Fate's Refusal to Honour (or at least properly research) Depictions of Non-Japanese Figures 2: Electric Bogaloo ft. Wandjina from the Current JP Summer Event
Disclaimer: While I am an Australian, I am NOT of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Therefore, I am coming at this issue from an outsider's perspective. If there is an Aboriginal person, or more specifically of the Mowanjum people from the Kimberly regions, please PLEASE correct me if I am wrong on any front.
The culprit behind the events of the current Summer story in the JP servers has recently been revealed to be Wandjina, a creator Dreamtime figure from the Mowanjum people's culture.
In any other context, I would be thrilled to have an Australian figure in FGO, but the problem here is the figure they use.
Wandjina are sacred to the Mowanjum people, and therefore one needs to go through Aboriginal Law to obtain the right to use the Wandjina's image.
In Australia, this resulted in an actual conflict between a non-indigenous artist and aboriginals. You can read more here, but one quote to note is from an Aboriginal man of the Darug people, Chris Tobin: "Aboriginal law is very specific on what you can and can't do with wan[d]jinas." Another quote on this topic is made by the owner of an Aboriginal art gallery, Adrian Newstead: "Only a few Aboriginal artists ever win the right to depict wan[d]jina, and only then after years of initiations and ceremonies..."
I am NOT attaching an image of FGO's iteration of Wandjina due to this. Not only is her appearance only Aboriginal on a surface-level with her 'dot art' aesthetic (dot art* is only a recent addition to Aboriginal culture, created back in the 1970s, therefore not quite matching Wandjina's origin being far more ancient), having no resemblance to an Aboriginal person (note, that while many Aboriginal people are white/pale, FGO continually chooses to depict people of colour as light skinned as possible. And yes, I know she's blue, not white. There is literally no records of her being blue skinned; is this because Wandjina's are associated with rain????) but she is also not very Wandjina looking? These figures do not have mouths, have large eyes meant to resemble the eye of a storm and are typically depicted with elaborate headdresses. That little glowing boomerang on her head is not exactly elaborate. And WHY does she have a boomerang??? Because she's Australian???? By that logic, every Japanese figure needs to have a katana. #GiveMurasakiaKatana2023.
There is also the issue of Cnoc na Riabh. While it is funny to think that she's a foreigner because of an Australian influence, Yaraan-doo is also another Aboriginal figure. And it is slapped onto a white girl for a fan service event. I'd just rather Fate leave Aboriginal culture alone and just do, like, Ned Kelly or something if they're going to continue like this.
More resources and info under the read more!
You'll have noted in the quotes that I've edited an 'n' into wanjinas. This is so I didn't confuse anyone: both can be the correct spelling! I just stuck to what I thought FGO was using for their Wandjina.
Here's an overview of what wandjinas are and their inappropriate use in art: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/arts/what-are-wandjinas
Here's another page about an inappropriate use of Wandjinas (note: it's only a short synopsis about a documentary that covered the incident, I'm uncertain if you would be able to get access to the documentary outside of Australia): https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/who-paintin-dis-wandjina
It should also be noted that the two websites I've linked above are from the website Creative Spirits. While it is run by a non-Indigenous person, the person behind it is currently transitioning it to be an Aboriginal owned and run resource. You can read more about how this site is run in his About page.
*If you want to know about dot art's origin, here and here are some resources on them. However, this article brings up something interesting that I would like to bring back to FGO Wandjina's dot art aesthetic. It notes that "the term 'dot painting' stems from what the Western eye sees when faced with contemporary Aboriginal acrylic paintings" (emphasis mine). All three articles note that dots were used to obfuscate sacred symbols and artifacts so that those who were not initiated into their cultures could not see what these figures were. In that case, what the hell is the dot art seen on Fate's Wandjina supposed to represent? In this article, it talks about the symbolism in Indigenous art. Fate's Wandjina has none.
Ok. That's a long one but I need to express my joy somewhere.
Context : I spent well over 5000 SQs total on all the previous Scheherazade banner on NA and didn't get her once to the point where it became a meme to say that if I rolled for anyone else I would have gotten a Scheherazade spook by now. It was disheartening...
But today is the day we finally flip the narrative ! No more NP4 Mordred spooks, No more Karna on rainbow, No more triple Loli Vinci on 50/50,.... Finally....
What happened : Honestly I went with no hope whatsoever, most of the SQs I spent on Scheherazade were F2P SQs saved with months of patience and restrictions met with constant defeat so I set a low bar, 150 SQs and I am out (especially since apparently she gets a solo banner in 2 years)
It didn't start well, I didn't even get Lakshmi CE which I also wanted and then on the last 3 SQs
I shook so hard my phone fell on the floor. F-I-N-A-L-L-Y
Okay.... 150 more SQs and I am out ?
Lakshmi Bai came (I wanted to get her in June so getting her ahead of time was actually very very welcome) and she came with the 3 missing copies of her CE
I literally told myself, that's it, Lakshmi is blessing me with her luck, Scheherazade next roll. And now.... I am a believer
Goddess Lakshmi I love you, once I have the grails and the exp cards you are 100 ❤️
So... That's 2 copies, I won the 50/50 2 times, the goddess Lakshmi blessed me, one more copy and I am guaranteed NP5 on the 6th aniversary.... 150 more and I am out ?
10 Lakshmi Bai CEs later 150 SQs later :
Vwuebjehejehehjeysvakks
I shall build a church in Lakshmi's name and buy at least one of her merch as luck charm. 🙏
The result :
I reunited the desert beauty and got all the characters that I ever wanted in the game ! What a trip... And now 2 years of Copium because FGO (and about every Gacha games at this point) stopped releasing ethnically brown/black characters. *Sigh*
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