#coded racism

[eastasiansonwesternscreen]

Some people need to stop acting like Hudson Williams from Heated Rivalry is white passing. He’s not.

Are some fandom people less racist towards him because he’s half white? Maybe.

Still. There are a lot of people who are still very racist towards him, and not just randos and racist fandom people. There are plenty of certified reviewers from well-known sites being clearly biased towards him (and we all know why). That THR reviewer for example, who praised his white co-star (rightfully so) and then turned around and dismissed Hudson’s acting claiming it was “flat”, “stilted” and “boring” despite the fact that Hudson’s character is clearly in a less favorable position from the viewer point of view since most of his acting needs to be subtle and nuanced, and he still manages to show raw and poignant acting – the fact that the director himself pointed out on numerous occasions, praising Hudson for doing an amazing job. The reason why these reviewers don’t see this and why some of the fans can't relate to his character is empathy gap and racial bias. Simple as that.

[maquet591]

Just saw someone in the tag saying that it's difficult to like Ryan because he makes that running joke about Paco... And that it's "apparent that he never had a pet growing up..." When he had 3 dogs growing up and he constantly talks about them.

People in fandom just love to make up "problematic" stuff to justify their racism.

Like I get that there are casual fans and those who don't understand jokes but straight up saying that "his jokes are alienating"? Hmm...

[nerdsagainstfandomracism]

To White People Using Will Smith to Self-Victimize: It’s Not About You

History is repeating itself, with white people reframing Black people’s neutral states or our valid anger as threatening to them.

[bi-leigh-bi]

It always pisses me off when fic writers only give magnus jobs like fashion designer or makeup artist or something related to design. Like there is absolutely nothing wrong with that but they just see his makeup and give jobs like that. Its canon that hes been a lawyer, he's good at chemistry, he's good at healing. He's good with so much It be stuff but they don't see him past his makeup and pisses me off. And they make alec this over successful god when it's canon that Magnus is richer....

.... There's nothing wrong with any of this being vice versa but it just shows how people like to see the white guy being more successful and giving all of magnus friends like Luke and Raphael to him.

The thing is that white people don’t realize they need to be more aware of the choices they’re making and why they’re making them when writing non white characters and interracial relationships. It means putting in a little extra time and care and sometimes a little extra research. 

There’s a blog for this, actually, I need to go search for it and find it. It basically helps to get into the mind of a non white character or how and why they would feel a certain way or act a certain way. Why they would react to some situations differently. Etc. So it’s not like anyone is saying white people can’t write characters of color. It just means doing it more carefully and well thought out. 

And I’m never saying this kind of shit like I’m any better. I write Magnus, I often go looking for the opinions of non-white (specifically Asian) fans to get their read on him as a character. Sometimes I still realize I’m doing something wrong. It’s a little embarrassing but you fix it and you get over it. You learn something. 

So people just throwing Alec into positions of power while putting Magnus into entry level or blue collar or whatever jobs is more than a little problematic. Even if you’re writing human AUs, if you want to keep who Magnus is then part of that is being aware of his intelligence and capabilities. If you’re desperate to write struggling!designer!Magnus, okay. Then write about how his race is part of why it’s a struggle. 

Fic writers, especially white fic writers writing for non white characters, just need to be more aware of why they’re writing things the way they do.

[eastasiansonwesternscreen]

So, let me get it straight. Hudson Williams is being accused of... *checks notes* “queerbaiting” for doing his literal job to promote “Heated Rivalry”.

Back in the day, when Shadowhunters aired, fans would accuse Harry Shum Jr. of being “homophobic” for not doing the fanservice with his co-star for their TV ship (because he saw how his Glee costars suffered from the delusional part of the fandom).

So, it doesn't matter - either way the actor of color will be accused of something.

Interestingly enough, HW’s white costar, who also did the same job to promote the show – because it wasn’t one sided fanservice on Hudson’s part – is not being criticized of that same fanservice (and he shouldn’t).

Similarly, HSJ’s white, also straight, costar, who also refused to do the fanservice, wasn’t criticized (as he shouldn’t have been).

Even more interesting is that all the same people who were and are accusing HSJ and HW of *checks notes* “profiting of gay roles” have ZERO complaints about white actors, who are straight or come out as straight, that play gay roles on the regular.

[nerdsagainstfandomracism]

It’s pretty interesting how the “top post” in the “Fire Island” tags is a gifset featuring a secondary white guy. I should remind you that “Fire Island” is movie about gay “Pride and Prejudice” romance between two Asian male leads written and directed by Asian men, a movie that points out how Asian men face discrimination and racism within the community... 

Granted the movie just came out yesterday, the situation may change, but still. People out here watched this movie and thought that a secondary white guy is the hottest thing that should be centered above the two Asian leads.

(for the record this post is about the pattern in fandom that exists)

[nerdsagainstfandomracism]

12-Year-Old “Percy Jackson” Star Leah Jeffries Deserves Better From Fandom

“We’re always reminded that our presence is seen as an agenda.”

From the moment that Rick Riordan announced that Leah Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri would play Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood, respectively, in a new adaptation of the beloved YA novels, fandom reacted poorly. So far, much of the racist anger online has been aimed squarely at Leah Jeffries; people mass reported her TikTok account until it was banned (likely for Leah being under 13, the bottom age on the platform) and made rude comments in the vein of “You are not Annabeth” or “Percy wouldn’t want to be with her now.” All of the insults and harassment, even from people who’ve never even read a Percy Jackson book before, stem from Leah not matching up to the in-book description of main character Annabeth Chase, who’s first described as, “a pretty girl, her blonde hair curled like Cinderella’s.”

The thing is, Alexandra Daddario’s Annabeth also wasn’t a blonde with gray eyes when she played the character in the film series. The aggressive fandom claiming to love novel accuracy so much that they are compelled to harass a child didn’t have that smoke for her back then, when they waved away her visual dissimilarities by insisting she must have been the best actress for the role. People who hate racebending will always find a way to doublethink. For example: Those who criticized live action versions of comic book characters like James Olsen or Starfire (both recently played by Black actors Mehcad Brooks and Anna Diop respectively) said nothing about how the actors who have played Barry Allen so far don’t look at all like the illustrated character.

[nerdsagainstfandomracism]

What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Racial Gaslighting

I’m tired of being told that I have somehow imagined racism in fandom. Whether it’s an interaction between myself and someone else, a subtweet thread I come across, a cosplayer in Blackface co…

The main purpose of racial/racist gaslighting here is to stop conversations about racism in fandom.

It’s an engagement type with a goal to make fans of color and white people in fandom second guess the validity of conversations on racism in fandom. To make the people talking about it seem unhinged and manipulative just for sharing what’s actually happening to them on a regular basis.

It does this by making people question fans of color who are like “well this is racist, here’s why”… usually by putting fans of color who are very vocal POC TOO up front to mock and dismiss our experiences. They do this by frontloading their side of fandom conversations about racism with people who imply that other people of color are just imagining racism here.