Ruts & Grooves

Screenwriting practice for hungry newbies, sensitive typists, and recovering perfectionists.

[dutchster]

Party Rock Anthem has the same BPM as Uptown Girl (x)

[richiefuckfacetozier]

This is my favorite thing to exist

[kaspbrak-eddie]

all the gays when this song comes on in the club

[themurdochmemesteries]

The MM writers, discussing how they should end season 12:

Head writer: ok guys we need something that’ll completely send the fans into shock and make them cry

Writer #1: let disaster strike to William and Julia

Head writer: we did that last season. NEXT.

Writer #2: make George depressed

Head writer: I like it… but we’ve done that too many times. They’ll catch on.

Writer #3: we haven’t done anything tragic to the Brackenreid family in a while..

Head writer: JEFF UR A FUCKIN GENIUS

[kellymagovern]

“Tough titties.” — Ma Anand Sheela

[ironinkpen]

2017 is going to be the year of succeeding out of pure spite

[fanchonmoreau]

Carrie Fisher, on writing (x)

[respectingromance]

An appropriate post for us, I think, on Carrie Fisher.

[so-many-miles-to-go-deactivated]

Yeah, there’s a reason for that.

It’s called: antisemitic caricature.

[bumblebee-error]

I don’t understand what’s Jewish about mother gothel… she has a typical Disney face doesn’t she? Is it the curly hair..? I mean her nose and everything else seem normal?

I’m sorry, I’m just trying to figure it out, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.

[so-many-miles-to-go-deactivated]

dark curly hair - long hooked nose - darker complexion than the blond blue eyed heroine 9and really the rest of the cast - portrayed as greedy and evil.

Lisa Edelstein is Jewish.  As are Idina Menzel and Amy Winehouse, both of whom I have seen compared in looks to Gothel.  Gothel’s design is a pretty clear caricature of ethnically Jewish women.  

This is a pretty good contrast between Rapunzel and Gothel.  Rapunzel has the “typical Disney face”:

Here’s a more close up look at her features.

The hooked nose becomes even more pronounced as she becomes “eviler.”

If you wanted to claim that there was noting out of the ordinary for Disney animation when it came to Gothel’s features, you would have to find at least one Disney princess or heroine with similar characteristics (long hooked nose and dark curly hair, etc).

But here is what we have is -

small noses that turn up at the end:

wide, flatter noses (though cheers to Disney for not putting button noses on their characters of color, although Esmerelda’s clothing design deserves another essay on Rromani stereotypes and there are some major issues with Pocahontas as well)

And then a few misc noses (again, props for Jasmine’s nose not being a button):

Apart from just the design of Gothel, there’s also the whole: “obviously ‘other’ (read Jewish) woman kidnaps the pretty blonde (read: gentile) kid to use her for ritualistic/magical purposes”

Like that right there on top of the aesthetic Jewish-coding is what pushed the antisemitic caricature over the top for me.  It harkens back to antisemitic blood libel that claimed that Jews stole gentile children for all manner of nefarious reasons. Even when Gothel is in “mother” role to Rapunzel, she’s is shown as nagging and passive aggressive, both antisemitic stereotypes of Jewish women.

There is no one thing that makes her an antisemitic caricature, but the design, plus the storyline she plays out, plus her characterization cement the overall character as antisemitic.  

Jew-coding a villain is not in itself always antisemitic when there are also Jewish coded heroes. Rapunzel does not have that.

Having a villain steal a baby for magical/ritualistic reasons is not always antisemitic as long as the villain is not Jew-coded.  Rapunzel fails this as well.

Having a nagging and passive aggressive mother character is not antisemitic provided that she is not, again, coded as Jewish.  Rapunzel fails once again.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: @ariminak pointed out that some of my wording made it sound like Gothel’s features only stereotypically caricatured Ashkenazi women when in fact that is not the case.  I changed the language to remove that phrasing and make it clear that any ethnically Jewish women can be affected by this type of aesthetic trope. If you reblogged the old version, could you please delete it and reblog this one instead.

[chai-on-life-blog1]

Spread this version so people recognize that this stuff harms all Jewish women.

[aworldinneedofmagic]

omfg can y’all chill the fuck out, any race can be portrayed as hero or villain, it’s a fucking kids movie not a political statement

[so-many-miles-to-go-deactivated]

So I’m guessing you’re white and a gentile. As such, you’ve more than likely grown up looking at tv and movies and fairytales and seeing your face in those of the heroes.

Jewish people don’t get that.  When we are portrayed in live action, our characters are more often than not whitewashed and in other media, our features are used and caricaturized to create “evil looking” villains.

You don’t see it because you’ve been ingrained with the idea that “ethnic” features are just “how you make a character look evil.”  You don’t look at Gothel and see your mother.  You don’t see yourself and your people.  You don’t see decades of propaganda aimed at fostering hate against you and ultimately seeking to destroy you.  

But seeing how you also seem to think that saying you’re not attracted to an entire race of people ISN’T racist, you really don’t get any say on any of this.

So really, you need to chill the fuck out and stop telling marginalized people to stop talking about the tools of our own marginalization.

Let’s play a game I like to call: Movie Villain or Antisemitic Propaganda:

Many “evil witch” tropes were built on European antisemitic stereotypes, not just in appearance but in the storylines they play out as well. Greediness, stealing children, killing children, hunger for power, etc.  Every time a movie villain design uses stereotyped Jewish features to communicate “evilness” to an audience, they perpetuate the marginalization of the people they are using. 

One big issue I have is that Gothel’s didn’t start out as the antisemitic caricature that made it to screen.  Much of the early concept art has a more dark romanticism feel.  

They changed the original design. Presumably to make Gothel more “other” from the good characters in the movie.  At some point, a decision was made that dark curly hair and a hooked nose wound better convey their villain.

It really doesn’t matter if any of this was intentional, I’d actually bet that it wasn’t.  However, antisemitic tropes are so engrained in our societies that people like you, even when confronted with a step by step break down of what it is, feel comfortable thinking that there’s nothing wrong with it and mocking those calling it out as if we are overreacting.

You seem to have completely ignored the majority of my post.  It is the character design, plus the characterization, plus the story line that mirrors blood libel that makes Gothel an antisemitic character.  It’s not just about someone of a certain race or ethnicity being a villain.  It’s about how stereotypes of a certain ethnic group are understood as “villainous” due to villains being repeatedly coded as Jewish over decades of film and tv.

And contrary to your naive belief, all media is political to some extent. Every time a historically present minority is not included in film (ex: lily-white Harlem in Fantastical Beasts) or when a minority character is whitewashed, or when the “ethnic” features of a minority are used almost universally to portray bad guys, it is a political and social issue.  When you never see yourselves as the people who play the hero or even see your people existing in a portrayal of a place where they should be, it is not benign.

[writingwithcolor]

Reblogging again for these additions.

[vijara]

You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.

Louise Hay (via vijara)

[drarrytrash]

Hello welcome to writing and social justice class here are some texts about writing outside of your identity groups, with a focus on race in particular! Here is a compilation of articles by people with different viewpoints and ideas about this thorny writing Q! Take them at face value, or don’t, but think about what they’re saying and why and then what that means for your writing, professional, fanfic, or otherwise.

12 Fundamentals of Writing “The Other” (and The Self) - Daniel Jose Older

“You will jack it up. You’ll probably jack it up epically. I know I have. This doesn’t mean don’t do it. It means challenge yourself to do it better and better every time, to learn from your mistakes instead of letting them cower you into a defensive crouch. The net result is you become a better writer.”

Whitewashed Tv isn’t just racist, it’s boring - Daniel Jose Older

“We must, after all, imagine the changes we want to see. And these images, reflected back at us again and again, have the power to filter our own self-reflection, our own sense of power toward lesser and greater purposes.”

Check out this Amazing and Thorough blog Writing With Color

Fill Your Stories With People of Color, but Don’t Make Them The Protagonist - Naz

“No matter how much research you do, you’re not going to convince me that you see the world the same way as an indigenous person or a black American.”

On Writing POC When You Are White - Justine Larbalastier

“Too many white writers think they can only tackle race through the pov of a person of colour. The implication is that race is something white people don’t have. Expectations about our race—our whiteness—shapes our lives as much as our gender or our sexuality or our class.”

Writing People of Color (if you happen to be a person of another color) - MariNaomi (this article is actually mostly comics if you’re not up for a big read!!!) White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack - Peggy McIntosh

a classic SJ text for thinking about privilege 

How Junot Diaz Wrote a Sexist Character but not a Sexist Book - Joe Fassler

“Still, Diaz admits that writing in a woman’s voice comes with certain risks. ‘The one thing about being a dude and writing from a female perspective is that the baseline is, you suck’”

Should Authors Write Characters Outside Their Race - conversation featuring Bill Cheng and Christine Lee Zilka moderated by Matthew Salesses

“there is a responsibility here as there is in all expression. Like you say, good art broadens our understanding of the world through empathy”

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but I felt it was a good place to start! Feel free to add more!

[words-pics-flicks]

[W]hen the floppy-eared Spaniel of Luck sniffs at your turn-ups it helps if you have a collar and a piece of string in your pocket.

Terry Pratchett (excerpt from ‘A Slip Of The Keyboard’)

[annerocious]

When You Open With a Shock

Do: Create interest in your characters first

Don’t: Think we will care about your pg 1 bloodbath because it’s so out there and extreme. WE DON’T KNOW THESE CHARACTERS. There is NO CONTEXT therefore IT IS MEANINGLESS which makes it BORING

You want a nice hearty handshake from a story’s first page, not a naked stranger’s entrails slapping across your glasses. Again.

[annerocious]

You can spot when I stop reading a script that is annoying me to write a tumblr post, BECAUSE OF THE FURIOUSLY SPECIFIC CAPS.

[soph-okonedo]

“I really want to play a superhero, the first plus-size superhero,but I also want to be playing love interests in stories that are not just considered ‘black movies.’ Like, very upscale, big blockbuster-type movies, where the black, plus-size, curly-haired, dark-skinned woman is the one everybody wants. I think that would be cool.” -Danielle Brooks

[sarahbatistapereira]

After they wrote the initial Stranger Things script, they never thought they’d have a chance at pitching Netflix; they thought it was only a place for established names like Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan and House of Cards producer, director David Fincher. Matt estimates the brothers were rejected 15 to 20 times by various networks, while other execs had balked at the idea that the show featured four kids as lead characters but that it wasn’t TV for children. “You either gotta make it into a kids show or make it about this Hopper [detective] character investigating paranormal activity around town,” one told them. Matt recalls replying, “Then we lose everything interesting about the show.”

The Duffer Brothers on the fight against unnecessary formula (”Stranger Things’: How Two Brothers Created Summer’s Biggest TV Hit”, Rolling Stones)

[phoukanamedpookie]

How to write fic for Black characters: a guide for non-Black fans

Don’t characterize a Black character as sassy or thuggish, especially when the character in question is can be described in literally ten thousand other ways..

Don’t describe Black characters as chocolate, coffee, or any sort of food item.

Don’t highlight the race of Black characters (ie, “the dark man” or “the brown woman”) if you don’t highlight the race of white characters.

Think very carefully about that antebellum slavery or Jim Crow AU fic as a backdrop for your romance.

If you’re not fluent with AAVE, don’t use it to try to look cool or edgy. You look corny as hell.

Don’t use Black characters as a prop for the non-Black characters you’re actually interested in.

Keep “unpopular opinions” about racism, Black Lives Matter, and other issues pertinent to Black folks out the mouths of Black characters. We know what the fuck you’re doing with that and need to stop.

Don’t assume a Black character likes or hates a certain food, music, or piece of pop culture.

You can make a Black character’s race pertinent without doing it like this.

Be extremely careful about insinuating that one or more of a Black character’s physical features are dirty, unclean, or ugly.

Feel free to add more.

[phoukanamedpookie]

Adding more…

Be wary of making Black characters seem animalistic, uncivilized, or subhuman in comparison to white characters. Watch out for: comparing us to monkeys, gorillas, chimpanzees, apes, and other animals.

Words like Negroid, colored/colured, Negro, and the n-word do not belong in the mouths of contemporary characters you want to portray as sympathetic.

Not all Black people are African American.

Africa is not a country but the second-largest continent on earth with some 54 different countries with thousands of ethnic groups and 1,500 to 3,000 languages and dialects.

Resist the urge to make a Black character seem uneducated and ignorant compared to white characters.

Capitalizing Black shows that you recognize that the word unifying people of African descent, particularly the diaspora, should be described using a proper noun.

Please, say “Black people,” not “blacks.”

Give Black characters the same psychological and moral complexity as white men are given by default.

Make sure that you don’t write a Black character as happily subservient to a white character.

Understand and show that you understand that Black characters don’t exist to be the caretakers of white characters.

[phoukanamedpookie]

And more…

Do your own homework instead of expecting, asking, or demanding Black fans to do it.

Before approaching that Black person you admire so much for being so articulate about race issues (this is sarcasm) to beta read your work: 1) make sure it’s something they’ve expressed interest in doing, and 2) you offer something in return for their time and expertise.

Be prepared for fans to have issues with what you came up with and open to suggestions.

Having only one Black character in a story that takes place in a huge city, country, or galaxy looks weird. Really, really weird. Scary weird.

Don’t use a Black character’s death to motivate a white character.

Portray Black characters with complex and multifaceted identities. We are more than just Black. We are also women, LGBT, Jewish, disabled, neurodivergent, immigrants, etc.

There is a huge chasm between hypersexual and desexualized.

Remember: what’s progressive for a white character is not necessarily progressive for a Black one.

[flackax]

[oldfilmsflicker]

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” - Nora Ephron 

[thestyleline]

Develop a strong work ethic – your creativity is worthless if you can’t follow through. It’s also important to have this mindset of constantly learning and exploring. Embrace change and challenge the status quo. The opportunity to get into something you truly love comes with time, sacrifice, asking the right questions and a lot of mistakes along the way.

Therese Jacinto, Social Media Manager at Modern Citizen

(via thestyleline)

[npr]

This is the first time that I had been offered a role that wasn’t written specifically for a Latino actor. And all of these characters were written with no specified ethnicity. And usually what that means is, you cast white actors, because that’s the default. But what they were doing with this casting was so new and interesting. And they went out and found the actors that were right for the roles. And they happened to be Latino, black, Asian, Jewish. I thought that was really revolutionary for television casting.

America Ferrera on her new television show Superstore (via npr)