are they problematic?

resource to educate yourself on your favourite celebrities, characters, and media

[problematicstanning]

Joshaya (Girl Meets World)

J*shaya is a ship comprised of Maya Hart, played by Sabrina Carpenter, and Josh Matthews, played by Uriah Shelton. Featured on the cancelled Disney show Girl Meets World, J*shaya gained popularity in Season 3 of the show in particular as it complemented the then canon ship of Rucas.

However, this ship has some serious issues.

When Maya first shows interest in Josh during the show, she is around thirteen to fourteen years old, whilst he is a senior in high school looking at college. She is still in middle school. Obviously, a school girl crush can be relatively harmless, but the issue is with the ultimate reciprocation of these feelings.

When Josh admits to returning these feelings, he is now in college, whilst Maya is a high school freshman. He is eighteen/nineteen whilst she is fifteen. In NYC law, this is technically legal, although undeniably disturbing as the two are at startling different life stages. 

Both characters ultimately decide to “play the long game”, inferring that upon Maya coming of age, they will become an item. This concept is inappropriate and suggestive towards the audience of the show, idealising the idea of the “jail bait wait”.

Josh and Maya’s conversation in the bay window came across more as Josh telling her how she felt rather than her realising herself. He has more power in their relationship as a result of the three year gap, and will more easily be able to influence and coerce her.

The concept of the long game essentially prevents Maya from having normal relationships with people her age as they will always be “temporary”. This is extremely unhealthy and bad for her personal development. Besides this, Josh will be twenty one when Maya turns eighteen. They may each want different things by then (he likely will), and will have wasted three years on a hopeless relationship. 

Josh also implied he was struggling with his identity in college in a way that implied he was using Maya and her friends as a way to feel younger again. This in itself makes it seem as though he is almost attracted to her  youth.

The main problem with this ship is that the couple were featured on a Disney Channel show, a show watched by predominantly young girls. For such an impressionable audience, the ship represents the normalisation of unhealthy age differences and power dynamics in romantic relationships. There were a range of options for Maya’s “endgame” romance, but the show went with the one that was arguably the most inappropriate. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Joshaya is undeniably a problematic ship. The lack of conversation around the issues surrounding their age difference make this a dangerous example for the show’s young audience, potentially romanticising an unhealthy dynamic. Josh and Maya were both at hugely different life stages in the show during their relationship, and this was never acknowledged or properly addressed. Josh was Maya’s fantasy, and he should never have became her reality. 

[problematicstanning]

can we send you info about celebs on the upcoming list to help with the gathering of sources? i don't want to rush you but i also really want to reblog the posts! thank you! :)

Please do! And I apologize for being very inactive over the last while, I had exams/graduation and kind of left this blog on the wayside. 

[problematicstanning]

Cole Sprouse

Even though much has been made of these instances in Cole’s past, he still has a dedicated fanbase and was even featured in Buzzfeed articles as recently as two days ago (at the writing of this post, 7 December).

Cole is best known for his role as Cody on the iterations of the Suite Life and currently as Jughead Jones on Riverdale. He has had a major resurgence, particularly among teen girls, in the last year, and has yet to apologise or explain many of the below instances of his “problematicness”.

Cole believes in “reverse racism” - an idea commonly believed to be false, as white people as a group are not faced with institutional oppression or prejudice. Sprouse positions himself as a “woke ally”, but enjoys the privileges of his whiteness. He even uses MLK as a way to justify his beliefs, which is disturbing in a number of ways.

He has been accused of emotional abuse by his ex-girlfriend Bree Morgan via her tumblr, beebunny. She has posted various vague comments, most of which have since been deleted.

Cole tweeted “Don’t become so jaded by abuse that your opposition becomes abusive.” The tweet has since been deleted, but reinforces strong victim blaming rhetoric, and shames abuse victims for talking about their abuse. Needless to say, this is a pretty disgusting thing to tweet. 

Sprouse plays Jughead Jones, a character iconically confirmed asexual in the Archie comics in 2016. However, thus far in Riverdale, Jughead has had several romantic entanglements with heavy sexual undertones, erasing his identity. Cole himself has stated a desire for his character’s asexuality to be explored, but ultimately at this point these comments have amounted to nothing but baiting of those seeking asexual representation.

In response to this tweet from Tyler the Creator, Cole said: “.@fucktyler beastiality is illegal Tyler.” Many have viewed this as an overt example of racism (referring to a black man as an animal is certainly concerning) but others have inferred that it is a reference to Tyler’s own description of himself as a “wolf.” 

VERDICT: UNSTANNED

Cole Sprouse is basically the epitome of a fake woke white ally. He portrays himself as liberal and educated, but shows shades of complete unawareness in his continued repetition of ignorant ideas. He is a pretentious, entitled young man who has shown himself to be unaware of his privilege. The receipts of his behaviour indicate he has a lot of learning to do.

[problematicstanning]

Star Wars & Fandom

Star Wars is an extremely long running fandom, with the first of the original films coming out in 1977. With The Last Jedi coming out this month, the fandom has also had another resurgence, becoming more active than ever before. There are several elements of fan culture that can be considered quite problematic in the Star Wars fandom, many related to the treatment of female characters and people of colour. 

The fan response to the casting of the three leads in The Force Awakens was an atrocious example of both fandom racism and sexism. Fan response to a female protagonist was negative, as was response to the idea the of a black stormtrooper character. This really highlighted where the issues in the fandom lie.

The shipping of Rey and Kylo Ren is extremely popular and largely favoured over the much closer to canon pairing (as of The Force Awakens) of Rey and Finn. Finn is played by John Boyega, a man of colour, and is often neglected in fan spaces in favour of Kylo Ren/Adam Driver. This is not to say that fandom is slighting Boyega inherently out of racism, but there are explicit comments that have been made that certainly imply that as reasoning.

Poe Dameron is played by Oscar Isaac, who has a Guatemalan mother and Cuban father. Dameron is resultingly a canonically Latinx coded character, and this is often fetishized in fandom, with fanfiction depicting him in a way that fits the “Latin Lover” trope. 

The shippers of Reylo often romanticise moments in The Force Awakens in a problematic manner to service their ship. Ren’s attempt to retrieve information from Rey via her mind is effectively mental rape, yet shippers still treat the act as one of “connection”. Kylo forcibly enters her mind, and we see Rey in discomfort and pain, yet the scene still becomes “romantic” in fandom spaces. 

The standalone film Rogue One provides possibly the greatest range of diversity in the Star Wars universe, but is still not without its problems. Much like Poe Dameron, the male lead, Cassian Andor, is fetishized for his heritage - Diego Luna is Mexican and British.

The First Order in the most recent films are intended to be “space Nazi’s”, in simplified terms. Thus, the idolisation of First Order characters in the fandom ultimately becomes a form of Nazi apologism. This is especially notable in terms of the popular shipping of Hux and Kylo Ren, a slash ship that excludes the main POC cast in favour of white Nazi stand in secondary characters. 

The prequel films are universally hated in the fandom/general media, and Jake Llyod, who played young Anakin, was subjected to much hate. He ultimately only appeared in one other film again, and has said that he was bullied and it was a “living hell.” Mark Hamill, the actor of Luke Skywalker, commented on this, and shamed fans for their treatment of the young actor.

The costume most emblematic of the character of Princess Leia is her iconic golden bikini. This costume has become a symbol of eroticism in fan culture, sexualising an otherwise very empowering character. Unfortunately, this can also in part be attributed to the media and it’s creators themselves. This costumes prevalence tainted Leia’s status as a feminist icon by making her into a sex object.

Leia’s bikini costume is also problematic in the way it eroticises slavery in an uncomfortable way. 

Currently, the shipping climate in the Star Wars fandom is increasingly toxic. Ship wars are filled with vitriol and hate on all sides, the fandom becoming quite broken and problematic itself as a result.

Shipping of the actors is becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly the shipping of Daisy with either Adam or John. This is invasive of their private lives, and considering the previous marital statuses of the actors involved, inappropriate. 

FINAL COMMENTS

The Star Wars fandom has a certain longitude in both mainstream and fandom culture. The toxicity began long ago, but it certainly has grown greater within recent years as the franchise has been revitalised. Shipping culture has created an environment that breeds hate and questions of fan prejudice, putting Star Wars among the most reviled fandoms currently active. The new films being released are far more diverse and empowering than the films before - if only fandom could appreciate that.

[juan-the-gecko]

* The fandom also harassed and bullied Ahmed Best, a black man, for playing Jar Jar Binks, and the backlash was so rabid his acting career was ruined.

* The fandom in general created an extremely hostile environment for those that do not adhere to the fad of hating the Prequel Trilogy.

* The fandom is fake-woke and ableist, considering the character of Kylo Ren is heavily coded as mentally ill AND as a victim of grooming and abuse, but his rabid haters love to dismiss that as him being ‘whiny’ and ‘weak’ and find the mental and physical abuse he suffers on-screen at the hands of his predatory master extremely funny.

* The fandom is sexist because they reduce Rey to a ‘uwu poor delicate hapless damsel victim uwu’ for showing empathy toward a male villain, despite the fact that she never took shit from him and that the movie establishes pretty blatantly that he has little to no power over her.

[notkatniss]

Here Are All The Bullshit Excuses Actors Have Used To Defend Woody Allen

He "is a woman" has got to be the best

Here are some of the best (and by best, I mean absolute worst) responses actors have to working with the director.

1. Winslet, who stars in Allen’s most recent film, Wonder Wheel, said, in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, that she thinks “on some level Woody [Allen] is a woman. I just think he’s very in touch with that side of himself. He understands the female characters he creates exceptionally well. His female characters are always so rich and large and honest in terms of how they’re feeling and he just knows how to write dialogue for them to communicate all that.”

2. Blake Lively, who stars in Café Society, told the Los Angeles Times, “It’s amazing what Woody has written for women.” She added that she put the child molestation accusations out of her mind when considering the role. “It’s very dangerous to factor in things you don’t know anything about,” she said. “I could [only] know my experience. And my experience with Woody is he’s empowering to women.”

3. Kristen Stewart, who also stars in Café Society, consulted fellow co-star Jesse Eisenberg about whether or not she should work with Allen considering the allegations against him. “I was like, ‘What do you think? We don’t know any of these people involved. I can personalize situations, which would be very wrong,’” she said. “At the end of the day, Jesse and I talked about this. If we were persecuted for the amount of s–t that’s been said about us that’s not true, our lives would be over. The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it.”

4. When asked if she considered Allen’s assault allegations before taking a role in his upcoming film—unsurprisingly about an older man who is sleeping with a much younger woman—Gomez told Billboard, “To be honest, I’m not sure how to answer—not because I’m trying to back away from it.” Although, it definitely sounds like she’s trying to back away from it. ”[The Harvey Weinstein allegations] actually happened right after I had started [on the movie]. They popped up in the midst of it. And that’s something, yes, I had to face and discuss. I stepped back and thought, ‘Wow, the universe works in interesting ways.’” Sure, that makes sense.

5. Gomez’s co-star in the film, Timothée Chalamet, said of Allen’s assault allegations, “I understand the question, certainly; it’s going to be not only important but imperative to talk about,” he said. Then, he deflected by adding, “I’m hesitant to talk about it now, because I’m here for Call Me by Your Name.”

6. Cate Blanchett, who starred in Blue Jasmine, said of Allen’s allegations, “It’s obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some sort of resolution and peace.”

7. Alec Balwin said in a series of angry tweets, “What the f&@% is wrong w u that u think we all need to b commenting on this family’s personal struggle? …You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family’s issue.”

8. Wallace Shawn, who starred in some of Allen’s earlier films, compared the director to human rights activist Desmond Tutu. “Like so many of those who have worked with [Woody Allen] repeatedly over the decades, I’ve found him to be not merely thoughtful, serious and honest, but extraordinary and even inspiring in his thoughtfulness, seriousness and honesty,” he said. “Of the people I’ve known, he’s one of those I’ve respected most. And for that reason, I personally would have to say that it would take overwhelming evidence to convince me that he had sexually abused a child, just as it would take overwhelming evidence to convince me that Desmond Tutu, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or Doris Lessing had sexually abused a child.”

9. Diane Keaton has remained quiet about Allen’s allegations throughout their decades-long professional and personal relationship. “I have nothing to say about that,” she said. “Except: I believe my friend.”

10. Scarlett Johansson, who starred in Scoop, went so far as to call Farrow’s open letter about her alleged assault “irresponsible.” “I think it’s irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on,” she wrote. “That just feels irresponsible to me.” Of Allen, she said, “It would be ridiculous for me to make any kind of assumption one way or the other.”

One example of an actor who spoke out—unprompted—is Griffin Newman, who posted a thread on Twitter detailing why he denounces his decision of working with Allen in the past. Another is Ellen Page, who starred in Allen’s To Rome with Love, who most recently said that working with the director is the “biggest regret” of her career.

As Farrow wrote in an emotional op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Allen has been spared in the #MeToo movement. Despite a wave of high-profile sexual assault allegations and dozens of men being fired, ousted, and otherwise held accountable, Allen’s reputation goes untouched. Talent should not protect a person from consequences. He only holds onto his power so long as we allow him to, and now, is the time that Hollywood needs to stop making excuses for him. Actually, 20 years ago was the time, but now works, too.

[problematicstanning]

Star Wars & Fandom

Star Wars is an extremely long running fandom, with the first of the original films coming out in 1977. With The Last Jedi coming out this month, the fandom has also had another resurgence, becoming more active than ever before. There are several elements of fan culture that can be considered quite problematic in the Star Wars fandom, many related to the treatment of female characters and people of colour. 

The fan response to the casting of the three leads in The Force Awakens was an atrocious example of both fandom racism and sexism. Fan response to a female protagonist was negative, as was response to the idea the of a black stormtrooper character. This really highlighted where the issues in the fandom lie.

The shipping of Rey and Kylo Ren is extremely popular and largely favoured over the much closer to canon pairing (as of The Force Awakens) of Rey and Finn. Finn is played by John Boyega, a man of colour, and is often neglected in fan spaces in favour of Kylo Ren/Adam Driver. This is not to say that fandom is slighting Boyega inherently out of racism, but there are explicit comments that have been made that certainly imply that as reasoning.

Poe Dameron is played by Oscar Isaac, who has a Guatemalan mother and Cuban father. Dameron is resultingly a canonically Latinx coded character, and this is often fetishized in fandom, with fanfiction depicting him in a way that fits the “Latin Lover” trope. 

The shippers of Reylo often romanticise moments in The Force Awakens in a problematic manner to service their ship. Ren’s attempt to retrieve information from Rey via her mind is effectively mental rape, yet shippers still treat the act as one of “connection”. Kylo forcibly enters her mind, and we see Rey in discomfort and pain, yet the scene still becomes “romantic” in fandom spaces. 

The standalone film Rogue One provides possibly the greatest range of diversity in the Star Wars universe, but is still not without its problems. Much like Poe Dameron, the male lead, Cassian Andor, is fetishized for his heritage - Diego Luna is Mexican and British.

The First Order in the most recent films are intended to be “space Nazi’s”, in simplified terms. Thus, the idolisation of First Order characters in the fandom ultimately becomes a form of Nazi apologism. This is especially notable in terms of the popular shipping of Hux and Kylo Ren, a slash ship that excludes the main POC cast in favour of white Nazi stand in secondary characters. 

The prequel films are universally hated in the fandom/general media, and Jake Llyod, who played young Anakin, was subjected to much hate. He ultimately only appeared in one other film again, and has said that he was bullied and it was a “living hell.” Mark Hamill, the actor of Luke Skywalker, commented on this, and shamed fans for their treatment of the young actor.

The costume most emblematic of the character of Princess Leia is her iconic golden bikini. This costume has become a symbol of eroticism in fan culture, sexualising an otherwise very empowering character. Unfortunately, this can also in part be attributed to the media and it’s creators themselves. This costumes prevalence tainted Leia’s status as a feminist icon by making her into a sex object.

Leia’s bikini costume is also problematic in the way it eroticises slavery in an uncomfortable way. 

Currently, the shipping climate in the Star Wars fandom is increasingly toxic. Ship wars are filled with vitriol and hate on all sides, the fandom becoming quite broken and problematic itself as a result.

Shipping of the actors is becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly the shipping of Daisy with either Adam or John. This is invasive of their private lives, and considering the previous marital statuses of the actors involved, inappropriate. 

FINAL COMMENTS

The Star Wars fandom has a certain longitude in both mainstream and fandom culture. The toxicity began long ago, but it certainly has grown greater within recent years as the franchise has been revitalised. Shipping culture has created an environment that breeds hate and questions of fan prejudice, putting Star Wars among the most reviled fandoms currently active. The new films being released are far more diverse and empowering than the films before - if only fandom could appreciate that.

[problematicstanning]

Melanie Martinez

Melanie Martinez is a musician, best known for her debut album Crybaby.

The music and themes of Melanie’s album Crybaby have been criticised for romanticising mental illness and glorifying rape and kidnapping.

The song “Mad Hatter” uses ableist slurs, such as ps*cho, cr*zy and in**ne. She uses the terms out of context to create a sense of relatability and aesthetic, again romanticising the idea of mental illness.

The themes in Crybaby contribute to the sexualisation of children, using childlike imagery and motifs in a fetishized way. She associates items like pacifiers with sexual themes, which could be damaging. 

The songs “Mrs Potatohead” and “Sippy Cup” shame women for having plastic surgery, effusing ideas laden with misogyny. Similarly, in “Dollhouse”, she refers to a woman as a sl**.

Melanie was accused of rape by Timothy Heller, a former friend, on the 4th of December 2017. Timothy detailed being coerced into sexual intercourse by Melanie, and her descriptions depict the relationship as toxic and manipulative on Melanie’s end. Melanie later responded by claiming that “[Timothy] never said no,” following up with another post on the 9th of December. This post alleges that Timothy is lying for “personal gain.” However, Heller’s story is corroborated by this post and this post.

In this article, Heller describes Martinez’s attempts to communicate with her following an initial post in which she vaguely mentioned abuse by a friend. The messages highlight how Martinez was potentially attempting to pressure Heller into silence before she publicly exposed Melanie. 

VERDICT: CANCELLED.

Melanie is a predator who used and and abused a friend, coercing them into an unwanted sexual relationship. Despite this, fans refuse to believe the claims. Don’t try and defend Melanie just because she is a woman - stand with Timothy & other sexual abuse survivors. Melanie Martinez is a rapist - does more even need to be said?

[problematicstanning]

Ellie Hiyar

This isn’t intended as hate towards Ellie - she is only fourteen after all - but her actions during her relationship with Jack Dylan Grazer are deserving of being called into question.

Ellie used the slur n**** in a live stream, which she later apologised for. However, this is an action that is practically indefensible - the context and history of the word are so heavily laden and publicised, it’s difficult to see any argument of misperception. Ellie clearly realised she said the wrong thing, and her “apology” emphasised this, although she does spend a lot of time discussing how it was just in a song.

Allegedly referred to Wyatt Oleff as “gay”, but then took the comment back and claimed that Oleff is not, in fact, gay. This is problematic on two levels: she identified Oleff’s sexuality on his behalf and effectively erased his potential interest in people of spectrums beyond the female gender, and the use of “gay” as an insult has severely negative connotations.

When accused of calling Oleff gay, she and a friend stated how she couldn’t be homophobic as she has friends in the LGBTQA community. This is again seen in the above “apology” video. I doubt much explanation is needed for the issues in this thought process. 

In a group chat with fans, Ellie discussed how she feels that Grazer’s costar and close (arguably best) friend Finn Wolfhard is attractive. These messages were later screenshot and leaked, with Ellie being exposed to the general public. There are numerous screenshots around, and many are fake, but Ellie has confirmed that she did indeed discuss her attraction to Finn, and apologised in this live stream.

In her apology live stream [watch at around 10:30], she said “I’m literally bipolar!” A friend immediately commented in a joking manner on how the term should not be taken lightly, and the subject was dropped. Hiyar seems to have limited understanding of what it means to be bipolar, using it as a joke. 

Ellie encouraged romantic shipping of “Fack”, a fan desired relationship between Finn and Jack, even after both boys have shown levels of discomfort with the pairing. In Jack’s live stream with his cousin, Patrick, Ellie made constant comments about Jack “cheating” on her with Finn. 

VERDICT: IGNORANT.

Ellie is fourteen years old. She is a child, and one who is not aware of the consequences of her actions. She does not deserve to be hated, even if many of her actions and comments have been ignorant and shortsighted. Ellie needs to learn from her mistakes, which she will in time. The breadth of her errors would give her a harsher verdict if she wasn’t so young, but I think it best to give her the benefit of the doubt.

[problematicstanning]

Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts is an actress best known for her roles in Scream Queens, Nerve, and American Horror Story. 

Roberts was arrested in 2013 on domestic abuse charges. She struck her boyfriend (now fiancee), Evan Peters, in the face, giving him a bloody nose, and a bite mark was found on his chest. In a joint statement, the pair stated the physical altercation was on both parts, and that it was “an unfortunate incident and misunderstanding.” 

She played the character of Chanel Oberlin on Scream Queens, a show which features some highly racist quips at the expense of primarily black women. Oberlin even says at one point “I call her ‘white mammy’ because she’s essentially a house slave.”

Emma is known to have an extremely volatile temper, and has been involved in several public blowups during her on-off relationship with Peters. The toxicity of their relationship is well reported in gossip circles, especially after the abuse arrest.

VERDICT: UNSTANNED. 

Evidence of abuse cannot be taken lightly, even when potentially reciprocated.