Black Girl Nerds hosted a discussion about race bending fanart, and its importance in increasing representation. “To behold an Aurora, with dark skin and a wide nose like mine, is an act of revolution. Her adornment of pigmented skin and black long locs is revolutionary. Her full lips signify the coveted trait possessed by numerous Black women like me. A brown Rapunzel, wrapped in a marigold sari is revolutionary. Her defiant brown skin distinctively pairs with a gold barrette in her long mane. These crucial depictions remind women and people of color of their beauty, existence and visibility.”
The Toronto Star brought the Cosplay is not Consent discussion to a wider audience. “Similar signs have cropped up at conventions across North America, including New York Comic Con and Fan Expo Dallas. Organizers of Toronto’s expo, which wrapped up a four-day run at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Sunday, say it’s a sign of the times, but not a political statement…Discussions about consent and victim-blaming are a movement outside the convention world, too. Ontario’s new sex-ed curriculum includes lessons on consent in the primary grades.”
The Daily Dot profiled a new film about a male slash writer and discussed the negative reaction to it in many fanfic communities. “‘[Y]our pitch looks like one more male indie auteur trying to make his name off of the backs of women,’ wrote slasher and filmmaker Franzeska Dickson in response to the Kickstarter campaign…The cultural pattern of erasing women from their own stories and histories they created for themselves is a long one, and fandom is no exception: An infamous episode of Supernatural—one of the most female-dominated fandoms around—once portrayed a Supernatural fan convention within the show as almost entirely male-centric…Although slash writers focus primarily on male characters and many actively advocate for queer representation in media, queer men don’t actually make up a large part of the slash community.”
Metro‘s list of 21 things only fans would understand was lighthearted but didn’t overlook problematic issues such as fandom battles and a lack of perspective. Also noticed was the lack of perspective from outside observers. “You do get judged for getting so into something. Football fans who cry over their team losing are ‘passionate’. Coronation Street fans who cry over their favourite character dying are ‘sad losers’. How does THAT work?”
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