The Women of Korra

Racebending.com often has some very interesting discussions dealing with ethnicity and gender. They were the ones who asked Joss Whedon at Comic Con last year why there were no Asian faces in Firefly. They are very passionate about what they do. I respect them for it. I respect them for craving diversity in TV and movies.

Korra and the previous avatars

This, of course, spills over to their Tumblr feed. Where they aggregate some great conversations on various topics. One month ago, I found a conversation I felt the need to engage in about “the Legend of Korra”. I don’t feel like I’ve got many horses in the race when it comes to talking about race being largely white. I do think that PoC have been trivialized in the entertainment industry and would like to see more ethnicities on the screen. White people have had their run. We live in a diverse society and it’s about time we see that reflected in our entertainment.

Korra, Mako and Bolin

And then there’s the representation of women. This is where I have a horse in the race. I understand what it’s like to be a woman in this world being one myself. There aren’t very many diverse and accurate female representations. And that is the crux of the discussion of “Korra”. “Avatar, the Last Airbender” was rife with strong women. Many women feel miffed that that trend didn’t find its way into the most recent season of “Korra”.

And while there’s a lot to be said of the treatment of women in this season, I also have complaints about the story… something I don’t think was capably handled this season.

My largest complaint has to deal with how many plot arcs they started and concluded this season. Granted, these plot arcs will have long-running repercussions, but it felt like these plot arcs were jammed like a child who doesn’t understand that the round peg cannot fit through the square hole. There were 3 or 4 storylines that all ended when the season ended. And as they all ended, they did create long-running repercussions.

Asami

However, this also fits in to unfortunate representation of women… particularly Asami.

I feel like she could have been treated like a strong and smart business woman. She certainly could be more capable of getting past her father’s transgression in being a member of Equalists. When her father’s business went down hill partly due to pirates she could have put on her big girl panties and stepped up to be a business leader.

Instead she depends on some “Hollywood” Lothario. She never realizes the strong female role she could have been. Instead she depends on a man. This seems to be counter to what I would expect from the Avatar team… the same team who created the most bad ass of female avatars.

And really, that makes me sad. I wish there were more strong female characters. I wish that the female characters were better realized. I think it’s the fact that they were trying to cram so many plot lines in to one season that they forgot to flesh out the women, to make them more integral and less decorative.

Tenzin and Ikki

The one instance that does happen is when Jinora helps Korra navigate through the spirit world. While her father, Tenzin, wishes he could be the one to do so and therefore prove himself to his deceased father Aang. While I understand Tenzin’s jealousy of his own daughter, it was nice to see a more minor female role do something a bit more pro-active. Jinora is still quite naïve. That naiveté is what proves to be an obstacle for her. I’m hoping that in the future that they flesh out Jinora more. I would love to see her as a stronger female role. She may play the fairy girl guide right now, I can see Jinora becoming a force to be reckoned with and a powerful ally to Korra.

Really that makes me sad. There aren’t enough strong women roles. We have the fairy girl who exists solely to help the male protagonist in his story. We have comic relief. Where are the Cagney and Lacey of the ’00’s? (Yes, I realize that I just showed my age as I remember Cagney and Lacey.)

Jinora, Kya and Korra

That’s something that I would like to rectify. I would like to create female characters that exist to forward their own goals, not some man’s. I want to create women who are strong enough to stand on their two feet, but can still be vulnerable and strong. I would like there to be a female role model that I wish existed when I was a child.

I think that “Korra” could certainly produce that. I’m hoping that in the next season they will get there… it might just take some time.

Guest Post: Craig Gordon, Media and Representation of Gender and Race

This is going to be a long one so I’ll cut to the punch line: As a writer, think about the message you want to convey, who your intended audience is, and how that audience will receive your message. Then think about all the other people you would like to read your work but who aren’t part of your intended audience and how what you are saying will look to them.

This was originally inspired by the Racebending.com panel at SDCC 2012 and a quick question to N.K. Jemisin. There have been various blog posts since then that have added to it.
So let’s start with the panel itself.

To start, you can see the entire panel for yourself at http://www.racebending.com/v4/featured/watch-racebendings-2012-comiccon-panel/ .
Racebending.com started in 2009 as a reaction to the casting of only Caucasian actors for the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. Since then they have continued to speak out for equality in visual entertainment. One of the co-founders, Marissa Lee, may have gained some notoriety during SDCC 2012 by asking Joss Whedon at the Firefly Reunion panel about the lack of Asian actors in Firefly http://www.racebending.com/v4/featured/frustrations-asian-american-whedonite/ .
The panel itself was one of the very first events at SDCC 2012 – 10:00 AM Thursday morning. The room was about half full. I am hoping that everyone there was actually there for the panel and not waiting for a later event.
The panelists were Marjorie Liu, David Gaider, Brandon Thomas, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Sarah Kuhn, and N.K. Jemisin. Collectively they cover comic book writing, novel writing, video game writing, and screen-writing. They discussed the issues they each face in their industry, both in terms of professional recognition and in terms of the characters/stories they are able to sell.
The overall feel from the panelists’ stories is that the major hurdle is the media executives and publishers who think they know the markets.
The biggest points for me were:
Marjorie Liu pitched an all female comic to Marvel with Black Widow, Electra, Mystique, and X-23. She was told that an all female super-hero team wouldn’t sell. Because, you know, Birds of Prey hasn’t been running for 13 years….
David Gaider said that one of the most popular mods for Dragon Age (which is otherwise known for it’s racial and gender equality) is to change Isabella from ‘swarthy’ to ‘fair’.
Sarah Kuhn said that she and other Asian writers were asked to change their last names (or pen version thereof) by marketing departments to improve marketability.

After the panel I had a question for N.K. Jemisin. I wanted to ask that if she thought it was important if for a novel in a high-fantasy setting to discuss race of characters. I asked Ms. Jemisin specifically (instead of the panel in general) because most of the panel works in visual media or real-world settings. My thought was that in a non-visual media and in a fantasy setting where there is no preconception of race, why bring it up? Her response was more emphatic that I expected, but as I thought about it some I got it.
Her general points were:
1. If you don’t give the characters race, then many of the readers will assume everyone is white. Either because that is what they are used to or because they are projecting themselves onto the characters. It has been shown that many readers will do this even if the character has been explicitly described otherwise (see Hunger Games).
2. Letting the readers white-wash your characters is the lazy way out. It does not help anyone and even compounds the issue by not taking a stance against it.
3. To keep things equal, don’t mention the race of only the non-white characters. Doing this only reinforces the assumption that white is the standard.
4. Particularly from a first-person perspective, your narrator is going to be noticing race so why are they failing to talk about it?
I had some thoughts about that last point. Like if the narrator is a newly sentient AI are they actually going to be noticing race or just lump all humans together? But I also realized some counter-points to that. While a newly sentient AI might generally lump all humans together, it would still be taking note of physical differences as well as how the humans behave according to those differences. And besides, that would be quibbling over the details of one specific point and failing to hear the message as a whole.
Basically, if you realize there is an issue then don’t avoid it, do something about it.

So that’s where I started.

Now let me slightly restate the issue as I see it: there is an issue in media that many things are written both from a white perspective and assuming a white audience. This issue is pervasive and often subtle enough that many things are either supporting racist assumptions by failing to counter them or even ending up explicitly racist while claiming not to be.
Obviously there is still a lot of blatant and intentional racism. That’s not what I want to discuss. The issue I want to address is when otherwise well-meaning people are racist without meaning to or necessarily even realizing it.

Here’s where I give a bunch of other blogs to read.
We’ll start with one really big example recently – http://fozmeadows.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/racism-revealing-eden-and-stgrb/
Even though the racism in that book is practically screaming, I’m going to give the author the benefit of the doubt and assume she really didn’t get it. After all, that is the point of what I’m trying to talk about here – writers and writing that just doesn’t get it.

But if she really doesn’t get it is it still really so bad? Yes. Yes it is. And here is my favorite post about why – http://genderbitch.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/intent-its-fucking-magic/

Ok, you say, I get that that book is horribly offensive. But why are you telling me? I’m not like that.
http://www.theferrett.com/ferrettworks/2012/08/would-you-like-to-wash-your-hands/

I’m not saying that you, dear reader, are necessarily part of the problem. I have no idea who you are, where in the world you are, or even when you are reading this.
What I am saying is that it is quite possible, even easy, to be part of the problem without even realizing it.

To show just how prevalent this is (in case you don’t believe me) check out some of the links below:

Why I Think RaceFail Was The Bestest Thing Evar for SFF

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/03/hunger-games-and-trayvon-martin.html

Racism for Sale

http://halfinplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/sexism-racism-and-swimming-at-london.html
http://www.racialicious.com/2011/04/29/race-comics-when-is-diversity-contrived/

More on Racially Profiling Whites

There’s no such thing as a good stereotype.

Well, those were depressing. I get it, I hear you say. I could be part of the problem and not even realize it. What now?
Here are a few more:
http://hikikomoiegaku.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/feminist-writings-women-in-media-vs-the-male-gaze/
http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/?p=66

What don’t we see?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze

Default Narrative Sexism

“There are no cookies for not being an asshole” – Living feminism, not just thinking it

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/09/guest-post-the-omniscient-breasts-by-kate-elliott/

Sex, Comics and Video Games

Wait, those weren’t about race. Those were about women. And one of them was a wikipedia article! What does that have to do with the issue of race in media?
The connection is that the issues stem from the same problem.

And it keeps going…

Stereotyping in TV and the LGBT Community

http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/dt/V142/N56/12-gayles.56d.html
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2011/10/media_stereotypes_lgbt_youth_and_a_documentary_worth_watching.html

To borrow a line from 12 step programs: the first step is admitting you have a problem. Here is the problem: most media (in the US at least) is aimed, intentionally or not, at the heterosexual white male. As a result, most media in the US either ignores, is offensive to, or supports the minimization of everyone else.

A school I used to go to had this line as part of it’s social honor code: We must consider the effects of our words and actions on others. That’s the next step. It’s a pretty simple statement on the surface but there is also a lot of depth to it. Don’t just think of how you would react to something. Try to think of how someone else would react to it. This is the tough step. We are all stuck in our own heads and it can be very difficult to imagine or feel how someone with a different background and perspective could be feeling.
I kind of like this blog entry from a white male writer in trying to handle diversity in his writing – http://heroinesoffantasy.blogspot.com/2012/07/writing-other-with-fear-and-trembling.html
The key points are to have empathy and keep trying. You may not get it right at first. As living beings we are constantly changing and hopefully growing and learning. So try, learn, and try again.

That sounds like a lot of work, you may say. What if I just want to write what I like without worrying what other people think about it?
That is entirely your prerogative. However distasteful some people find your work, there is still likely to be an audience for it. But don’t be surprised when someone is offended by your work or tells you that you are part of the problem.

So what was the point of this, then?
The point was to bring to your attention that there is a problem, if you weren’t aware of it, and to encourage you to think about it and to think about what role you want to play in it.
As a media producer:
Think about the message you want to convey
Think about who you are assuming your audience is
Think about how other people will hear your words and what they will think your message is
Think about how you feel about that
As a media consumer:
What message do you get from it?
How do you think other people would have interpreted it?
How does that make you feel?

The short form: Please, everyone and particularly media producers, examine your assumptions and perspective and try to think about how people who are nothing like you would view things. Be mindful.
Really, I think that advice should apply to life in general.

If you are reading this anytime near Sep 21, check this out – http://www.aartichapati.com/2012/08/tss-introducing-more-diverse-universe.html . They should have the full schedule of participating bloggers up on the 21st.