Linkage

[oyceter]

• shewhohashope posted on beauty standards and skin color in relation to a new school video made on the old Brown vs. Board "pick the doll that is the nicest (etc.)" experiment. There's a link to the video from her post as well. I have to say, I am getting more and more annoyed with romance novels waxing on and on about how fair and pale and luminous the heroine's skin is. Probably accurate by historical standards, but I particularly want to smack the contemporaries and fantasies that do this.



• And now for the less serious! heresluck has been watching Heroes (whoo!) and posts on race and class in the show, among other things. (vague spoilers through 1x18)



• And saving the most squeeful for last... vonnie_k HAS BEEN WATCHING HONEY & CLOVER! She likes it! She really, really likes it! *dies from squee* I now repimp the series and direct you all to the torrents because it is quite possibly my absolute mostest favorite anime series and possibly even TV series ever, I love it that much! Also, maybe I will rewatch some episodes tonight, lalala.

Comments

[chomiji]

True story on the race issue, and on fantasy and story-telling: Almost 20 years ago, I used to run fantasy role-playing games at science fiction and gaming conventions. I used my own game setting, a largish island that was a stopping-point on several important searoutes, and so it had people of a variety of races. The pre-made characters that I provided for gameplayers at these events reflected this fact on the standardized forms that I'd prepared, which had blanks for eye, skin, and hair color.

At one con, a young African-American boy of about 15 came over to play with my group. As is typical, he picked a character on the basis of profession (thief, fighter, priest, etc.). As he read the character description, his expression grew utterly shocked and surprised. He looked up mutely for a minute, his eyes blazing, and then exclaimed joyfully: "He's black! This dude's black!"

What a difference a very small decision made to that particular kid ... .

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

So, Honey and Clover is good? I'm already watching Romeo x Juliet, X/1999, and Darker than BLACK, but I have to wait two weeks for my season 2 Princess Tutu DVDs.

I've also been rewatching Ouran, and Nekozawa's sister calls them on being a reverse harem! I didn't even know what a 'glasses-character' was when I first watched this show. It makes so much more sense when you're somewhat familiar with shoujo manga/anime conventions.

[boxmint.livejournal.com]

(I like the use of the word "waxing," because it tacks on to fair and pale and luminous and makes me picture waxy white skin.)