What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

theworangetraveler:

mentarnes:

feynites:

tmirai:

martymuses:

temporaldecay:

kesandor:

“Diverse media is treated with a harsher lens than everything else” Probably because we’re assuming if you took the time to include us you’d do the bare minimum which is treat characters like us with respect and how dare we be upset when that doesn’t happen

True, but in a capitalistic-driven world like ours where media’s success is measured in revenue rather than it’s cultural importance, how we engage diverse media is literally a deciding factor of if we’ll get more.

And what type of media is it affects this even further.

TV shows and movies do not have a history of reacting to outcry or criticism by re-engaging and trying to fix it, they have a history of going “oh, right, no one wants [minority] in the focus, got it” and then shelf the project and go back to “white boy wonder #3000″ and his cookie cutter story that’s guaranteed to bring in money.

Videogames have a better reaction to critical commentary about their handling of diversity, hilariously enough. This is why we had things like Gamer Gate. Because the industry is willing to listen, much to the disdain and distaste of some of its fanbase.

I get it, though. White, straight, cis people have this pool of stories and if something is not to their liking, they can complain about it and go find another one they like better, because statistically, someone out there has tackled that specific take in a story. But if you’re in a minority and the movie/game/comic/THING you got is the only one you’ve got you want it to be everything. You feel it has to do everything perfectly, on every aspect. Because you don’t have anything else.

I sincerely believe that our engagement - critical and political - with diverse media needs to radically change, however. Because our own reactions to imperfect representations of ourselves - and let’s be honest, they’re ALL imperfect representations of ourselves, someone might find them suitable and someone might find them offensive, and we’re back with trying to make ONE THING that will satisfy ALL THE THINGS FOR EVERYONE EVER - don’t encourage people to try again and do better next time. This hyper critical culture in our own communities, that also has slowly been bled out of rational or structured long term planning, has resulted on people dogpiling anything that is even remotely “problematic” and decrying it as the Absolute Worst, thus demanding it be boycotted and as far removed from everything as possible. You’re not allowed to discuss the things diverse media did right, on penalty of being told you’re supporting everything they did wrong. You’re not allowed to say “Okay, it’s not FOR EVERYONE or ALL THE THINGS, but you know what, it’s doing THIS ONE THING really well”, because then you’re a traitor and must be destroyed.

I’ve seen people stirring in the Asian and Latino camps that Black Panther is not a big deal, because there aren’t any Asian or Latino people in the front and center of the movie.

I’ve seen people hissing that Wonder Woman should be boycotted because it’s an all-white imperialistic fantasy.

Look, guys. This approach to media betrays a simple misunderstanding of what Diverse Media is. Diverse Media is not the search for The One, you know, The One Good Book/Movie/Series/Game/Comic. Diverse Media is a road towards becoming Media, without qualifiers. It’s not about finding The One and stopping, because nothing will ever represent us that well ever again. It’s the constant road we’re paving, one step at the time, to reach the point where we too will be able to wrinkle our nose at any given piece of media and then shrug and go look for something else, like white, straight, cis people do today, with that same confidence that we WILL find something else, for whatever the reason, because we’re no longer genre pieces.

Be critical of Diverse Media, by all means. But be critical while you support it. Be critical while you scream at the top of your lungs that you want More of it. 

And for the love of anything holy, please learn to engage media without that fucking Purity Culture filter bullshit that’s just ruining everything for everyone around you.

@tmirai I feel like you would enjoy reading this

This is perfect and everyone should read it or if you don’t have the time, those last three paragraphs are key.

I think another part of the problem is that…

Well, okay, it’s like this. Say we have someone who doesn’t like sitcoms. But then a new sitcom comes out, and hey, it has Representation. So a big buzz starts stirring about this show, and it passes through all the communities who are interested in diverse media, and Person Who Does Not Like Sitcoms keeps hearing ‘you have to watch New Show because Representation’.

So, they do.

And, unsurprisingly, they still do not enjoy sitcoms, so basically the only thing getting them to watch this show is the Representation.

This puts an odd pressure on the show, so far as this person is concerned, because there are two major factors going into this experience - one is that, since Good Representation is the only reason Person is watching to begin with, any flaw in the execution of that representation is going to create a scenario where they stop watching. But the second issue, often overlooked, is that even if the representation is pretty well done, there are good odds that Person is going to want to find flaws with it so that they can stop watching. Because they hate sitcoms. They are not having a good time watching this thing, but they feel morally obligated to support it - ergo, they must also find a reason why it is immoral to allow themselves to stop supporting it.

I have seen this happen with a lot of stuff, especially lately. People who do not like dating sims or lighthearted games decide that they are going to play, like, Dream Daddy, and then they are inevitably disappointed with the experience but everyone else, it seems, is just all about this game and so they start to resent it. It’s one part the aforementioned Holy Grail issue, where ‘this thing is good’ can be taken to mean ‘we have our Gay Dating Sim now, we don’t need any more, this is it forever and always’ which is alarming if you didn’t happen to like this one. But another part of it is just that a lot of people are trying to support ‘diverse media’ in genres and categories that they… really don’t even like?

It’s like, nobody forced themselves to go and see Iron Man because of that rare Billionaire Playboy representation factor. The people who went to go see that movie wanted to watch a dude in a robot suit blow stuff up, and that is exactly what they got in that film, so complaints were minimal. Whereas if Tony Stark had been marketed as, like, a Gay Superhero, a whole bunch of people who hate the concept of a man in a robot suit blowing stuff up still would have gone for the gay factor. And, especially if that content was basically like two seconds of screen time in between explosions, they probably would have been disappointed with their experience.

So I mean, people should try new things, absolutely, and be open to exploring stuff on the basis of supporting other people’s voices and by all means, we should support media that we think should exist on principle. But maybe also give it a rest when that same media doesn’t magically engage you in ways it probably never could have?

Also none of us are a monolith; we all have different narratives and have different wants and needs for our diverse media. Something may not be what you want or like but it might be perfect for someone else in the same group. If it doesn’t meet your desires, its not doing diversity Wrong or somehow a loss for social justice. Its ok to say that you wanted XYZ instead but don’t insist that that’s the only proper socially just way.

SO MUCH ALL OF THESE!!!

(its a smart way to explain to me why do i always have this annoying thought of “would people would be watching ______ if it didnt had ____ representation?”)

(Source: dykedekuremade, via mathiaskejseren)

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