seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Jordan
seen from Canada
seen from Bolivia
seen from China
seen from Singapore
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seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
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Zira from Pretty Please I Don't want to be a Magical Girl!
Does Zira have intentional, well thought-out visual Black character design?
Peak (Black)
Mid (Black)
Nah (Black)
Peak (NB POC)
Mid (NB POC)
Nah (NB POC)
Peak (White)
Mid (White)
Nah (White)
Rubric
Black Character Design Poll: Event Rules
I am an avid lover of graphs. I like numbers, I like trends and the absence thereof. I like the mindsets that make people make decisions, I like recognizing the biases, both conscious and unconscious, in sampled populations. I like how you'll always gain some sort of answer, even if it's not the one you expected (it's the scientist in me)! Best of all, I like making people question themselves! So... Why not a poll?
This is going to be a TWO-PART event. The first portion is going to ask the First Question, starting Sunday April 13th and I will stop taking submissions Saturday April 19th. The second portion is going to ask the Second Question, starting Sunday April 20th, and I will stop taking submissions Saturday April 26th.
See below the cut to find out all the details!
The goal is:
To see how different groups feel about the same character design, specifically Black audiences
To make participants question how and why their own beliefs may be affected
When I tell you "consider your Black audience when you create Black characters", that's not me pointing you to an amorphous concept- I'm talking about real people who are looking at a work! And very often, we find out that a creator's intent, versus a particular audience's perception, are not on the same page. That's not always a bad thing, nor something we can always control. But sometimes, it can reveal some lack of understanding, or biases we aren't aware of. So let's test that out! Let's have that conversation!
Submissions:
You will be submitting characters! There are three things requested in an ASK format:
A good, clear picture of Black Character from the Source Material
Black Character's Name
Title of Black Character's Source Material
DASSIT! No, I don't want leading arguments or why you love them in the ask. I will delete it. Let people make their own conclusions!
Responses:
Your options will be "Peak", "Mid", and "Nah".
Answer honestly and instinctively! If you thought it was great, choose that! If you thought it was ass, choose that! Don't let a need to "look nonproblematic" or "to be nice" affect your answer. Just take the time to consider why your opinion may be different from others. This is an opportunity to consider something new!
That being said! I'm not arguing or doing discourse with y'all in the comments or tags- I'd have to keep up with far too many conversations. Think before you speak! That thought that you think might be racist- you do not have to say it!
I will be organizing responses into three groups of viewers: "White", "Nonblack POC", and "Black". One, so that the Black voters have a little more chance to be seen (and we're not like, 97-3 every time 😅) and two, because sometimes I think people of color assume they are immune to antiblackness. I want everybody to think!
Do not send me an ask or message telling me why you're uncomfortable and why you think I shouldn't ask these questions. It's meant to bring people out of their comfort zone. Considering that you may have a different perspective on the presentation of Blackness than an actual Black person is not a bad thing, and no, it's not causing racism to have a conversation about why that may be an issue. Just don't participate.
I will add the questions and rubric in a reblog- stay tuned!
Wyll Ravengard from Baldur's Gate 3
Did the writers treat Wyll's narrative with respect?
Peak (Black)
Mid (Black)
Nah (Black)
Peak (NB POC)
Mid (NB POC)
Nah (NB POC)
Peak (White)
Mid (White)
Nah (White)
I haven't played this.
Rubric
Writing Polls Notes #3
This is a long one!
So there were a couple moments where I saw commentary and this meme was my first concern 😅. I say this because I realized that what I thought I was communicating, and what people were understanding, as the question were different.
The original question I asked was "Is [Black Character] well written?" And I provided a rubric of examples to consider, figuring that respecting their narrative and depiction while Black was a given. It seemed like people were struggling with the idea that "well-written" included respecting the character's Blackness (and thus, their Black audience) without having to center that Blackness. I'm like okay, that's on me for assuming, and so the question itself needed to be changed.
And so, the question then became "Did the writers treat [Black character]'s narrative with respect?" Interestingly, I never changed the screenshot of the rubric!
Since her poll was poppin, I decided to use Vivienne's character to see what happened, and-
Now. And this is for everyone! Imma ask you this:
If the character wasn't written with care, how is the character still being written well? What are we defining as "well"?
I'm sure there are happy accidents of characters written well despite their author not giving a shit. This is not me saying that you can write with care and never write poorly. This is also not me saying that you cannot like the character or their potential anyway! I certainly don't think these two ramshackle Tumblr polls are the end all be all determination on this character. But I am asking you to think about it, regardless.
If a Black character's Blackness is unironically used as a joke or bludgeon, or out-of-game important social context is completely dismissed or has to be projected onto the character's narrative by fanon, then I personally take that into consideration when determining the author-ial intent in how a character was written (e.g. was a character's story meant to be a 'freedom fighting' narrative or did you have to say 'well if we take it from the authors-').
Idk guys, I just think this matters a lot lmao, and seeing this difference spooked me. The concept of a character might be great, but if the delivery is only great if you have to allow yourself to be antiblack about it (or ignore that factor altogether), maybe it wasn't created with the experience of a Black audience in mind 😅 We can like anything we want, but we ain't gotta lie about it!
Moving on!
Repeating another point from earlier: "It seemed like people were struggling with the idea that "well-written" included respecting the character's Blackness (and their Black audience) without having to center that Blackness."
There were a decent amount of "well the story doesn't mention their Blackness so I guess not/this question is hard". This is a big one to think about, period. When designing and writing your Black characters, and when trying to dodge stereotypes. When we say "be normal about Black people", that's kind of what we mean. You don't have to go "Black, Black, it's a Black!" for us to know the creator gave a damn, given how we are treated in media and life. You can write a downright horrid person of a Black villain and it still be written with care!
But yeah, I don't have to write a narrative where the Blackness is centered to consider the way Blackness itself is treated with my character. For example, as low hanging fruit, Wyll and Mizora.
Blackness- as we know it- doesn't exist in BG3, and yet the visual of a predatory white woman owning a Black man is a very real thing. Doesn't matter that racism- as we know it- doesn't exist in game and is therefore irrelevant, it exists to the real Black people playing it.
So to treat it crassly (as it seems to have been done) suggests a level of unconcern, and thus the effect it will have on those Black viewers who can see how everyone else's narrative is being treated with care. I'm always telling y'all, it's not the prompt, it's the writer- that could have been one hell of a concept, if the people who wrote it knew (or cared about) what they had and followed through!
Now, if your mindset is "well then this game isn't for those viewers" that's true, but keep in mind that's overtly saying that Black players aren't welcome to consume your content with a character that looks like them without settling for racism (which is part of "did they think about their Black audience").
Lastly, as a reminder, we gotta rise above "see there's a Black character!" as a judgment of a piece of media's inclusiveness. Okay, but did they play a role that had interiority or did they just serve as a device for the nonblack main characters and their stories? I don't believe in giving credit for the bare minimum of "being present" anymore lol. It's okay to have standards, it's okay that everything you like won't reach them, but you don't have to lower your standards for good Black characters to "just having them"!
Name: Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk
Source: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Does Hobie have intentional, well thought-out visual Black character design?
Peak (Black)
Mid (Black)
Nah (Black)
Peak (NB POC)
Mid (NB POC)
Nah (NB POC)
Peak (White)
Mid (White)
Nah (White)
Rubric
Zayd García from [comic I haven't made YET]
Does Zayd have intentional, well thought-out visual Black character design?
Peak (Black)
Mid (Black)
Nah (Black)
Peak (NB POC)
Mid (NB POC)
Nah (NB POC)
Peak (White)
Mid (White)
Nah (White)
Rubric
Name: Alastor
Source: Hazbin Hotel
Does Alastor have intentional, well thought-out visual Black character design?
Peak (Black)
Mid (Black)
Nah (Black)
Peak (NB POC)
Mid (NB POC)
Nah (NB POC)
Peak (White)
Mid (White)
Nah (White)
Rubric
Finn
from Star Wars Sequels
Did the writers treat Finn's narrative with respect?
Peak (Black)
Mid (Black)
Nah (Black)
Peak (NB POC)
Mid (NB POC)
Nah (NB POC)
Peak (White)
Mid (White)
Nah (White)
I haven't seen this.
Rubric
