Moana Floats into My Heart

A while back I reviewed a trailer for a little movie called Moana. I was worried about the lack of early advertising the movie was getting—I hoped that the hype among my own age group and demographic would translate to ticket sales, so that Disney couldn’t use a less-than-successful premiere to justify avoiding nonwhite Princess stories for another decade.

Turns out I needn’t have worried—Moana opened this weekend to a phenomenal box office take, only barely failing to unseat Frozen as the #1 Thanksgiving animated film opening of all time, and I’m honestly pinching pennies in the hope of seeing it again soon. To me, it was a sweet, empowering, and well-made movie; however, some native Polynesian critics felt that it played too fast and loose with their culture. Let’s get into it after the jump!

via Moviefone

Spoilers for everything, by the way!

Magical Mondays: Appropriating Myth and Magic

Much ado has been made in the last few days about Tilda Swinton being in talks for the Doctor Strange movie, making her the second surreally-visaged actor to potentially claim a role in said film. At first blush, this could be cool; Tilda Swinton is weird and wonderful, she’d be a welcome addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Except for one thing: she’s apparently set to play Doc Strange’s mentor, the Ancient One—a traditionally Tibetan (and male) role. While on one hand, it’s nice to see that Marvel is finally thinking out of the box in regards to casting, it’s also pretty dang racist to whitewash a role that’s traditionally filled by a person of color.

If they gotta cast a white person why not cast Tilda as Strange? Get B.Cumbs out of my MCU…

This leads me to ask: when should a character not have a certain set of powers? Are there certain kinds of magic that are tied enough to specific cultures that it’s not right for someone outside that culture to have them?

Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Religion-Inspired Character Names

Character names have the potential to say a lot about that character. Names have power, and authors go to a lot of trouble to make sure that their characters’ names fit the people bearing them. It can be as simple as the etymology—for example, Malfoy comes from the French ‘mal foi’, or ‘bad faith’, and ‘vol de mort’ in French quite literally means ‘flight from death‘. Sometimes authors draw inspiration for their characters’ names from religious sources, but doing so is a tricky business. When employing religiously-inspired character names, it’s important that they are not used in a way that’s insulting to the original religion’s tradition.

[contains some spoilers for Teen Wolf 3A finale and Pacific Rim]

Bronies, we need to talk.

Okay, bronies. As a fellow fan of My Little Pony and self-identified brony, and as someone who has sung the praises of this particular fandom on multiple occasions, I’m telling you we need to talk. And although I usually use the term ‘brony’ as a catch-all term, in this case I’m directing this at the ‘stereotypical’ straight, white, cis-male brony.

Let’s get something straight. I am a hundred percent supportive of your enjoyment of MLP. I think it’s awesome that you’re finding enjoyment outside your gender’s ‘assigned’ genres, and I encourage you to continue. I am sorry that sometimes people make fun of you for this. But for all you straight, white, cis-male bronies, outside of your pony-related choices of entertainment, you have ALL the privilege. By dint of your being straight, white, cis-guys, your life comes with the lowest difficulty setting.

This is important to remember. Privilege isn’t something to feel guilty about, because it’s not something you can change. But it is something to be aware of. And, being aware of this privilege, you need to make sure you do two things.

1) Do not ever appropriate the sufferings of actual minority groups. The phrase “I know what persecution is, because I am a brony” is not okay. Have you, as a brony, ever been denied legal rights or been considered less than human? Is bronydom a fundamental part of your genetic makeup that you can’t help? Has a religious establishment ever told you that you were going to hell for being a brony? (Or maybe it’s okay to know you’re a brony, but not okay to act on that bronydom?) Are you more likely to be targeted for discrimination by law enforcement, and do crimes committed against your group often go unreported or unprosecuted? Are there countries where you could be killed just for openly being a brony? Stop and think about what you’re saying. Being a brony is being part of a fandom, not part of an underprivileged minority group.

2) Actually make an effort to love and tolerate all people. Bronies seem to be constantly congratulating themselves for being open-minded enough to love something that is considered girly. Step back, bro(nie)s, and consider this: when you think you’re being accepting for deigning to like something girly, or attempt to recast MLP as somehow masculine, you’re actually reinforcing gender stereotypes, not breaking them down. You’re saying “usually girly things are dumb and stupid but, guys, look, this girly thing broke the mold and became awesome!” or “There are totally badass bits in here and therefore it’s manly and okay to like”, instead of “Gee, it sure is dumb to say what genders get to like what kinds of entertainment.”

The MLP fandom is, in general, an inclusive place to be. But these are some of many ongoing issues that need to be addressed. Take heed, my colts, and go forth having learned a (friendship) lesson.