WHAT DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT?
Dying to share your thoughts about a movie, TV series, game, book, etc.?
Want us to address a particular marginal identity for specific media?
This is the place to let us know what you want to talk about!
Ars Marginal
Arts and entertainment for the rest of us
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What people are saying at Ars Marginal
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Esa S. said
Hi, I’ve been following this blog for a few months now, but so far I haven’t commented on any of the articles. I’ve decided to delurk myself because I just watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes (what a mouthful) over the weekend, and found myself foaming at the mouth from how Freida Pinto was portrayed in the movie–or rather, not portrayed. At all. What I would love to see on this site is someone rip into Freida’s non-role after seeing the movie.
I’m not sure if I’m supposed to email this request to RVCBard directly or just post it like this. Since this *is* the “What Do You Want to Talk About?” section of the blog, though, I figured I wouldn’t be laughed out of here. I hope. Anyway, love this site!
RVCBard said
This is exactly the right place to leave your request. Great topic for conversation!
MissD said
I’d really like to talk about the depiction of sex workers in fantasy literature. As a sex worker I often find it alienating and upsetting
Javan Nelums said
what’s up TV when there is a cast they don’t have a young POC only an old one.
kazei5 said
Rewarding Nice Guys ™… WHY?! I’d like to see a discussion on that and why it should be beat down for the crap that it is.
Neo-Prodigy said
Oh yes. This would be good!!!!!!1
Madeira said
YES! I third this!
yaseen101 said
Uh, hi! Is the right place? I hope so.
Sorry that this took so long.
Anyway, one of the things that I have been wondering about recently is about the term ‘Asian’ or ‘Asia’.
Now shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender are described as being inspired by Asian cultures which makes me wonder, when I describe myself as Asian or say that I come from the Asian region, I wonder how many people would automatically assume that that means I look somewhere along the lines of say, Harry Shum Jr. or Michelle Yeoh, whereas in reality, I look closer to say Isaiah Mustafa in person?
This is one of the reasons, why I’m working on Jewels (http://yaseen101.livejournal.com/44426.html), a South Asian inspired fantasy story so that I can try to showcase the other side of Asia, and it makes me wonder if there is anyone else working on a story inspired by ‘X’ culture(s)? Is there any show or series you would like to see based on a certain culture? What would you like to see from shows that are either set in other countries or where characters frequently travel all over the world to other countries?
yaseen101 said
So I just read about Aarit Mann’s non-role as Priya on ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and good lord… WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?!? WHY?!!
Good lord, there was nothing I read that was actually about herself as person instead it was all about how her male peers so her and basically she sounded like a plot device. She was not ‘her’ but a sub set of her male peers lives.
Maybe I’m just over-reacting and going off just based on a wiki description but I would like to see someone do a post on Big Bang Theory and Priya’s role in it.
jarronnelums said
Since kazei5 post his video blog, why do we invite some members to post video blog or have a youtube page? Do you think it’s a good idea?
RVCBard said
People can pretty much post whatever as long as it’s on topic and follows the rules of the blog.
jarronnelums said
I was thinking along the lines of ThatGuyWiththeglasses. Like you have blogs and a page for just videos and audio.
kiturak said
Hi, I wondered if any of you have already written something about Ross Cambell, or have an opinion about his work, or know any place on the ‘net where people have already written stuff especially on how he treats race (but also other marginalization topics)?
I don’t know his books, but when I was looking for web comics with POC representation/written by POC, I stumbled upon him, looked at some artwork, read some articles, and left with somewhat ambiguous feelings. Now there’s his new design for Glory which I came across yesterday.
I love it, but while I like how he consciously tries to change from his former sexualization of female characters, some of his earlier work seems to me incredibly problematic in a racial perspective, as well. While Kelly Thompson in 2010 lauded his diverse representations of female characters, she didn’t take any notice of the fact that maybe “the wild tale of Naga, a Humunga Princess. Living in a post-holocaust future, royal offspring of a tribe of mystic cannibal barbarians” opens another can of worms just as bad. Still, I’ve seen him recommended by WOC for his diverse characters as well.
So I like to give people an opportunity to grow over time, as I did and everybody needs to, and as he obviously did re:sexualization of female characters, but I wonder what it looks like re: race.
Now not only I’m white, but I don’t really read any comics except on the web, since especially indie comics are expensive and not really easy to come about where I am, so I have no idea of how these representations are like in the context of his work – and I thought I might just ask the specialists.
RVCBard said
MOD NOTE: Please understand that Ars Marginal is an arts and entertainment blog, not a general news or current events forum.
Iwantonia_Mannie_Arwen_fan said
Have you seen the BBC show The Fades? If so, I’d be interested in your thoughts on it, particularly the dynamic between the two main characters Paul and Mac. I find their take on the Main White Guy / Black Best Friend trope refreshingly subversive.
Saajan Patel said
This seemed of interest, Bioware’s response to a guy complaining DA II failed the straight male gamer:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/03/24/bioware-lead-writer-defends-dragon-age-ii-romance-options.aspx
“”The romances in the game are not for ‘the straight male gamer’. They’re for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention. We have good numbers, after all, on the number of people who actually used similar sorts of content in DAO and thus don’t need to resort to anecdotal evidence to support our idea that their numbers are not insignificant… and that’s ignoring the idea that they don’t have just as much right to play the kind of game they wish as anyone else. The ‘rights’ of anyone with regards to a game are murky at best, but anyone who takes that stance must apply it equally to both the minority as well as the majority. The majority has no inherent ‘right’ to get more options than anyone else.”
linesdrawninred said
I have Aspergers Syndrome*, which is an Autism Spectrum disorder so I’d really like to see something about autistic stereotypes and specifically how Bioware completely failed with Sandal the savant dwarf who is played for laughs. I think they did well with David in ME2, though I have some problems with it, they’re all minor. Sandal on the other hand is a completely insensitive joke.
*Please don’t assume that I’m lying. Aspergers Syndrome is far more than an inability to engage in social situations and I am tired of seeing ‘self-diagnosed’ fuckwads portray me as such. It’s far easier for me to be social over the internet because there are only words to process, not facial expressions, tones of voice, background noise and eye contact.
Aaron Andersen said
I just saw the trailer for John Collins this week. It looks like Avatar 2, with tall green aliens instead of blue, and a Mary Sue human with super powers leading them to victory.
A deconstruction of the trailer could be pretty entertaining.
Esa S. said
Hi, dropping by again to spread awareness for a project called ARKH, link here: http://thearkhproject.tumblr.com/FAQ
A group of queer POC are trying to create a 3D RPG for, you guessed it, queer POC and every other marginalization in between. As this is a arts/entertainment site for the oft-forgotten, I hope this catches your notice
linesdrawninred said
So cis straight white folks are trying to shut ARKH down. Signal boosting because holy shit http://thearkhproject.tumblr.com/post/16436834586/cis-straight-white-people-are-trying-to-shut-arkh-down
Neo-Prodigy said
Just did a post on it. Thank you.