Apparently they haven’t taken enough of our land and destroyed it. Fuck you. Fuck you for taking our land and destroying it, yet again. Spread their shame.
but for real tho I get very “:T” when people pull the ‘authorial intent’ card with Tolkien all the time, like. The man hated allegory, he intimately understood how ‘myth’ works and wanted to leave his work open for other people to come throw their own paint on the canvas. And you’re STILL going to clutch your pearls over a black elf or intersex dwarves? …Why?
the man is dead! you aren’t going to hurt his feelings! YOU ARE FREE
(and yes a lot of it will veer wildly away from canon info we have about certain things and some folks like to stick closer to the lines AND THAT’S FINE. But if you ever find yourself at the point of writing an op-ed about how Galadriel couldn’t possibly be dark-skinned because Reasons and that TRUE FANS would never portray her that way, then please 1. go boil your head and 2. remove yourself from my vicinity because I need more dark-skinned dwarves and hobbit lesbians and I’ve heard plenty of bleating about ‘authorial intent’ and ‘anglo-saxon myyyyth’ to last me until I die)
Something that always bothered me so much when I was a little girl was the comparative rarity of and screentime given to the female characters in the cartoons I watched. Bananaman, Dangermouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle, even Captain Planet (which had female characters! But they were 2/5ths of the five, and got less to say overall). It pissed me off SO MUCh that these cartoons were meant to be ‘boys AND girls!’ cartoons, but why did boys always get to be the title character? Be the hero? And hog all the speaking lines? Any cartoon that had a female title character, or dared to reverse that ratio of male-to-female screentime & cast, was suddenly ‘only for girls.’ I was expected to identify with boys over my own gender, but boys weren’t expected to identify with mine.
Now that I am an adult, of course I know why. And now that I have a kid of my own, it’s disheartening to discover how little has changed. I want better for my child than that. With all my recent thoughts about representation swirling in my mind, it’s been depressing as hell to see that even media for toddlers doesn’t promote equality.
So I thought I’d write up a few of my observations so far.
Bright Spots
Sesame Street. Diverse cast of mostly POC, characters of differing genders, same-sex relationship (Bert and Ernie!). Thank heavens.
Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom: Equal representation between male and female characters! POC fairies and Elves! Possible aro-ace Nanny Plum! Female characters with differing designs and personalities, huzzah! Even an equal footing in the title between the little boy and little girl characters. The boy is not dumb and bumbling. The mum is not a stick-in-the-mud. The King’s shortcomings are actually of benefit in his job as King!
Peppa Pig: YES. THANK THE PIGGY GODS FOR PEPPA PIG. Lots of characters, some obviously POC, all very different, the women characters are not killjoys, the girl characters actually make action happen rather than support and comment upon the boy’s action. Hallelujah.
Playschool: YOU GO PLAYSCHOOL. So much representation. POC presenters more often than not. Lots of inclusiveness. Regular deaf presenter using Australian sign language! WOOP.
Dinosaur Train: Awesome stuff. Seriously, love it. Ladies and girls everywhere, the boys are not dumb (one is obsessed with discovering more information), the girls have distinct personalities and designs, the mum is not a killjoy or boring, the dad is not thick and bumbling. Also, I like learning about the dinosaurs!
Peg + Cat: YES YES GOOD GIRLS DOING MATHS RECURRING POC CHARACTERS YES MORE PLS
Fireman Sam: Although there is only one member of the rescue services that is female (and they’re all as white as A4 paper), there is a big supporting cast of diverse POC and female characters. I’m not sure how Sam hasn’t strangled Norman yet, though
Chuggington: Asian female genius inventor-mechanic!! Female train is the FASTEST AND MOST IMPRESSIVE! YES. They both do not get nearly the screentime of the boys, once again, but gosh that’s some shiny shiny positives.
Disappointing
Octonauts: Two female characters, neither of which are one of the ‘main three’. One is indeed a technician/mechanic, and it’s nice to see a female character in a STEM field, but neither may appear at all in half the episodes! In fact they may only get a single line per episode. Very disheartening, particularly because the messages about conservation and marine life are so good. Such a disappointment in an otherwise fun show.
(also – how is a polar bear the same size as a tabby cat, please and thank)
Shaun the Sheep: ONE FEMALE SHEEP, are you actually kidding me. The only ONLY female character. Only one. ONE. Such a funny, great and detailled show failing in such a rubbish way, urgh. The only way we know, also, is because she has curlers in her hair and a child. I shit thee not. Some nasty fat-shaming stuff for the big sheep too.
Tree Fu Tom: Really. Really. Two female characters. One is indeed a POC, but again – only shows up in perhaps every fourth episode. The other one is in maybe every second episode. She is indeed one of the ‘Big Five’… but once again, only one of five characters a girl? Give me a break, it’s the Avengers all over again. Plus there’s the uncomfortableness of a generic personality-free white boy using something called ‘Tree Fu’ which seems to be a pastiche of kung fu and calisthenics.
Giggle and Hoot: It’s all about the boys. This is meant to be the ABC’s flagship children’s entertainment? Anyone who has accused the ABC of pushing a feminist agenda of equality should watch this for an hour and they will leave feeling reassured, urgh. Male presenter (who is excellent, sure) – no female presenter at all. Both male characters are title characters (Jimmy Giggle & Hoot the Owl); the girl Owl’s name is a derivative of the boy’s (Hootabelle). The girl owl has to sing the boy owl’s praises every time they show off children’s artwork. (It’s so heartbreaking to see that all the little girls draw Hootabelle over and over again, because they have a choice of One.) It’s constantly reiterated that the boy owl and the presenter are best friends, and that the two owls are “Owl Pals” – whatever that is, but tell me that doesn’t feel second-tier. Where’s Hootabelle’s best friend? The songs (which are beautifully animated and performed, tbh) are skewed towards focusing on the boys and their adventures. Even the boys’ toys (which are also – surprise surprise – male) get more songs and screentime than the female owl. She turns up for two seconds in the title sequence. They even show mostly male characters in their sleep-time sequence. Still waiting on a song about the cat toy. How the hell has that not happened?
Mike the Knight: Again, far more boys than girls. A POC as the narrator/bard, but that’s about it. Why couldn’t one of the dragons be a girl? Also, Mike’s constantly-sidelined sister is about three times more interesting than he is. The King barely turns up at all, but when he does he is immediately the hero (it appears that the Queen actually runs the Kingdom single-handedly in his absence: now there’s a show I’d like to watch!)
The Hive: Gender-coloured wings, you must be joking. Intense colour-coding and gendered activities everywhere you look, tbh. Dad works, mum looks after baby. I saw an episode where the boys shunned the girls, and so the girls did so in return – and the girls were expected to apologise, not the boys. Also I am still vaguely weirded out about bees having nuclear families. (WTF??)
The Wotwots: The girl never initiates any action, and appears to be merely a reaction-machine for her far more interesting and dynamic brother to bounce off.
Thomas and Friends: ONE female train. One, in a cast of dozens. Chuff off.
Lazytown: Six male recurring characters. Three female. (Only one of which can be guaranteed to be in every episode.) Ha. Ha ha. Ha.
So, there we have it. There’s more, of course. A LOT more. But this has been eating away at me for a few weeks now, and so I wanted to have a small grumble about it. Aaaaand so a small grumble turned into a bit of an essay, because I am Wordy As Heck.
I am horrified but not surprised that this prioritisation begins so young. We should really be doing better. All kids deserve better. Girls should be allowed to take up more than 1/5th of space and time. Boys should be able to identify with non-boy characters. There should be more POC in title positions, rather than generic white boy.
Though something that really stands out to me? Is that the majority of those in my ‘Bright Spots’ list are TREMENDOUSLY successful.
Wow. It’s almost like all kids want to see themselves on telly or something.
(I…. probably take a lot of liberties with Tolkien’s fave word to describe Elves, hahaha. Well, ‘fair’ can also mean ‘beautiful’! 😉 PLUS, there’s that amazing resource that is askmiddleearth’s series on racism! It confirms and/or suggests alllllll sorts of possibilities!
That’s awesome Nonnie! And yes, it matters. I agree with you. It matters so much.
dear anti-racist white allies, stop othering yourself from white people. stop pretending you aren’t “that” white person. you are that white person. most likely, the majority of your friends are white. most likely, you appropriate aave. most likely, you still accidentally drop the n-word when singing along to the latest radio hiphop hit. most likely, you will get just the slightest bit uncomfortable around men of color at night. most likely, you have said something in the past month that relies on a racial stereotype. most likely, your attraction to poc has shades of exotification. most likely, your interest in poc cultures can border on cultural appropriation.
i know because those are all things i occasionally find myself guilty of, and it’s not okay.
stop forgetting that a huge part of being an ally is identifying what you do wrong, checking your privilege, and trying your hardest to overcome it so as not to perpetuate those harmful behaviors. being an ally is not about getting social justice points. being an ally is not about a warm fuzzy feeling for helping those less privileged than you. being an an ally is not about being superior to people in your privilege group. being an ally is about helping destroy the privilege you live in and it is just as internal as it is external.
It’s almost hilarious when people tell you off for interpreting your fave HP characters as POC because 1) they are literally getting pissed off at you because of your imagination and 2) they are eventually backed into a corner trying really hard not to sound racist
If you are not already reblogging PSAs to help your friends/followers receive word about safety during this wave of neo-Nazi cyberbullying, please do so. This warning is now officially in effect for all POC, Muslims, and other groups likely to be targeted by White…
Now presenting, in its full, complete, and downloadable glory, the Racism and Middle Earth series! This six part guide to Tolkien and Racism collects relevant tidbits from Tolkien’s own writings (from the most familiar to the most obscure) in order to highlight what the most problematic and the most potential-ridden parts of Middle Earth are, and outlines how we, as fans, can make Middle Earth a better place for characters of all ethnicities.
Finished this a month ago and thought it suitable to post now.
It is important that when we address the violence against black men and women across this country we also take into account the visceral misrepresentation we face.
It is through media that we can find some way to escape the violence of our world, and for young black children, this too is denied to them.
When we see ourselves, we are validated and it gives us something to hold onto, even if that something is just another day.
Aw Yiss 