long post re: skam fandom racism
i’ve been thinking about this post i reblogged that discusses how skamfr has fucked over their Black characters both narratively & through their cinematography/lighting choices, and i think Fandom Racism is something that should always be on white fans’ minds. the way that post has about 60 notes right now when a meta post about idk, a white character’s emotions would easily get hundreds is really telling. skam fandoms are long overdue for conversations about things like misogyny & fetishization, but racism is so highly encouraged within the remakes themselves that it’s very much become normalized in a lot of ways.
i don’t necessarily think that as a white woman my voice should be dominating this conversation, but i also don’t think that fans of color should be the only ones talking about it (and they often are), or that the burden should be left on them to do it. so here’s a non-exhaustive list of things that myself & other white skam fans should be thinking about (if you’re a fan of color who sees this as me overstepping, or has other critiques, let me know.):
which characters are afforded narrative empathy within the show and fandom?
do you find yourself excusing the racism white characters display? (e.g: the vilde is racist in every remake, but it’s often presented in a “cutely ignorant” way within the show - do you do the same? do you “woobify” the vildes? do you feel sorry for them when called out? do you find the sanas “too harsh”?)
which characters are often villainized? (e.g: yann being set up as homophobic, moyo being homophobic, imane yelling at lola vs emma being the ‘rational’ one)
do those writing choices fall into racist tropes? (e.g: Angry Black Woman, or characters of color being ‘uneducated’ vs white characters being Woke)
and then are you more forgiving towards white characters than characters of color? (e.g: “they didn’t know better!”; the way that people celebrate isak as a “snakey baby” - would you feel that way if a Black character did something similar?)
do you find yourself caring more about white characters, or putting more effort into making edits/posts about them? why? if it’s “because they get more screen-time” and therefore there’s more to talk about, do you not feel angry about that? are you putting any effort into combatting that?
and what language do you use when actually talking about these characters? do you find that your ‘compliments’ are violent (“choke/punch/stomp on me”)? are you hypersexualising them? or completely desexualising them? (most of them are minors so you shouldn’t be writing nsfw stuff anyways, but which characters do you view as ‘shippable’ vs which ones are seemingly asexual?)
how have the scenes featuring Black characters been lit? and if you’re a gifmaker/creator - how are you dealing with this, or otherwise featuring these characters? do your edits lighten their skin?
do you find discussions of racism to be nitpicking? do you scroll past those posts, but find yourself happily reblogging stuff about sexism/homophobia? do you immediately feel defensive when you see posts about racism? do you find yourself telling people to “trust the process” as a way to sweep these discussions under the rug?
do you find yourself ignoring a character’s race, and how that might play into their story? (e.g: within the wlw side of fandom, i’ve seen people debate whether mayla was good/bad rep, but i rarely see posts mentioning that mayla are also an interracial couple - if it’s homophobic writing, would it not also be racist writing? do you discuss maya being japanese in your fics/meta? and how are the love interests of color vs white ones generally treated?)
speaking of fan culture: let’s talk about things like van der stoffels! ask yourself why those two characters are the ones you go so hard for? would you ever put in that much effort for a fandom/crossover ship featuring one or more characters of color?
reconsider your motivations: would you have been fine with amira’s season getting cut short if matteo had been more in focus, rather than mia? if you’re white, why do you find yourself wanting a moyo season so badly? will you be upset if crisana get a lot of screentime in eskam s4, or will you secretly not mind, even if it takes away from amira’s story?
do you rush to find excuses when a cast or crew member says something racist, or otherwise problematic? or do you find yourself praising them for the bare minimum re: race issues? do you “cancel” actors of color vs wanting to “educate” the white ones?
this is not a complete list, merely some questions that myself & other white fans should always keep in mind. feel free to add on. fandom racism is very much ingrained into fandom culture.
annaxmalina
titsay
yousharknotpass
germansingergirl
theartofmadeline
romaincrisis
blakekathryn
baratheonpilled
