i feel stupid, and contagious

Right so, David Fincher. And how much of an asshole he is:

“I love Max Minghella. He came to us, uh, he obviously came to read for another part, and we had read enormous— probably a hundred— Indian actors who came in to read for Divya, and I saw footage of the actual Divya Narendra, who I’ve met now and he’s kind of like Warren Beatty. There’s nothing, aside from being incredibly tan, there’s almost nothing that seems particularly ethnic about him…. and we couldn’t find somebody who had that sort of smoothness. I looked, I looked, I looked. We went to London, we went to, I think, Paris, we went to Montreal. We cast from everywhere. And finally in the end I just felt that Max had the most, kind of… [trails off]. I just wanted to make sure that Divya was an equal. He was the most important third wheel in this triumvirate.”

That's from the DVD commentary for The Social Network. Fincher's talking about the fact he didn't cast an Indian actor for the RL person called Divya Narendra who is the American-born son of two doctors from India.

Do I even need to--

Divya Narendra is kind of like Warren Beatty who is white which means ...what, it's totally kewl not to bother casting an Indian actor because he doesn't seem to fit Mr. Fincher's idea of Indian dudes despite the fact that he is in fact Indian? And aside from minor details like his dark skin and visibly Indian features he doesn't seem "ethnic" to Mr. Fincher? And he couldn't find someone who had that "smoothness" that ...what, only white actors can bring to a role? And he wanted to make sure Divya was an "equal" because... what, he couldn't be unless he was white? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING, MR. FINCHER. Especially considering you needed a crazy slutty Asian girlfriend and had no trouble finding Brenda Song for that.

Honestly this is just one line in a litany of things I hold against The Social Network and everything it chooses to be and no, TUMBLR, I didn't know about this until the commentary came out and that's why I didn't say anything before now SORRY I HADN'T REALISED THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD RUN OUT. Fandom's (and it's not even any one fandom) defensiveness over this type of shit is tiring, tiring. I don't actually care how wonderful Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg and Trent Reznor and whoever cinematographer are, either. And I don't care that this is being marketed as the Movie Of Our Generation that I'll supposedly show to my kids so they can know that these unlikeable rich white dudes were the ones who shaped their world while everyone else was either missing or in the background. Naked.

Today rawles made the fantastic point that we need to stop calling these films good. Because they are not in fact good. And the idea that if people would just step back and be ~objective~ and focus on the most "important" things like acting or directing or anything but those subjective annoying social justice issues, they would accept that these films are still good is wrongheaded and insulting.

That doesn't mean that people aren't allowed to love bad things. I love bad things. It's nigh impossible not to love a bad thing and compartmentalize because so many, many things are bad and everyone's threshold for badness is different. The closest thing I have to a primary fandom right now is Merlin, for chrissakes, and people, MERLIN IS BAD. It does a few things that interest me and even make me happy, but that doesn't change the fact that it is a sexist, poorly written, BAD SHOW that I was basically Stockholm'd into by Angel Coulby. But I could make a list as long as my forearm of bad shows that I like.

It is all right to talk about these things. It's not wank to talk about these things. And no fandom, no fandom, is BETTER or safer for NOT talking or even arguing about these things.

UGH I don't know y'all. I'm just mad this morning. I'm going to try to make a post about things that make me happy later, and then I'm going to make things for halfamoon because that will make me happy. And idk, idk.

Like...completely. I can't even get the OS to boot. I go into startup repair and it can't find a system to repair. YAY.

I know! I think I will apply for a CHARITABLE GRANT to replace it.

(lol jk, I'm gonna take it to Geeksquad after I go and get my driver's license renewed. I'm kind of afraid it needs a new hard drive or something.)

Fandom is something though, right?

So real human tragedies, and particularly ones that happen to PoC and in majority-PoC countries, do not make good backdrops for stories about white male heroes and their manpain and their self-discovery and their epic love and their whatever the hell. Ever.

Forever ever? Forever EVER.

It's something that apparently still needs to be said so I am boosting the signal. It is not cool to appropriate PoC tragedies like, say, the recent earthquake in Haiti (what what no seriously what), as a setting for stories about nice white people. It is not okay to co-opt and trivialize the lives and deaths of real people in the pursuit of new and ~exotic settings no matter how good the writing or the intentions may be. That goes for movie producers and professional writers and it also goes for regular folk like us who write porn on the internet.

The second link by amazonziti is an extensive roundup of the debacle currently happening in SPN/J2 fandom.

I also think impertinence's post concerning the author's apology is great, because it's about how being sorry you said something where people who might get offended would see it isn't the same as evaluating the problems with your worldview to begin with.

/signal boost

So I've just, against my better judgement, read up on the latest unfunnybusiness in SPN fandom. Not actually having to do with the show, but when I say unfunny I MEAN unfunny. trigger warning.

Some pertinent links on the victim-blaming that's resulted from thenyxie's banning from this year's WinCon (again, triggery, proceed with caution):

it's not that I'm blaming you, it's just that it's your fault by impertinence

Fannish spaces, girls, and the culture of silence bookshop

Oh, and silence is not consent. It's fucking not. And to say that nothing bad must've happened if the police weren't called reveals a hell of a lot of privilege.

And sorry, but if you're resorting to victim-blaming to defend some random on the internet, it's time to examine why you're so invested in preserving the fucked-up system of rape culture we live in.

+ hat tip to sophinisba for linking to an interesting discussion on canon/fanon woobies. What are they? Are they always dudes, and why is that? It spawned some discussion in Sophie's own entry as well. :D

I'll be the first to admit that manpain (think single crystalline tears) doesn't fascinate me much apart from a few characters (hey there Merlin), but female woobies get me every time, if only because they're so rare. To me it comes down to male bias in most canons, and it's also a question of perception by showrunners and by fans: about when and for whom it's acceptable or even sexy to be vulnerable. The responses in the post are really interesting; there's a variety of ideas about qualifies as a woob and who the woobie characters are across fandoms.

+ reel_merlin signups! Through the 15th. I'm 1) already freaking out and 2) really excited for some of these! I went ahead and signed up for Y Tu Mamá También, which will end up Gwen/Morgana with some Gwen/Morgause and Morgana/Morgause. I'm struggling with a few things though; I might pester y'all about it at some point.

+ I'm watching Sarah Connor Chronicles. It's reeeeally good. I'm kind of upset it lost out to Dollhouse (which was then promptly canceled anyway).

+ I've been feeling a bit crap over the past week, just kind of fatigued and sniffly. I don't think it's flu but I'm about ready for cold season to be over. I'm SO glad it's March. Eff February, seriously.

+ Back at work today, feeling fine. It's wet and icky outside, though.

+ zahrawithaz reviews Beauty and the Beast (Merls 2x05). Or rather, the characters of Merlin do. Better than the episode in some ways. *g* I love Merlin to extremes, I seriously do, but this reminds me how many people I know on my own f-list who could write a better show than we actually have.

It's kind of weird/funny that the shows and source material that need the most help are always the ones with the big fandoms. As much as I'd love to be able to roll around in Being Human fic all day for example, I have to admit that it's just a better show, it doesn't need holes filled in with fic and such, so people don't flock to it.

+ Glee fic continues to be better than the actual show. Giving Quinn and Kurt and Sue etc. much better treatment. I do wonder if there's any fic about Tina or Mercedes, though.

+ randomneses alerted me to this bullshit yesterday: Howard University's Hilltop mag has a staff editorial that details the ways students can prevent getting into dangerous situations at night. Money quote:

As well as making themselves look like easy targets by distractions or lack of awareness, female students are often guilty of another serious offense-strutting through the streets of Washington, D.C. in badly chosen attire (...) If walking through the streets in seductive club attire isn’t a blatant call for sexual harassment, then nothing is.

Do I even need to rant about the ways in which that passage is infuriating? Because yeah, you really want to send a message to college kids of all sexes that girls who dress however the hell they want to are asking for whatever happens to them. Fuck that.

+ That's all for today, must finish coursework for class later, and oh yeah also, am at work. :P

+ My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the Philippines, in Samoa and Tonga, and everyone with family there.

What you can do to help the victims of Typhoon Ondoy/Ketsana (via lassiterfics):

1. Help for Typhooon Ondoy Victims in the Philippines - This is a good place to keep up with news, with active situation map and a list of ways you can donate. If you scroll down, there is a list of US-based donation drop-off points, though it's just California, New York, and New Jersey. You can also do credit card and PayPal.

2. Ondoy Places to Donate Relief Goods - This GoogleDocs has a more comprehensive list of how to donate under the 'Online/International' category.

3. SPREAD THE WORD.


+ Not like everyone doesn't already know about this, but it bears repeating. Everyone in the entertainment industry (everyone everywhere, really) who is petitioning to free Roman Polanski? Fuck you all.

The longer I look at the list, the more names I recognise, the more ragey I get. Of all the things, of all the people to fight for and to place your well-known names behind. Fuck that.

+ Also, Merlin fandom, don't even start. Just please, don't even. That's all I have to say about that.

I haven't done a meme in a while! It's either this, or I fangirl Gwen some more, so. ;)

Gacked from such_heights and penknife:

Ask me a fandom, and I will tell you:

+ OTP
+ Runner-up
+ Honorable mention(s)
+ Crack pairing(s)
+ Ship everyone else seems to like, but I don't

Any fandom you know me to be in (I have about four active ones) or that I talk about is fair game, or even if it's a show I post about regularly but am not in the fandom for. Also, these days I SUCK at OTPing, but I should be able to narrow down a favorite for every fandom at least.

+ I am told that this is yet another s2 promo.



(click for bigger because I am trying to be better at adding image attributes to protect your layouts.)

Also, I'm going to need them to stop being so pretty and piling onto each other like that, it fills my head with prurient imagery and irregular dirty wrong un-ladylike thoughts about hot peoples. SOMEONE STUDY ME. HOGOD THEY APPEAR TO BE UNDER THE COVERS.

+ In other news, last night I signed up for smutty_claus and camelotsolstice. I'm really excited about both. And am thrilled that so many of you signed up for the Merlin one, that should be fun. Mutual flailing, etc. *g*

+ I've been in a bit of a fog the last couple days, busy at work and with school and fandom commitments. A week and a half until my vacation and it can't come soon enough.

+ Tonight is beta-ing and collecting lonely prompts from the party and making HBB banners. kendas I'll send your thingie back tonight.

+ Also, it is early. Need an extra hour or two of sleep, kthnx.