some point to help break her curse, probably.

My Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy are both bisexual and occasionally enjoy the company of others in their bed. They’ve both probably propositioned Snape at some point. Draco, thank merlin, never finds out about any of this and goes his whole life blissfully ignorant of his parents wild secret lives.

My Draco Malfoy is on the aro-ace spectrum and finds certain people aesthetically pleasing but very rarely has any romantic or sexual feelings for them. He does however, like a good number of people do, have a crush on Harry at various points in his life. He’s emotionally stunted though so he acts like a child about it.

There’s more but I’ll leave it at that. If you want more info about the big fic I’m currently working on let me know. I may never actually write more than one-shots inside the world I built for it so it will be nice to get some stuff out for people to see. As for Next Gen headcanons I reserve those on a fic by fic, world by world basis so if there is a separate post for them it would be fic specific and not set in complete stone. I love to use my Next Gen characters to suit my needs for storytelling.

Bye.

#harry potter #headcanon #representation #black hermione granger #biracial hermione #black lavender #desi harry potter #desi james potter #transgender #nonbinary #genderfluid #bisexual #gay couple #aroace #demigender #demisexual #polyamory #hinny #wolfstar #romione #linny #deamus #pavander #lucissa

[hjellacott]

The problem with diversity, Woke and Cancel Culture in TV & film (written by an actual filmmaker)

These days you surely have noticed plenty of attempts to "mend history". People destroy Christopher Columbus memorials, pretend like their ancestors didn't violently conquer territory that was already occupied (by either native tribes or other established civilizations), and try to rewrite history in a way that is less offensive, as if that undoes the "wrongs" that were done. And I say "wrongs" because of course the past is always going to look wrong if you look at it with the lenses of the present. For example, think of the most embarrassing thing you ever did in childhood; the reason why you think it was embarrassing is only that you're looking at it now as a grown-up, and grown-up you wouldn't do that thing - doesn't mean it was wrong for a child to do it, nor even really embarrassing.

The same goes to history. Imagine if Germany had spent its post WW2 years destroying every evidence of the holocaust, Nazism and WW2 and pretending it didn't happen. Not only would it have been incredibly offensive and hurtful to the victims and their descendants, but also, erasing history means forgetting history, and when you forget history, you're doomed to repeat it. Yet somehow, it's been OK to do this with literally anything else, leading to the phenomenom of "Cancel Culture".

Now everyone's getting hurt, offended and ashamed by things that are well in the past, and instead of looking at them like a repressentative of the past, people seek to erase them, pretend they never happened, cancel them, try to vanish them from the Earth. For example when they throw Columbus' monuments into the ocean, or rewrite school books and neglect to inform children of how truly sad our past as human race is (and all these things have actually happened, I'm not exaggerating).

But when it comes to TV and film, you can't make them disappear, specially not in the era of Netflix, so what do they do? Try to redo them but "better". And then, legendary products of TV and film, such as Charmed, Friends, and so on, get either rebooted or attempted to be repeated in some similar fashion, and the "copy" sinks abysmally, while the popularity of the original rises.

There's a reason why the Charmed reboot hasn't been even a third of well-known as the original, why HIMYF sank after only two seasons, why there has never been anything quite like Friends, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, why the new Star Wars movies don't get as popular as the original six, why Modern Family couldn't be done today, why TV and film are running out of original ideas and getting stupider and stupider, why Woke and Cancel Culture are setting fire to the world of good film and TV, or why the only good reboot I can think of was The Ghostbusters (women's version). Spending life trying to do the past again but "better" (or what you think is better according to your present lenses), instead of accepting the past as it is and coming up with new, original things that revolutionise film and TV, doesn't lead to anything but boredom and failure.

I've been working in film for years, it's what I studied, what I devoted my life to, and over and over, we all in the industry keep discussing the same thing: there are no new ideas, and this "diversity" thing is a farce. Diversity cannot come from non-diversity. Until you have diversity in production companies, script writers, show creators, directors... there won't be diversity. Not for real. Taking a show as great as Charmed for example and do it again "but with POC actors" is NOT diversity, is a joke. Same can be said about HIMYF.

And thing is, there is nothing wrong with having shows without diversity, or with barely any. There is nothing wrong with having shows or movies where everyone is white or male, I mean, look at the Marvel Universe, it's mostly built around grown-up white men with good looks playing superheroes. Men like it because it's got superheroes and action, women like it because the men look great, and children like it for the great special effects. Thing is, the writer's mantra is "write about what you know". So if you're white, went to Harvard in the 1980s, and grew up in say, Ohio, you should totally be writing about white people, because anything else is dishonest, with yourself and everyone else. How are you going to write about the lived experiences of people who you aren't even friends with? who you don't know anything about but stereotypes? No. If what you know about is a bunch of white men in NYC, then that's what you fucking write about. Yes, you do your research, but you, white boy from Arizona, don't start to do research about a lesbian girl from Sri Lanka to make her your main character in your new TV series, because all the research in the world won't make it right, unless you actually know well a real lesbian girl from Sri Lanka (or a country with a similar culture). Because your research will end up in stereotypes, trust me. And it'll suck.

And you definitely don't write about diversity behaving and pretending to be white men. For example, HIMYF. A show that attempts to be the diverse version of HIMYM. But it's not funny. It's not half as great. Why? Because it's too Woke. It showcases POC and women trying to behave like white American men, and it doesn't work.

I could go on about this for years and years (and please do feel free to ask anything) because it's such a massive issue, truly, and as a filmmaker, my ovaries are fucking huge with rage about the whole thing. But I'll leave it at this. We as a civilization need to develop thicker skin and learn to laugh at ourselves. No kidding the new generation is being called "crystal", damn, it's so bloody fragile. We need to be OK with jokes and even insults, and take them as what they are: the real repressentation of somebody's lived experience. I'm not saying racism is OK, but I am saying that I'd much rather someone is true to themselves so I know they're racists and choose not to be mates with them, than creating a fake world where everyone's fake and dishonest and pretending to be what they're not. Fake it until you make it never works. Not even actors do it.

What we see today in film and TV with the reboots and the "correction" is precisely that: fake and dishonest. Pretending like black actors have it as easy as white actors to get cast, like black stories can be identical to white stories, like producers and big companies aren't racist and sexist and homophobic because they make rainbow T-Shirts and say Love is Love like they're being paid for it (because they are), is fooling yourself and giving money to actual assholes pretending to be angels. We're forgetting what it means to have actual principles set in stone, and we're being content with people simply "pretending" for the sake of money and fame.

And I'll tell you one last thing: consume things and accept them and love them for what they are. I'm a woman and I come from minorities, but do I laugh when Barney Stinson says a sexist joke? yes. Because I accept he's a sexist asshole and I don't pretend to change him, I laugh and roll my eyes and think "typical Barney", and so far, having seen HIMYM several times, I haven't heard him say something so hurtful and inconsiderate that I actually got offended, mostly because I understand he's not a bad guy, he's just a product of the way he was raised and that's the whole point. To put it simple: don't get angry at a cat because it won't bark. And when I want to watch something that's feminist and all about female empowerment, I watch Charmed and see guys like Barney getting their arse handed to them by ferocious women.

And when I want badass POC or LGBT stories, guess what? Nothing, because we're yet to give POC or LGBT people enough of a platform as producers, script writers and creators to create badass LGBT or POC stories, so all we have is white people dressed as LGBT/POC in white shows dressing-up as diversity shows, and that's ladies and gentlemen how Sex and the City the reboot was born.

#diversity #tv #film #himym #friends #himyf #charmed #charmed reboot #modern family #history #race #war #natives #cancel culture #cancelling #harry potter #star wars #the lord of the rings #the ghostbusters #woke #sex and the city

[toasted-valentine]

Would like to give a big thank you to @elliotly and @pyrotechnicarus for making Adamandi and TAOPP.

Context, first time I watched the two shows I was struggling to figure out college and my future. I’d always wanted to go into performing arts, make plays, musicals, movies, tv shows, what have you. But I was super unsure if I even could, the theater environment I had around me growing up had the directors rejecting people from roles for not “being biologically male” or not “fitting the part” due to their skin tone. Shit like that was always super discouraging, and part of the reason I quit theater for two years.

Then one night I’m sitting in my sister’s apartment in Brooklyn, just scrolling tumblr after visiting her, and I find a joke comparing We Are The Tigers and Adamandi. I got curious and decided to check it out, clicked on the tags and looked the show up on YouTube. Then I went feral and binged Adamandi and The Art Of Pleasing Princes in one sitting instead of sleeping. I had the soundtracks on loop for weeks after, just completely not normal about it.

I’m Puerto Rican and trans masc, I never in a million years thought I’d get to see people like me make stuff like that. My high school theater director wouldn’t cast trans actors for anything but chorus members or as their agab, even if they had the voice for it and were on hrt, he said it “didn’t work”. All the main roles he gave out to white students because he thought it would “work better”. Then to just see stuff where the actors got to be openly queer, got to be poc, and we’re actively encouraged to show those part for the roles. It changed my perspective.

Big probs to @cynopter as Vincent and (they don’t have a tumblr blog to my knowledge so I’m just using the name on the cast list from the website) Miel Escamilla as Beatrix because fucking christ they were absolute delights to watch and are incredibly skilled. Asides from giving me an unholy amount of gender envy, it was also amazing to see two people who are poc and engage in gender fuckery get on stage and destroy god with their performances. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a trans actor, let alone two gnc poc actors, be allowed to be leads in a show and have their backgrounds be part of the characters.

If I hadn’t stumbled across Adamandi and TAOPP when I did I’d probably be going to trade school to become some flavor of electrician, plumber, or house painter like the rest of my family. It genuinely changed the course of my life, and I cannot thank the people who made it and participated in it enough for doing what they do and putting their hearts and souls into it. Now I’m going to one of my local colleges for two years, have a plan to head to a nearby performing arts school after that’s done, and am going to be the person who creates art for other people to see. Forgive the vagueness of where, I’m attempting to keep where I live hard to find, just know I live in New York so do have access to colleges with these sort of programs.

I have a long way to go, quitting theater and performing in general for multiple years due to various reasons did set me back a chunk, but I do have hope for the future. I’m currently working on a short film with a few of my friends, hopefully will have that out before the summer ends, and I’m also working on drafts of a play I want to make, but that’s a far way off and just a general idea right now.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for doing what you do. Managed to change the mind and life of one person with it, and I cannot put into words the good it has done, even if it’s just for me.

Thanks for the killer music and stories,

-Teo

#adamandi #the art of pleasing princes

[yourdailyqueer]

Tawiah M'carthy

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: N/A

Ethnicity: Ghanaian

Nationality: Canadian

Occupation: Actor, playwright, director

#Tawiah M'carthy #bipoc #lgbt #lgbtq #black excellence #male #gay #african #poc #Ghanaian #canadian #actor #playwright #director #writer

[galacticvampire]

As an Asian and a major fan of the Jedi, I just wanna slap Lesyle Headland in the face. I'm so tired of ignorant Westerners (aka faux white feminists) like her and Kathleen Kennedy shitting on the Jedi. They're basically insulting and looking down on my people and their culture. I wish Kathleen Kennedy got fired. I wish that SOMEONE could hire an Asian person to direct the Acolyte instead of a white Western woman like Lesyle Headland. She should just go back to making a 3rd season of Russian Doll or whatever. Why is it SO HARD for Disney to hire Asian people to be in charge of a Star Wars series or movie???

The anti-jedi rethoric is very annoying and it upsets me that lucasfilm doesn't try (i might be wrong about them not trying but alas) to at least direct creators working for canon material to stick to GLs original meaning without the very prominent legends bias we know older fans have. You and everyone to whom this characterization is important (I'm one of them!) has every right to be upset about the things she said, but I just want to point out a few things:

We don't know how Acolyte is going to turn out. The statement is worrying but we've seen actors/directors say things in interviews that just don't reflect on what we actually get. (Favreou does this all the time) I say we wait. I'm not an optimistic but I think we can hold off saying it will DEFINITELY be awful until it actually comes out.

Again, it's very upsetting having yet another show trying to be "jedi critical" but I can't help but notice that Filoni, Favreou and multiple other writers have been doing it for years and everyone still watches and reads everything they put out. Not many people seriously call for them being fired. The fact that I've seen way more anger and aggressiveness towards Lesyle is... telling. Go all the way on the critiques of the material when the show comes out (I will) but don't be blind to the fact that she is one of the first openly queer women leading a prominent Disney production. There will be fans being awful to the show just because of it + Amandla's race and gender. Sometimes will be hard to tell which kind of anger someone is expressing but I'll highlight that is NEVER productive to side with bigots, even when you're rightfully angry for different reasons than them.

Which leads to my next point: we should be (I know we already are, just to remember the focus) advocating for diversity on the writing room. That's the space we have to a big cast of opinions and perspectives in the same project, while we only have one director/a few producers. And I think it's important to acknowledge that in that department they've already have gone really far just in the last couple years. We have Debora Chow. Diego Luna was producing Andor. Regardless of the end result, Lesley is an openly queer woman. EVERY SINGLE LEAD BESIDES EWAN IS A POC. This was unimaginable ten years ago. This is just a reminder to not let yourself fall in despair, we're getting there.

Kathleen Kennedy is incredible at her job. I'm not discussing her opinions because they aren't that relevant: she doesn't make any creative decisions. She makes executive and strategic ones, and Star Wars has put out more content under her administration than ever. She is one of the reasons it's so diverse now. Push for her to do better, to hire people who have a vision that aligns with what star wars is meant to be, but calling for her being fired is echoing the dudebros who blame her for every detail that aren't even under her control.

None of this erases the underlying racism in the refusal to understand Jedi culture, you (we) are rightfully angry, specially if Acolyte turns out to be exactly how she said it will. I just think there are more effective ways we can have this conversation and pressure Lucasfilm to do better than boycotting a show we don't even know if is really problematic yet, lest they decide it's easier to stick to the "standard" white straight male pov because it cuts off both the "wokenism" complaints and the ones that what they're doing isn't the right kind of diversity. (see also: target)

#like im all in for calling out what Lesley said #but I've seen every single note on that post simce im op #and I'm gonna say that the aggressiveness is disproportionate #specially because filoni has said and done much worse #star wars is an angry fandom by definition #sometimes is important to remember that a lot of the fandom will be angry for a very different and worse reason (star wars is woke now!!) #and I really don't want to help Those Guys #sorry about this being long but I've been noticing this since that post blew up #important reminder that this is simply me trying to be realistic and pointing out how i believe it's the healthy way to interact with this #byt like if you want to be super pissed about it have it your way i just felt the need to point this out since it was directly sent to me

[lol-jackles]

Apparently Renee Reiff left CMP back in Nov 2022 From her linkedin:

Head of Development Chaos Machine Productions · Full-time Sep 2020 - Nov 2022 · 2 yrs 3 mos

And she has a new current position listed. Ofc goob is already trying to spin this like its a good thing [X] talking about how it'll be cheaper for s2 (and somehow talking about 20 ep seasons...) even though they spent months and months and months using Renee's position at CMP as proof that dest*el was going to be canon and claiming a queer woman was proof that Jensen was "queering up" CMP. But according to Jensen himself said that they were mandated to be diverse so it feels more like Renee was brought in to make sure they adhered to the madates:

To touch on that latter part, yes, we have a very diverse writing staff. Also, something that we have done with our directors, we would be attempting this anyway, but the network has not only heavily encouraged us but also they basically mandated us to be very diverse with women or POC so that is happening. [X]

Any thoughts on Renee leaving and if that means anything for CMP going forward?

Does CMP have a new head of development?   Renee leaving isn’t necessarily a red flag but you kind of need them to, you know, make sure production from planning to execution happen, you know?  What I’ve said about producer’s duties here is pretty much the same of what head of development does: manages day to day operations and make sure the teams stay on schedule, coordinate on marketing and accounting and review budgets, and how to best promote the projects.

What paint fume is Goob huffing now?  Head of development just don’t leave a company with expectation that it will run on it’s own.  That’s like a director leaving half-way through filming and expecting the crew and actors to finish the project on their own.

Yeah that check-the-diversity-box mandate was applied by nearly all the major studios but it doesn't guarantee well-written characters or believable storylines.  Some executives went too far with going “woke” because they think they’ve cornered the straight, white, male, and Christian audience market and now it’s time to bring in the “other” audience with “woke” projects and as long as they slap a Marvel brand label on the woke projects, the former audience group will watch regardless.  It’s just like WB slapping the “Supernatural” label over The Winchesters and assumed that the SPN fans will watch it. The result is most studios saw 40% decreased in viewerships or box office numbers in 2022.  Not because general audiences hate diversity, but because they won’t waste their time and money on boring tv shows/movies that happened to have diverse characters.

Edited to add a few additional wordings.

[rose-embolism]

This week Jann Wenner has reached the "Find Out" part of the meme, having been summarily ejected with no comment from the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Of course the usual suspects on social media are decrying that once again a wealthy white man is facing the consequences of his actions: "I guess white men can't have opinions any more."

All of which is a deliberate misstatement of the reason his interview, where he revealed his racist and sexist attitudes, caused so much of a reaction. Wenner was a founder of rolling Stone Magazine, and a chief editor for decades, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As such he had an outsized level of influence in seeing who got lauded, and who got ignored. Including women and PoC who he described as "Not articulate".

(Part of me can't help but wonder if at any point he might have considered that women and men were not "articulate" with him, because they could tell that he was someone who held them in contempt? People tend to withdraw from enemies, after all. Probably not- that would require a level of insight and self-awareness that he obviously lacks. )

This was a person in a highly influential position who felt secure in outlining his highly racist and misogynistic views to a captive audience. He obviously seemed surprised that the Times interviewer didn't congratulate him for his actions. And it's also obvious that he knew what he was doing in focusing only on white male musicians, given his remarks that he could have found one woman and one black musician to interview. He was aware of the optics of his choices, but he also regarded any criticism to not be reacting to obvious racism and sexism, but to "optics" that could be mitigated with a token (in both senses of the word) effort.

(And as another aside, I have to draw comparisons between Wenner's "Maybe I could have gotten a black and woman musician" with the standard science fiction "the All-time best must-read SF&F novels that consist of 19 men and Ursula K. Leguin. the congruence between racism in the music industry and in the F&SF field are worth a whole series of posts)

So yes of course there would be consequences, and it's bizarre to expect otherwise. A fast food manager who expressed racist opinions at that level would be fired- to expect otherwise for Wenner is to simply argue that wealthy white men should be immune to consequences. But artists for decades were enduring the consequences of racist misogynists being in positions of power. The damage that Wenner and others like him caused is simply incalculable, simply because like other wealthy contemporaries like Weinstein and Epstein, he was insulated from criticism by his wealth and position. It's only been in the last decade that cracks have formed in this shield, and these men are facing consequences for their actions. Hence the backlash.

It's obvious that what is motivating the people defending Wenner is the fear that if someone as wealthy and influential as he could face consequences for his racist speech, then what's going to happen the next time they scream obscenities at a PoC or woman in a park or at a coffee shop?vThis is what underlies the backlash we're seeing here- personal fear. And if it wasn't for the damage that they can and will do, I wouldn't mind their fear at all.

#jann wenner #Rock and Roll Hall of Fame #rolling stone magazine #racisim #misogny

[my-mt-heart]

I apologize in advance for the rant that's coming your way. If you're seeing this and you're having a good day - you're welcome to skip it.

I'm tired of the whiplash.

Melissa comes back, and then there is a string of articles basically teasing there will be heavy-handed shipbaiting in S2. Then we get a BTS interview, and now there's more to be sad about.

What is the point if the good news is overshadowed every time?

I did not get into this show to "obsess" over superficial characters. I got into this show because of its heartfelt storylines and strong character arcs. Carol and Daryl helped me sift through some dark things in my life, which I am grateful for. It felt nice to root for something precious and one-of-a-kind and funnel hope into two characters who deserved to find their happy ending together. Most people I know are still here because they think these characters deserve better. Ya know what? Because sometimes the world is shite and some days it's hard to find hope. These characters bring hope. And the fans deserve respect (not talking about the ones who were sending hate to actors and/or their families).

The current showrunner, with his contradicting statements, has done nothing but make me feel anxious - even though some of what was said was positive. He has done nothing to win my trust. The contradictions make me think he either doesn't know what story he wants to tell or, worse, he doesn't understand the characters he's working with. If storylines keep getting overlooked, and characters are treated like shipbaiting devices - what's the point of S3?

I'm happy to have Melissa and Caryl back; she's why I have a bead of hope. Her input is the only one I trust at this point. But I have no excitement left to give, and now I have one foot out the door. Until I see something that helps me trust this show again, that won't change.

Bring me a showrunner who understands these characters deeply. Bring me a director who makes room for meaningful stories. Bring me writers who write complex storylines that dive into the psyches of these characters and show us why we fell for them in the first place.

And for the love of all that's good and holy -Bring me strong and powerful female and POC voices. Bonus points for both.

I'm tired of watching POC characters get turned into walker fodder or shipping devices. I refuse to invest in a show where the characters I fell in love with get treated with callousness and shoved into storylines that don't honor them.

I'll simply find something else worth my time. Because you see, I know that my value isn't intrinsically attached to this show and the direction it takes. Sorry about the rant. It's one of those days. Peace be with you.

You don’t have to apologize for how you’re feeling. Everything you said is completely valid and to be honest, it’s where I’m at as well. Having Melissa back is amazing, and I know she has input, but it feels like she and her fans are still being punished. The lead actor reduces us to “obsessed” parasocial shippers, the current showrunner doesn’t acknowledge we exist let alone understand what Carol’s/Daryl’s/Caryl’s story means to us, “The Book of Carol” is being left out of promos, that and Melissa’s name aren’t in the casting calls. How can I trust the show to honor a narrative about a woman beating the odds time and time again when business practices show the opposite? How can I subscribe to AMC+ for a show called "Daryl Dixon" knowing it represents white male privilege 🤷🏻‍♀️ We need leadership to not only give us the heartfelt storylines and deep character arcs that we want, but also to uphold our core values, to nurture, not insult, our intelligence, and to give the lead actress the respect she deserves. That's why I think Melissa should get to choose the new showrunner.

#caryl #carol peletier #melissa mcbride #darylneedscarol #the book of carol #twd caryl

[destinyc1020]

I will agree with that last anon about how we sometimes don’t even support our own and can do so much more. And we as audiences members are sometimes the root of the issue because we don’t put our support where our mouth is. There’s a weird thing where I’ve seen POC give a lot of grace and leeway to white mediocrity and hold impossible standards sometimes for our own. It’s disheartening when we’re the ones perpetuating the work twice as hard and get half as much motif ourselves. When it comes to both actors and even directors. Shows and films. We say we want one thing and then don’t even support it when it comes out. Shows like Saturdays and Swagger could’ve used the support. So many great films that no one is supporting but everyone is always talking about the same five film twitter films. Where’s the talk about Thousand and One, Rye Lane, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, They Cloned Tyrone, Rustin, Earth Mama to name a few. Last year we had Nanny, Master, Till, Honk for Jesus to also name a few. American Fiction came out this weekend. There’s been plenty of Black women directors making great films this year and last but no one talks about them the way they rave about Greta, Sofia or Emerald as if they’re the only women directors ever. Even the way we’re constantly talking about male actors like Timothee, JE or Austin and leaving out people like Jerome, Kelvin, Caleb to name a few. We can always do self checks on how we’re feeding into the vicious cycle and seek out works from Black actors and directors ourselves if we want more of it.

Yes, you've brought up some very good points Anon. 👏🏾👏🏾

This is so true!

Part of it is obviously of course because films with a predominant black cast are just seen as a "black movie" (unless, it's the MCU's "Black Panther" of course lol 😵‍💫).... We live in a very Eurocentric world unfortunately. So it's sad how we as poc always have to see ourselves in white-dominated films and are able to do so, but others can't do the same when it comes to black films. 😕

Another thing is just the fact that some films are smaller, and some people just don't watch indie/smaller films just in general.... black OR white. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Idk about others, but I know for me too that I have to be in a certain mindset and frame of mind in order to watch certain films.... especially if it deals with slavery, racial inequality, or the mistreatment of black people. 😔 It just hits so close to home sometimes, and it hurts my spirit, so I have to mentally prepare myself for those films to watch.

Sometimes, you just want to watch smthg lighthearted, you know? I already deal with racial injustice in my real life....I like movies to escape lol. So sometimes, it's just nice to watch smthg a little more lighthearted. Or, if it's going to address racial injustice, sometimes it's nice to see it presented in a way like "The Other Black Girl" (which I'm currently watching on Hulu 😊).

I like black filmmakers who can make films that aren't JUST about struggle in Black America... ykwim? Like, sometimes it's just nice to see a Sci-fi film with a predominantly black cast, or a horror film with a predominantly black cast, or a lighthearted comedy or adventure film, ykwim?

Anyway, very good points Anon 👍🏾