Tag: race/racism

Dear Comic Fans, Guess What: You’re Still Not Handling Racebending and Diverse Casting Very Well!

Stitch1 Comment

Dear Comic Fans - 2017

We did this in 2015.

And in 2016.

Now it’s 2017 and I’ve got at least four different posts on racebending under my belt because nerds still don’t know how to behave.

This is an ongoing project looking at the continuing state of fandom’s reaction to  racebending following my first piece on how badly comic fans respond to racebending in the works that they love and three years in,  people are still cutting up about racebending while claiming not to be racist.

They’re not racist, they claim in comment sections across the internet, but the idea of Black women being cast as aliens, goddesses, and the iconic love interest of the Fastest Man Alive, still sends them into literal conniptions. They assume that racebending is Social Justice Gone Wild, not the best actor/actress being chosen for the role. At multiple points, I’ve seen them claim that white redheads are being erased from popular culture.

Of course, these same people screaming about authenticity and sticking to the source material stay silent in the face of whitewashing (as in the case of Deadpool actor Ed Skrein initially being tapped to play a Japanese character in the upcoming Hellboy remake).Read More »

Bodhi Rook – Looks Like A Cinnamon Roll…

Stitch1 Comment

Looks Like a Cinnamon Roll - Bodhi Rook

Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi Rook is a breakout star in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Without his character’s mission and his persistence, the resistance would be dead in outer space. He’s shown to be a capable pilot and a brave soul who decides to go against everything he’s known while working under the Empire in order to be a hero.

And fandom treats him as if he’s a toddler.Read More »

[Essay Series] Looks Like A Cinnamon Roll… – Opening Essay

Stitch1 Comment

Looks Like A Cinnamon Roll...

There’s a part of my brain that can’t believe that this all began because of an overused meme. There’s a part of my brain that’s almost embarrassed that I was able to  build so much content as a result of scrolling through character tags on tumblr and taking in the way that some of my fellow fans were talking about characters of color via the “cinnamon roll” meme.

Pulled from the title of an Onion article turned meme, the “cinnamon roll” in fandom is a character who is literally seen as being too good and too pure for this world. While different people in different sub/fandoms can’t decide on a uniform meaning or usage of the meme, one thing that the meme has come to represent is that the different “cinnamon roll” characters tend not to get the same content as other characters.

Unless they’re designated as a “sinnamon roll” (who is often a problematic character, usually a villain), these characters get “softer” content and they’re typically coddled in the ships fandom does popularize for them.

It’s a meme-turned-trope that should be adorable and sweet because well…

Everyone loves a cinnamon roll.

However, when those characters are characters of color well… it can become a problem.Read More »

[Book Review] Zombies, Migrants, and Queers: Race and Crisis Capitalism in Pop Culture by Camilla Fojas

Stitch

Zombies Migrants and QueersTitle: Zombies, Migrants, and Queers: Race and Crisis Capitalism in Pop Culture
Author: Camilla Fojas
Rating: Your Cup of Tea Maybe?
Genre: Nonfiction, Pop Culture, Media Criticism, Race/Racism
Release Date: February 28, 2017

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Order at: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS | AMAZON

Note: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review and that’s absolutely what you’re getting.

At first glance, Zombies, Migrants, and Queers: Race and Crisis Capitalism in Pop Culture seems like it should be right up my alley. It’s about pop culture after all, and in-depth critiques of pop culture and placing into specific cultural contexts s kind of my thing.

Unfortunately, and I’m really bummed about this, this book didn’t hook me.Read More »