Pronoun Trouble

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This is an absolutely amazing essay: The Legend of Korra: Deliberately Deconstructed (Note: Some moving gifs at the link)

I'm not even half-way through it yet, and I'm already a little in love with it. It's a thorough examination of the characterization, plot structure, and social dynamics of the series, with acknowledgement of real world effects (Korra doesn't exist in a void) and contrasting elements from AtLA. It's pulling a lot of things into new - good, important - perspective for me, and for fans of the show(s), it is definitely worth a read.

Edit: Okay, I've finished reading it, and am going to be reblogging it in a bit, but first! There's a lot of images in it, and I'm going to be providing image descriptions here.

( Image descriptions from the above essay found below. )

Hey all you gamer dudes out there! If you're wondering why there aren't more women/girls into gaming, this post might be for you! Just remember, you have to actually read and take to heart some of this stuff, or it'll stay that way FOREVER.

For everyone it might affect, this post carries a Trigger Warning for misogyny.

( Herein is The List )


Have a link to something you think I should have here? I'd love to add it! Drop it in a comment and I'll put it up when I've got the time/energy :)

Disclaimers: Yes, so far this list is only addressing misogyny. That's mostly because I'm pretty sure the question(s) "Why aren't there more gamers of color/queer gamers? (etc)" don't come up nearly as often, though that in no way means posts like this one for other marginalized gamer sub-groups shouldn't exist. It just means I'm only addressing the one question at this time (intersectionality acknowledged), especially since the question is usually framed in such a way that suggests that women/girls are a commodity, rather than people.

This post is also skewed heavily towards video gaming in particular, and probably more than a little US-centric.

Edit 9/20/10: Thank you everyone for all your input so far :) The list is currently on the backburner, but I'll definitely be getting back to it eventually.
Edit 10/8/10:

Here it is, folks: this is my last-ditch attempt to keep you from going to see that damn live action adaptation. I'm pretty much at my limit. (Well, I'm hoping to write a Letter to the Editor or something, but that's different; it's offline.)

* Everyone loves N. K. Jemisin and her debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, right? Well, she's got a lovely post on the subject up over here.

* I linked this yesterday, and I'm not above linking it again: These Are My Colors, a wonderful run-down of what's wrong with the casting, and how it's hurting people.

* In a similar vein to the previous link, an article called FacePainting was tweeted by Roger Ebert, and is a downright amazing history of color-facing in Hollywood.

* The plot of the movie, in two YouTube videos: Part One and Part Two. The grammar's pretty horrible, but it covers pretty much everything that'll happen in the film, plot-wise. Some of the changes are pretty WTF-inducing. If even the horrible casting issues aren't giving you pause, you might want to take a look at these. Oh, and ignore everything about Suki and the Kyoshi warriors; they've apparently been cut. (Spoiler-rampant, obviously.)

* Three clips of the movie itself:
Clip One: Zuko vs Katara in the North Pole Spirit Oasis, AKA, adventures in turn-based RPG land;
Clip Two: Aang Ong vs Fire Nation Soldiers in North Pole Proper, AKA, adventures in wire harness overuse;
Clip Three: Aang Ong escapes Zuko's custody in the beginning, AKA, are you sure this isn't a made-for-TV movie?

* Reviews so far:
-- The Same Old M. Night: Disappointing, Flat, and Just Bad
-- The Last Airbender Movie Thoughts (Spoilers)
-- Racebending.com/MANAA's pre-screening; reactions from one viewer, all racial issues aside, as a fan of the original
-- The Boston Globe: ‘Airbender’ loses something in switch from cartoon to live action
-- Mendelson's Memos: Review: The Last Airbender 3D (2010)
-- A Prophet Catches "The Last Airbender" Early So You Don't Have To At all!
-- 'The Last Airbender' review: Now M. Night Shyamalan is screwing up movies for kids too
-- Roger Ebert's review
-- The Angry Asian Man: the last airbender: this movie could boycott itself
-- The Last Airbender on Rotten Tomatoes
-- Variety reviews The Last Airbender
-- The Hollywood Reporter review: The Last Airbender
-- Metacritic
-- ***Early*** The Last Airbender Review from Ezra's Reviews
-- NowPublic - REVIEW: The Last Airbender
-- The Last Airbender is boring
-- The Modesto Bee review
-- WSJ - ‘The Last Airbender’s’ 3-D Effects Come Under Fire
-- Shadow and Act - A few (dismal) words about The Last Airbender
-- azcentral 'The Last Airbender' review
-- The AV Club's review (linked in their tweet, below)
-- Shyamalan's Last Airbender Leaves Us Out of Balance (written by a pro-caster, no less)
-- The New York Times review
-- The Vancouver Sun: The Last Airbender falls flat
-- LA Times review (rating is apparently because "If you're the target 10-year-old kid, you might like it!")
-- Collider: THE LAST AIRBENDER Review
-- Capone says M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER is a hate crime against those who love movies!!!!
-- io9: M. Night Shyamalan Finally Made A Comedy
-- The Last Airbender: To Boycott or Not? Dante Basco weighs in.
I'll just add that there are now a whole lot more reviews, and pretty much everyone who isn't a big name and who thought it was bad is now being slammed as either "a racebender" or otherwise unable to appreciate the movie for some reason (it's 'incomplete' without the next two, they haven't seen the original and don't understand, etc).

* Reviews on Twitter!
-- Screenrant
-- Film School Rejects; take two
-- Ellen Fox
-- Bex
-- The AV Club
-- A lovely collage of before-and-after tweets can be seen here; put together by vejiicakes
(Actually, you can probably just keep an eye on the Racebending twitter account and catch most to all of these.)

* Video: Fans before and after the show (Though I will admit to being pretty damn skeeved at how the interviewer did that pause to look at how he was surrounded by young women before commenting that this was his favorite "first look" so far. On the other hand, Almost!LewisBlack was really damn awesome :Dbb This video has now been removed.)
-- Yet more before-and-after reactions in this video

In summation: Exposition hell, plot holes all over, and horrible 3D; if you have to pay for the movie, don't shell out extra for glasses.

---

At this point, I'm going to take a page out of Gene Luen Yang's book: if you aren't convinced by now not to give this production any money, there's probably nothing I can do to stop you. Just - consider, please, not going the first weekend it's out, or the second. There's plenty of other movies out right now; you don't have to go see The Last Airbender just yet. A moment of silence for lost opportunity. That's all I ask.

(Other options include: Buying a ticket to see a different movie and switching theaters, so TLA at least doesn't get the money, and piracy ♥ But I'm not supposed to endorse that second one. Even if it is a great reminder of episode 1x09 of the original series, where Katara's all, "Stealing's okay when it's from pirates :DDDb")

Things to do this weekend and next weekend instead of going to the movie:
* Watch the original series!
* Read/write fic! Draw/look at fanart! Something else fannish!
* Drool over the original series artbook! (Though don't actually get any drool on the book itself, because that would be tragic.)
* Sign up for schmoop_bingo and fill half the squares per weekend!
* Roll up some katamaris! Or play other video games!
* Make and eat Schadenfeude Pie
* Volunteer work! That's still valuable, right?

Anyone interested in protesting more directly - particularly if you live in/near LA, Seattle, or NYC (with a possible side-order of DC) - check out this post. If you Hollywood-area types aren't even slightly tempted by the signed copy of the series artbook, I will, uh. Tell you to go anyway and give it to me if you win. Yes, that works. I, unfortunately, can't go to any of these myself. I had pipe dreams about doing so, but between not knowing which one to go to until now, there not being one in the Midwest, and the reality of the planning that would have to be involved in even trying to make one of the coastal protest-gatherings this late in the game have conspired to prevent me. Go in my place, and you will have my eternal gratitude ;_;b

Two stories for good feelings here:

First, a story about feeding the hungry.

"The country is loaded with gardeners who have more food than they can possibly themselves use," Oppenheimer said. "AmpleHarvest.org gives them the ability to easily, quickly get that food to somebody who genuinely, really needs it."

I've already forwarded the link to my parents, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few of y'all also have the "too much produce in the garden" problem; it is, as they say, food for thought ;)


Second, and [TRIGGER WARNING] for discussion of human trafficking and all it entails (hint: not pretty), a story about people using the internet to save lives; more general squeeing over the awesome can be found here.

One of the most poignant quotes is, I think, here, from someone who works for the US State Department (xe explains more about that upthread). The story itself is an amazing example of the potential for good in humanity, and the power for social justice that can come from internet communities especially.

For those still ambivalent about reading, I promise you a happy ending. Totally uplifting; totally worth the read, if you have the spoons to spare.

So! Y'all may remember last year, when I/we (hopefully we) had such fun making Misogynist Yaoi Fangirl Bingo (DW mirror)? Well, shit has been happening, to which I was alerted by friends posting about it, and I took it as a Sign From the Universe that it's time for me to make another card or two.

As far as names go, I think I like Pretentious Fic Hate Bingo better than Why Asshats Think Fen Write Fic Bingo, but the latter is more accurate. I think I'll just call it PFH Bingo in my head, until/unless I or someone else ends up using that for a more general fanfic hate bingo card.

LONG STORY SHORT, ( I would like some help filling squares again )

For the curious, shit what has been happening is apparently over thisaway; there's also reportedly a Fandom Wank entry, though I don't have that at my fingertips, and am too lazy to come up with original characters I mean, google it myself. Edit: F_W entry over here-ish. Yay for lurking getting me things I want!

Thanks in advance ♥

Edit: DONE! It's not perfect, but it is finished :3b

A more generic Anti Fanfic Bingo card may be found here.

And now, more reading of wank ♥

I was totally going to do a post warning about how the main auction at help_haiti was closing soon, except A) I slept in until noon today, since school was canceled, and B) I got the closing time mixed up, not realizing it meant noon instead of midnight. W-whoops.

In any case! Bidding ended today a few hours ago. Here's something you may want to take a look at: Auction Closing Procedures. I will definitely be reading it closely myself at some point in the very near future.


In other linkblogging news: Liberal Bloggers to Obama and Dems: We Told You So


Also, while I normally have the utmost respect for Neil Gaiman, I really can't approve of his use of the word "bitch." (Trigger Warning for last link.)

Thanks to a lightbird777, I was expecting the Depp-seems-to-be-on-Team-Polanski thing. Even if I don't care much for Gaiman's solo work, however, this feels like more of a slap in the face.

Edit: Neil Gaiman, when negative reactions to his use of "bitch" were presented to him, has just said he will try to do better in the future". While he doesn't seem to feel contrite about its use in the George R. R. Martin post (where it is definitely used to mean "Someone who is at your disposal to use however you like", with the sexual implications all but out loud), it is at least slightly encouraging.

Edit 2: Aaaaand now we're moving backwards. *sigh*

( Trigger warning )