You see something stupid. You hear something stupid. You read something stupid = Yeah,TNTG. Posts tagged film.
“Nicolas Cage finally turns down a role”
As a feminist who enjoys a lot of genres that aren’t usually…
As a feminist who enjoys a lot of genres that aren’t usually lady-friendly, it always irks me when people claim they have strong, feminist characters in their stories, but in reality they’re neither of those things. Sometimes a character’s qualities are debatable, but I wanted to make a list of things that don’t necessarily make a strong female character:
1) She is a woman/girl. Okay, so you created a female character. That’s a good start. But even Bella Swan from Twilight is a woman and I wouldn’t call her a good representation of feminism and modern womanhood. Is your character reflective of real women, or is she part of a stereotype? Do you even know the kinds of problems real women face? Does she face appropriate obstacles?
2) She can kill people, ergo she is a strong woman. Being a strong woman does not necessarily mean she can bash in skulls or toss people across the room. It means that she is psychologically, emotionally, and sometime physically well developed and can hold her own against opponents. Yes, it is refreshing to see female characters that are not physically wimpy and dependent, but if her character isn’t fully fleshed out, she’s just a tool. Try to make your female characters as complex and realistic in the story as possible.
3) She is a feminist. Okay, who says she’s a feminist? You, or her actions? Being a feminist is more than just saying “I’m a feminist.” Does she illuminate women’s issues during her story arc? Does she legitimately stand for all women’s rights, or just a stereotype of women’s rights (i.e. fauxminism)? Don’t make a straw feminist (see Feminist Frequency’s video on the Straw Feminist).
4) She doesn’t act like other women. Okay, this is really common in genres like fantasy and scifi, and it’s really problematic. First, you are assuming that all women act in a certain manner, which is not the case. Second, this most likely means that you are not writing a female character, you are writing a male character with boobs. This isn’t necessarily a good representation of womanhood. The point of avoiding stereotypes and cliches when writing for a female character is not to eliminate femininity and womanhood, but instead to adopt a more enlightened and diverse perspective on womanhood. Many things factor into a woman’s life that make her unique from other women. You have to consider things like class, race, culture, situation, history, and other perspectives that you design for her. This is also why it’s important to have multiple women in any story, because if you write five very diverse male characters but only one female character, it is easy to assume from the audience’s perspective that all women behave as that one female character does, and this is part of why sexism is so prevalent in media today.
5) She is the main character. Again, this kind of goes back to point #1. It is great to have women in main roles instead as just a sidekick or love interest, but if she isn’t a well developed, strong, and complex character, there’s really no point for her to even exist, other than to maybe be eye candy or a foil for a scenario.
I could go on and on and on forever and ever about sexism in media, mostly in fantasy, scifi, and horror (which are my favorite genres), but that would take way too long and I have to make a taco pizza (that’s a pizza with taco ingredients for toppings, if you were wondering). If you’re interested in this sort of stuff like I am, then check out Feminist Frequency. They offer great videos on a variety of topics concerning women in media. These were mostly just some tips I wanted to offer for young writers, film makers, game designers, comic artists, and other crafters of media about handling women in media. If people like this post, I may consider doing one for queer people, too…
Spike Lee / The Dolly Shot (by Richard Cruz)
“What I love most about this video is how it neutralizes whatever observation one might have about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of a shot in a given Spike Lee film by placing them all together in a single short video, so that the shots’ inventiveness, showiness and beauty take center stage, and you’re no longer watching characters in a story, but living sculptural objects driving through a series of spectacular and sometimes haunting settings.”
Whitewashing vs. Racebending
The differences should go without saying.
To whitewash is to lighten a character or person’s skin or make a character more eurocentric, and is incredibly common. Artists, casters, and magazine editors whitewash because they or their readers have (sub)conscious, eurocentric ideals of beauty, as in believing that only white or light people can be beautiful.
In other words, whitewashing in the modern world (which suffers from white supremacy and European colonialism which has caused many horrors and is still very strong although denied by those that can afford to) is both caused by and upholds racism and shadism, two beliefs that have and do literally kill. Yes, even in the 1st world.
To racebend, when not used as a synonym for whitewashing, is to change a character’s race or shade to a more brown, oppressed, and/or unsatisfyingly represented group. Artists and on rare occasions casters racebend because they are sick of the whitewashing they have seen and chose racebending as a retaliation or racebend in an attempt to include a wider demographic of viewers. Racebending because of beauty ideals is not too common this day and age due to media favoring white and light people.
In other words, racebending in the modern world (which suffers from white supremacy and European colonialism, which has caused many horrors and is still very strong) is a sort of comeback (but NOT by any stretch an equivalent) to whitewashing or done by casters to represent an audience who were previously ignored. Racebending does not uphold a prominent evil, and it does not contribute to or uphold anything that kills. Those that see racebending in action won’t walk away with lifelong complexes validated.
See the difference?
“ My biggest problem is that there is simply no creativity in movies with black casts at all. White people are 12 year old wizards, teens with crushes on vampires and werewolves, fighting blue people, talking fish and toys, and yet the best we get is a movie about the genteel south? Someone please make a movie about two black folks falling in love at a rock concert or a feature film about Storm from X-Men discovering her power, or something, ANYTHING, that goes beyond Black Pain (TM) / White Saviour (TM) movies. Sheesh.
—
A commenter on “Why I’m Just Saying No to ‘The Help’” (via atrapforfools)
FUCKING THIS. (via so-treu)
Pretty much. (via kyssthis16)
SO. MUCH. THIS. TIMES. INFINITY. (via squeetothegee)
L’eclisse
Michelangelo Antonioni on the set of L’eclisse.
“ I am a woman of colour with a deep – almost unhealthy – love of popular culture. It is a love that is sorely tested in the face of such prejudice when I am told, loudly and with few qualms, that the stories of people who look like me just aren’t viable in a specific universe. It is often explicitly stated by my co-fans that I am not – ever – what they picture when they read these books or hear about these movies. The language may be coded: “She’s not how I imagined” or, in the case of interracial couple Sam and Mercedes on TV’s Glee, slightly more explicit: “They don’t look right together, like, they don’t … fit.” But the message is clear. We get to be supporting characters – the redshirts – or the villains. But heroes? Um, no. That would make things too … ethnic.
— Bim Adewunmi, in a moving editorial for The Guardian (UK)
“
And then there’s the representation of aromanticism in fiction. Oh, oh wait. No, there isn’t. There’s sexual aromanticism which is often misogynist (guy players are cool! girl players are hoors who need a man to settle her down!). Asexual aromanticism, however? That’s what you pull out when all your inhumanising methods have failed. The most normal thing in media is wanting a romantic relationship. If someone doesn’t want a romantic relationship (and if they’re not just waiting for the right man~~) they are probably going to commit genocide.
On the flip-side: romanticism is often used to humanise and/or reward a character. It’s lazy and it’s cheap, but it works. Robots want to be human? The thing they want the very most is a romantic relationship. Ex-villain is being rehabilitated and redeeming themself? They’re gonna start dating. Previously creepy/whacky side character starts being more important? Get them a significant other stat. Saved the world? Get a prospective girl/boyfriend. Realised they don’t need someone to be happy? Suddenly: someone to make them happy.
(This is why so many aces have a difficult adolescence. We know we’re different, but so often we don’t have the words for it, and no one understands when we try to explain. And then we finally recognise ourselves in a character on TV and… and they’re a serial killer or an alien, and a lot of people go “well no, they’re actually probably totes gay”. Media told me that — just because I didn’t feel like dating or having sex — I didn’t have the right to consider myself human. I am still — more than ten years on — dealing with the venomous headspace that created.)
—
Awesome stuff by pippin.. It’s titled asexuality in fiction, but there is a really cool section on aromantics too!
FONSFAQ post — asexuality in fiction
(via fictionalaros)
In fairness, I’ve always had the sneaking suspicion that I am, in fact, alien.
(via deastrumquodvicis)
And then we finally recognise ourselves in a character on TV and… and they’re a serial killer or an alien, and a lot of people go “well no, they’re actually probably totes gay”. Media told me that — just because I didn’t feel like dating or having sex — I didn’t have the right to consider myself human. I am still — more than ten years on — dealing with the venomous headspace that created.
This, this so many times over. I can’t remember who said it, but there’s that line about how if you want to deny someone’s humanity, you deny them a reflection, and growing up without one — almost more so than growing up without words to articulate your desires or your relationships — is a painful, poisonous, scarring thing to have to do.
(via savagedamsel)
ABC Family’s Huge actually had an asexual character. It was handled so well and I remember thinking it was awesome and also that I had never seen one on TV before, who explicitly said “I’m asexual” (that I remembered).
