stay educated , rroma edition : opre roma carrd , various rroma instagrams , romani educational doc .
blogs that talk about rromani wanda : @scarlet--wiccan , @scarletwitching .
romani wanda posts : @bikenesmith talking about wandavision & whitewashing + racism , @scarlet--wiccan talking about rromani wanda & her history of being rroma , @wyndex talking about the wanda’s new video game appearance , @wyndex giving proof that elizabeth olsen is racist .
Agatha All Along, the highly anticipated follow-up to WandaVision, begins airing this week on Disney+. Now is the perfect to revisit some important information about both shows and the context in which some of Agatha's new characters are being introduced.
WandaVision primarily followed the character Wanda Maximoff and expanded on her family history by introducing her late parents as well her twin sons, who are born from magic and age rapidly over the course of the series.
In the Marvel comics source material, Wanda is part of a large, multigenerational family of Jewish and Romani characters whose stories frequently reflect the systemic violence and oppression that both communities face-- including Romani Holocaust victims, who are critically underrepresented in both education and media. In the MCU, these identities and histories are completely erased, and the characters are all played by white actors. Alternate versions of these characters also appear in the Fox X-Men films, and are similarly whitewashed.
The Romani people are a racialized minority that originated as a South Asian diaspora, and who face severe systemic oppression in Europe and North America. The modern Romani population is quite diverse, but they are not of white ethnic origin, and despite the fact that Wanda and her family have historically been drawn with white features, they are minority characters and ought to be considered as such.
Depictions of witches and witchcraft are often entwined with antisemitism and anti-Romani racism. In pop culture, witches and fortunetellers are typically portrayed as visual stereotypes of Romani women. In the real world, fortunetelling is a profession born from survival work, one which Romani families are often heavily policed and racially profiled for practicing. While Wanda usually subverts these tropes, they are often played straight elsewhere in the superhero genre, and any story about witches, especially one featuring Romani characters, needs to be critiqued in this context.
Agatha All Along introduces viewers to a new cast of characters, including Lilia Calderu, played by Patti LuPone, and the enigmatic "Teen", played by Joe Locke, who is heavily speculated to be an incarnation of Wanda's son, Billy.
In the comics, Lilia is a member of a prominent Romani family in Wanda's community. Often lauded as the "witch queen of the gypsies," Lilia embodies many racial stereotypes about Romani women. In Agatha All Along, Lilia is depicted as an older Sicilian woman, however, being portrayed as a batty fortuneteller with a tawdry psychic shop, she still embodies an offensive trope. Although Lilia is far from "good" representation, this is not an improvement-- if anything, it's even more exploitative.
Billy was raised in a Jewish American household and places a very strong emphasis on his Jewish identity, in addition to having Romani heritage. His identity as a young gay man is always presented in conjunction with this heritage, not in spite of it. Though there is a significance to Locke being a gay actor playing a gay character, his casting-- if he is indeed playing Billy-- is not authentic. White gay representation should not supersede racial inclusivity, and it is not an excuse for whitewashing or Jewish erasure.
Marvel Studios recently announced that the character Doctor Doom will be played by Robert Downey Jr., who is returning to the franchise after many years in the role of Iron Man. In the source material, Doom is also a Romani character with a very similar background to Wanda's. This identity is central to Doom's character-- although he is written to be both morally and politically challenging, the liberation of his people has always been a primary motive.
Clearly, this type of whitewashing is an ongoing pattern in the MCU franchise. Although "Teen's" identity is still unconfirmed and Lilia may, ultimately, be of little consequence, they are part of a larger problem, and Agatha All Along needs to critiqued in that context.
chaos magic isn't Wanda's mutation. I don't understand why so many people think she was born with it, or that it is a feature of her genetic code. It's not! She wasn't! And its origins are not a mystery. We know exactly where this power comes from and why it was given to her.
Chthon gave it to her when she was a baby because he thought her, other, natural abilities would make her a good host. Since then, she has mastered it and made it her own.
You can't clone it. I guess it's technically hereditary, since Billy has it, but Wanda's ancestors didn't. It started with her. Pietro-- textually, canonically, at least-- does not have chaos magic or any abilities related to chaos magic. It's. Not. Genetic.
Erik Lehnsherr(Magneto) has never been Romani in the comics. Don't make stuff up.
>claims Magneto was never Romani in comics
>is literally using his Romani name from when the comics had him passing as Romani, before they retconned it to confirm he was indeed Jewish and actually named Max Eisenhardt.
You are literally a dumbfuck. You are literally a fake comic fan. Marvel literally spent a good deal of time passing Magneto off as Rrom during the weird part of time some people asked if it wasnt Super Antisemitic having Magneto be a villain if hes Jewish.
Which A- is still antisemitic cause it implies all Jews are somehow either the same or excused from judgement for their actions
B- even worse cause then it points blame at the Rrom, which is apparently excusable because theyre an even more horribly treated minority
Eventually Marvel pulled its head halfway out of its own ass and decided eventually that it was a "cover story" Magneto had later along the line, but yes, he was for a decent period of time literally Rrom in the comics until Xmen #72. It was that fucking long that he was Rrom in comics.
[id; a banner of wanda maximoff from marvel comics surrounded by various avengers. they are all out of focus aside from wanda. she wears her classic costume & casts small wisps of magic with one hand, wearing a forlorn expression. in white font with a hard red shadow reads "comic scarlet witch week" with decorative white spirals. underneath in smaller, plainer text reads "aug 1st - aug 7th". artist is peter v nguyen. end id.]
Hello! I'm happy to announce I'm running #comicscarletwitchweek again, like last year from August 1st to August 7th. Unlike last year, the themes for every day are more loose, with very simple words for people to put any meaning they wish to. I will leave suggestions for what each day could represent, but these are only suggestions for anyone who might need a little inspiration or guide.
As always, this week is centered on Wanda's comic book appearances. MCU & MCU adjacent content is not what we're looking for & won't be reblogged. There is no expectation to participate in every day, this is merely a week to share your love for Wanda's comic book appearances!
Please tag your posts with #comicscarletwitchweek or #comicscarletwitchweek2023. You can also use my personal tracking tag #userbrieuc. If anything is missed, you can submit it or send an ask or a DM to let me know!
Like last year, all types of content are accepted, and you can make as many submissions as you like! What we don't accept is content depicting the MCU version of Wanda, & any content that is incestuous or pedophilic in nature. Content includes;
Fanfiction
Fanart
Graphics (edits, icons, headers etc)
Gifs
Playlists
Meta posts / headcanons
Cosplay
Fancams / AMVs
Anything else you can think of, this list is non conclusive!
Themes for each day under the cut.
Day 1, 1st of August, Tuesday - Solo
definition; done by one person alone; unaccompanied. You can take solo to refer to one of her solo comics, wherever that be her 4 issue limited from 1994, James Robinson's 2015 series, or Steve Orlando's upcoming series. You could also take it to refer to Wanda by herself, to reflect on who she is divorced from her other connections. Maybe you want to write about her delivering a sick guitar solo in a band au!
Day 2, 2nd of August, Wednesday - Identity
definition; the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. Wanda has many idenities accumilated over the year; sister, wife, mother, teacher, and many more. This day offers an opportunity to explore one or more of her identities in whatever way you want to or to focus on one particular aspect of her. Wherever you want to focus on Wanda's identity with motherhood, the way her identity with herself has changed & evolved over the years, or a headcanon for her being queer, all are welcomed & accepted!
Day 3, 3rd of August, Thursday - Fairytale
definition; a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. This could entail Wanda reading a bedtime story to her children, Wanda reimagined in a fairy-tale based alternate universe, expanding on the Wanda's depicted in the Marvel: Fairy Tales series, Wanda dealing with some fictional creature from folklore or something else.
Day 4, 4th of August, Friday - Teamwork
definition; the collaborative effort of a group to achieve a common goal or to complete a task. This could be interpreted as making something for Wanda & your preferred team with her, or Wanda teaming up with another character, etc.
Day 5, 5th of August, Saturday - Family
definition; a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood, or adoption. Wanda has grown an expansive family over the years, thanks in part to many retcons. Here, you can focus on her relationship with her brother, or the family she finds in the Avengers, or the family she & Vision build in Vision & the Scarlet Witch, or her various revolving door of parents.
Day 6, 6th of August, Sunday - Power
definition; ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something. This could apply to Wanda's physical powers & how those have changed over the years, her status as a Nexus Being, or the ways in which characters like Chthon have attempted to rob Wanda of her power & how she's grown for that, or an idea for an interesting application of her powers.
Day 7, 7th of August, Monday - Free Day
Do anything you want! Expand on a day, do something AU based, do a roleswap, just use it to do something general / nonthemed, anything goes!
Please remember these are only suggestions, & do not have to be followed at all! You can make these themes as limiting or as broad as you want.
Some of the actresses of Romani descent** suggested for Wanda Maximoff, who is canonically half Romani in the comics, following the MCU’s whitewashed portrayal of her. Romani representation is vitally important and Marvel has a responsibility to represent Scarlet Witch, whose heritage is an integral part of her character, respectfully and accurately.
Wanda deserved better.
co-written with rob-anybody
Franciska Farkas
Tatiana Eva-Marie
Mihaela Drăgan
Ayọ
Katalin Barsony
Elena Furiase
Alba Flores
Alina Serban
Hiba Abouk
** The actresses in this lineup can also be used as options for Cynthia Reynolds from DC Comics.
Marvel is once again whitewashing and erasing another of it’s Romani characters for their cinematic universe. The character, Lilia Calderu, has been established as Romani since her first appearance in comics in 1973.
Shout out to anon for inspiring this task! There’s a masterlist below compiled of over 60+ Romani faceclaims categorised by gender with their occupation and ethnicity denoted if there was a reliable source. Not to be confused with Romanians. The Romani people originate from the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent - presumably from where the states Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab exist today! If you want want an extra challenge use random.org to pick a random number! Of course everything listed below are just suggestions and you can pick whichever character or whichever project you desire.
Any questions can be sent here and all tutorials have been linked below the cut for ease of access! REMEMBER to tag your resources with #TASKSWEEKLY and we will reblog them onto the main! This task can be tagged with whatever you want but if you want us to see it please be sure that our tag is the first five tags!
THE TASK
STEP 1: Decide on a FC you wish to create resources for! You can always do more than one but who are you starting with? There are links to masterlists you can use in order to find them and if you want help, just send us a message and we can pick one for you at random!
STEP 2: Pick what you want to create! You can obviously do more than one thing, but what do you want to start off with? Screencaps, RP icons, GIF packs, masterlists, PNG’s, fancasts, alternative FC’s - LITERALLY anything you desire!
STEP 3: Look back on tasks that we have created previously for tutorials on the thing you are creating unless you have whatever it is you are doing mastered - then of course feel free to just get on and do it. :)
STEP 4: Upload and tag with #TASKSWEEKLY! If you didn’t use your own screencaps/images make sure to credit where you got them from as we will not reblog packs which do not credit caps or original gifs from the original maker.
SOME ADVICE FROM US:
Stumped for ideas? Maybe make a masterlist or graphic of your favourite Romani faceclaims. A masterlist of names. Plot ideas or screencaps from a music video preformed by a Romani artist. Masterlist of quotes and lyrics that can be used for starters, thread titles or tags. Guides on Romani culture and customs.
