Pet Peeves

[Delightful]

Seriously, does every episode have astoundingly shocking and brilliant plot twists? Because that sounds long term exhausting to keep up with.

[Quiver he/him]

Seriously, does every episode have astoundingly shocking and brilliant plot twists? Because that sounds long term exhausting to keep up with.

 

No. They don't.

 

Honestly, nothing about these first three episodes have surprised me... but then, I've been following the books. That's my problem; I keep waiting for the moment when the show ruins a huge, book-related reveal, and watching the show is the only way to minimize the chance of that happening. 

[Delightful]

I saw an idea on The Internet to have a Latino gay spider-man, since spider man is a classic underdog character and non-White non-straight people are ....is underprivileged the right word?

Either way, that wouldn't be the most relatable spider man for me but I still think the idea is pretty cool.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

I saw an idea on The Internet to have a Latino gay spider-man, since spider man is a classic underdog character and non-White non-straight people are ....is underprivileged the right word?

Either way, that wouldn't be the most relatable spider man for me but I still think the idea is pretty cool.

That is probably the biggest issue with merely switching a character's race: making superman, say, black does not necessarily make him a relatable black character. This does not solve the problem of the lack of diverse characters in movies, but rather just gives the white audience a "feel good"sense of "accomplishment".

That's why in the comics, an all ready black character takes up the mantle of Captain America, an all ready Latino takes up the mantle of Spider-Man, an all ready woman takes up the mantle of Thor. It is made quite clear these are not the original characters... They also tend to have abilities unique to them! That allows a major superhero to be diverse while also resonating with a diverse audience, not just a WASP one.

[Delightful]

I did mean to change the characters identity rather than just skin colour.

What does WASP stand for?

[Orlion Blight he/him]

I did mean to change the characters identity rather than just skin colour.

What does WASP stand for?

White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant

[Quiver he/him]

I have tried to write a post about the issues invovled in changing a characters race, gender or sexuality about three or four times now, and I can't phrase things the way I want it to.

 

Short answer: more diversity is the best thing, and an area I will give Marvel major props for.

Long answer: I think people worry about how much weight to attach to non-WASP characteristics, which causes the whole thing to get..messy. 

 

For instance, suppose you introduce a gay Latino Spider-Man. Do you downplay those two particular traits? After all, just because he's gay, and Latino, doesn't mean he isn't a normal guy, and isn't showing a normal guy who just also happens to be gay and latino a better way of "normalising"* those traits than drawing attention to them?

But on the other hand... being gay comes with it's own, very specific, issues. Same for a Latino background, which carries with it it's own heritages and traditions. If you do just ignore those -even if it's well-meaning, even if it's emant to show the character as a CHARACTER first, not a political piece- someone, somewhere, will get bothered that you appear to be whitewashing or ignoring parts of their heritage. 

 

So... like I say. Complicated.

 

*I hate to use that word, but I can't think of any other way to put it... what I mean is, making it so that a character doesn't stand out just because they aren't white. Or gay, or female for that matter.

 

---

 

Actually, on the issue of sexuality... pet peeve. I am forever bothered by the lack of presentation of male bisexuality in stuff.

 

Granted, bisexuality tends to get the shaft representation-wise to begin with, but still. I can think of a number of female bisexual characters, but for males? All that springs to mind is Jack Harkness... and he's...

I dunno what Jack is. 21st Century sexuality labels are woefully inadaquete when it comes to describing how awesome he is. But it means that my go-to guy as a symbol of male bisexuality in fiction isn't actually bisexual, which seems... somewhat dishonest on my part.

 

---

 

And, fifth time ain't exactly the charm, because I still hate how this post turned out. Apologies; I've said before, I am not socially literate. Well-meaning... but not exactly the best at parsing ideas. So apologies if I offended anyone.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Quiver

[Delightful]

I mean, the character is still a person. In my (likely inadequate) opinion, a character that is every gay stereotype and every Latina stereotype is a caricature not a character.

Ok bringing it onto ground in familiar with: how do you write a Jewish character?

Well there are certain communities who act/dress a particular way, and within that no one perfectly fits a mold. And literally everyone is different and if you ask Jews what Judaism or what G-D means to them every single one would give you a slightly different answer, even if maybe it all boiled down to something similar. You can't say "is this character Jewish enough" or "is this character too Jewish" because there's no such thing. People are people and everyone assembles the pieces of their identity and self expression differently.

How do you write a character who's a 17th Sharder? Are they make or female, 13 or 50, American or Swedish or Polish, Christian or Jewish or Pagan?

We all share sanderfan - computer literate - country wealthy enough for computers - English speaker - enjoys online community. And that's really about it.

[Quiver he/him]

Ok bringing it onto ground in familiar with: how do you write a Jewish character?

Well there are certain communities who act/dress a particular way, and within that no one perfectly fits a mold. And literally everyone is different and if you ask Jews what Judaism or what G-D means to them every single one would give you a slightly different answer, even if maybe it all boiled down to something similar. You can't say "is this character Jewish enough" or "is this character too Jewish" because there's no such thing. People are people and everyone assembles the pieces of their identity and self expression differently.

 

Very much this.

 

And if a Christian were to express that kind of thing, there wouldn't be so much of an issue. Because there are 50 bajillion Christians in fiction, and we know this one guys view is different from the others and not representative, and doens't actualy say anything about that religion or culture as a whole.

 

...It's just that whenever you have fewer characters representing something (like a racial heritage, or a sexuality, or whatever), they get interpreted on, and stand for, a larger scale. The one gay character in a book? He's representative of gay men, in general. 

 

It's not fair. And the solution is to simply include more gay men (in this example), but it is a pitfall that's present until the representational scales start to be balanced, so to speak. 

[Delightful]

Apparently it's not how the human brain works or something, but we should know not to take a single persons view as reflective of their entire group. Should. :/

Actually, I'm pretty sure Brandon said that he often makes his characters different from their group to show that - Sazed is an outcast contrasts to Tindwyl, to an extent TenSoon is too, Jasnah is a heretic, Lightsong doesn't believe he's a god.....

Edited May 11, 2016 by Delightful

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

RE: Representations of male bisexuality, Toyota ran an ad in the Super Bowl this year that begins with a refreshing portrayal: 

 

 

No tragedy. No drama. No angst. Just the announcer informing him "It also comes in male," to which his response is, "Yeah, that's good too." It's an absurd commercial, but I thought the casual treatment of male bisexuality was well done.

Edited May 11, 2016 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Kaymyth she/her]

White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant

 

Amusingly, this also works for White Anglo-Saxon Pagan. 

 

I have tried to write a post about the issues invovled in changing a characters race, gender or sexuality about three or four times now, and I can't phrase things the way I want it to.

 

Short answer: more diversity is the best thing, and an area I will give Marvel major props for.

Long answer: I think people worry about how much weight to attach to non-WASP characteristics, which causes the whole thing to get..messy. 

 

For instance, suppose you introduce a gay Latino Spider-Man. Do you downplay those two particular traits? After all, just because he's gay, and Latino, doesn't mean he isn't a normal guy, and isn't showing a normal guy who just also happens to be gay and latino a better way of "normalising"* those traits than drawing attention to them?

But on the other hand... being gay comes with it's own, very specific, issues. Same for a Latino background, which carries with it it's own heritages and traditions. If you do just ignore those -even if it's well-meaning, even if it's emant to show the character as a CHARACTER first, not a political piece- someone, somewhere, will get bothered that you appear to be whitewashing or ignoring parts of their heritage. 

 

So... like I say. Complicated.

 

*I hate to use that word, but I can't think of any other way to put it... what I mean is, making it so that a character doesn't stand out just because they aren't white. Or gay, or female for that matter.

 

---

 

Actually, on the issue of sexuality... pet peeve. I am forever bothered by the lack of presentation of male bisexuality in stuff.

 

Granted, bisexuality tends to get the shaft representation-wise to begin with, but still. I can think of a number of female bisexual characters, but for males? All that springs to mind is Jack Harkness... and he's...

I dunno what Jack is. 21st Century sexuality labels are woefully inadaquete when it comes to describing how awesome he is. But it means that my go-to guy as a symbol of male bisexuality in fiction isn't actually bisexual, which seems... somewhat dishonest on my part.

 

---

 

And, fifth time ain't exactly the charm, because I still hate how this post turned out. Apologies; I've said before, I am not socially literate. Well-meaning... but not exactly the best at parsing ideas. So apologies if I offended anyone.

 

I get where you're going with this, and you're spot-on with a lot of things.  I think a lot of writers/showrunners/whatever get caught up in making their Z-trait character the Zest of Zs, can you see how Z they are?  SEE WE MADE A CHARACTER WITH Z TRAIT AREN'T WE PROGRESSIVE GIVE US COOKIES.

 

And bisexuality is seriously the redheaded stepchild of the LGBT+ spectrum.  They get so much crap from everybody.

[Delightful]

RE: Representations of male bisexuality, Toyota ran an ad in the Super Bowl this year that begins with a refreshing portrayal:

No tragedy. No drama. No angst. Just the announcer informing him "It also comes in male," to which his response is, "Yeah, that's good too." It's an absurd commercial, but I thought the casual treatment of male bisexuality was well done.

"This is reinvented curtains. They're made of

Pizza"

.......definitrly absurd. Wow.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

"This is reinvented curtains. They're made of

Pizza"

.......definitrly absurd. Wow.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of American advertising.  

 

 

Though their commercial a few years ago was downright beautiful: 

 

[Sunbird she/her]

People who miss deadlines by a full month and then spring a project on you three days before it's due and expect you to drop everything and work on their problem when they know exactly how busy and exhausted you are. Completely unprofessional and inconsiderate.

[+Slowswift]

I'm sure I'm not the only one in love with Scottish accents and themes.

 

BUT

 

WHY ARE YOU PUTTING THEM IN SCANDINAVIAN SETTINGS RRRRGGGHH

[Allomancy she/her]

Pet peeve:

When people talk really loud, and then get mad when you ask them what they were talking about.

I'm sorry, but tone deaf people. I am fine with the people themselves, I have a friend that is tone deaf, but it drives me crazy when people sing off tune.

[The Invested Beard]

I'm sure I'm not the only one in love with Scottish accents and themes.

 

BUT

 

WHY ARE YOU PUTTING THEM IN SCANDINAVIAN SETTINGS RRRRGGGHH

 

This bugs me too. I really don't get it.

[+Slowswift]

This bugs me too. I really don't get it.

 

I mean, HTTYD is awesome, but why are they Scottish and what are those bagpipes doing there

[The Invested Beard]

I mean, HTTYD is awesome, but why are they Scottish and what are those bagpipes doing there

 

All I could ever think of was that it's an alternate reality where norse and scottish cultures were merged somehow.

Edited May 12, 2016 by The Invested Beard

[Silverblade5 he/him]

Politics. Just politics.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Histories that are so biased they're useless. Listen, random college professor from Kentucky, I don't care about your opinion of this thing I'm researching; I care about facts. And if you're taking pains to remind me of your slant, then that's the first sign you're only giving me the facts that support your view. 

Edited May 13, 2016 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[The Invested Beard]

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

 

I saw Random Kentucky Professor's picture. He didn't look half this entertaining.  

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

When you eat all your home cooked brownies because they were so delicious but lack the motivation and money to make more....

And IIRC, Cap'n Jack was described as an Omnisexual once