Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2012-05-13 03:49 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2012-05-13 03:49 pm
[ SECRET POST #1958 ]
⌈ Secret Post #1958 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 104 secrets from Secret Submission Post #280.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
no subject
First, I think that dealing with queer characters, even in a cartoon show, doesn't mean you have to turn it into a "teaching moment" or have a 5-part arc that intros gender studies. If they're going out of their way for romance, it'd be nice to see a character who isn't interested in romance. If they're going out of their way to have characters interested in boys or girls, it'd be nice to see characters who simply.... "don't". And yeah, that's certainly not explicit. But this isn't an explicit show.
Sailor Moon was a show about women kicking ass (and having a lot of romance) and I would say that american television explicitly muted and discriminated against its queer characters. It turned a gay couple into cousins, and switched the gender of another so the implied pairing was f/m instead of m/m! I don't think there's any excuse beyond bigotry or cowardice for that.
An argument that "well the writers just didn't want to write about queer people" is fair, but it's not an argument that anyone who is queer is gonna enjoy. Given the hard times queer people and other minorities have, ignoring them might not be actively malicious, but it doesn't give those writers any good points, either. " All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" and all that.
I think it's important to keep in mind that most of the time people are mad at the systemic or implicit discrimination, and don't think that it's active bigotry pulling strings. I'm not upset at Korra in particular, I'm upset at a system in which the fear of writing queer characters is heavily prevalent. In which people assume that writing a queer character is any different from writing a straight cis person. Just like how people used to think writing a woman had to be sooooo different from writing a man.
I am completely dissatisfied by a media culture that doesn't bother asking why all the characters are hetero-romantic. Just like asking why all the characters are white in a complete fantasy world. Or why every main character is a dude.
It's the pop culture equivalent to the people who ask the question: "How will I talk to my kids about gay people?" ....We all know that it isn't fucking hard, and that kind of question is ridiculous. Being gay isn't a PG-13 subject, but a lot of people in america feel like it is, and it is insanely frustrating to see it played out like that time and time again.
Shows like Torchwood or Sherlock are good examples of having queer characters (and queer in all kinds of ways). I guess with Korra it's a bit like, you're going to the effort of having romance, so why are you writing really bland and tropey hetero relationships for every single character (and right now, every single female character, explicitly)? And I really am being honest that even "veiled" queerness like a female character that just "Isn't Interested" would be nice.
I mean, it's a personal thing. There are bigger, systemic issues I've mentioned, but my reaction to Korra? Personal thing. It bores me. I'd be more into it if there was some queer stuff happening. Or simply less romance.
Anyway, idk!? It's like I know where you're coming from, but at the same time... idk if that helped though.
no subject
I agree that a system that seems determined to draw a (completely arbitrary and artificial) line between "us" and "them" and treat queer characters as a huge deal is completely out of whack. Intentionally blanking queer characters is utterly reprehensible. And if I think that the het romance was kinda cute if very formulaic, then I can certainly see why someone else would go "really? This plot again?"
I don't know, it's really tough. I guess for me, being all arty and obsessed with stories and tropes and all that (and just being tickled by cliche romance) I kind of have this knee-jerk reaction when this kind of argument is raised, because I just want the story. (Unless, of course, it's something like Twilight that has actively harmful themes when dealing with relationships and just being a decent person in general) I feel like some people are demanding that writers prove themselves by including things, never mind the merits of the actual story. And by that, I certainly don't mean you, you raised a valid point about the larger industry and I completely respect. But I've seen people railing against Rowling as a misogynist because she dared feature a male main character (never mind that, say, she also had Hermione and Luna and Professor McGonnagal and MOLLY FUCKIN' WEASLEY, BITCHES!) and part of me just twitches, because it seems like there are some people who are more interested in minorities being represented in XYZ narrative than the actual narrative itself, or that they think that if something doesn't prove itself as being explicitly progressive then it has no value at all and is just pandering to the culture of exclusion. At the same time, as I already mentioned, that culture does exist and it shouldn't. I just... gah, I get the "big picture" point of it, but sometimes the individual attacks just... get to me.
I know it's a bit of an empty platitude, but I guess with Korra the show is still very young, there's a lot of room for development and new characters and stuff.