fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #6441 ]

[ SECRET POST #6441 ]

⌈ Secret Post #6441 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Gungrave]

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[Father Ted]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 41 secrets from Secret Submission Post #921.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Do you appreciate seeing yourself represented in the media in any way? Or no? Do you want more representation?

I'd rather see the way I want to see myself, than the actuality of myself.

As a disabled trans woman I'd rather I didn't have my flaws rubbed in my face as an act of what people think representation is. If fiction can't give me a better body, then what is it good for? I want fiction to break my chains, not reassure me that they are okay to have.

Now that you mention it, I've seen very few hard-of-hearing characters. When they do appear, they're usually old, and the joke is that they have had to be shouted at (which doesn't actually help us at all IRL). I'd like to see such a character, but of course with disabilities there's always the risk of inspiration porn.

I've seen one show which has a character who is deaf. His wife and kids all use sign language to communicate at home and given the speed of their signing it seems like the actors are actually fluent in ASL, which is really cool.

The Dragon Prince has a young adult character who's deaf and uses ASL.

Well, "ASL" I assume in the way that the other characters speak "English," since it's a fantasy setting. She uses sign language that's shown as ASL to the viewer.

I'm not hard-of-hearing, but I think Eileen on Supernatural was done well. The actor is deaf, too.

There is a (beloved by fandom) deaf character played by deaf actor in Only Murders in the Building.
Sound of Metal is a brilliant movie but it's about person struggling with hearing loss.
But you are right, I don't think I've ever seen hard of hearing characters that are not the butt of a joke

Re: Inspired by 1

(Anonymous) - 2024-08-25 06:44 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2024-08-25 16:29 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2024-08-25 16:34 (UTC) - Expand

I've never seen myself represented in media so I'm not sure. But I'm a pretty unique combination of traits, saying what they are would instantly identify me.

But it'd depend on what the character is doing: having a combination of traits that resemble mine while doing something unrelated, or having the story be all about those traits?

If the former, cool. If the latter, no thanks.

In my early 20s and seeing the rise of queer YA novels (especially sci-fi & fantasy) coming out, I was really excited to see the kind of stories I would have absolutely loved as a teenager that just didn't really exist in the early 2000s.

Now I just read books that sound interesting to me regardless of the characters. I'll check out a YA novel from time to time, but I do like to change it up for variety moreso now than I did back then.

I mean, it's all right? I can take it or leave it. Just as long as it's not shoehorned in or because it's suddenly the trendy thing to do, or treated carelessly.

I like the idea of representation, but I don't want it to be THE plot, if that makes any sense. So... big yes for fantasy settings based on Asian cultures, but no thanks to stories about Asians struggling with issues about race and xenophobia. For example, didn't really enjoy Iron Widow because I thought it was going to be a kickass novel about giant robot battles and it turned out to be a weird mish-mash of gender role stuff and the author's OT3, which I was only kind of meh about because there weren't enough robot battles.

Re: Inspired by 1

(Anonymous) - 2024-08-24 22:46 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2024-08-24 23:11 (UTC) - Expand

No, but I've also come to the realisation that their queerness or disability or whatever is a much bigger part of some people's identity than it is for me. I could use at least four labels that are big on social media, but I just have no interest in using any of them.

I do want more representation though. Less for me, but because I firmly believe that exposure to more diverse characters will change public perception and normalise diversity, so it's a net good. But it doesn't make me feel better or feeling "seen".

I made a secret about this many years ago, but as a kid I really wanted more characters who just happened to go to a private school, a normal one, not the super exclusive rich-kids-only kind that seems to be the only kind of private school the media thinks exists and the school's exclusiveness is important to the story. The private school I went to wasn't free like a public school, but it wasn't expensive: my family was firmly middle class and a lot of my friends there were lower middle class.

It's not representation in the usual sense, and it doesn't actively occupy my thoughts like it used to when I was in school, but I still think it would be nice if not all US media defaulted to public schools all the time.

SA

(Anonymous) - 2024-08-24 22:39 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Inspired by 1

(Anonymous) - 2024-08-25 06:48 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2024-08-25 08:00 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2024-08-25 16:26 (UTC) - Expand

When I was a kid, it was so rare to see characters like me in media, so it was always a little exciting when someone who was “like me” showed up. And even though there’s a bit more representation now, it’s still a little exciting.

I do like it, but it can be very general/thematic (like a character going through grief of some type) or very specific (representation of identities I share, specific experiences that I can relate to details of). I don't need stories to match up with me to enjoy them. I like reading about characters who are nothing like me as well. But I am often drawn to stories where I have things in common with the characters and their story feels familiar for me. It can be comforting or cathartic to see a story that reflects me.

as a transguy, I only want more representation for the younguns who need representation. I don't need it. I'm old, I'm good. All I want is a good story told well, literally do not give a shit if the protag is a PoC lesbian or a SE Asian transman or a Navajo elder so long as the story is good and told well. But I know the younguns coming up now are having a lot of anxiety because society is coming for them on every side, so if feeling seen because a good book has a character they can relate to in terms of gender, race, sexuality, background, whatever, then kudos and go ahead write more of that.

I, however, will not be reading any book that ticks off a tumblr checklist of Representation Points but has the absolutely most ass story fill of shitty tropes, stupid plot twists, and an unfilfilling narrative.

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(Anonymous) - 2024-08-24 23:22 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2024-08-25 01:40 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2024-08-25 03:39 (UTC) - Expand

Not in a super exact way. I'm not generally too interested in fiction set on modern Earth so whatever representation there is isn't gonna be one-to-one. But yeah I'd be thrilled to see more nonbinary/poly/autistic characters in the kinds of stories that I am interested in.

I've only seen a few characters that I thought represented me (in kind of a superficial way, but you know, female (sometimes, but that's not crucial) and same career or school experiences and same era, or they had inner thoughts like mine in a novel. There's one scifi novel I want to see adapted so badly but I know they'll fuck it up and make me sad so it's maybe better that they haven't.)

I do, like most people, I think, see parts of myself in various characters but rarely someone REALLY like me.

But I like to immerse myself in other people's thoughts and the things that they live through, so a novel about a person in a gulag or living on a space station and having android parts lets me "be" them as a reader. I think it's better to explore diverse characters and get insights about them than just to read about people who are like me. This is why I'm disappointed to hear that sometimes boys aren't into reading about female characters, like...they'll pick Harry Potter over a girl witch book, because inhabiting another POV builds empathy and understanding.

Re: Inspired by 1

(Anonymous) - 2024-08-26 00:36 (UTC) - Expand

Representation of the neurodivergent? Yay! More and unusual gender roles in fiction? Sure, why not?

Endless lectures on why bashing the neurodivergent and the gender unusual individual is bad? It had better be a nonfiction book or else. Turning a character into a soapbox humping idiot just for the sake of the plot is usually a huge turn off for me. Unless they are comedic characters making fun of the soapbox types. (Yes, Homestuck, I'm looking at you!)

I was blessed with

Since my teens I'v been blessed with the ridiculous combination of: Home-schooled, janky teeth, frizzy hair, huge anime/weeaboo phase, gamer nerd, not chubby but not-quite-slim build, and incredible long-lasting social awkwardness into, well, now. It's still happening. I'm at least a bit more aware of how to behave around people. which has also made me more aware of how weird I look to people. I'm friendly but maybe too much so and probably come off as a tryhard.

So I, uh. Haven't really seen much representation because I'm not sure it's actually possible to condense so much loser down into a single fictional character. Give me some characters, FS. I need company.

I’ve always had a lot of representation of my physical traits. But I’ve never seen a character with a background like mine, a family dynamic like mine, or experiences like mine. And I really wish I could.

I just wish I wasn't so alienated by a lot of women's stories. I often watch and have a feeling that I supposed to connect but I don't.
Strangely most connected I was recently by watching We are Ladyparts. I am not British, nor Muslim, nor in a band, but they felt real and relatable

Like a lot of people in this thread it was more important when I was young; now I'm much more interested in reading/watching things that are high quality, whether I'm represented in them or not. I think over time/age/experience one learns to see aspects of themselves in others, regardless of that person's background or characteristics, so it's less crucial for them to Be Just Like Us.

Whereas with kids' media, it's intended to be less a meditation on the truth of the human experience or interrogating an event/time in history or a work of raw skill or beauty and more aspirational and/or moralistic, so if you don't ever see people like yourself being the hero or the one who does the right thing (or worse, if the people like you are always the villain or the one who does the wrong thing) you become alienated.

When I was a kid I used to imagine any character who disguised themselves/wore a mask in kids' media was a girl because inevitably either The Token Girl was absolutely nothing like me, or not the one who Does Stuff, or both. Then at least I'd have someone to look up to (I got into arguments on the playground with disabled or poc boys because it turns out a lot of them did exactly what I was doing because they too were either unrepresented, or represented by a stereotype, or never the hero, etc.). It's one of the reasons I got so into Sailor Moon - not only were the girls the heroes, they got to have different interests and personalities, not just Girl.

I'm glad kids' media seems to be a lot better about that kind of thing now.

Edited 2024-08-25 12:12 (UTC)

I'd like representation for late bloomers. And by late I mean over thirty years old! Someone who has never been in love (so sorry no Persuasion by Jane Austen) or had sex, but wants to (so not ace/aro).
This... does not apply to me anymore (yay!) but a friend.

(If you have any recs, I'm listening)

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