CC

Hehe, of course!

I’m very much a fluff sorta gal so expect these to all be very cute-fluffy, there’s like one explicit/smut one

Too Many Cooks (Series - 4 parts, in progress)

Pom Poms & Ice Skates (Series - 3 parts, x OC)

The Slow Rise (Series, 3 parts + spinoff)

Drunk Clinging

Sweetheart

Set It Up

I’m Dating Who??

Types

Sunflower Vol. 6

Mama Y Papa

Power of a Daiquiri

Last Call (Smut)

Operation: Tucker’s in Love

I’m an Astronaut (2 parts)

Slippery Slope

The Secret Relationship

Putting this together only proved to me that I have read literally every Tucker fic

Hehe, of course!

I’m very much a fluff sorta gal so expect these to all be very cute-fluffy, there’s like one explicit/smut one

Too Many Cooks (Series - 4 parts, in progress)

Pom Poms & Ice Skates (Series - 3 parts, x OC)

The Slow Rise (Series, 3 parts + spinoff)

Drunk Clinging

Sweetheart

Set It Up

I’m Dating Who??

Types

Sunflower Vol. 6

Mama Y Papa

Power of a Daiquiri

Last Call (Smut)

Operation: Tucker’s in Love

I’m an Astronaut (2 parts)

Slippery Slope

The Secret Relationship

Putting this together only proved to me that I have read literally every Tucker fic

Hehe, of course!

I’m very much a fluff sorta gal so expect these to all be very cute-fluffy, there’s like one explicit/smut one

Too Many Cooks (Series - 4 parts, in progress)

Pom Poms & Ice Skates (Series - 3 parts, x OC)

The Slow Rise (Series, 3 parts + spinoff)

Drunk Clinging

Sweetheart

Set It Up

I’m Dating Who??

Types

Sunflower Vol. 6

Mama Y Papa

Power of a Daiquiri

Last Call (Smut)

Operation: Tucker’s in Love

I’m an Astronaut (2 parts)

Slippery Slope

The Secret Relationship

Putting this together only proved to me that I have read literally every Tucker fic

“oh how the stars have become companions for the sleepless,”

Six is a musical about uplifting women. The core message of the show is that we shouldn’t compare women, that we should be bringing each other up instead of tearing each other down. Six is very well-known for its diverse casting, giving women of color the opportunity to play these historically white women. After all, Six doesn’t really attempt to be historically accurate. It’s more about inspiring today’s women.

However, some areas of the fandom seem to forget this core part of Six’s message. Whether it’s favoring the white actresses over their POC counterparts, holding actresses of color to unfair standards, or not upholding diversity in fan content, several aspects of the Queendom (the name for Six’s fanbase) are, in fact, racist. Please keep in mind that I am a white woman, and I am aware that shades my perspective. These are some experiences and phenomena within the Queendom that have been noted by my friends who are POC, as well as bloggers of color within the fandom.

of glowing lights and rainy nights

Representation on Tumblr has become a way for white people to win brownie points just because they took a Hershey's bar and slapped it onto a person's skin tone.

The most disgusting thing is that they insist on making JUST African-Americans. They insist on making JUST one facial type, one nose type, one lip type, one hair type, one slang type, one skin tone.

And when they make a person Asian, it's Japanese. And when they make a person Hispanic, it's Mexican. And when they make a person indigenous, they never specify on which tribe/nation they came from, but you'll bet they're Native AMERICAN.

But my favorite part is when other POC demand representation and those same fucking white people are like "But but but look at all my black characters!!!!"

POC isn't just confined to America.

POC isn't just black.

POC isn't just Japanese.

POC isn't just Mexican.

POC isn't just Native American.

It's from the Miskitu in Nicaragua, from the highlands of Ethiopia, from the deserts of Saudi Arabia, from the mountains of Indonesia. It's from the arroz con gandules, from the folk music, from the festivals. It's many cultures blending, it's speaking more than just English, it's dealing with racism unique to our countries of origin.

The answer: Yes, but it’s complicated

Disclaimer: As fans of SIX, this post is not to disrespect or undermine the brilliant people involved in it, but to evaluate and critique SIX in the context of race. Gifs used in the post are made by the lovely @karisoka​ on Tumblr

Note: This was written before Carly Mercedes Dyer was announced as Seymour on 2UKT, however, the fact that it took over three years to cast a non-white woman as Seymour is still embarrasing. Because she is the exception, all points regarding Seymour still stand.

The racial problems with the show largely arise from the casting of the show. There are clear casting trends for each character. These trends derived from each principle actress per character and are as follows:

Aragon: Non-white actress with a medium to dark skin tone

Boleyn: White actress 

Seymour: White actress 

Cleves: Non-white actress with a dark skin tone

Howard: White actress 

Parr: Non-white actress with a light to medium skin tone

These casting trends result in an approximately half-white, half-non-white cast, but looking at the cast of each production, this does not hold up, especially as rehearsal swings and covers are counted. Productions with less than 30% non-white actresses are: Edinburgh, 2UKT, Breakaway, and Bliss 2.0. Productions with 30%-50% non-white actresses are the original Arts production, 1UKT, Bliss 1.0, and Australia. The highest percentage of non-white actresses are in the West End production (10/18) and the US cast (7/10). From this, we can clearly see that higher profile productions have a higher percentage of non-white actresses, whereas less-visible productions like the cruise casts have an extremely low percentage of non-white actresses.

Another instance where less visibility results in a lower percentage of non-white theatre artists are the Ladies in Waiting–9 out of 45 total band members have been non-white (Note: Rebeca Caldera (Bliss) and Julia Subatin (Breakaway) are Argentinan and considered non-white here). The original Arts production, the first UK tour, and the West End production have not had a non-white musician in the band. Even Broadway, with a total of 11 band members for the different tour stops only had one woman of colour total. For a show that touts diversity, these statistics seem extraordinarily low. 

The casting trends may have started out as an innocuous way to pay homage to each queenspiration, the female pop icons who inspired each queen’s song and style, and as an attempt to be equitable and cast more women of colour, but these trends are hugely problematic within the context of the show itself, as they create unbalanced racial dynamics and enforce stereotypes within a text that most likely did not intend to create.

One example of the former is Cleves’ storyline–being rejected for her looks. While may have been historically true, it is curious when the “ugly” character  is often played by the actress with the deepest skin tone out of the entire cast. In the two exceptions where Cleves was played by a white actor, one is nonbinary and one is a plus-sized woman. Here, ugliness is Black, trans, and fat. The arts cannot be separated from societal context, and given that white beauty standards have an immense influence due to an extensive global history of colonization, this is clearly problematic. In addition to this, there’s one particular scene where Howard makes comments about Cleves’ looks. The original intent was simply to add a #savage quip that aligns with Howard’s character, but given that Howard’s casting trend is skinny white women, the scene becomes rife with uncomfortable racial tension.

In regards to stereotyping, we can talk about how as characters with a white casting trend, Boleyn and Howard can exist beyond being promiscuous characters, or even about how Parr, the empowered woman, is a woman of colour with light skin, but here we’ll be focusing on Aragon, Cleves, and Seymour. Aragon and Cleves both exhibit racist stereotypes surrounding Black women, whereas Seymour, who has never been played by non-white principle actress, is seen as the epitome of purity. Please note that this section is based on both the original text and fandom perception of the characters as presented by the text. Of course, the show is not in control of the fandom, as evidenced by problematic fanart, including whitewashing dark-skinned actresses or even depicting a white actress holding three non-white actresses on leashes, but there are elements of the projections of the characters by the show that exacerbates racist ideas.

First, let’s talk about Aragon and Cleves–Angry, sassy, masculine, and gold-digging, just to name a few traits. Just looking at the show and casting trends alone, Aragon and Cleves, both played by women with medium to dark skin tones, have the deepest vocal parts. This by itself might not seem like a huge deal, but combined with race-based casting trends and the show’s perpetuation of stereotypes surrounding Black women, small things add up.

In Six, each queen’s solo song defines their key character traits. For Cleves, Get Down puts an emphasis on Cleves flaunting her wealth and her obnoxious behaviour. She refers to her palace numerous times, flexes that she isn’t fake because she’s paid for her acres and acres with her own riches, and there’s even this line–’Now, I ain’t sayin’ I’m a gold digger, But check my prenup, and go figure.’ In moderation, many of her characteristics would be fine–we love us some confident women, however, Cleves only has these two characteristics, even during her bits of dialogue. For Aragon, No Way is a valid response to her husband cheating on her and her issues with religion despite her devotion to the Catholic church. However, there are no other qualities portrayed other than anger. The vulnerable moment during the bridge is extremely brief and in the show, is a comedic tool to segue back into indignation. While her anger is entirely justified, this lack of nuance makes for a very one-dimensional character, making it easier to pigeonhole her into stereotypes.

On the other hand, Seymour is perceived as the pinnacle of femininity and motherhood. Even her costume is the most conservative compared to the other queens, with no cutouts aside from that one strap underneath her collarbones, long sleeves, and a full knee length skirt. Heart of Stone revolves around her love for Henry VIII and her role as a mother and a wife rather than her characteristics as a person. Because of this, the only exhibited characteristics are ones attributed to a caretaker–she’s a loving person, whose love is set in stone, and she’s dependable like a stone and can weather whatever storm comes her way. Thus, when she doesn’t align with this characterization, such as in the queens fighting scene where they compare miscarriages among other tragedies, it’s forgivable–after all, she is a grieving mother. On the other hand, when Aragon exhibits the same behaviour, it’s non-permissible as it aligns with and supports her existing characterization, reinforcing the idea that she is indeed an angry Black woman.