Key Romney Endorsement

[Griff]

[richlevy]

Awesome.

This the advantage of the liberals having, to paraphrase Rick Santorum, "all of the smart people".



So instead of being told what to do by 'elite, smart people' you can choose to be told what to do by men who believe that women's uteruses have automated anti-rape systems built in, that the earth is about 6000 years old, and that not all rape is 'legitimate'.

[Ibby]

whedon's a colossal douchebag, but that was still great

[Happy Monkey]

So what's the deal with you and Whedon, Ibby? I feel like you've answered this before, but I couldn't find it.

[Ibby]

I should be getting ready for class, so i'm going to be lazy and just paste quotes off tumblr:

REMEMBER THAT AWKWARD TIME WHEN JOSS WHEDON CREATED THE FIREFLY UNIVERSE, INFUSED IT WITH CHINESE CULTURE AND LANGUAGE, AND CAST A TON OF NON-ASIAN PEOPLE FOR HIS “BLENDING OF ALL RACES” BULLSHIT AND MADE ALL THE ASIAN LOOKING PEOPLE EXTRAS IN BACKWATER TOWNS AND THEN AWKWARDLY CAST ZAC EFRON AS YOUNG SIMON AND PUT HIM IN YELLOWFACE?

http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Joss_Whedon has a long list of feminist criticism of whedon

http://wondercow.blogspot.com/2005/0...homophobe.html
"Joss Whedon is a misogynist homophobe"

that'll have to do for now.

[Happy Monkey]

... AND PUT HIM IN YELLOWFACE?

Well, THAT never happened.

Most of the rest of the criticism seems to be that having a character have to deal with mysogyny is mysogyny in itself. You can't have her fight mysogyny without having misogynists for her to fight. Yes, the Watchers are a stuffy patriarchal group of assholes, but they are the villains on the show as often as they are the heroes, and their patriarchism (patriarchiality?) is never portrayed positively; it ranges from sinister to anachronistic.

Buffy also has to deal with crappy boyfriends. The criticism seems to be that if she were more feminist, she'd have a better love life, but that seems to me to be blaming her for the failings of the men.

[Clodfobble]

REMEMBER THAT AWKWARD TIME WHEN JOSS WHEDON CREATED THE FIREFLY UNIVERSE, INFUSED IT WITH CHINESE CULTURE AND LANGUAGE, AND CAST A TON OF NON-ASIAN PEOPLE FOR HIS “BLENDING OF ALL RACES” BULLSHIT AND MADE ALL THE ASIAN LOOKING PEOPLE EXTRAS IN BACKWATER TOWNS AND THEN AWKWARDLY CAST ZAC EFRON AS YOUNG SIMON AND PUT HIM IN YELLOWFACE?

You've got to cut back a little on the small liberal arts college kool-aid, Ibby. The Firefly future was infused with Chinese culture because the implication was that China won (or was at least currently winning.) The same way every Chinese child learns English, right now. Sure, it's a simplistic and I think incorrect prediction of the future of world politics and culture, but it certainly doesn't require him to cast Asian actors.

And the idea that Zac Efron was in "yellowface" is just stupid. Judge the screenshot for yourself.

[Ibby]

No, imagining a world where China is the dominant cultural force, and swearing in bad chinese, and appropriating chinese culture, and then not actually having any chinese people... that's not okay. just not.
and yes, when i watched the episode the first time myself, and realized it was him, it sure looked like yellowface to me, not just yellowy lighting. He was more yellow than he should have been under that light, unless he was a particularly wan and jaundiced kid.

[Happy Monkey]

Look at the picture. He's not yellow, and neither was the adult Simon. Is the guy claiming that they wanted young Simon to appear more Asian than old Simon?

The lack of Asian members of the main cast and guest stars is a legitimate issue with Firefly, but when the guy ends a post that points that out with something that is patently false and ridiculous, it seriously undermines his critique.

[BigV]

yellowface?

heh, LEAVE WHEDON ALONE!!!!

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Ibby

No, imagining a world where China is the dominant cultural force, and swearing in bad chinese, and appropriating chinese culture, and then not actually having any chinese people... that's not okay. just not.

Baloney. If I made a documentary about modern China, today, there would be tons of Western culture evident (clothes, TV shows, McDonald's on every corner,) the teens would no doubt do a certain amount of swearing in bad Engrish, and still there probably wouldn't be a white person to be seen anywhere. That's how cultural dominance works, the culture spreads even though the people don't so much.

[Ibby]

But it's cultural appropriation for a white guy in a white-dominated company in a white-dominated country in a white-dominated world, to appropriate chinese culture and language, while systematically excluding chinese people from his work.

Supporting the cultural hegemony of euro-american white culture is supporting racism and a cultural-economic-political domination of and destruction of every other culture.

[Griff]

Can UT mark this thread for Ibby to read in say 10 years? Whedon is one of very few actually creative people in tv/movies let's make sure to silence him.

[Ibby]

In ten years, I hope MORE people call out the pervasive racism, sexism, and prejudice in media MORE often. But I'm not holding my breath for America to stop being bitterly, deeply racist.

[Griff]

I feel like we're more cheerfully racist. Its a position of acceptance and warmheartedness.