Daily Opus: mrpeabodyandsherman: internutter: mrpeabodyandsherman: internutter:...
Daily Opus: mrpeabodyandsherman: internutter: mrpeabodyandsherman: internutter:...
But they have different eye colors, face shapes, hair colors and lengths? I'm not sure what you mean by that - they look different enough. Elaborate?
I can not make Youtube go through things frame by frame using the J and L keys like so many folks claim is possible, so I’ll have to take your word on that. What I saw in the foreground of the wide shot of the class is a row of almost indistinguishable white kids, one asian, and Sherman. The other POC didn’t turn up to my eye until the over-the-shoulder look at Penny and the specter of tokenism reared its fearful head.
The Egyptian ladies will more than likely be backup characters or consorts as all Egyptian queens had back then - again, the focus of the story will mainly focus on Peabody & Sherman. Most characters may just come and go, and won't play that big of a role, so I'm not expecting these ladies to start proclaiming the virtues of independent women and whatnot. Not that it's a bad message (I wish more movies would preach it), but it just doesn't fit in the context of this particular movie. There's a ton of characters in this movie, and not all of them will have plot-heavy roles. The characters that do? We'll just have to wait and see!
This is why I’m reserving judgement. Obviously, the Peabodys are picking up some famous historical warriors for some plot point. So the obvious questions to my mind are: Why not Joan of Arc? Why not Boudica? Why not some Amazon warrior women? There are plenty of strong women available, but someone made a choice to only use historical men. Why?
A lampshaded joke is possible. xD The original cartoon had tons of these, so I wouldn't be surprised if Tut's wife was mentioned or why nobody realized that Penny was in disguise. Could happen.
I will be glad if it does. It still doesn’t change the fact that the historical Egyptians have been lightened on purpose.
Some of the POC kids should have lines - IMDb is incomplete, but it lists some of the voice actors and some of the classroom kids are included. Not sure how big a role they'll play, though.
My bet is that they’ll be one-line-wonders, if they speak at all. I will be glad if they’re given any depth at all, and cross if they’re presented as stereotypes.
You know, the POC representation in media debate is very fascinating to me. As a POC, I do feel as if it is necessary to have POC characters in media and to be represented. That is important. But I don't believe every show, ever movie, every thing should be forced to hammer in POC representation in a positive light - I don't mind a weak Latina character, for example. Just like white people, we Latinos also have our spectrum - in life, there are go-getter Latinos with strong personalities who let their voices be heard and very submissive Latinos who don't mind being damsels-in-distress or cowards. I'm all for different kinds of characters. To me, that's more important and realistic than making all POC strong characters. That's the real representation I want to see, because when all POC characters are made "token" strong characters, it feels forced and uncomfortable. I have several Latina and white friends who have the exact same thoughts as me on the matter. Out of curiosity, and in the spirit of debate, what are your thoughts on that?
[Opens gigantic can-o-worms]
The reason why ‘forcing’ representation into the media is even a thing is that white people would dominate it if given any kind of opportunity. The sad fact is that white folks are a small portion of the global population, yet they are also educated to see white folks everywhere they go.
Why? Because in the media they’ve been exposed to, the lions’ share of the roles has gone to white people(WP). WP have used technological prowess, trickery, germ warfare and cultural indoctrination to enforce the erroneous idea that WP should always be in charge of absolutely everything.
Heck, in my own country, we had to have a damn referendum to classify our native people as people, and not “flora and fauna”. (Vomit)
Seeing POC as judges, doctors, nurses, astronauts, and so forth, should not have to be 'forced’. It should be as natural as breathing. If I want to see a Genderqueer Latin@ medical professional on the screen, I should be able to do so; not be told that such a character is “unbelievable” or “forced”.
We have a cultural situation so skewed that having a 50/50 gender representation anywhere, is seen as “woman heavy”. Or having accurate POC populations on screen being seen as “discriminatory against WP” (yeah, I know WTF, right?). The representations on screen are echoed in society.
Women are seen on our screens 17% of the time. Oddly, women make up roughly 17% of the career workforce.
I don’t have the statistics for POC, but I’m betting it’s even worse than that.
Would it have been too hard to make Peabody’s teacher “ethnic” instead of indeterminate-to-white? Or make the white kids the “tokens”? I say “No.”
It’s not too hard for me to teach my kids that WP have and still do horrible things to anyone we consider “different”. It’s not too hard to ask the obvious questions that WP (and especially white men) usually can’t be bothered thinking about. It’s never too hard to speak up about problematic issues, and it is definitely not too hard to face up to uncomfortable facts.
Even in the things we love.
For example: The original Peabody and Sherman cartoons were HELLA racist. Now, I can easily blame a lot of whitewashing on the fact that it was ludicrously cheap animation and the colour pallet was limited... but the voice acting was cringe-worthy for the guest characters. I can recognize this. I can share them with my kids and point out all the really blatant stuff and still love it for other reasons.
It is not hard to do these things.
It is not hard to ask, and keep asking, for fairer representation in the media. To celebrate the progressive points and give helpful ideas as to how it can be better next time.
There’s always room for improvement. There’s always room to learn.
Even in a silly kids’ cartoon about time travel.