Ren is a writer

3 followers away from our next goal whAT

D E A D

I took my father to see Rogue One today. I’ve wanted to take him for a while. I wanted my Mexican father, with his thick Mexican accent, to experience what it was like to see a hero in a blockbuster film, speak the way he does. And although I wasn’t sure if it was going to resonate with him, I took him anyway. When Diego Luna’s character came on screen and started speaking, my dad nudged me and said, “he has a heavy accent.” I was like, “Yup.” When the film was over and we were walking to the car, he turns to me and says, “did you notice that he had an accent?” And I said, “Yeah dad, just like yours.” Then my dad asked me if the film had made a lot of money. I told him it was the second highest grossing film of 2016 despite it only being out for 18 days in 2016 (since new year just came around). He then asked me if people liked the film, I told him that it had a huge following online and great reviews. He then asked me why Diego Luna hadn’t changed his accent and I told him that Diego has openly talked about keeping his accent and how proud he is of it. And my dad was silent for a while and then he said, “And he was a main character.” And I said, “He was.” And my dad was so happy. As we drove home he started telling me about other Mexican actors that he thinks should be in movies in America. Representation matters.

I’ve said this before but I don’t think these thememakers get that they have essentially created a monopoly with their themes. They have created a standard for what themes in the roleplay community should look like if they want to be successful and the lack of talk about accessibility in the rpc has just led people to accepting that these types of contained themes are the norm. It’s really not that hard to wrap your head around why “don’t like don’t use” doesn’t fly in this situation when our choices for themes made specifically for the rpc are very limited and you may risk not even getting followers or blog traffic in general if you don’t adhere to the very specific aesthetic that indie has created.

when you do this you essentially create an environment where aesthetic trumps accessibility. when you have a position of influence as a creator, you should be using that position to encourage change for the better rather than spreading ableist rhetoric. think about the message you’re spreading when you create and encourage an environment that’s hostile toward people that try to suggest accessibility and think about what side of the argument you’re on. this isn’t just about aesthetics. this is a situation where you could be using your privilege for good instead of trying to keep us stuck in the same place.