(image via clicks-clan.blogspot.com)
After Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came out, a good number or people looked at how Newt talked and acted and started to believe that he was autistic. It’s something that many people seem to be discussing and enjoying as a headcanon, and that’s great. But if Newt is really autistic in the movie, is he good representation, and how would this expansion of the Harry Potter world deal with an autistic character?
Spoilers for Fantastic Beasts below.
I wasn’t planning to see the new Power Rangers movie. I was certainly not planning to love the new Power Rangers movie. Having read Ace’s trailer review without actually watching the trailer itself, I figured I’d put the price of a New York City movie ticket toward something else. Then a friend asked me if I wanted to see it with her, and, on a whim, I agreed. And holy shit, am I glad I did. Was the movie good? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Was it immensely fun and everything I didn’t know I wanted in a movie experience, on top of being more inclusive than pretty much any big-budget ensemble movie I can think of? Absolutely.
Go go Power Rangers. (via denofgeek)
Spoilers after the jump!
Recently I started listening to the Night Vale Presents Podcast: Alice Isn’t Dead and I will say that it might be one of the greatest things I have listened to in a while. I found myself relating a lot to our nameless narrator. Not only is she a queer protagonist searching the strange and terrifying world for her wife, she is also a character struggling with an anxiety disorder, and that is something I certainly can identify with.
All transcripts of Alice Isn’t Dead are from Alice Scripts.
Spoilers up to Episode 8.
Coping mechanisms are an essential part of life for everyone, whether you have any sort of a disability or not. Humans have learned to try and cope with various things that can be harmful or upsetting to them. For example, I tend to internalize every negative thing that someone says to me and make every little comment into something about what a worthless person I am, which greatly contributes to my low self-esteem. This is not healthy, and it is why I see a therapist, who attempts to help me develop a healthy coping mechanism to deal with my negative self-image. Good coping mechanisms are essential to living a healthy life. However, coping mechanisms can also be bad. For example, drinking to deal with depression is a bad coping mechanism because it is ultimately harmful to your health and well being.
Comics, unfortunately, tend to show characters coping in harmful ways, like having Batman deal with his grief by having him beat up on other mentally ill people. Other characters are shown just powering through their issues by sheer force of will and totally overcoming them by the next comic. This is not only a false representation of how to cope with trauma or other issues, but it’s also an extremely dangerous one, because it can convince people who could benefit from counseling that they should be able to overcome things by themselves. Deadpool, however, is not one of those characters. The recent Deadpool movie really shone in its portrayal of trauma and mental illness. We see both Deadpool and Vanessa trying to cope with grief, trauma, and mental and terminal illness by using humor as a coping mechanism.
Spoilers for the Deadpool movie below, and trigger warnings for rape and abuse.
Deadpool is going to be in a movie and it sounds like it’s actually going to be good! No, seriously; this is not an April Fool’s joke.
pic via The Mary Sue
I am a huge fan of Deadpool. I love the way he breaks the fourth wall, I love that he is a character that pokes fun at comic books while still being a part of the Marvel Universe (basically he’s not just a straight up parody), and I love that Deadpool is actually a really complex character. Deadpool is pansexual, which means if his character is portrayed correctly we will have a pansexual character as the lead in a movie. Furthermore, Deadpool is a disabled character with a severe physical disfigurement and major PTSD. Yeah, though many of Deadpool’s comics are wacky and hilarious, he has a lot more depth than many people give him credit for. So let’s talk about this and how, if done well, Deadpool could make for a really fantastic movie, not just by comic book movie standards but by intersectional feminist standards.
Trigger warning for mentions of sexual abuse after the cut.
Not too long ago we were contacted by authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith about reviewing their new YA novel, Stranger, thanks to our previous interest in diverse post-apocalyptic fiction. I happily accepted the opportunity to read and review this book, but was admittedly nervous that I wouldn’t like it and then struggle with the review. My fears were utterly unfounded. What I found was an extremely exciting and well written book, with a diverse cast of characters.
I’ve been eagerly looking forward to The Flash TV show since Barry Allen’s backdoor pilot episodes in Arrow’s Season 2, and this week’s pilot delivered both a solid narrative and some unexpected gems.
Spoilers for the episode under the cut.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is finally back, and I was surprised to find myself eager to tune in. Would the series take a step forward from its jumpy and awkward first season and reach its potential? I very much hoped so. Unfortunately, while we have made some progress, the show still seems to be stuck in a rut.
Spoilers below the jump.
Oh shit. Holy shit. I’ve been slowly losing faith in this season of Korra as the show has progressed, but the two-part finale blew my freakin’ mind. Let’s get down to it.
Spoilers after the jump.
I love young adult fiction, as you might have been able to tell from my contributions to our Magical Mondays column. One of the many reasons is because, especially in recent years, YA authors have taken an incredibly active role in promoting diversity. They were the progenitors of the popular hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks and its spinoff hashtag, #WeNeedDiverseAuthors. YA authors Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo have created Diversity in YA, a site devoted to diverse YA books, and other authors in YA have taken the challenge of diversity head on. Today’s web crush, Disability in Kidlit, is no different.
Lady Geek Girl and Friends 