I'm seeing that this ain't so much the case for quite a few folks out there. Interesting and thought-provoking commentary by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lavendertook here and oyceter here, and here is a link to a blog post found by pinkdormouse which appears to have some good background data on the whole brouhaha. hederahelix raises an interesting question on the matter here.
I'm finding myself really rather in accord withlavendertook's and oyceter's commentary, particularly in regards to this quote of oyceter's: "Part of me doesn't even want to keep talking about this because it's so uncomfortable, because it causes such defensiveness in other people, because I am tired of being told that I am wrong for seeing these things. And that's the very reason I am making myself post this, making myself confront the nidginess and the squirminess, the problems that I have in just acknowledging that something that I am enjoying is racist."
Which is pretty much dead on the money. Because as I posted before, I pretty much had a rollicking good time with this movie, and a big, big part of me still thinks that it's certainly something you hardly want to think rationally about... and yet.
As a white chick, I suppose that one might argue that there's only so much I get to say about racism. But I think that specifically because I am a white chick, that makes it doubly important for me to say something, to acknowledge that this is there, because only if the problem gets acknowledged can it be confronted and dealt with. As an aspiring writer, I also find myself heavily in accord with the commentary that so many of the racist bits of this movie could have been eliminated by tighter writing, or hell, even by paying just a touch more attention to the casting. What the hell happened to Anamaria from the first movie, for example?
I could go into more detail, but that'd go into spoiler territory. So I'll stick with saying that if y'all do go see the movie, go in with eyes open about this. And think very hard about what you might do in your life to counterbalance the problem--whether that be avoiding the movie on principle, sending a protest letter to Disney, spending your bucks in support of movies that don't perpetuate racist stereotypes, or what.
Me, I find myself a bit sheepishly amused that in both of the novels I've finished so far, the main female characters have turned out to be girls of color--Kendis with an African-American mortal father, and Faanshi with a mother out of a dark-skinned culture as well. This isn't something I deliberately set out to do, like unto Ursula K. LeGuin's very deliberate choice to make most of the folks in the Earthsea books be people of color... but I'm finding myself kind of happy that I've done it. It's a small gesture, but it's definitely one I can do.
Kind of like making this post.
ETA 12:52pm: There are a few small free-floating spoilers down in the comments, so proceed with care as you read them!
lavendertook here and oyceter here, and here is a link to a blog post found by pinkdormouse which appears to have some good background data on the whole brouhaha. hederahelix raises an interesting question on the matter here.I'm finding myself really rather in accord with
lavendertook's and oyceter's commentary, particularly in regards to this quote of oyceter's: "Part of me doesn't even want to keep talking about this because it's so uncomfortable, because it causes such defensiveness in other people, because I am tired of being told that I am wrong for seeing these things. And that's the very reason I am making myself post this, making myself confront the nidginess and the squirminess, the problems that I have in just acknowledging that something that I am enjoying is racist."Which is pretty much dead on the money. Because as I posted before, I pretty much had a rollicking good time with this movie, and a big, big part of me still thinks that it's certainly something you hardly want to think rationally about... and yet.
As a white chick, I suppose that one might argue that there's only so much I get to say about racism. But I think that specifically because I am a white chick, that makes it doubly important for me to say something, to acknowledge that this is there, because only if the problem gets acknowledged can it be confronted and dealt with. As an aspiring writer, I also find myself heavily in accord with the commentary that so many of the racist bits of this movie could have been eliminated by tighter writing, or hell, even by paying just a touch more attention to the casting. What the hell happened to Anamaria from the first movie, for example?
I could go into more detail, but that'd go into spoiler territory. So I'll stick with saying that if y'all do go see the movie, go in with eyes open about this. And think very hard about what you might do in your life to counterbalance the problem--whether that be avoiding the movie on principle, sending a protest letter to Disney, spending your bucks in support of movies that don't perpetuate racist stereotypes, or what.
Me, I find myself a bit sheepishly amused that in both of the novels I've finished so far, the main female characters have turned out to be girls of color--Kendis with an African-American mortal father, and Faanshi with a mother out of a dark-skinned culture as well. This isn't something I deliberately set out to do, like unto Ursula K. LeGuin's very deliberate choice to make most of the folks in the Earthsea books be people of color... but I'm finding myself kind of happy that I've done it. It's a small gesture, but it's definitely one I can do.
Kind of like making this post.
ETA 12:52pm: There are a few small free-floating spoilers down in the comments, so proceed with care as you read them!
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