Just gonna slide in here to make an observation on the Little Nightmares Fandom- since I feel safe here (really afraid of getting like attacked) | have SOO much more specific things to say on this stuff but I'll save that for another day-just gonna make a general statement
but the Little Nightmares fandom- the people in it I mean- is like lowkey SOO fucking racist with the Asian characters (which there are many)-which SUCKS as an autistic Filipino just trying to engage in his special interest
Everybody LOVES to ignore that they are Asian/ erase ethnic features in art- and when they
DONT ignore it, it's always with the characters they demonize
I once saw a comment (upon seeing one of the protagonists, *Mono's, face) say something like
"WHY does he look Japanese/ Chinese/ other" (that's literally what they said btw- listed only two countries and just said "other") like l
don't want to sound mean- but like HUH?? What do you mean "why"?? Is it that confusing that a child is Asian like huh???
(*Dont mind the name ALL of these children have like really weird names it's a world building thing)
and don’t even get me STARTED on how this fandom treats the protagonist of the comic series- Descent to Nowhere (Need to clarify the name cause this franchise has multiple comics)
Like I’m not SURPRISED, Myra Wan, the protagonist, is VERY unpalatable to white viewers. I’m not surprised that people demonize her. She’s not that “meek, submissive, and helpless” Asian women that supremacists expect characters like her to be. She’s quite the opposite actually. Very much a character that doesn’t tolerate shitty behavior. She’s not young, she’s middle aged, she’s messy and mentally unwell and as a result struggles with addiction, and at least to me, as an autistic person surrounded by other neurodivergent folks, very clearly neurodivergent or at least not socially “normal”. Myra is NOT a conventional character by any means- it’s EASY to demonize her- she doesn’t fit in the norms and that SCARES people I think. In my opinion, after analyzing her a LOT- Myra is genuinely a very very kind and selfless person. It’s very clear that all she wants to do is help people, especially children. And was pushed to the brink because nobody was LETTING her help people.
But people don’t really…see this. They claim she IS selfish (when she hasn’t done anything at ALL that fits any of the definitions of the word). People say they like her but only ever point out her flaws- while simultaneously praising and uplifting the (much younger) white guy in the story for doing the bare minimum. (And even that’s a bit of a stretch imo but won’t say more because I WILL get attacked…)
When people DO talk about Myra positively it’s almost ALWAYS to sexualize her. Which of course they do, people LOVE sexualizing Asian women- At the VERY least they’re sexualizing an actual adult this time. Seen some artists in this fandom sexualize a LITERAL nine year old
PS: SUPER sorry for any mistakes or poor wording! I’m not good at catching mistakes at ALL! And super sorry if I come across as some dumb complainer!
There is so many thoughts I have while reading this, so I'm gonna list them out in "bullet points" but I do want to say beforehand that I am so glad you feel safe here, that's part of the goal! It really sucks that you and other Asian fans have to deal with this when games and other form of entertainment media are meant to serve as escapism🫂🫂
I'm not super familiar with the games or the fandom, but I was surprised finding out (while reading this) that there were multiple Asian characters in the game. Again, I haven't made it through all of the gameplay, but I really thought Seven was the only canonical Asian character. I bring that up because of how rare it is to get multiple distinct Asian characters in a single piece of media that aren't just homogenous stereotypes 😭
"WHY does he look Japanese/ Chinese/ other" (that's literally what they said btw- listed only two countries and just said "other") like l <- HUH?!?!!?!? Apparently Asians can only be Japanese, Chinese, or *gestures vaguely* one of the other now??? Heavens forbid an Asian character looks visibly like an Asian person and has features typical of their people, lest we alienate the white fans who cannot relate to non-white characters/their experiences. We need more variety of mainstream Asian representation that's inclusive of monoracial Asians and mixed Asians because this is ridiculous, goodness gracious
RE: Myra Wan; One of the things that stood out to me when you were describing her (beyond her being an older woman and neurodivergent which I will address) was that she struggles with addiction. I literally realized I could not name you a single Asian character, let alone an Asian woman, off the top of my head who struggles with addiction (in that it's taken seriously and not played off as a joke). It's not like people are weird about characters who struggle with addiction as is, but with Myra, I feel like the model minority myth plays a role here by 1) erasing the reality that Asian people can struggle with mental illness and 2) not be inherently disciplined(?) if that makes sense. If an Asian person isn't super organized or diligent or emotionally regulated, people don't like that because that's what Asians are meant to be praised for. It's viewed as a personal failure of character when Asians did not ask that pressure to be put on them! People are also weird about neurodivergent people and empathy as a whole to be honest.
The hyping up the younger white male character...sigh. That's a topic of it's own and Tumblr reallyyyy struggles with that. But it also reminds me of a post someone tagged us in of white men going to Asian countries and sensationalizing the fact that they're capable of being bilingual
People already don't like female characters who aren't within their comfort confines of "flawed" so I already know that there would be even less grace given to a WOC. Still disappointing
THIS IS WHY I MADE THAT ONE POST CRITICIZING THE "Asians don't raisin" PHRASE!!! You can and should be able to appreciate Asian people beyond aesthetics. Even in general, people should do a better job with how they talk about women of color and not instinctively leave it at how beautiful or "unique" they are
