![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/2o5VByl
hansbekhart:
Dear White Fandom
Let’s talk for a second.
So Black Panther opens nationwide today. I saw it last night, and let me tell you: it’s absolutely incredible. It’s as good as you’re hearing. It’s gorgeous. It’s compelling. Everyone acts their faces off. It’s also, inarguably, the most complex movie in the MCU.
You might leave the theater super jazzed and wanting to write meta and fic about how beautiful Wakanda is, how badass the Dora Milajae are, or who the real villains might be and why, or over that little cameo at the end (no spoilers). And you’re not wrong - but if you’re white, pump the brakes on that feeling for a few days.
There’s a lot to take in, about Black Panther. It’s an intricate, incredibly well thought-out movie that covers a lot of ground in terms of thorny and important themes. It stares right in the face of generational trauma, the legacy of slavery, conflicts between the diaspora and Africans and what responsibilities and connections each feel to each other, how colonization continues today under different names, and on and on.
And you’re gonna be missing the context for a lot of that. So hit pause on that content creation for a little bit, okay?
There’s a lot of meta, fic, thought posts, personal experiences, and resources already being shared by Black fans. There’s gonna be a lot more. Take the next few days to read them. Get lost reading up on the historical and cultural touchstones that the movie draws from. Follow Black fans and reblog their stuff. Listen before you hit post on that fic or meta.
And maybe you don’t end up posting it at all. Maybe you learn the context of the characters and issues and history you saw up on screen, and that great idea you came out of the theater with seems more and more like a hot take. That’s okay. It’s totally fine just to listen.
I’m not saying that white people aren’t allowed in the Black Panther fandom. I’m not saying that only Black people can write Black Panther fic. First, that would be incredibly hypocritical of me; and Second, I think that white people not putting in the effort to humanize non-white people literally makes us worse human beings.
What I’m saying is, if you wanna do it: it’s worth putting in the work. Not just to create content that isn’t full of microaggressions and outright racism, but participation means you have to put in the work to do it right. If you’re not willing to wait, and listen, and learn, and work - then just don’t.
If your response to this is to get really mad and offended– maybe sit back for a second and reread it and think about why you’re so mad at the implication that you might not come out of this with the context to instantly write a good story about it.
Because if your knee-jerk reaction is fuck you I write what I want, then the odds are also good that you’re going to write something that’s going to piss off a lot of people and you’re going to have to keep deploying that fuck you I write what I want a lot. So like.
Think about if that’s what you want to do with your life, is all. That’s the fandom experience you really genuinely want? Really? I don’t think so.
You should be moved! That’s great! The movie is designed to move you! And absolutely you should write whatever your little heart desires!
You’re just gonna be a whole lot happier with the result if you hang onto that inspiration for a second and do a tiny bit of research.
I’ve done this! I’ve written a thing and thought deeply about it and been all happy with it and only later realized that I totally unwittingly fell into a horrifying racist stereotype out of complete innocent ignorance. That doesn’t mean I didn’t fall into it! My intention didn’t mean anything. And let me tell you, it sucked. I had no idea! But that didn’t make it any less real.
So like. The above essay was clearly written out of love and concern. Take it in the spirit in which it was intended, and open your mind a tiny bit wider to let some context in. Your good intentions don’t save you from crash-landing into bad outcomes.
(Your picture was not posted)
hansbekhart:
Dear White Fandom
Let’s talk for a second.
So Black Panther opens nationwide today. I saw it last night, and let me tell you: it’s absolutely incredible. It’s as good as you’re hearing. It’s gorgeous. It’s compelling. Everyone acts their faces off. It’s also, inarguably, the most complex movie in the MCU.
You might leave the theater super jazzed and wanting to write meta and fic about how beautiful Wakanda is, how badass the Dora Milajae are, or who the real villains might be and why, or over that little cameo at the end (no spoilers). And you’re not wrong - but if you’re white, pump the brakes on that feeling for a few days.
There’s a lot to take in, about Black Panther. It’s an intricate, incredibly well thought-out movie that covers a lot of ground in terms of thorny and important themes. It stares right in the face of generational trauma, the legacy of slavery, conflicts between the diaspora and Africans and what responsibilities and connections each feel to each other, how colonization continues today under different names, and on and on.
And you’re gonna be missing the context for a lot of that. So hit pause on that content creation for a little bit, okay?
There’s a lot of meta, fic, thought posts, personal experiences, and resources already being shared by Black fans. There’s gonna be a lot more. Take the next few days to read them. Get lost reading up on the historical and cultural touchstones that the movie draws from. Follow Black fans and reblog their stuff. Listen before you hit post on that fic or meta.
And maybe you don’t end up posting it at all. Maybe you learn the context of the characters and issues and history you saw up on screen, and that great idea you came out of the theater with seems more and more like a hot take. That’s okay. It’s totally fine just to listen.
I’m not saying that white people aren’t allowed in the Black Panther fandom. I’m not saying that only Black people can write Black Panther fic. First, that would be incredibly hypocritical of me; and Second, I think that white people not putting in the effort to humanize non-white people literally makes us worse human beings.
What I’m saying is, if you wanna do it: it’s worth putting in the work. Not just to create content that isn’t full of microaggressions and outright racism, but participation means you have to put in the work to do it right. If you’re not willing to wait, and listen, and learn, and work - then just don’t.
If your response to this is to get really mad and offended– maybe sit back for a second and reread it and think about why you’re so mad at the implication that you might not come out of this with the context to instantly write a good story about it.
Because if your knee-jerk reaction is fuck you I write what I want, then the odds are also good that you’re going to write something that’s going to piss off a lot of people and you’re going to have to keep deploying that fuck you I write what I want a lot. So like.
Think about if that’s what you want to do with your life, is all. That’s the fandom experience you really genuinely want? Really? I don’t think so.
You should be moved! That’s great! The movie is designed to move you! And absolutely you should write whatever your little heart desires!
You’re just gonna be a whole lot happier with the result if you hang onto that inspiration for a second and do a tiny bit of research.
I’ve done this! I’ve written a thing and thought deeply about it and been all happy with it and only later realized that I totally unwittingly fell into a horrifying racist stereotype out of complete innocent ignorance. That doesn’t mean I didn’t fall into it! My intention didn’t mean anything. And let me tell you, it sucked. I had no idea! But that didn’t make it any less real.
So like. The above essay was clearly written out of love and concern. Take it in the spirit in which it was intended, and open your mind a tiny bit wider to let some context in. Your good intentions don’t save you from crash-landing into bad outcomes.
(Your picture was not posted)
