Black Lives Matter

Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, socially, financially.

Life is asking a lot right now.

Pause when you can. Breathe when you remember.

me, outside at night, the moment our headphones die

does "God" have a penis?

part 3

Let's take sinners for example. There is a white guy with like 2 lines exclusively about hating minorities in this movie. His name is not Ray, it's Bert (I had to look that up on imdb), he is the kkk-vampire and not a single person on earth is writing self-insert fic about this guy. They are writing self-insert fic about the central antagonist, who is also a vampire. Girls like villains, what else is new.

And sure, maybe I am being to literal here, but yelling at people that they are liking a thing in the wrong way is just the fastest way to kill a fandom. The underlying things this post is pointing at are real and they do exist. Societal beauty standards center white people, a lot of (white) people have are harder time sympathising with people of color. But those things are not fandom problems. They are just general problems of living in white supremacist society and they show up in all facets of or society including fandom. But you are not gonna fix them by telling people they are somehow bad for liking the sexy vampire.

Am I “making up a guy to be mad at” if by your own admission you are a fan of a character that fits the hypothetical scenario that I described in the original post? That you brought up, because I didn’t bring up Sinners (2025).

You admit that societal beauty standards favor white people (an odd thing to bring up), and in turn white people have a harder time sympathizing with people of color (a poor excuse for racism), and yet you think this doesn’t factor into fandom? You think white ppl, from the society that you acknowledge has racist biases, will somehow leave those same prejudices when engaging in fandom? You think that the “real world” is a completely separate vacuum from the art that leads to fandom?

“Girls like villains” a very strange, pointedly projective, and dismissive of the main point of the post: racism. You think women of color like racist villains? Or is it just white women? Because that’s what we’re talking about here: racist characters, specifically. With this line of thinking, you put forth that either the women in a fandom, Sinners (2025) by your example, a predominantly Black led piece of media which centers Black women as they’re integral to the story, should categorically like the “sexy vampire” despite the fact that he’s terrorizing Black people throughout the movie just because he’s the villain. Or you put forth that there are no women of color in the Sinners fandom, which would be an odd thing to think given the previous points.

Where did I admit that? Because I don't think Remmick fits the criteria? That is my point. And again, I brought him up, bc he is the number one character mentioned in the notes, I should have made this clearer.

Why is that a odd thing to bring up? Is that not what your post is about? And no, I do think, people bring their biases with them absolutely, and I think I said that in my post.

I don't speak for women of color. I also don't think that everyone has to like villains or Remmick all the time. That seems a bit of a uncharitable reading. I am just unsurprised that a lot of people do like him. I also don't really think real world morality is a reason to like or not like a character or that liking a character endorses like their actions?

I am not that personally attacked to be honest, as I said I picked Remmick, bc he was the most mentioned character. I do like him, but I would not say he is my personal favorite and pretty much the whole cast of Sinners is amazing. I just wish there way more discussion about all of them, than about the preferences of some fans.

In the end I think, that we do agree that racial biases exist, and that they shape who we relate to or like as characters and that broadly speaking it is good when people examine that. (And yeah, I am trying to have a general discussion, but that includes me to of course. I don't think I am above that.)

But I also think that it is fine to like problematic or racist characters. I think that's fine. In Sinners for example, I do think Remmick is a well written character and he has a lot of traits people gravitate towards in general (like independently from whiteness, people often like villains or vampires etc.). So I am not surprised people like him. I do too. And I don't disagree with your reading of what he represents in the movie, but tbh, that makes him narratively more interesting, not less.

Additionally, I just don't think, telling people that liking certain characters is bad, is an effective way to combat racism. Maybe you are gonna say, that's not what you were doing, you were just venting on your own blog, which is of course fine. I should really have made clearer, when I was taking about like you, and where I was talking about people in the notes. That's my bad. Or maybe you think that that is an effective thing to do, then we are just gonna have to disagree on that, which is also fine of course.

I pose the following question. Even if Remmick wasn’t a metaphor for colonization, assimilation, cultural usurpation (which he is), even if he was a pure hearted character who didn’t represent how racism isn’t just slinging slurs, can you imagine how it feels to the Black fanbase that he has almost double the amount of fanfictions then the main characters and the rest of the Black cast?

Credit to @mayhamster for providing these screenshots