Diverse Shows: Bigoted Fandoms
(trigger warning: mentions of violence, rac*sm, pol*ce br*tality, etc)
Have you guys ever wondered why some of the shows that celebrate diversity and inclusion and/or depict messages of racism, prejudice, discrimination, oppression, police brutality, along with other sensitive topics - "woke" themes, if you may, have some of the most BIGOTED fandoms...
One Piece and Monster High are two shows that explore some of these topics (I'm sure there are more, but these are the top two that come to mind at the moment I'm writing this) and I've seen nothing about hatred and every type of hate formed from these fandoms (luffy and frankie would HATE yall btw).
(You could argue that Avatar: The Last Airbender celebrates the diversity of Asian and Indigenous cultures, and also touches on some of these topics, and the hate they gave Elizabeth Yu and Thalia Tran was absolutely insane... but that's for a next post.)
So you know, it turned out to my surprise that when I saw the most racist/colorist comments on the recent trailer of One Piece's S2.
(These are just comments I've cited from TT, X, and from Charithra's literal IG)
And ofc, they blame black people because these people see a dark-skinned person and IMMEDIATELY think that person is black (why can't we be left alone... 😐)
I'm so glad that some of Charithra's castmates actually came out and defended her from these nasty comments; she needs all the support she can get right now.
But I think a serious conversation to have is the constant erasure of proper MENA representation in Hollywood. For as long as Hollywood has existed, any sort of MENA character has typically been portrayed by a South Asian, Latino/Hispanic, and at times, even European actor (usually the former).
(These are just some examples I've seen across several media)
Jasmine (Persian) in “Aladdin" was played by South Asian and British actress Naomi Scott.
Sayid Jarrah (Iraqi) in “Lost,” played by South Asian actor Naveen Andrews.
Ahmad Ibn Fadlan in 'The 13th Warrior', played by Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.
Abed Nadir (Palestinian) in 'Community', played by a South Indian and Polish actor, Danny Pudi.
Mr. Aziz (Arab) in 'Spider-Man 2', played by an Indian-American actor, Aasif Hakim
And here are some other examples (some of them, I've already mentioned, but yh):
(and several Middle Easterners express their (rightful) disappointment in not seeing themselves represented by a SWANA/MENA actor)
Now these are VALID criticisms, SWANA/MENA representation doesn't come by as often, but the fact that people aren't really making it a conversation about "MENA characters being played by non-MENA actors" and more of "Vivi is being played by a bLaCk actress, why isnt she white", to the point that "fans" are calling Charithra the hard r.
I've even seen this criticism.
(whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean...)
(we won't even START on this one...)
Do these people not know that brown MENA/SWANA people exist? (Here are some if you didn't know).
(Imaan Hammam - Egyptian, Moroccan)
(Yara Shahidi - half Iranian)
(Anthony Keyvan - half Iranian)
(Razan Nassar - North African)
(Dior Goodjohn - half Persian)
(Karim Zeroual - Moroccan)
And these are just a FEW examples... (honestly, they should have cast a dark/brown-skinned MENA actress, I would have LOVED to see their reactions when told that the actress is MENA, she just happens to be of a darker skin tone...).
Furthermore, why do I get the feeling that even if they WERE to cast a SWANA/MENA actress for Nefertari, there would DEFINITELY be people complaining that the actress "isn't white" like...
Realistically, it makes sense for DESERT princess to have a slight tan... Toei Animation did her kinda dirty by making her pasty white (not saying that Middle Easterners with paler skin tones don't exist, ofc) to the point that people think that a girl named NEFERTARI VIVI is (racially) white even though her kingdom is CLEARLY based on MENA cultures/influences.
The conversation should have just been that she was not a SWANA/MENA actor, but these losers think they're sooo cute with their "full body haki" jokes.
Back to the topic of non-MENA actors playing MENA roles, though... the live action is CAPABLE of casting MENA actors.
Tamer Burjaq (who is Jordanian), played Higuma (you know, the thief guy who threatens young Luffy and Shanks)
Very funny how they cast a MENA actor in a villainous role... but not ones for the desert princess and her father (again, no hate to Charithra Chandran or Sendhil Ramamurthy, Charithra literally was regarded as "the diamond of the season" in Bridgerton and anyone trying to convince me that she's ugly is WACK as hell - she looks like princess!).
Even Mikaela Hoover, who is voicing Chopper, is of Iranian, Italian, and Spanish descent.
So again, ANOTHER instance of the OPLA capable of casting a MENA actor, but just where you can't see them onscreen (in this case, at least).
Arabasta (also referred to as Alabasta, because in Japan (Toei Animations, the studio that adapted the anime is located here) they dont use "r" in their language, at least that's what I've heard - please correct me on that) was mostly inspired by Ancient Egyptian architecture and culture (w/ a few South Asian inspirations here and there).
Even Oda himself said that he modeled Alabasta after Ancient Egypt.
I think he recently changed his stance, though, and said that he modeled it after both Ancient Egypt AND India. There is even official art of Nami wearing a lehenga (?) (again, correct me if I'm wrong!).
From what I've heard, fans speculate, the executive producer of OPLA, Marty Adelstein, has signed a petition to take an Emmy away from a Palestinian journalist. Read here:
More than 1,000 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter denouncing the Oscars speech from "The Z
Even here so:
So that could have been what influenced the casting choices of both Nefeteria and her dad.
I know you guys might have been wondering why I even brought up Monster High in the first place, even though the post mostly focuses on Charithra Chandran's casting (and why I just waited up until now to mention it yet again, I digress). However, MENA erasure is so... normalized to the point that Monster High has at least 5 different MENA characters (Cleo De Nile, Nefera De Nile, Gigi Grant, Whisp Grant, Seth Ptolemy) and for some reason Monster High fans think it's okay to fancast any and any actor as them even though, they have SEEN w/ their own eyes how much of an impact these characters' MENA background influence them.
Cause why am I seeing
Megan Fox as Cleo??? Alexa Demie?? KYLIE CANTRALL???? ELIZABETH GILLIES??? KYLIE JENNER???
(and dont even get me started on people thinking she's Greek like... do they even know Cleo's backstory...)
(Slight edit, but I remembered when the G3 live action cast was announced, and EVERYONE had a think piece, especially people who were (rightfully) mad that Cleo was played by Jy Prishkulnik, who was a white woman (or at least so I've heard), and that they should have cast an Egyptian actress (thats fair to want). Then they would go ahead and fancast non-MENA actresses as Cleo, like... I had to straight up argue w/ someone because they thought Camila Mendes was a good choice for Cleo, and when I pointed it out that Cleo is MENA... they started talking some shxt bout "actors dont play the same nationality as their character" and im like bro 💀 yall were the same ones complaining about the LA cast not being "accurate" to the character's ethnicites but you can fancast whomever actor you feel like ??? 💀moving on...)
Madison Beer as Nefera (she's not even an actress...)??? Janel Parrish???
SADIE SINK as Gigi Grant??? Abigail Cowen???? (what are we doing here?)
And dont even get me started on Jaden Smith as Seth Ptolemy... (that man can neither sing nor act)
To conclude (cause I feel I'm making this post a bit too long lol), the problem isn't Charithra Chandran... at ALL (I love her, and I'm glad she's in more roles, especially since her costar Simone Ashley has expressed the struggles of getting roles as a South Asian woman).
It's more of Hollywood's obsession with mixing South Asian and MENA/SWANA cultures and thinking that they can be used "interchangeably," when that's... wrong... (and orientalist asfff), and it doesn't help that the creators of the show are Zion*sts, too...
Leave Charitha Chandran alone... if you have a problem w/ the casting (aside from she's a South Asian woman portraying a MENA character), dont watch the show or go phone Oda, himself - he selected the castings and had said that Charitha has fit PERFECTLY into his vision...
(Also, P.S. DONT CRY THAT MENA CHARACTERS ARE BEING ERASED FROM THE MEDIA THEN FANCAST NON-MENA ACTORS AS SAID MENA CHARACTER, IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A HYPOCRITE!)