I don’t watch HOD and yet I know exactly what you’re talking about. intimately even. it’s called being a black fan in non-black fandom. it’s called black people are desirable but the entire world will tell you otherwise. it’s called racist bullshit that needs to be eradicated but is unlikely to ever be. you’re so brilliant, don’t you dare grin and bear it, I won’t. Thank you.
the first time I became aware of fandom racism, I was 14 (and I now know I was extremely privileged to be able to not know until then). I was extremely into this mediocre CW show, Nikita (which btw is the first American show to have an Asian lead........ the show started airing in 2010 😵💫😵💫😵💫 just. facts that make you feel sick to your stomach.), and after the s1 finale I saw people leaving infuriated comments on YouTube about how Nikita "needed to die" for "betraying" the fan favorite white girl, a character she had repeatedly gone to great lengths to save the life of, but had withheld information about her father's death. I remember being deeply shaken by the vitriol, as I'd found Maggie Q to be incredible in the role and I didn't understand how people could purposefully misinterpret Nikita's intentions and turn her into a villain when she was the moral compass of the show.
unfortunately, I don't think fandom racism has gotten much better in the past ~15 years. I see the same things fandom after fandom -- characters of color being labeled as "suspicious" and theories of them being evil in some way, constantly being pushed out of romances in favor of their love interest being with another white(/white adjacent) character, being ignored all together (especially noticeable from the giffing side of tumblr and seeing what content blows up and what struggles to get notes. not to mention the rampant whitewashing bc so many people just. don't fucking understand how to color in Photoshop when it comes to nonwhite skin tones) -- it's why I stopped engaging with fandom as much as possible a few years ago. the thing I find most infuriating is when showrunners cave to said racist fans, like it's honestly insane how many times I've seen an interracial pairing involving a white person being pushed very hard in the first season of a show, just to see the writers hastily move away from it and put the white character w another white person once they get that second season. (Don't let me get started talking about Matt and Claire being pushed aside for Matt and Karen on Netflix's Daredevil....... after binging the first season, I literally fucking wrote a paper for one of my gender studies classes - the topic of said class was Sex & Disability - on how Matt and Claire should be endgame, just for the writers to come back a year later and relentlessly shove Karen in my face. God it's been like 8 years and I'm still so mad ahdhfhfhfhddg!!!)
off topic ahshdhdh but also: "Summer, on the other hand, is a tedious stretch of oppressive heat that keeps me languid in bed until I gather the strength to make my way downstairs." dhdhdhdhdj this is so true. summer haters unite!!!!
you unearthed a memory with nikita. i remember that all too well which is crazy because my sister and i watched it when it had BEEN out and the reactions were still insane. i can't explain how much i appreciate you and your constant emotinal intelligence and openness to being educated, rachel. you are a force.
I don’t watch HOD and yet I know exactly what you’re talking about. intimately even. it’s called being a black fan in non-black fandom. it’s called black people are desirable but the entire world will tell you otherwise. it’s called racist bullshit that needs to be eradicated but is unlikely to ever be. you’re so brilliant, don’t you dare grin and bear it, I won’t. Thank you.
i love you, do you hear me? i LOVE you.
the first time I became aware of fandom racism, I was 14 (and I now know I was extremely privileged to be able to not know until then). I was extremely into this mediocre CW show, Nikita (which btw is the first American show to have an Asian lead........ the show started airing in 2010 😵💫😵💫😵💫 just. facts that make you feel sick to your stomach.), and after the s1 finale I saw people leaving infuriated comments on YouTube about how Nikita "needed to die" for "betraying" the fan favorite white girl, a character she had repeatedly gone to great lengths to save the life of, but had withheld information about her father's death. I remember being deeply shaken by the vitriol, as I'd found Maggie Q to be incredible in the role and I didn't understand how people could purposefully misinterpret Nikita's intentions and turn her into a villain when she was the moral compass of the show.
unfortunately, I don't think fandom racism has gotten much better in the past ~15 years. I see the same things fandom after fandom -- characters of color being labeled as "suspicious" and theories of them being evil in some way, constantly being pushed out of romances in favor of their love interest being with another white(/white adjacent) character, being ignored all together (especially noticeable from the giffing side of tumblr and seeing what content blows up and what struggles to get notes. not to mention the rampant whitewashing bc so many people just. don't fucking understand how to color in Photoshop when it comes to nonwhite skin tones) -- it's why I stopped engaging with fandom as much as possible a few years ago. the thing I find most infuriating is when showrunners cave to said racist fans, like it's honestly insane how many times I've seen an interracial pairing involving a white person being pushed very hard in the first season of a show, just to see the writers hastily move away from it and put the white character w another white person once they get that second season. (Don't let me get started talking about Matt and Claire being pushed aside for Matt and Karen on Netflix's Daredevil....... after binging the first season, I literally fucking wrote a paper for one of my gender studies classes - the topic of said class was Sex & Disability - on how Matt and Claire should be endgame, just for the writers to come back a year later and relentlessly shove Karen in my face. God it's been like 8 years and I'm still so mad ahdhfhfhfhddg!!!)
off topic ahshdhdh but also: "Summer, on the other hand, is a tedious stretch of oppressive heat that keeps me languid in bed until I gather the strength to make my way downstairs." dhdhdhdhdj this is so true. summer haters unite!!!!
you unearthed a memory with nikita. i remember that all too well which is crazy because my sister and i watched it when it had BEEN out and the reactions were still insane. i can't explain how much i appreciate you and your constant emotinal intelligence and openness to being educated, rachel. you are a force.