All My Fandoms Are Dead

Various directors: Superheroes are all sexy heterosexual white rich kids who are geniuses and—

"This last is the situation, as I see it, between my A Wizard of Earthsea and J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter. I didn’t originate the idea of a school for wizards — if anybody did it was T.H.White, though he did it in single throwaway line and didn’t develop it. I was the first to do that. Years later, Rowling took the idea and developed it along other lines. She didn't plagiarize. She didn’t copy anything. Her book, in fact, could hardly be more different from mine, in style, spirit, everything. The only thing that rankles me is her apparent reluctance to admit that she ever learned anything from other writers. When ignorant critics praised her wonderful originality in inventing the idea of a wizards’ school, and some of them even seemed to believe that she had invented fantasy, she let them do so. This, I think, was ungenerous, and in the long run unwise."

Ursula K. Le Guin, "Art, Information, Theft and Confusion"

http://www.ursulakleguinarchive.com/Note-ArtInfoTheftConfusion-Part2.html

anon you don’t know how hard i laughed at this like straight warning 

This is including being told by the only other prominent female character that "it's a mark from the gods to show how evil and messed up you are." Like... that's not even much of a paraphrase- it's phrased pretty much exactly like that.

Oh, and another of her party members got drunk and mad, shoved her, and called her a "cr***led bitch." These are the good guys. The ones we're supposed to like.

Do you know what audio description is? If not, read on. If you do, maybe read on anyway, just in case. I know this is long, but please spare a minute to read this.

Audio Description is a super rad thing that’s becoming increasingly available for various forms of media. Essentially, it describes visual elements that blind/low vision/visually impaired folks might miss. This often includes describing gestures, facial expressions, major movements, fight scenes, set or costume elements, and more!

Many shows/movies even work to ensure that the person providing the description has a voice and tone that fit with the mood of the show. Although it can be strange at first, especially if you’re not used to it, it’s much like close captioning - very quickly, it just becomes part of the experience and is remarkably non-disruptive. Care is taken to ensure that the description doesn’t happen on top of dialogue. All Netflix originals now have descriptive audio and I encourage everyone to check it out, at least for a few minutes, to see what it is and how it works!

Even people who know about this might not be aware, though, that descriptive audio exists in other artistic settings too! Many theatre productions also provide live audio description at select showings. This often means that people who would like to take advantage of this service wear unobtrusive ear pieces so that they can hear the describer during the show. I actually volunteer to provide this service for some shows at the University of Montana, although it’s currently a work in progress.

There are also systems of description for dance shows, studio art gallery shows, and even firework displays, although it is much less common! I want to challenge all of my artistic friends (and I know I have many) to think about ways you can work to make your art accessible. It isn’t difficult and can add great depth to your work. Be creative. Don’t think of this as “something I HAVE to do to check a box” but think of this as “how can I make this accessible in a way that ADDS VALUE FOR EVERYONE.”

Consider a dance show. What could come of a collaboration between a poet and a choreographer? Consider your sculpture. If you wanted to communicate everything you thought was important about the piece to someone who couldn’t see it, what would you say? Think about your work. Think about the value of your art. Don’t you want it to reach as many people as it can?

I know I would.

[Thank you for reading this. Feel free to share it if you want. That would be rad.]