CArpi diem

thisislostinlace:

belindapendragon:

elegantpaws:

fuckyeahonceuponatime:

emeraldgirl503:

historicalslut:

velocicrafter:

sourcedumal:

eshusplayground:

the-silence-in-between:

I don’t know anything about the social categories into which you fall, OP, aside from the fact that you are obviously white.  Fandom seems to be overwhelming female, though, so I am going to assume for the moment that you are also female and share with you the following anecdote in the hope of helping you to understand why this confession is so grossly offensive.

Last fall, when I started scoping out all of the shows that were to premiere as part of the 2011 television series, I was immediately drawn to the fantasy and fairytale elements of both Once Upon a Time and Grimm.  I considered watching both, but in the end, I never ended up seeing a single episode of Grimm.  Why?  When I looked at the casts for both shows, I realized that Grimm has very few female characters (I’m told that the only major one is an annoying girlfriend), whereas OUaT had given top billing to three actresses.  Even though I had reservations about Jennifer Morrison (as I wasn’t overly fond of Cameron on House), and Grimm was co-created by David Greenwalt, I chose to start watching OUaT, and after the pilot, I never looked back.

Because, you see, fantasy — and fiction in general — is largely about escapism, about leaving behind the mundane and frustrating aspects of our lives for an hour and immersing ourselves in a magical world where anything is possible.  However, when I watch a program and I see no women — or at least, no women with meaningful, well-rounded roles in the series — it hinders that escapism element, because I cannot watch all of these men traipse around without thinking “Why is it that no one who looks like me, who has shared similar experiences with sexism as me, is present in this program?  What is it about this fictional universe that is hostile to my gender?”  It ruins the illusion and the fantasy by reminding me that, as a woman in the United States in 20fucking12, I remain, in essence, a second-class citizen.

It’s the same thing when it comes to viewers of color.  Why should black, Asian, Native American, and other PoC fans of OUaT be denied the opportunity to see characters who look like them, who have shared similar experiences with racism and hatred and prejudice as them?  Why should this form of escapism that you and I are so enjoying be denied to them?  Why must PoC be reminded of the oppression and discrimination that they face in their daily lives while trying to enjoy a simple television show?

Also, when it comes to your point about the Grimms’ fairytales being about white people, I’d like to see the citations for that.  While some characters are indeed described in ways that indicate that they are white (e.g. Snow White, who is so named for the color of her skin, and Rapunzel, whom I believe is described as being blonde), others are not, and as the Grimms did not provide color illustrations of their stories, we cannot claim to know the race of other characters.  Ultimately, though, this point is meaningless, because Once Upon a Time is a show that is premised on re-telling classic fairytales in new and exciting ways.  In which classing telling of “Red Riding Hood” was Red a werewolf?  When did the Grimms explain that the Evil Queen’s malevolence was born from great abuse and loss?  How did I miss before OUaT that Rumpelstiltskin and the Beast are the same character?  If we accept these changes as valid re-tellings of classic fairytales, then why can’t Prince Charming be Asian?  Why can’t Belle be black?  Seriously, I’m waiting for one good reason.

[PoC fans: if I’ve misrepresented your experience or feelings on the matter in any way, please let me know, and I will rectify the situation.]

I’d take this further and ask, “Why, dear OP, is it necessary for these characters to be White? What is it about being a person of color that takes away from the meaning of a story?”

Because, in my mind, Regina is a beautiful, brilliant, powerful, complex Latina, and this enriches my understanding of the story. How often do Latinas (or any women of color) get to see themselves this way on screen? Why is it so important to have to be able to deny us this?

In my mind, Sidney is a man (or genie or mirror) whose naive, unrequited love has turned sour. And his being Black does not take away from that.

So my final question is, “Why does it seem that people of color being present and accounted for somehow ruins things for you, OP?”

The live action Cinderella has a black Cinderella, a black queen, a white king and an Asian prince and it did pretty damn well because the central story never changed.

To act as if adding POC to the story would distract from that is absurd and essentially puts POC as the other.

There’s also mounting evidence to indicate that there were PoC in Europe as early as…what? 3rd Century? So while Grimm’s Fairy Tales incontrovertibly took place in Europe, there’s no reason that the characters themselves were white.

Also: You’re watching a show about a young woman who took a potion to forget the man who spurned her, who was engaged to a woman whose true love turned to solid gold when her father touched him accidentally, and all these people & more get transported to an alternate universe as part of an angry Queen’s spell for revenge… and you think it’s too farfetched to have some ethnick in the show? Check yourself, because your racism is showing & god that must be embarrassing for you.

There is evidence of POC in Europe as far back as antiquity. POC have always been in Europe. They have always been trading with Europeans, working with Europeans, etc. European history is so fucking white-washed and that is why it is never mentioned NOT because POC where not fucking there. So if OP is complaining about adding POC to the show would be historically inaccurate, they are fucking wrong. 

Can I also just add that it’s not like Europe cornered the market on fairy tales? As far as I’m aware, other non-white cultures also had fairy tales - why don’t we start telling some of those stories?

Also, I’d just like to say that these arguments are just as absurd to me as saying, “The Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written by white men, about white men, so why should anyone other than white men be allowed to participate in them?”

And finally, if we’re going to start enforcing some law that “the setting of a work requires that all characters in that work must be portrayed of the dominant race in that location,” then I demand that all Christian artwork portraying Jesus as a pale, white male be removed immediately, and replaced with much more accurate depictions. After all, the Bible was written by a bunch of Jews from the Middle East, about a bunch of Jews from the Middle East, and I think history tells us that they didn’t look like pasty white guys with pale skin and blue eyes.

Also, whatamoonalwaysmeant said:

I love OuaT a whole ton, but I definitely agree with this and it kept popping up in my thoughts while I was watching the first twenty or so episodes. Why are there no PoC? (Because, if I remember corrently, there were two Fairy Godmothers that were depicted as black. However, in a show with a cast so large as OuaT, I definitely agree that it’s really fucking problematic to have only thee PoC cast members through-out the whole thing.)

As mentioned previously, OuaT is a fantasy show and the fantasy genre was created in part as a means of escapism. Why is it in a show based around a genre created feeling that is so completely shared by all, there is no - or little - representation of People of Color? It’s not okay. Our media is so white-washed which furthers this idea (among white people especially) that being a Person of Color is somehow wrong or… bad, which in itself is a backwards and racist idea that… It’s is not something that, as a non PoC, I can really talk about intelligently and respectfully, so I’ll leave it there.

Brilliant discourse. When all is said and done, what actually resonates is a subtle point made early before facts were eruditely thrown about and it was this.

“Why does it seem that people of color being present and accounted for somehow ruins things for you, OP?”

That is the crux. Everyone likes to see themselves, tis fantasy. Why is this so disturbing to the individual’s psyche? Rhetorical question. Nice. Very nice. It is about the story, last time I heard. Unless, intrinsic to the enjoyment is using a default that comforts for all the incorrect reasons. Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. I have no doubts about the demographic or psychographic of the female OP.

^^ALL OF THIS…BRILLIANT COMMENTARY…

My teeth hurt from being grinding while I read this confession. As others have eloquently put it, OP your privilege, modern majority whitewashing, dipped in ass-backwards ignorant history of Grimm is showing. The Grimm Bros did not tell ONE SINGLE ORIGINAL FUCKING STORY. News alert, spoiler alert, and reality alert. They gathered the stories mostly from Arabic translations of fairy tales that were passed along trade routes that gathered in Western Asia. Most of what YOU think are traditional European fairy stories are actually thousands of years old and are from China, India, South Eastern Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, and North Africa.

For instance, the oldest and earliest telling of the Cinderella is actually from the western provinces of China. It was a cautionary morality tale of mistreatment because those who are most vulnerable to be mistreated will judge be the ultimate judge of character. It pains me every time I see Cinderella as a blonde, white, blue eye character because, like Jesus, she was turned white to PANDER to a European audience and all signs of her origins were “lost to history”.  Except that they weren’t. Those tales are still preserved in Chinese literature. Oop @ the Imperial Colonist, they missed one when they burned all those art pieces, literature, scrolls, and yes, books to make it look like people who weren’t them were ignorant savages thus making their treatment of said people legitimate.

Ironic, isn’t it.

Red Riding Hood has it’s origins in Central Africa far older very similar tales than what was retold in Renaissance Italy and Middle Age Europe. In those stories, the little girl is met by a lion, not a wolf. The lion or lioness/cheetah guides her to her new husband’s family because no one in her family can do it at the time. The lion(ness) gives very important advice about not fearing her husband and using logic and peaceful concessions to get what she wants. RRH doesn’t forget it. When the time comes for a hunt her husband has the lion cornered. The husband recalls advice his wife had given him. He tells the lion about it. The lion and the husband make peace.

OP, where’s your rage at all the whitewashing? There isn’t any is there? That’s shocking. By your damn logic the whole fucking show should be in German.

^Thank goodness for you intelligent women.

(Source: storybrookeconfessions)