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clovecardamom · 10 months

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justice for q force & high guardian spice

i was yelling on the bad bird website and i forgot i can also yell here now so i want to yell about the completely embarrassing legacy that we, the collective royal we, all of us hooligans on the internet, cursed high guardian spice and q force with.

this is for two reasons:

i think the way our cultural forums decided to burn these shows stake because we did not personally like them extremely sucked, especially if you were a queer person in those industries watching it happen, especially if you were one of the many queer people working on these shows.

they were just genuinely super funny if you gave them a chance and didn't prescribe preconceived notions of what good queer animation is supposed to be.

the cosmos is compelling me to yell about this. so i am. you cannot stop me.

so, both of these shows were burdened with a press cycle basically yelling at everyone from the hills, okay! hey! the new gay show is here! if you're gay you should like it!

anyone familiar with how media works should already be going like "aw geeze" if you weren't there for this in real time, but the resulting shitshow was heard round twitter, tumblr, youtube, and probably other places i don't use as much.

instead of cheering on these underdogs and politely recommending people give them a shot, or just politely stating if they were or were not to our tastes, it became like... a cool fad among posters on all platforms to explain why these shows were actively intrinsically, irreparably bad!

when the shows were perfectly fine, with some mediocre lows but overall high highs!

q force, for every softball joke about lesbian uhauls makes five more genuinely hysterically specific jokes while treating its cast with a huge degree of respect. if you did not get these jokes, that's fine, but lines like "call me miss congeniality honey cause i'm a femme top with a gun" and the entire endgame of eurovision hosted by a small european nation whose economy is based entirely around christmas (twink's favorite holiday from harry potter) live forever in my mind. it was a stupid little adult comedy, but the characters talked like me and my friends. characters like twink especially, was allowed to be funny and silly while still respected by the people around him. i cannot express to you how rare it is to find stories where a flamboyant drag queen twink is given his degree of nuance and development.

on the other hand, high guardian spice was doomed from the outset, but we all jumped at blood in the water instead of letting it exist as it was. it takes no research effort to learn that high guardian spice was yanked around through development hell for years and very clearly had no time or money to make their original pitch a reality.

i'm the first person to admit high guardian spice is, put kindly, a complete mess, but it's a mess with an unbelievable amount of heart and charm if you just engage with it organically instead of making fun of every little production error. i cannot stress enough how little time or money they had to make this thing. it was straight up unethical.

and despite that production hell... it was funny? high guardian spice was straight up just way funnier than most cartoons lately if you just engaged with the jokes as jokes and got the hate-watch stick out from under you. the character chemistry was super compelling, the voice performances had that bee & puppycat amateur charm, and it was a viewing experience so genuinely enjoyable my friends and i have literally watched it like three times from to back.

so, this completely mediocre and janky western anime should've just fallen by the wayside right? nope! it became political baby! it became about wokeness ruining animation, and we all participated in that narrative because we thought that one scene where a character says he's transgender very bluntly was awkward!

the way that everyone, mostly without watching more than ten minutes of the first episode, decided to jump on a hate train spearheaded by 4chan to completely destroy the show's chance at survival was... quite frankly? pretty embarrassing! it was genuinely super awful to watch otherwise reasonable members of our community to act so callously because something was... cringe? annoying? even if high guardian spice was as bad as everyone was saying it was, this kind of behavior is kind of straight up cruel if you took a second to listen for the cacophony of dogwhistling and the way that the cast & crew of the show was being spoken about.

as these things go, it became an easy way to punch down and earn some sweet engagement by posting jokes you thought sucked or where budgets and production timelines faltered.

it was really stupid. i am not asking for an apology for these shows, but i am asking that you give them a chance if you previously avoided them or otherwise bounced off. if you don't like them, that's okay, i don't care. i just want these works by queer writers, artists, and actors to... actually get to exist on its own terms, instead of being swept up into a cruel and pointless circus of engagement farming.

because you know what the industry takeaway extremely is going to be moving forward? guess people hate this, let's make sure future products for this market receive less time and funding.

if they do get made? gotta make sure they completely avoid all of the meatier and mainstream alienating subject matters both shows genuinely got into if you gave them the time of day.

every time the next gay movie or television show comes out in this online fandom space i have my eyes peeled for the kind of buffoonery that we subjected q force and high guardian spice to because they had the gall to make queer cartoons that were not for everyone.

they were specific, they were weird, and they were rough around the edges. and they've stuck with me because of that.

so far, it does not feel great to see media with non-threateningly nothing representation where characters peck each other on the lips briefly and wave a flag but otherwise never engage with each other, their identities, or their communities, and have everyone praise it because it didn't dare say anything specific enough to alienate anyone.

i would rather not connect with a gay character in a movie or cartoon because they just weren't the type of character or story i connect with... instead of not connecting with a gay character because there was nothing there to connect with in the first place!

okay i'm done i love you goodbye.

#high guardian spice #q force #rant #i'm so MAD #THIS ALSO SERVES AS MY REVIEW OF NIMONA #WHICH I HATED BUT I AM BEING CIVIL ABOUT

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beardedmrbean · 5 days

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https://x.com/marrloed/status/1783599852108038549?s=46

>Generation that was raised on some of the most complex kids media western entertainment had to teach empathy and such

>Threw it all the way to have american Puritanism and Nazism with a queer hat

Also let not pretend that this not just based off the media kids consume. Because as you mention before the evil shit that the Steven universe fandom did. A lot of people forget the vast majority of the Steven Universe fanbase of that time were MILLENNIALS. So not my gen or gen alpha and let not pretend it just media consumption

“Hey Gen x-z who part the marginalized groups who we allowed. I know you have genocidal hatred towards groups because your abusers just happened be part of. We are going to allow it and never think it has an effect.”

I mean hello tik tok? Or how the majority of fanbases of kids cartoons are toxic as hell?

I mean the Killmonger shitshow? When you allow a huge chunk of society to treat real humans as FICTIONAL characters, oh and covid. ALMOST LIKE WE WERE YELLING AT PEOPLE HOW THE EXTREME MEASURES WE DID WE DO A NUMBER ON KIDS

Sorry y’all, but when a fandom said I’m a Nazi and abuse apologist for preferring a evil space wizard (who is so watered down to some of the others unhinged characters I like) over the bland heroes who had the personality of cardboard

You planted the seeds for the sociopathic behavior we see in modern kids because YOU FUCKS ALLOWED THE MANIACS GET INTO POWER BECAUSE THEY LIKE WOKE SHIT

>Generation that was raised on some of the most complex kids media western entertainment had to teach empathy and such >Threw it all the way to have american Puritanism and Nazism with a queer hat

Sometimes simple is superior, I had Fred Rogers.

True about SU, there's other reasons for that too

Gen-X managed to see its monster get slain when the Berlin Wall fell, wouldn't say hatred towards them just communism in general

I mean hello tik tok? Or how the majority of fanbases of kids cartoons are toxic as hell?

Entitlement does that, Voltron thing is a good example. Unhinged people thinking they can force other people's art to conform to their standard.

Gonna be interesting to see the long term effects of all of that, heartbreaking to probably.

Wild watching all the self proclaimed anti fascists out there acting as fascist as fascist can be, never seemed to be able to get through to them that they were behaving that way either.

Anarchists being mad that people weren't following the state's orders was wild.

You planted the seeds for the sociopathic behavior we see in modern kids because YOU FUCKS ALLOWED THE MANIACS GET INTO POWER BECAUSE THEY LIKE WOKE SHIT

Now now, we all know it's always someone else's fault for things like this.

#zoomer huey anon

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chaos0pikachu · 1 year

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tldr: censorship fucking sucks and word of honor and xena are mlm/wlw solidarity

okay this was a random thought that came to me during a combo of rewatching of Word of Honor and reading a post that declared Word of Honor “didn’t count” on their BL list of whatever the fuck and here’s the thought, here’s the vibe, Word Of Honor has a lot in common with Xena: Warrior Princess

Hear me out

Everyone kinda knows that Xena - and by extension Lucy Lawless - as a bisexual/queer woman icon, and that Xena/Gabrielle is probably still one of the most prominent wlw ships in western canon. That’s a huge part of the shows iconography in pop culture. But like, if you rewatch the show, things between Xena and Gabrielle are kept pretty ambiguous but in that ambiguously totally gay way (like WenZhou!).

The network was actively against Xena and Gabrielle being more than, what fans would probably call nowadays, bait. An executive told producer Rob Tapert that by making Xena and Gabrielle explicit there would be a surge of interested followed by a sharp decline.

It should be noted that Xena was already a controversial show for it’s era - not just for the gay subtext but under fire from religious groups, anti-feminist groups, and others.

The showrunners and producers also didn’t intend for Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship to, eh, blossom the way it did. Fans ran with it. Ironically, the intention of the show was to push Xena’s men of color love interests which also made the network gun shy (remember folks racism exists alongside homophobia!).

Xena and Gabrielle operated in a highly censored space (that still exists in American media btw!! Take it from someone who knows first hand) that was beholden to network hand-wringing, capitalism, and societal homophobia at large. So their relationship could only live within an ambiguous space. Ironically enough, just like WenZhou, Xena and Gabrielle are also referred to as “soulmates” in the text of the show. But ya know, sometimes soulmates are platonic, sometimes romantic. Which are WenZhou and Xena/Gabrielle? Well that’s up for the viewer to decide b/c the production teams hands are tied.

Even so, even with the censorship, we all still view Xena as legitimate queer representation within the pop culture space. Why? Why Xena and not Word of Honor?

For me, they both count, especially WoH because it’s source material IS queer. But the filter of censorship snipped and cut the text away so everything would be forced to live within that ambiguous “up to the audience aka gotta make the advertisers comfortable” space.

I don’t think it’s fair to throw WoH out because the production couldn’t, like they were not allowed, to showcase text on screen. Similar to Xena queer fans knew that her and Gabrielle were in love, soulmates (romantic) by the end (where Xena dies, like literal for reals death she’s ashes carried on by Gabby at the end btw spoiler alert for a 20 year old show at least WK got silver hair and immortality out of his death experience).

Queer fans appreciated and cultivated what Xena gave us because, no offense but what the fuck else was there? Not a lot, and even less in the fantasy space. Hell, there’s still not a lot of queer representation in the fantasy space we’re only just now going “hey maybe Tolkien’s ultra white British view of things is not the only way to do things?" And now House of Dragon has Black actors in terrible wigs (they’re so fucking bad rip) in 2022. Woooo~ most queer chars in western fantasy media are mainly found in kids cartoons - which, fucking aces there but also - probably why there’s so many adults in those spaces in fandom (not my bag personally) and why I think the popularity of danmei, c-dramas, and k-dramas is on the rise. People are hungry for epic fantasy content, epic romance content, and queer content.

but like, I think about queer folks who live in China, who watched WoH (ya know, the intended audience, not Americans) who are probably feeling the same thing people felt when they watched Xena. Yeah, Mr. Advertiser Xena and Gabrielle are soulmates (platonic) wink wink, Yeah Mr. Network ZZS and WKX are soulmates (platonic) wink wink

and I think that’s still valuable. idk I just don’t think it’s right for foreigners to be like “no you’re queer media doesn’t count actually because I deem it so” when the reason for the relationship being subtextual is literal censorship. And yet the text is hella gay anyway!! like at the end of the day we’re all battling the crushing weight of homophobia but not everyone’s fight is exactly the same especially country-to-country and I think that should still be respected. given how damn gay WoH is anyway I imagine the producers fought really fucking hard to give audiences what they did. Just like the producers of Xena fought against the network to do what they could.

anyway, thoughts and shit

#Word Of Honor #faraway wanderers #shl #wenzhou #chaos pikachu speaks

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dekusleftsock · 2 years

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My Hero Academia

How to do last minute representation the right way

A meta post that I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I think I finally have the right words.

First, let's establish the terms I will be using and how they apply to other shows.

Open representation

Open representation, in this case, is a show that from start to finish is openly queer and never tries to hide that. The first ones that come to mind are Steven Universe, Shera, Sasaki to Miyano, or the owl house. They will have queer representation throughout the show, though may hook people in first by not making the characters openly queer in the first few episodes. This is usually done through a beard of some kind. Connie for Steven, the fantasy dude for Luz, bow for adora, etc. They don't necessarily have to be important to the MC's love life at all, (like how bow is glimmers love interest or that connie and steven legitimately are love interests) they simply have to make the illusion of a non queer show to prove that the show is STILL good, with or without it.

Explicit representation

I think sasaki to miyano actually fits better here, as the thing that defines this representation is that it never tries to hide the queerness. BL usually goes here because of what the genre is born out of. Which is, usually, oppressed groups finding comfort in certain media. Not a lot of popular shows/comics are in the "explicit representation" section unless it's from an indie author. Or, on the rare occasion, published by a big manga company. The only time these works are easily published is when it's nsfw, because of the yaoi/yuri industry. These works aren't very popular most of the time because they have to appeal to a straight audience, and it's hard to do that with explicitly queer shows.

There are exceptions to the rule of course, like heart stopper or, once again sasaki to miyano, and that's because straight women are able to project and/or fetishize the characters. They will also have a token straight couple sometimes, like heart stopper, in order to appeal to the non gay audience. Or be able to fetishize the main couple because they have something that allows them to see the couple through heterosexual eyes. Like miyano and sasaki's height difference. Maybe they will add something onto them to make them more masculine to fight this, like miyano's hate for sweet things and sasaki's love of it. But ultimately people will just see this as "breaking gender norms" instead of just two gay men.

However, it was also the only reason they COULD get the show green-lit. No matter what, these shows will have to find a way to appeal to a straight audience. It's just how the world works. It sucks, but it's true.

Queer coding or coded representation

This genre of queerness usually fits shonen/shoujo anime. Think death note, hunter x hunter, madoka magica, sk8 the infinity or kakegurui. Though it also fits a lot of western cartoons like infinity train, star vs the forces of evil, and gravity falls. The thing that defines this representation is that it's never explicitly said. It's what makes this representation so frustrating, as it directly appeals to a straight audience, while still grabbing a major queer audience. The straight audience can write it off as being accidental or even say it doesn't exist. That the queer audience is "looking into it too much".

What's even more frustrating about this is that it actually had to happen in order for us to have representation at all. Gravity falls laid out the footsteps so that the owl house could actually BE A SHOW! These shows fight tooth and nail for it to be written the way they want it to be, like making marco a latina trans woman, and in the end, they were never able to make it openly queer the way they wanted it to be.

Accidental representation

On paper, this concept is hilarious, but it's also the most frustrating thing in the world. Accidental representation is honestly just a big phenomenon called "homosociality". angy-grrr explains this concept in this post (https://angy-grrr.tumblr.com/post/690891053818134528/bakudeku-in-bnha-another-case-of-the) But if you don't feel like reading that at the moment and just wanna know what this term means, I'll explain it. It is intimate social connections between the same sex, usually it's used to understand masculinity from a psychological standpoint. It's also used to understand hegemonic masculinity; the idea that there are different forms of masculinity across many cultures and points of time. Essentially, men who are in a male only space because they don't want women to "invade their space" feels inherently gay. (Edit, please look at the post right after this one on my page, I explained this a little wrong and was corrected, PLEASE READ IT GOD DONT SPREAD MISINFORMATION-)

Regardless, shonen anime usually falls into this category. Like Naruto, dragon ball z, or saiki. Sometimes western cartoons can also fit this category, like dipper being accidental trans coding, or rapunzel from tangled ever after being accidental sapphic coding.

What this representation is defined by is the author simply making a lapse in judgement for their own show. They accidentally make the rivals to friends a little too queer because they will show an intimacy the main character can not share with his female love interest, and instead give it to his rival. This is often born out of ignorance; when a straight person creates a show and instead of sharing intimate friendships, it shows intimate relationships. They will try to fight toxic masculinity by showing they can hug and be vulnerable with their male friends and rivals. Essentially, a "romantic scene" is not actually romantic because there are two male characters. That is the only thing that separates his rival/best friend from his love interest.

It boils down to men not being allowed to have intimate relationships and women can be as intimate as they want to be to practice for boys.

The gender binary is so interesting isn't it?

Last minute representation

FINALLY, we're here. Last minute representation. Last minute representation is honestly the most common one. Gravity falls, madoka, adventure time, shera, dead end paranormal park and many many more have last minute representation. This is because of two factors. One, that shows IN GENERAL have their characters get together at the end, a very common aspect in story telling. The "happily ever after" part. Of course happily ever after doesn't exist, there's always another day after the end of a story. This is just a general writing pet peeve, but making a kids show with yet ANOTHER "happily ever after" is kinda stupid as it doesn't properly teach children that relationships take work and are complicated. It shows a small portion into what goes into a relationship, the confession. It's part of the reason why I want to create my own children's show, but anyway, that's not really the point.

The other reason shows often have last minute representation is because a show can no longer be canceled. For example, SU was actually gonna have a whole other season after season 5, but because the show aired the first ever gay marriage on TV for children, cartoon network was banned from hosting the show in a lot of countries. That's why the ending arc feels so rushed; because it was. That's why shows leave it to the very last minute, so that they can finish their story while still adding the LGBTQ rep they wanted to add into the show.

How does this relate to My Hero Academia?

Simple, my hero is going to do last minute representation correctly for once. The problem with last minute rep is that it entirely is dictated by pandering to the company who publishes your work, along with attracting an audience it doesn't necessarily need.

MHA did create a beard character for their main character, yes, but it did so in a way that completely erases the idea of shonen. Shonen is inherently pandering to the male gaze, the heterosexual society around it, yet it has always tried to stand out against other shonens.

What makes My Hero unique, is the fact that it never tried to be anything it wasn't.

It always showed you the love interest of the story, it never once lied to your face. The entirety of izuku and Katsuki's characters have always been gay.

Obsessed with someone

The other half of them

Everything they ever wished to be is what the other person is

They envied everything that they stood for

It was always in your face, we just chose to ignore it.

Not only that but Katsuki and Izuku have acted like a troubled married couple FROM THE START! Their relationship has always been about nuance and learning to be better. They have always acted like they were in a relationship, and that's why they're such a popular ship.

Horikoshi has enough of an audience that if shonen jump didn’t let him publish the two of them being gay, he would just do it without a publishing company. He’s got the money, fans, and the show. Plus, shonen jump would just lose money. It would be a lose lose situation.

They stood as the "male couple that ended up having more chemistry than the love interest" AND as the "they might be canon" couple.

Horikoshi was able to show that men can be intimate by not fighting homosociality.

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juniperhillpatient · 1 year

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🔥Azula and makeup

Oooh what an interesting topic! I switched to my laptop for this one I was like "I have too much to say I can't be on my phone" LOL

I have two categories of thought here & I do think there's value in separating those categories

Canon & character design

Let's start with the obvious. Azula is an anime - I'm sorry, it's western media someone will yell at me for saying that - a cartoon villain. It's just part of her trope/design that she's conventionally attractive / has red lipstick/eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man etc. If you've ever seen any piece of media ever, you HAVE to get that. So, to an extent, the conventionally attractive design is just kinda...there for obvious reasons.

However, because Azula is a PRINCESS & we do see how choices like hair & clothing are symbolically important - this doesn't mean it's entirely a waste of time to analyze the importance of makeup for Azula's character.

Azula has to look presentable at all times as part of her political role. We see her with lipstick & makeup even at a very young age in flashbacks (& YES the flashbacks are canon please don't start that discourse on my posts again omg) & that's sad in a way but it makes perfect sense considering her important role in the court.

In fact, the only time (IIRC) that we see Azula without makeup is when Zuko interrupts her at night when she is trying to sleep! Oh, & maybe in the scene where she is visiting the spa (& Zuko interrupts her! - lol damn, Zuzu leave her alone (jk). These are domestic scenes when she is alone / sleeping / getting ready to become more presentable. In general, Azula treats appearance with the utmost importance.

It's highly relevant that Azula's appearance begins to fall apart during her breakdown. Her lipstick is sloppy. She cuts her bangs. Her outward character design reflects her inner turmoil.

Okay that's all I have for now

PART TWO

2. My personal subjective headcanons & thoughts

It's been a while but I remember seeing a post about how Fire Nation military personnel were rare & Azula, Mai, & Ty Lee were going against FN gender roles. IDK the post was a whole meta but I couldn't find it now, so sorry. The point is - Azula is canonically a freaking military general/diplomatic mastermind AS WELL as a proper princess!

I personally love the idea that Azula has a masculine side - not trans per se, but I guess it could be if that's your HC but it's not mine - that enjoys boy clothes, suits, no makeup, etc. She likes to embrace that side of her gender. But, she's never felt comfortable or had the room to do so under Ozai's reign & expectations. I personally headcanon Azula as queer/sapphic whatever & I like the idea that as well as sexuality, once she gets away from Ozai she could start to explore gender a bit!

At the same time, I think that Azula does love her feminine side. In my stories, I tend to focus on her exploring different types of fashion. I feel as if in a modern AU she would have strong opinions on different high-end brands. I just know that she would have a huge collection of amazing dresses.

I feel that Azula going without makeup or with less makeup would be a huge step for her (in any universe) because she is SO used to everyone seeing her all put together. Azula starting to become more relaxed about her appearance would be - in my opinion - a HUGE step for her in healing & beginning to become more comfortable with herself.

ANYWAY

sorry, this literally went beyond "Azula & makeup." I REALLY started to ramble lmao sorry I am just sitting in bed drinking my lil glass of cabernet sauvignon watching How I Met Your Mother & getting way too passionate about Azula & gender -- I'm done rambling for now tho LOL xD

TYSM for asking <3

#azula #azula & gender is just such an interesting thing to discuss!!!!!#anon #ask games #my atla post #i got a lil passionate about this one sorry sdksjdkj

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let-us-cultivate-our-garden · 1 year

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Is it just me, or are the vast majority of Western cartoon LGBTQIA+ canon pairings WLW, while the few MLM pairings they do have are usually background characters with little to no lines that can be easily edited out for overseas audiences, or just comical side characters?

You know, yeah, the majority of queer rep, especially regarding lead characters, are wlw: Korrasami, Bubbeline, Lumity, Catradora, and Rupphire all fit this pattern.

I can't think of any mlm canon pairings that aren't side characters or background characters we see a handful of times. The only prominent gay male character who gets a boyfriend I can think of is Benson from Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. There's Shiro from Voltron who gets married to a man but they also fridge his practically non-existent boyfriend and give him some rando in the end. Honestly, the less said about that the better.

Representation is such a challenge in media despite all the progress that has been made; Rebecca Sugar had to fight tooth and nail to get the Ruby/Sapphire wedding and to make damn sure that overseas versions couldn't edit out the wedding. We can't exactly complain about the type of representation being seen because every show has been built on top of the other's success, steadily getting more and more diverse representation in the process because we still live in a homophobic and capitalist society.

Plus, given the polarized political climate we're in and how difficult it is to get original stories produced, it's a miracle we have our current batch of representation as is. In many ways, kids are very fortunate to be growing up with the normalization of queer couples, side character or not because that was not a thing when I was growing up.

The one thing we can do is push for more diverse representation in media, especially in prominent roles; wlw, mlm, ace rep, trans rep, it all matters. If TOH has any lasting impact, I hope it will be to encourage creators for even more queer stories in media and for executives to see the value in that.

#asks #queer representation #children's media #representation in media #the owl house #steven universe #spop #kipo and the age of wonderbeasts #adventure time #tlok

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davekat-sucks · 8 days

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Honestly the rhetoric of “Japan isn’t a perfect place” is so hollow at this point because of how obvious Japan’s societal problems are. Yes, Japan does have low birth rates, yes Japan has a harsh and unforgiving work culture, yes Japan does not have a society that reaches out to or discusses mental health of its population, creating a drive towards the growing hikikomori culture where you just stay inside your house all day and ROT. And finally, yeah many Japanese people do not like immigrants, immigration, or foreigners. This is a mix of European tourists being inconsiderate of their culture (it’s getting so bad tourists are getting banned from some districts of Japan for repeatedly taking pictures of geishas even though there are signs with visual clues of stick figures taking pictures of a geisha with a BIG CIRCLE WITH A SLASH THROUGH IT and this also applies to even simple stuff like ignoring the painted rows for getting on trains in a filed line, and a lot of little cultural divisions that you gotta learn before stepping into Asia’s biggest cultural exporter.

Of course, it’s not just the tourists, Japan also hates immigrants mostly because of the continuous cloud of Japanese nationalism that remains in the nation even after the war, which at best preserves landmarks and iconography of old imperial Japan (the naval flag hasn’t changed since 1868, even though the rising sun flag is now associated by Americans, many Chinese mainlanders, and Southeast Asians as a flag of oppression and war crimes since WWII, unless your Thailand, because Japan let Thailand keep their king and even join the Axis powers as an independent state) and at worst racism against Koreans and Chinese people that denies the terror at unit 731 and the massacre of Nanking.

Finally a lot of societal pros and cons of Japan come from 2 things:

1. America is Japan’e sugar daddy, it raised the country from rubble after WWII and created an economic miracle that modernized it so fast that by the 1980s it was developmentally ahead of countries like Italy and France.

2. Japan is dominated by one party since WWII and it only lost that majority for about 4 years after the economic crisis in 2008. It was Shinzo Abe that got the party’s grip on Japan, and economic state, back in the groove.

So Japan is a complex society with many people, a long history, complex politics (did you know Japan is one of the only countries in the global north to have a communist party represented in its parliament?) and it has problems, very human, and some of it does stem from the free-market Conservative politics of the country, and some of it was practices and cultural norms translated to the modern day.

The issue is the phrase “Japan ain’t a paradise ya know” does not address any of this, it more or less just attacks a superficial belief that people who like anime and complain about “wokeness” in western media like anime because anime generally does not explore or address social movements or political philosophy that deals with LGBTQ rights, racism, economic inequality, social justice, or political theory compared to modern american media which has integrated many more openly queer main characters and usually fights a villain who is a megalomaniac aristocrat who wants to get rid of some “other” to return society to “the good old days” and take power as this “great man” which must do what the unwashed masses could not stand up to. The assumption is since anime, and generally in genres like slice of life and shonen (and even beyond the scope of anime, tokusatsu) does not cover topic of modern political and social climate, it’s because Japan doesn’t have to deal with these issues, and is to the anime viewer, a harmonious, enriched, and bountiful society where there’s no crime, no poverty, and everyone is proud to be Japanese and accepts their place in society no matter how trivial their job or position in their community is.

The thing is: NO

Many popular anime and cartoons in Japan can cover modern social issues or political philosophy, it’s just that not all of it is going to get so popular that it gets dubbed or shipped to translation publishers like Crunchyroll or Viz media. The other thing is some Japanese media can cover older or more personal struggles in their works, it can get popular, and that’s alright! Not every piece of media that avoids talking about modern issues is anti-woke! Sometimes a fine story is a fun break from reality, a way to ease your stress from a day at work.

I think when people say “Japan isn’t a paradise you think it is” I think they’re saying that Japan has active movements that fight for more modern political causes like LGBTQ rights and economic reform, and that inevitably, they will win. Some courts in Japan are already considering same-sex marriage to be a right. That’s great.

The thing is, what the nu-fan is also saying is that the pressure of the American audience, and the growing progressive movement in Japan will reform the production and distribution of Japanese media that will introduce a new wave of authors, writers, and even animators who will be more woke than any previous generation of Japanese artists that preceded them.

And when Japan’s media landscape goes woke, where will you turn to to “escape the nu-fans” South Korea?

As if there’ll be 2 Koreas within the next decade.

🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵

Then there's Western companies that are trying to ask JP creators to change, edit, and censor their works in order to fit the standards for Western audiences. If they don't try to persuade them, they do it in more subtle ways through localization without their knowledge. And they will take that advantage that the creator will be fine with it because most don't understand English or Western culture. Sites like Pixiv that is limiting US and UK NSFW content because they don't wish to change the rules for other countries for a site that was exclusively made for Japan. It's why people are starting to accept AI translations as a new way to translate anime/manga/video games over localizers like Crunchyroll. I also think there is a difference in addressing Japanese's political and society issues over policing their media and having to alter it in order to make a quick buck. It's just as bad as Disney removing one gay reference since it isn't part of the big plot to get dem Chinese bux. At least stuff like Apex Legends is having some balls to not LGBT+ shit for Saudi Arabia release without fear of losing money or being killed.

#fandom #fandoms #Western fandom #Eastern fandom

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just-another-frender-blog · 1 year

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Do you think that the Hulu revival is going to correct any of the issues that the other seasons had, like the queerbaiting and "Haha Leela and Amy secretly hate each other because they're women!"? I have a liiiittle hope because the cultural landscape has changed so much. Unfortunately, I feel like the writers are a little set in their ways, and some of the fans definitely are. Can you imagine the meltdown if the show outed Bender? (Which would make it even better.)

I personally don't believe that Futurama had any queerbaiting. Like most other Western cartoons in general, I believe it has queer coding with many of its characters. Queerbaiting has a more negative connotation, while queer coding is much more neutral. And it's possible a lot of what I would consider queer coding is on accident, or me reading into things as a queer woman. The main reason I don't think Futurama has any queerbaiting is that it wouldn't make any sense at all. An adult cartoon that came out in 1999 for the more conservative Fox network would not try to market itself toward queer audiences at all. Hell, I would argue that one of the reasons Futurama got canceled back in the early 2000s was because it was too liberal for the network.

I would also like to consider Matt Groening's history as an artist. Before he did The Simpsons, he wrote a comic called Life in Hell. This comic was about funny-looking rabbit creatures, and I believe two of the characters lived as a gay couple (the rabbits cameo a few times in Futurama). Not to mention Smithers in The Simpsons who was clearly meant to be gay back when characters like these weren't portrayed in mainstream media. I just can't believe that they would put queerbaiting into the show with malicious intentions. I have to wonder if he wanted to put more LGBTQ characters into his projects like The Simpsons and Futurama, and was held back by Fox. However, there are a lot of people who worked on both shows, so I can't say for sure.

I don't even think that queer coding has any malicious intentions (for the most part). For example, when Fry acts as though Bender is cheating on him in The Honking, I don't think that the joke is that they are acting like a gay couple. I believe the joke is that Fry's reaction is so out of the left field for the situation at hand, to the point where it circles back as charming. I see this goofy, playful type of queer coding in a lot of cartoons, such as Wander Over Yonder or Looney Tunes Show. It doesn't bother me, but I also respect that it might bother others. The fanservice with Amy and Leela bothers me, but it would bother me less if they had a closer relationship like Fry and Bender.

I'm not sure if I would say the writers of Futurama are "set in their ways" as much as I would say that aspects of Futurama have aged very poorly due to the time it came out. That's not to say that these aspects shouldn't be criticized at all. I think that it's important to warn people when recommending the show, and it's important to discuss negative portrayals of minorities in fiction. I don't know much about the writers of Futurama so I have no idea what their beliefs are and I also have no clue how much freedom they were given with the show. It's possible that they had the best intentions and they fumbled with certain aspects.

Futurama is over 20 years old and it ended nearly 10 years ago. I think that this is a lot of time for the people who created the show to reflect and grow as writers. And I think every good writer wants to improve their flaws and listen to feedback. I've seen incredibly famous writers state that they could've done better. And then they take strides to improve on their older mistakes. I could definitely see the writers for this show reflecting on the way Amy and Leela's relationship was handled or the trans jokes made in very poor taste. Not to mention, it's very possible that they may bring new writers on board to get a more diverse writing room and a fresh perspective.

I admit that I have a great deal of respect for the writers of Futurama as an aspiring writer myself. Comedy is considered to be one of the most difficult genres to write, and Futurama has some of the tightest writing I've seen on TV. I think that can only be achieved by a great deal of effort and a strong writing team. The dialogue is fantastic; each character has a very distinct voice. I was impressed by the continuity in an episodic format, as well as the complex concepts they executed so well.

I adore how this show is "smart" but it never talks down to its viewers. I like how it can take jabs at itself from time to time without being too overt about it. I've always felt that even through all the dark humor, the heart of this show is kind, and you don't often get to see that with adult cartoons. There were so many instances when I finished an episode of Futurama and thought "I hope I can write like that one day." Maybe this is naïve of me, but I really do think the writers can fix some of the older issues that the show had now that time has passed. And maybe they will want to push for queer representation this time.

As for Bender being portrayed as queer; I definitely would like it if some of the more bigoted fans were pushed away from this show. I have to admit, seeing bigots get something they enjoy taken away from them always fills me with this vengeful glee. I would love it if Bender was confirmed queer; I fully welcome an unhinged and morally dubious queer character. However, the idea of backlash makes me incredibly nervous. This is mainly due to the way I've seen people talk about the LGBTQ community online and in real life, especially recently. I always want more representation in media, but I'm starting to feel worn down and depressed by the constant backlash anything remotely queer (or anything with minorities at all) receives.

#futurama #analysis post #long post #queer analysis #thoughts on the revival

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makiquas · 4 months

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☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ* M A K I Q U A S ☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*

mimi / alo, 20s, india

she / they pronouns, trans enby masc bi

anime, cartoons, all animated media, gl, webtoons

currently reading: exit's that way

☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ* F A N D O M S ☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*

ANIME

chainsaw man

kimetsu no yaiba (tag as demon slayer)

attack on titan (s1-s3)

puella magi madoka magica

death note

revolutionary girl utena

studio ghibli

satoshi kon

sk8 the infinity

WESTERN

she ra and the princesses of power

avatar the last airbender

legend of korra

arcane

love death + robots

☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ* S H I P S ☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*

makiqua, akihime, shinomitsu, tankana, kanaoi, inoaoi, inotan, uzuis, gennezu, eremin, levihan, jeankasa, mikasasha, yumihisu, niccosasha, hitchannie, mikannie, yumiannie, erurihan, madohomu, lawlight, remisa, juriori, utenanthy, renga, catradora, glimbow, glitradora, glitra, entrapdak, zutara, katoph, mailee, azutara, jinko, jetkotara, sukizula, yukka, sukka, yueki, kyalin, korrasami, makorra, timebomb, melvika, caitvi [among others]

!!! HARD DNI: !!!

terfs, transmeds, biphobes, butchphobes, radfems, racists, zionists, purist stans who refuse to criticise their fave media

☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ* BEFORE YOU FOLLOW ☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*

Please read before you follow

I am an adult, queer, trans person of color and my identity informs my media analysis.

I am focused on media featuring women, female relationships and queer/trans desire. I am not interested in a lot of popular cis mlm ships and content so this is probably not the place for your yaoi content :3

I do not appreciate purity discourse on my blog unless I encourage a conversation on my own terms. I am a perfectly capable person with two degrees in literature and arts and I can analyse my own media, thank you very much.

I will reblog criticism even on my favourite fandoms. if you don't want that, best not follow.

I love seeing butches, mascs and gnc lesbians and bisexuals in media. I interpret several characters from popular media as butch lesbians and speak about butchphobia. Please do not follow if you are a butchphobe. Btw, bisexuals do not owe you explanation for using butch and femme and do not speak over bisexuals and gatekeep queer history.

I like toxic media, dark romance and evil female characters. In particular, I LOVE toxic yuri but there are hard boundaries for me. I do not like racist dynamics, and I think toxic gl should be equally balanced- not in the sense of literal power dynamics, but that both sapphics should be equally crazy and it's not like a naive cinnamon roll x evil dommy mommy thing.

There are some ships I actively dislike, excluding the obvious pedo/incest/taboo ones so if you like any of the below, best steer clear:

akiangel, fiend harem, zennezu, giyushino, sanegiyu, akaren, eremika, mobuhan, pikuhan, aruannie, lawlightmane, kataang, maiko, zukka, zukki, tokka

#mimi.txt #makiqua #makiquas intro

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horrorlesbians · 2 years

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lesbians don't only get recommended kids' cartoons, y'all just can't be bothered to seek out diverse lesbian media that's live action and adult-oriented outside of tumblr. and even here, there's a plethora of content if you're following adult lesbians of color, physically and/or intellectually disabled lesbians, jewish lesbians etc. who recommend films and shows. further, acting like lesbians who do watch cartoons are somehow incapable of or uninterested in also watching adult media (queer or not) like lake mungo, saint maude, gone girl, or ginger snaps (which is actually intended for teenagers, not adults, by the way) is ignorant and ableist, particularly to autistic adults with "childish" special interests, and DID/OSDD systems who have littles (alters who are children.) People have multiple areas of interest and plenty of cartoons dissect complex themes in ways that are easier to digest, especially for intellectually disabled people. That isn't a bad or "infantilizing" thing. And even if people aren't intellectually disabled, they're allowed to watch and find happiness in kids' media w/o people assuming that's ALL they watch. And lastly, the idea that animated media is strictly 'for kids' anyway is incredibly white and western, as there's plenty of adult-oriented animated media.

being annoyed when people repeatedly recommended she-ra to me, a 22-year-old lesbian is ableist apparently

#written in blood #the amount of words you put into my mouth is astounding #i literally said none of this i said stop telling me to watch cartoons meant for children bc i don't want cartoons meant for children #watch kids cartoons i don't give a shit just stop assuming everyone else also wants to watch them #especially adults

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voidsumbrella · 5 months

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imo hbomberguy's original video was an excellent rundown of the broader plagiarism issue, but todd in the shadows' fact check vid is really the reason im pissed at this specific guy, and gives me a bit less sympathy for people who fell for his shit tbh.

like missing the plagiarism and less like... relevant misinformation is one thing- im actually pretty sure i saw a post about the disney gay day thing go around a while back and went "huh neat" and moved on without checking, because why would i check that sort of thing, i don't care about the history of disney. and while we can collectively raise our eyebrows at people not picking up on the celluloid closet-tier theft, if you don't have any interest in more in-depth queer theory or history i does kinda track that you wouldn't know these books exist. i watch random essays as mildly informative background noise all the time; i'm not going to be able to cite any of the organic chemistry sources referenced, no matter how common knowledge it is in-field.

but holy SHIT so much of the facts he very confidently stated were such blatantly biased horseshit that they really should have pinged more radars than they did. i cannot fucking imagine listening to someone tell me that american soldiers primarily enlisted in wwii because the nazis were just so sexy and not thinking something was up there. claiming that subtlety in western movies wasn't invented until the 1960s while gushing over the homosexual subtext in disney cartoons is insulting to your audience's knowledge of their own pop culture, and also their grasp on linear time. if you thought his dig at western theater being entirely tell-don't-show held any water i have to assume you flunked english from 8th grade on, and have never seen a production in your life.

i have not watched his videos, and im not planning to, but frankly there is no amount of contextual padding that will make his commentary on asian media and culture in general less xenophobic and/or infantilizing. the kabuki/noh mixup and disregard for even reading the wikipedia article before discussing how their narratives work aside, the whole thing about the big scary chinese government padding their action movie box office numbers as propaganda exclusively designed to intimidate western audiences is 1) stupid as hell, and 2) yet another offshoot of the right-of-center sinophobia that's been circulating for the last couple five years and i really don't know why people are so willing to defend themselves by saying it isn't their fault that they uncritically swallowed his racist bullshit or accepted it as confirmation of their own biases.

i think that's actually what bothers me the most here. his entire platform was built on stealing other people's ideas and reframing them to tell his audience what they wanted to hear. and i get it! everyone wants to think they're smart and cool and know the real history behind everything, everyone wants to hear that they can continue to like the stuff they like that other people are pushing back against- attack on titan isn't really facist, disney has always been progressive, china's just as awful as you think it is- it's really easy to get suckered into that!! it sucks to hear someone you trusted is a liar, and it's embarrassing to get called out for believing something false, but some of this stuff crumbles so quickly under any measure of critical thinking that defending taking it as gospel is more of a self-own than anything else.

hopefully the current teardown has reminded everyone that people on the internet are frequently full of shit and passed out a few more tips on how to be smarter going forwards.

#real life mango #this uh. got away from me a bit.#but ive been stewing on this since the video dropped #hopefully it's coherent #minor disclaimer that im mostly vagueing shit ive seen on twitter and not as much here #(not that it doesn't exist here)#(just that im not responding to any one tumblr post specifically)

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tabby-shieldmaiden · 9 months

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I’ve decided that I would like to try and write Shonen with Women. Like that one popular tumblr post talking about it. There’s a handful of close-enough cases. But there’s not tons and tons such that you can have something for everyone. I would like to try and write something like that.

And I have decided on a list of things which I should try to engage with, so that I can get somewhere within the vicinity of ‘Shonen with Women’.

The first thing is, obviously, Shonen animanga. I want to try and engage with some of the ones which have like. Female leads. Notably big casts of women. At least 60/40 ratios. I’ve watched Soul Eater and JoJo part 6, and I may rewatch or reread them. I’ve watched Chainsaw Man, and I think I really should read it. I should look at some of the other big names too. I think I’ll get to TTGL and Demon Slayer both for social reasons (friends who like it and who I can talk to about), and because they are short in comparison to some shonen. But some of the longer stuff does interest me. In particular, I have an interest in Naruto, both because to some people, it does seem to symbolise some platonic ideal of ‘Shonen animanga’, and because it is notoriously known for poorly handling its female characters. I think it would be interesting to try and play around with it, therefore.

The second thing is just. Miscellaneous other works which fall under ‘boy-targeted action-adventure story with sff elements’. Which is what most people mean when they talk about capital S Shonen. Like, ‘shonen’ is a demographic, but capital S Shonen is a genre. Most of these works which aren’t animanga are Western works, in particular North American works. This is partially for social reasons, because I have friends who I can talk to about superhero cartoons and miscellaneous other ‘boy’ targeted media. But it is also because I think it will be interesting to compare and contrast and see in what ways things differ, and what ways they stay the same.

The third thing on my list are magical girl media. This is for interest reasons and social reasons. Also, it’ll be interesting to compare and contrast. The escapist heroism fantasy for boys vs the escapist heroism fantasy for girls. What ways are they the same? What ways are they different?

The fourth is like, fringe cases. Things people hold up as ‘Shonen with Women’ already which aren’t quite neatly magical girl. RWBY (which I have previously watched) and Worm (which I have not read) fall under here. But if there’s any more things which are like this, I will keep a lookout. RWBY wasn’t really for me, but I do want to rewatch it all at least once so that I can stew on it and what it does a little more.

It’ll also be good for me to look at some other SFF works too, since so much of this sort of media has very obvious fantasy and science fiction elements to them. I still won’t read Lord of the Rings though, simply because too many people said that I had to read Lord of the Rings. I couldn’t even sit through the movies. My Mom was watching The Two Towers in cinemas and I think she had to leave midway because I decided it was time for me to be born*. If I ever had a natural disposition, it may just be disinterest in the goings-on of Middle Earth.

The sixth thing is like. I would like to know more about leftism. Economics, certainly, but also. Feminism and queer rights, postcolonialism, disability theory, and all sorts of other readings. This is for personal reasons, to become a better activist. But also, I feel like I will have to be prepared to think about what I see. I need tools to be able to look at the media and dissect it, and see what wasn’t working there, and how I can take things and put them in my own work and make them more informed. If I were to write Shonen with Women, I will have to put some work into it to really make it stand out. I think a part of that will be grappling with all the uncheck assumptions that tend to be put into this sort of escapist media, and seeing if we can escape to better places.

Especially since so many works in my chosen genre are written by white or Japanese men, and I do want to write more obviously Southeast Asian fiction (in the sense of writing informed by the region’s history and culture). I think I will read postcolonial writings and feminist writings and Southeast Asian history and mix it with thoughts on all these other stories. I’ll start small. Learn about my country first. Then the direct neighbours. Learn about the whole region. Then on to South Asia and China and other Pacific Islanders and any other peoples who have had shared histories with the region. And I will keep learning more and more and keep jumping down rabbit holes. This is for my own curiosity, to understand where I am, and how to move forward. And hopefully, because these things are on my mind, they will mix with my animanga and action cartoon thoughts, and it will blossom into something worth writing about.

And of course, I will need to go get more life experiences. Learn more things about the world. Engage with non-fiction. Do things which aren’t fiction related. This is also an important part of being a good writer period. It’s not all about media consumption. It’s learning facts about science and going out with family and friends and learning new things, and having all those experiences fuel my writing.

So yeah. I guess that’s it. My list of things I will try and engage with in order to try and write Shonen with Women. My current WIP isn’t quite it. My next WIP idea may be closer. I don’t have a third long-form one yet. But who knows. Maybe after engaging with all these things, I will find something that I can say, while also saying it by writing women battle each other in dramatic, magical and/or scifi-ish fights.

*Either that, or it was before or after the movie. They were not very clear telling the story.

#tabby says something #shonen with women project #bulletpoint thoughts

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va-mp3 · 11 months

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𓆩♡𓆪 𝔄𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𓆩♡𓆪

hello there! i'm vamp, and i post pictures of my maximalist room and outfits! i use she/they pronouns and am a queer demigirl from None Of Your Business-ville, USA. i would prefer to remain anonymous so i will be blurring my face in all of my photos. please respect my privacy. this is also not my main account! my main in big-pink-comfy-couch. i’m autistic and have adhd and ptsd. i’m something of an unintentional shut-in on my way to recovery!

i grew up on fashion dolls and related media: barbie, to trollz girlz and bratz movies (mom thought i was too young for the dolls when they were popular lol), to monster high and ever after high. my bio brother's girlfriend got me into my first anime, sailor moon, and j-pop when i was about eight or nine, and my favorite game growing up was style savvy for the DS. my childhood was influenced heavily by hyperfemineity and the power of what we loosely define as "girlhood", as well as alternative subculture. video games, western cartoons, and the older teen and young adult figures in my life at the time were my introduction to goth, emo, scene, and rave culture. over time, my style and way of decorating have grown backwards almost, becoming a mirror of all the things that i admired in the late 2000s to early 2010s.

much of my aesthetic revolves around my love of that nostalgia, and the things that bring me joy. i’d describe myself as “creepy cute”. i live in a pastel goth (or bubblegum goth, as my parents call it) dreamscape. i refuse to be anything but sweetly spooky and uncomfortably femme.

i remember the girls in my books and cartoons and games having the coolest rooms, and the coolest hair, and the coolest clothes, and I always said that one day, i was gonna be just like that. and now i am <3. i fulfilled my dream of dressing like an irl monster high doll lol.

this blogs serves to let me share all these hobbies I enjoy, document my progress in building my art and merch collections, as well as my jewelry and wardrobe, and talk about plus size alt fashion, fandom, and collection-based hobbies. :3

#about

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