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a response to the “canon did it first” excuse for racism

Whenever someone points out that certain metas/fics/headcanons have racist implications, the overwhelming response tends to be that it can’t actually be the product of racial bias—because it’s just “canon.” After all, if a character really is cruel, petty, or abusive in the source material, how can Fandom be held responsible for writing them in character?

On the surface, this can seem like a perfectly good argument—except that it completely sidesteps the actual implications.

Consider, for example, the following interpretations (all from real metas):

Finn from Star Wars is a predator—he’s obsessed with Rey.

Scott from Teen Wolf is a rapist—he attacked Derek.

MJ from the MCU is a fake MJ who should be replaced—her hair colour is wrong & she’s mean.

Iris from The Flash is a b*tch who should be killed off—she’s useless & whiny.

Each of these statements could be explored at length for the bad faith readings that they are, but for the purposes of this meta, let’s assume they are all correct.

What would be the implications of that?

If Finn, the first Black character with a leading role in a Star Wars film, is a sexual predator towards a white woman—a trope that has a horrific, racist history—why then is the meta using that discovery to explain why the white fave is superior, instead of a furious exposé on Disney’s racist depiction of a Black man?

If Scott, one of the few heroic Latino leads on US television, is a rapist and secretly the villain—when only 3% of all leading roles go to Latino men, as opposed to 22% of all Latino roles being related to crime—why then is the meta using that to elevate three white male faves, instead of calling MTV out for its bait and switch? Why is it not righteously angry at yet another racist depiction of a Latino character?

If Michelle, a mixed Black woman in the role of the most iconic superhero love interest of all time, is just a fake MJ and not the “real” love interest—when Black women are already relegated to less than 4% of all speaking roles in film, never mind the rarity of playing a romantic lead—why then is the meta focused on getting a “real” (white) MJ to take over her position, instead of pushing Disney to make her status as MJ as explicit as possible?

If Iris, one of the few Black women in a lead role on network television, is a b*tch who’s useless and whiny—when Black women are consistently over disciplined for being seen as louder/more disruptive than their peers—why does the meta choose to solve this by murdering Iris, instead of petitioning the writing staff to stop leaning into racist tropes?

This is only a sampling of popular metas—and only a few of the endgame conclusions that have to result—but the point is that the racism is not a bug; it’s a feature. If they were actually true, it would make the source material so reprehensible as to make supporting it unconscionable—but that’s not what they’re used for. Instead, time and time again, they’re just used to push the COC out of their own narratives.

If a meta wants to claim it cannot be racist because it’s simply restating what canon did, then it must consider whether or not that makes canon also racist. And if it does—what does it want to say about that? Is the meta going to continue that racist pattern? Call out the creators for their stereotyping? Create additional metas and fics to attempt to address the revealed problem?

And denying that—if none of those options seem tenable—then maybe the correct response is to question whether the original meta was all that accurate to begin with.

Please remind me to not get into it over Scott McCall on fandom secrets, because several users there should have degrees in being wrong all the time. 

They’re so sure that because THEY hate Scott and they know THEY’RE not racist, and because “they didn’t even know Scott was anything but white”, that racism plays no part in how Scott was treated by the fandom at large. Scott’s just a terrible character, they cry, bringing up how he was a little sidetracked by Allison in S1, how he never wanted to be a werewolf in the first place, and oh, of course, that old chestnut, what he did to Derek in the finale of S2. 

Apparently, Scott is never punished in the narrative the same way Derek is?! Did you know this? Because, like, I seem to recall him breaking up with his first girlfriend because of werewolf things, that first girlfriend dying in his arms, him being repeatedly hunted by Peter and Hunters, his autonomy being snatched away from him by Peter, trying to commit suicide, being stabbed by the Nogitsune, being straight-up murdered at one point… the list goes on. 

Babes. Babes. You, as an individual, may not be racist. But when that large a number of people are willing to write about a character one way, to constantly invalidate their pain, to never show sympathy or empathy for them, to spin them as a villain for trying to do the right thing, and the only discernible difference between them and all of their other co-stars at that point are their features… could it your brain is being a bastard and loading you with unconscious bias?

The level of vitriol that is leveled at a character who is no worse than any other, who makes the same mistakes as the others, who suffers just as much (if not more!) than the others, who overall is trying to do the right thing is just… horrible. The trends in the fandom of how Scott was and is treated always say a lot more than the individual actions of fans.

I’d like to say that these trends don’t have any basis in racism, but fandom is as fandom does, and fandom unfortunately reflects a lot of the macrocosm of the world – which is racist.  It’s worrying, and frankly a bit horrifying, but many white people are preconditioned to dislike/mistrust people of color - to notice darker skin and features and mentally ascribe personality traits to those people - and not even register that they have done so. And people in fandomsecrets kept telling me they didn’t even notice that Posey is a person of colour, but that is why I say ‘unconscious’; because like it or not, sometimes that’s what’s at work. Brain processes your conscious mind would be rightfully disgusted by are going on! (And then, one person said ‘I don’t hate Scott just because he has more of a tan’, and I decided not to reply directly to that person because what the actual fuck.)

Once again, I don’t think every single person who dislikes him hates Scott for racist reasons. Like, sure, maybe you find him annoying because he tries to do the right thing but in ineffectual ways, or because he wants to be a normal teenager and does dumb teenaged shit. Or because he rarely apologises for his fuck-ups and they tend to get glossed over. But how does that make him different from any other character in this show? Why are you so willing to put aside any kind of empathy, why do you want to see him suffer so, why do you label him a bad friend? Why do you always point out how shitty the writing is in regards to Scott’s characterisation but none of the others? 

Do you hate him because he’s the main character and it’s perfectly normal to hate the main character? - that’s why no one in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom likes Buffy and only a vocal minority like Harry in Harry Potter, and no one has fucks to give for Dean and Sam in Supernatural — oh. Wait. [For the record, I know there are some fans who hate Buffy, Harry, Dean and/or Sam. They’re just not usually thiiiiiiis loud, y’know?]

If you hate Scott for how he treated Derek, do you hate Derek for how he treated Scott? Boyd? Erica? Isaac? Or do you recognize that Derek was floundering around in the dark and dealing with deep-seated trauma? And if you recognize that in Derek, why can’t you recognize that in Scott who at this point is 16 - 17 at the most? If you hate Scott for how he stole people’s autonomy, do you hate Peter for the same deal? Peter – an actual show villain, who I haven’t seen anyone actively hate, I don’t think? If you hate Scott for mooning over Allison and getting distracted by her, do you hate Stiles for being the same way about Lydia? If you hate Scott for thinking he knows what’s best for others and choosing not to let them in on plans, do you hate Chris Argent, Noah Stilinski, Derek once again? 

I 100% think that a bunch of people need to examine their unconscious biases and try to watch the show putting themselves in Scott’s shoes. Genuinely imagine how it would feel to be in his position. They seem more than capable of doing that with the others, so give him that same consideration. 

Happy Squall Saturday!

there should b a white woman equivalent of toxic masculinity bc the amnt of times white women have used their supposed fragile femininity to shut down any criticisms regarding their racism is fucking astounding.

it’s like,, u call them out for being racist and IMMEDIATELY the tears start to fall, they accuse u of being a misogynist, they accuse u of being anti-feminist, they pretend (or, in some special cases, genuinely believe) they’re incredibly hurt by ur words and “wrongful” accusations, and in general do everything in their power to weaponize their white womanhood so as not to be held responsible for their actions.

if you then get frustrated and/or angry at them for not getting it, you “prove their point” of being ~aggressive~ and ~unwilling to compromise or educate~. if you hold your tongue and instead console and apologize to the very person hurting you, you’re back to square one while also implicitly letting them know they can get away with being racist and even get called right for doing so as long as they play their cards right.

it’s a no-win situation for people of colour.

i get annoyed when white people on this site act like tumblr is completely fine if you just 'avoid discourse', when discourse can literally mean calling out all the casual racism around you like its never 'peaceful' here for people of colour. Acting like tumblr is some special site where you can just get away from all the drama of other social media sites sure is a privilege i would like to have.

'Just curate your content!' doesnt work when its basically all the content thats the problem.

I’m right out here for you, just let me in

i think that kishimoto is certainly capable of writing women (and to pretend otherwise feels like i'm giving him a get out of jail free card or something), but the issue is that he gives them so little narrative attention that it feels like he doesn't? like sakura, hinata and tsunade in particular are probably who i'd pinpoint as "the best written" female naruto characters in terms of having a clear character arc, but so much of their development - particularly sakura, but this is definitely applicable to the other two - occurs throughout the background of the story that it doesn't feel like it's happening, or is given the attention it deserves.

like, all three of them have certain moments that definitely trigger their growth to occur - sakura in the forest of death, hinata's fight with neji, and the search for tsunade arc in general for tsunade - and they all have significant moments that showcase this growth - sakura's fights with ino and sasori, hinata's attempt to fight pain knowing that she'll lose, and the closing of the search for tsunade arc where she overcomes her fear and decides to become hokage. but because either the context required for these moments to hit as hard as they do or the smaller showcases of their character development - or both - are so subtly placed throughout the background of the story that you kind of have to search for them. to give more examples yet again, it requires the audience to realise that sakura and ino's rivalry was never really just over sasuke, and to acknowledge her insecurities and desperate need to fit in with the others in order to understand her motivations and why her decisions in the forest of death are important. if she was a male character, we would have had gratuitous flashbacks placed in every goddamn chapter reminding the audience of these motivations which would really hammer it in, but because she isn't, it the context behind her decisions and growth is left to fade into the background.

this post has just been me rambling so i hope that it makes some semblance of sense but i don't know how else to word this lmao

belated because of stress and working on two comprehensive souharu meta posts but i digress from shameless self-promotions

SouHaru Week | Day 3: AU 

sci-fi stardust au, where humans and fallen stars co-pilot huge, ancient mechas to protect galactic kingdoms. imagine haru flipping his hair in sousuke's face, sousuke spluttering and sneezing out stardust

haru shrugs, "it's what stars do."

SPIRITED AWAY 千と千尋の神隠し 2001, Dir. Hayao Miyazaki

As the year comes to a close, I just want to highlight all the people that wanted to create this year, but couldn't.

Whether that be due to burn out, lack of inspiration, or simply just not having the time; it's okay. It's hard to center what brings you joy during unprecedented times and these last few years have showed us that plenty.

Just keep chugging along, you're doing fine and we can't wait to see what you've been working on <3