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bossymarmalade) wrote2010-10-22 01:51 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote2010-10-22 01:51 pm
Entry tags:
oh hallelujah our problems are solved, we have banana bread
ETA Nov 4: Urgh, must remember next time to tell metaquotes not to link my posts, as only the most entitled idiots seem to race over here.
As such, I am turning off anonymous comments, since the anons all share the idea that "rudeness" is far worse than racism and mostly want to leave cowardly attacks in their comments. You don't have to like what I've said. You don't have to agree with it. But there's no reason to be anon unless you don't want other people seeing what vindictive nasty pieces of work you are, because I certainly have no time or desire to hunt you down -- and besides, YOU'RE the ones taking the effort to come to MY journal and be horrible. The only other place I've even discussed this is in gyzym's journal, WITH GYZYM.
ETA: Please note that gyzym, the author of the story I quote, has made a post about it and we've had a conversation, which is a far more lovely resolution to these things than I'm accustomed to (stay out of the comments, though, heh. Again I reiterate to all y'all: If/when I ever say something problematic, get called out on it, and post an apology? PLEASE do not tell me that I have nothing to apologize for or anything in that vein, I beg you).
Also, I'm in training Monday & Tuesday and won't be here to properly moderate this post, so I'm temporarily freezing comments. Cheers! Comments back on. Trolls will be dealt with.
So you're of Indian descent and you're happily reading a fic that has Yusuf and Ariadne becoming friends over photography and Beatles and Bowie, and then you reach this part:
And this isn't even the example of hipster racism in Inception fic that the_moonmoth pointed out here (apparently in such a CONFRONTATIONAL FASHION ["Casual racism yay \o/ Just what was missing from my reading experience"] that some other person flipped her shit about it in a whole post about how wrong the_moonmoth is. Also that other person continually spells "Yusuf" wrongly, which is a whole other level of ironic that I think might give me iron poisoning).
And oh, there are more examples than these two, lots more, sometimes about Saito but mostly about Yusuf. But Inception fandom is really, really good at hipster racism, which is tough to point out at the best of times, because we all know it's a joke, right? Racism is totally hilarious if white people make the jokes and are fully aware they're being racist! Jesus where's my ironic Native headdress, the one that goes with my Chinese-language tattoo and the salwar I want to wear to the club so I can prance around to hip-hop songs shrieking the n-word? BTDubs isn't it HILARIOUS to have the Indian character dissing on Indian food? This shit is just like an episode of Outsourced, RAWWWWWWK!!
ETA 2: Since people are apparently still flooding in here and getting indignant and shit, I shall elucidate further:
1) This post was written with the audience of my DW circle in mind. An audience who's aware of my history with pointing out racism in fanfic, with talking about race in general, and with refusing to do Racism 101.
2) As such, I mostly wanted to highlight/vent about a trend in Inception fandom, not single out![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gyzym personally. Please note that I didn't link to her fic or mention her name until the two posts were connected. Also, my post was written before gyzym made the decision to change her fic, so I am hardly "attacking" her post-resolution. I don't believe in erasing evidence, which is why this post is still up *with caveats* borne of the very satisfactory agreement that gyzym and I reached. She's a fantastic person and I've made a new friend. Please stop announcing that this post is "character assassination" because that's ridiculous. If anything, I think it speaks volumes to her character that she could be pointed to a random rant by somebody she doesn't know, and be so horrified to find that she's hurt people that she took steps to amend and ameliorate and prevent it from happening again.
3) If I'd had the time and inclination, I could have written a more nuanced post about my experience of the evolution of conversations about racism/oppression within the fandoms I've been in, and how the outright racist crap that I used to read has now evolved into hipster racism. If I'd had the energy, I might have specified that Inception is hardly alone in this trend, but very similar to say ST Reboot in that there aren't a lot of chromatic/female characters, and those that are get written in a problematic fashion in order to facilitate the Alpha Pairing of Kirk/McCoy (much like Arthur/Eames). Much like, I gather, the issues in SGA with Ronon and Teyla being baristas and maids to facilitate Sheppard/McKay. Much like it's probably happening in other current fandoms I know nothing about. It's a trend.
However, I was mostly disgruntled and hurt, so instead I vented. This is where journal-as-personal-space and journal-as-public-blog overlap, so even though I wrote in a haphazard jargon intended for the friends who know me, it's not inconceivable that other people might find the post and get pissed. That's the contract we make when we post publicly (which is how I habitually post), whether it's fic or journal posts. So I'm not sore about people reading my post and saying whatever (although it's hilarious to have people claiming I purposely posted on DW where "I knewgyzym wouldn't see it" -- I crosspost to LJ, btw -- or that I'm "desperate for attention" -- yeah, because this is exactly the kind of attention people enjoy), because they have the right to comment about something I posted publicly. The same way I have the right to post about a public fic. The same way I am not obligated to contact the author of that fic, or leave them feedback; the same way that author is not obligated to change anything, or respond to feedback.
I'm not new on the block, sistren. This isn't my first ride on the merry-go-round. I *am* a little bemused by the froth that people are whipping themselves into over this situation, particularly becausegyzym and I have resolved it and not only have no animosity towards each other, but share great mutual respect and hope to stand firmly together in doing our bits to make fandom a place safe for all of us. Seriously, of all the racefail I've written about/observed, this one was the LEAST ugly and confrontational.
So.
ETA 3: Also, I SUPER-LOVE INCEPTION. Haven't any of you ever been annoyed with your fandom for something even though you still love it dearly? Come on now! That can't be so unusual!
As such, I am turning off anonymous comments, since the anons all share the idea that "rudeness" is far worse than racism and mostly want to leave cowardly attacks in their comments. You don't have to like what I've said. You don't have to agree with it. But there's no reason to be anon unless you don't want other people seeing what vindictive nasty pieces of work you are, because I certainly have no time or desire to hunt you down -- and besides, YOU'RE the ones taking the effort to come to MY journal and be horrible. The only other place I've even discussed this is in gyzym's journal, WITH GYZYM.
ETA: Please note that gyzym, the author of the story I quote, has made a post about it and we've had a conversation, which is a far more lovely resolution to these things than I'm accustomed to (stay out of the comments, though, heh. Again I reiterate to all y'all: If/when I ever say something problematic, get called out on it, and post an apology? PLEASE do not tell me that I have nothing to apologize for or anything in that vein, I beg you).
So you're of Indian descent and you're happily reading a fic that has Yusuf and Ariadne becoming friends over photography and Beatles and Bowie, and then you reach this part:
There is a grey and white kitten sitting on her, peering up at her with inquisitive eyes. She grins down at him, delighted, and puts her burrito down to pick him up.
"And who are you, little guy?" she coos. Yusuf smiles.
"That's Vindaloo," he says. "I found him out back last week, trying to get into the garbage cans."
"Why Vindaloo?" Ariadne asks. The kitten reaches out a tiny paw and bats at her face with it, and she can't help giggling a little.
Yusuf wrinkles his nose. "That's what he smelled like for the first two days."
And this isn't even the example of hipster racism in Inception fic that the_moonmoth pointed out here (apparently in such a CONFRONTATIONAL FASHION ["Casual racism yay \o/ Just what was missing from my reading experience"] that some other person flipped her shit about it in a whole post about how wrong the_moonmoth is. Also that other person continually spells "Yusuf" wrongly, which is a whole other level of ironic that I think might give me iron poisoning).
And oh, there are more examples than these two, lots more, sometimes about Saito but mostly about Yusuf. But Inception fandom is really, really good at hipster racism, which is tough to point out at the best of times, because we all know it's a joke, right? Racism is totally hilarious if white people make the jokes and are fully aware they're being racist! Jesus where's my ironic Native headdress, the one that goes with my Chinese-language tattoo and the salwar I want to wear to the club so I can prance around to hip-hop songs shrieking the n-word? BTDubs isn't it HILARIOUS to have the Indian character dissing on Indian food? This shit is just like an episode of Outsourced, RAWWWWWWK!!
ETA 2: Since people are apparently still flooding in here and getting indignant and shit, I shall elucidate further:
1) This post was written with the audience of my DW circle in mind. An audience who's aware of my history with pointing out racism in fanfic, with talking about race in general, and with refusing to do Racism 101.
2) As such, I mostly wanted to highlight/vent about a trend in Inception fandom, not single out
gyzym personally. Please note that I didn't link to her fic or mention her name until the two posts were connected. Also, my post was written before gyzym made the decision to change her fic, so I am hardly "attacking" her post-resolution. I don't believe in erasing evidence, which is why this post is still up *with caveats* borne of the very satisfactory agreement that gyzym and I reached. She's a fantastic person and I've made a new friend. Please stop announcing that this post is "character assassination" because that's ridiculous. If anything, I think it speaks volumes to her character that she could be pointed to a random rant by somebody she doesn't know, and be so horrified to find that she's hurt people that she took steps to amend and ameliorate and prevent it from happening again. 3) If I'd had the time and inclination, I could have written a more nuanced post about my experience of the evolution of conversations about racism/oppression within the fandoms I've been in, and how the outright racist crap that I used to read has now evolved into hipster racism. If I'd had the energy, I might have specified that Inception is hardly alone in this trend, but very similar to say ST Reboot in that there aren't a lot of chromatic/female characters, and those that are get written in a problematic fashion in order to facilitate the Alpha Pairing of Kirk/McCoy (much like Arthur/Eames). Much like, I gather, the issues in SGA with Ronon and Teyla being baristas and maids to facilitate Sheppard/McKay. Much like it's probably happening in other current fandoms I know nothing about. It's a trend.
However, I was mostly disgruntled and hurt, so instead I vented. This is where journal-as-personal-space and journal-as-public-blog overlap, so even though I wrote in a haphazard jargon intended for the friends who know me, it's not inconceivable that other people might find the post and get pissed. That's the contract we make when we post publicly (which is how I habitually post), whether it's fic or journal posts. So I'm not sore about people reading my post and saying whatever (although it's hilarious to have people claiming I purposely posted on DW where "I knew
gyzym wouldn't see it" -- I crosspost to LJ, btw -- or that I'm "desperate for attention" -- yeah, because this is exactly the kind of attention people enjoy), because they have the right to comment about something I posted publicly. The same way I have the right to post about a public fic. The same way I am not obligated to contact the author of that fic, or leave them feedback; the same way that author is not obligated to change anything, or respond to feedback.I'm not new on the block, sistren. This isn't my first ride on the merry-go-round. I *am* a little bemused by the froth that people are whipping themselves into over this situation, particularly because
gyzym and I have resolved it and not only have no animosity towards each other, but share great mutual respect and hope to stand firmly together in doing our bits to make fandom a place safe for all of us. Seriously, of all the racefail I've written about/observed, this one was the LEAST ugly and confrontational.So.
ETA 3: Also, I SUPER-LOVE INCEPTION. Haven't any of you ever been annoyed with your fandom for something even though you still love it dearly? Come on now! That can't be so unusual!
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