fanmix: 23 dead women [doctor who & torchwood]

[vanitashaze]

So I as I was saying - what was it, yesterday? - I recently watched Voyage of the Damned and as some of you might know (doubt it), I wrote a little rant about it. But as I realize nobody actually reads these rants I will recap: I did not like Astrid. I think Kylie Minogue is a talentless dolled-up twit, and having her run around in a French maid costume and dominatrix boots for the majority of the episode did not endear her to me. However, I was mildly fascinated by the manner of her ressurection - not in terms of good luck Astrid but rather well, THAT was a bit stupid of him - and of course, it got me thinking about her death, and that led to the fact that in Doctor Who, there are few men looking tearful as they plummet to their deaths.

I realize that Doctor Who is a fairly progressive show, what with JACK HARKNESS Donna, Rose, Mister McGoogles and whatnot, and Torchwood oversteps 'fairly progressive' and lands somewhere in the vicinity of SHAG SHAG SHAG bit a' swearing bit a' blood SHAG. Despite this, there is a disconcerting amount of women in refrigerators (or spaceships, or what have you) in the Whoverse. I mean, unless a man - and I mean HUman, not alien equivalent - is completely useless, idiotic, or just a downright bastard, there's a pretty low chance of him getting knocked off, whereas women drop like flies. In Doctor Who, the dead women are usually used to kick the Doctor's Guilt-O-Meter to whatever the proper number is that week; in Torchwood, the deaths are plot development. Perhaps because it's in no way billed as a "family show" and thus has more deaths in general, Torchwood has a lot of these WIRs - a lot of gals stabbed, raped, strangled, shot, taken over or killed in some other interesting manner.

I'm not sure if this is a reflection on the fact that in our society, it's easier to feel outraged by the deaths of women more than men or just the fact that they scream better. In any case, I'm trying not to make assumptions. I love both shows, and the after-images of the Feminist Explosion better not block out the TV screen. I just think they deserve an... epitaph, of sorts?

(And, of course, I was bored.)







Astrid. All We Are [Fischerspooner]
Inhaling quick
When I see your being
Can't define
The divine
And I'm born again
The limitless is within my reach
Particles passing through microcosm,
That is all we are
[Download]


Beth. Invasion [Eisley]
All in time you will be one of us painless, us blameless
Go to sleep, this won't hurt a bit
Shifting your shape to our shells
Ooh, something's not right
I can feel it inside
something's not right
[Download]


Carys. Glittering Clouds [Imogen Heap]
Domino motion jumpstarts when we touch
The blackout approaching
Here it comes now, wish me luck
It's all over, it's all over, it's all over in a flash
I can't remember,
What have I done now?
[Download]


Chantho. Utopia [Alanis Morisette]
We would share and listen and support and welcome
Be propellled by passion not invest in outcomes
We would breathe and be charmed and amused by difference
Be gentle and make room for every emotion
...
This is my utopia, this is my utopia
This is my ideal, my end in sight
[Download]


Estelle. Look Up [the Stars]
You're cold, maybe you just missed the sun
You fall, feeling like it's just begun
So far, keeping it together's been enough
Look up, rain is falling, looks like love
[Download]


Gwenyth. Candlelight [Imogen Heap]
I am alone, surrounded by the color blue
Inside a poem, the only words I ever knew
Washing my hands, of the many years untold
For now I am banned, my future is to unfold
[Download]


Jabe. Do What You Have To Do [Sarah McLachlan]
What ravages of spirit
Conjured this temptuous rage,
Created you a monster
Broken by the rules of love
and fate has led you through it
You do what you have to do
...
A glowing ember
Burning hot
Burning slow
Deep within I'm shaken by the violence
Of existing for only you
[Download]


Jenny. Nude [Radiohead]
Don't get any big ideas
They're not gonna happen
You paint yourself white
And fill up with noise
But there'll be something missing
Now that you've found it, it's gone
Now that you feel it, you don't
You've gone off the rails
[Download]


The Genius. O Lover [Jason Mraz]
Red top and matching bottoms
You know the ones, the ones you got on,
Pull them over your skinny self
But don't cover your tattoo
...
You are the sweetest thing I've found since whenever
You're the only way my time is measured
You might be the silent type
But you're appetizing louder now
It's crazy how you're killing me
[Download]


Lisa. Closing In [Imogen Heap]
What are you like?
Where did you get to?
No word, not nothing
You didn't hold me, for any longer.
What you want for the fear of love?
Oh, don't you believe enough.
We'll, I'll cover both of us.
You can... leave that to me.
[Download]


Lizzie. Where The Wild Roses Grow [Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue]
On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
And I kissed her goodbye, said, "All beauty must die"
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth
[Download]


Lucy Saxon. Between [Vienna Teng]
Freedom is being alone
I fear liberation
But something more alive than silence
Swallows conversation
No pleasing drama
In subtle averted eyes
The swelling fermata
As the chord dies
[Download]


Lynda. Some Unholy War [Amy Winehouse]
If my man was fighting
Some unholy war
I would be behind him
Straight shook up beside him
With strength he didn't know
It's you I'm fighting for
He can't lose with me in tow
[Download]


Marie Thomas. Outta Me, Onto You [Ani DiFranco]
It's gonna be sudden
It's gonna be strange
I'm gonna turn on a dime
Give you five cents change
It's gonna be long overdue
It's gonna come out
Outta me, onto you
[Download]


Mary. Me, I'm A Thief [Sarah Slean]
I love you still, always will
Here's hoping you'll be waiting, but I
Gotta fly, gotta say goodbye
Gotta find out what's aching
Me, I'm a thief
I'm a falling star
I'm a photograph taken
From where you are
[Download]


Reinette. Warm Sound [Zero 7]
Faith sealer, I don't hear you
Don't hear you speak
Maybe
Someone else will
Help you to see
Warm sounds
Falling slowly
Takes the time away from me
[Download]


Sally Phelan. So Cold [Breaking Benjamin]
If you find your family, don't you cry
In this land of make-believe, dead and dry
You're so cold, but you feel alive
Lay your hand on me one last time
[Download]


Stacey Campbell. Wise Up [Aimee Mann]
It's not what you thought when you first began it
You got what you want, now you can hardly stand it
By now you know it's not going to stop
It's not going to stop, it's not going to stop
'Til you wise up
[Download]


Suki. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised [Gil Scott-Heron]
There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
News and no pictures of hairy-armed women,
Liberationalists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.
[Download]


The Controller. Utopia [Goldfrapp]
It's a strange day
No colors or shapes
No sound in my head
I forget who I am
...
I'm wired to the world
That's how I know everything
I'm super brain
That's how they made me
[Download]


The real Margaret Blaine. Animal [Ani DiFranco]
More and more there is this animal
Looking out through my eyes
Seeing that animals only take from this world
What they need to survive
[Download]


The pizza girl. Totally Fucked [Spring Awakening]
There's a moment you know
You're fucked
Not an inch more room
To self-destruct
...
You're fucked all right and all for spite
You can kiss your sorry ass goodbye
[Download]


Vivien Rook. Hope On Fire [Vienna Teng]
Gotta fight, gotta strike
'cause there's no turning away
From what you don't want to know
Gotta see, gotta be
If they're all going astray
Don't let them take you in tow
You're a one-man shift in the weather
You're the woman who just won't sell
Climbing up and ringing the bell
[Download]

Comments

[aestheticized.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I really love (?) the idea behind this fanmix. And the music looks excellent! :D I just wish I could remember who all these women are . . . And I thought Carys didn't die? (Or is this not Carys from TW . . . I'm pretty bad with DW canon.)

But yay Lucy Saxon especially. God do I adore her. ♥ And Vienna Teng? Double yay!

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Technically, she did not, but I felt that being forced to commit multiple murders via unconsented sex was still pretty bad. (At least, it's nothing I'd want happening to me.)

There needs to be more Lucy-love. I mean, without her, the Master would probably still be bopping around London-town, scribbling the Doctor sux me on public lavatories and whatnot.

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

Daaaaaamn. And I don't even remember half of these--who were Estelle, Jenny, The Genius, Lizzie, Marie Thomas, Mary, Sally Phelan, and Stacy Campbell? Fuck, I'm going to have to start paying more attention to the deaths, aren't I. First Heroes, now Doctor Who...stupid gender-unbalanced television. *grumbles*

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

These things do seem to have a bad habit of sneaking up on you. With me it was "Melodrama, angels, bla bla, girl-of-the-week dead, what else is new - hey, wait a minute!"

Estelle - Jack's girlfriend that he left during the war. And then reconnected with pretending to be his own son. o.O
Jenny - Martha's Human Nature sidekick.
The Genius - the gal who got shot compliments of John "Poodleshagger" Hart, and then tried to blow him up from beyond the grave. (Too bad it didn't work.)
Lizzie - fuck, I can't even remember. Oh yeah, she was the rape victim from Ghost Machine.
Marie Thomas - the ex-HIV patient eaten alive by alien bugs.
Mary - Toshiko's lesbian alien sex adventure. 'nuf said.
Sally Phelan - the bride-to-be converted to a Cyber(wo)man, and zapped by the totally AWESOME Mrs. Moore.
Stacy Campbell - plumpy going to dump her boyfriend, gotten turned into a small horde of walking alien fat-babies.

(Dear lord. It appears I rather love making lists today.)

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeesh. Didn't even think of all those...and, hah, now that we've got 'Planet of the Ood', we can throw another one on the list :P

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Eah, no! *covers ears* I have not gotten the chance to watch de episode yet - though I suppose from that promo one could kind of see it coming, but still.

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

Eep, sorry! But...yeah, this isn't an ep with a high human survival rate. :P Most of them aren't, really...

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

It just wouldn't be the show we all know and love without that pile of corpses every week. :)

[jenavira.livejournal.com]

This is awesome; I agree, NewWho is sometimes less progressive than it wants to think of itself as, and this is a great example of why. (Not that it's bad...just that it's obviously missing a point or two.) Also, this is a really awesome mix. Thank you!

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ladyyueh.livejournal.com]

This is such an awesome idea and I can see the hard work put into it because the lyrics seem to fit so perfectly.

*appreciative clapping*

Thanks!

EDIT: BTW, does the title reference something because I could only count 22 women.

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Damn. Well, apparently all it means is that I cannot count.

[claidissa.livejournal.com]

This is so awesome - all the songs fit perfectly! :D

Did Lucy really die, though?? Did I miss that? That would make me really sad! She was bad-ass! ;-;

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Not physically dead, though, but the way things turned out she might have been better off so. (There are a few on this list who are not technically dead - Carys, Lucy - but had Bad Things Happen to them.)

She was badass. I hope they'll bring her back sometime.

[livii.livejournal.com]

This is a very cool idea - great work. Will download.

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[cabaretlights.livejournal.com]

Don't watch either of the shows, but this is a fantastic idea. Awesome mix!!

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Oh, you really must. Even with all this shite, they're fantasticly entertaining, and sometimes even a bit thought-provoking.

[un-titled-love.livejournal.com]

The mix is fantastic, and the whole idea of it is really interesting. Definitely downloading. :)

I was wondering about Lisa, though, from Torchwood. Ianto's girlfriend from the episode Cyberwoman. Did I just miss her on the list? Or is she not there? I know you can't include everyone. I was just curious.

<3

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Then again:

Lisa. Closing In [Imogen Heap]
What are you like?
Where did you get to?
No word, not nothing
You didn't hold me, for any longer.
What you want for the fear of love?
Oh, don't you believe enough.
We'll, I'll cover both of us.
You can... leave that to me.
[Download] (http://www.mediafire.com/?mu54mpbebzt)

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

I actually considered including her, but while Bad Things happened to her offscreen,I felt that by the time canon got to her she had really ceased becoming herself, and just become a... villain? Machine, robot? Yeah. Not exactly women in refrigerator; more like woman in cybersuit. Really, I'm not entirely sure why she's not on here, but she just didn't feel right.

[notethesarcasm.livejournal.com]

Brilliant idea for a fanmix! And great choice of songs as well.

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[mcfly85.livejournal.com]

LOVE this concept - this is fantastic! Downloading now. : )

[creepy-crawly.livejournal.com]

And I'm off to molest your icon. Neeeee!

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Oh, someone really needs to write that. Like, right now.

[greenet.livejournal.com]

Nice mix! and nice idea, well executed. Snagging! :)

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

:)

[creepy-crawly.livejournal.com]

Hi, my name is creepy_crawly, and I officially love you.

♥

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

*♥s back*

[edge-of-night.livejournal.com]

wow, this is pretty darn amazing. lots of good music it looks like as well!

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks.

I'm glad you shared this mix!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Great mix idea! Society loves watching fictional sexualized violence against women, and I don't just mean rape—the way the camera treats the female body in fear and pain is consistently very different from the way it treats the suffering male body. This is true of many narratives, too. I've watched TW more assiduously than DW, so I feel confident in saying that the former in particular often fetishizes women's suffering. TW really loves having suffering-and-innocent or suffering, evil, then dead women—especially if the suffering-and-innocent make a mistake that leads to their own downfall, or if the Evil-Then-Dead possess female bodies without the women's consent (which leads to repeated violation and/or death of the human vessel). In TV and film, there's meant to be a viewer response of pity/fear, frequently coupled with sexualized visual pleasure, in watching women suffer and/or die on screen. While TW/DW's attitude is certainly not unique among shows, the widespread nature of the problem doesn't excuse it. (Plus, in the current Whoverse, there's a disturbing ageist slant; I'm thinking of The Sarah Jane Adventures, where I liked Bea in "Eye of the Gorgon," but overall older women and/or women in authority disproportionately turn out to be Bad or overtly set in opposition to Our Heroes, apart from the exceptionalist Sarah Jane.) As spiralsheep commented in a different post, if a work shows something to the audience that isn't what the creator(s) consciously intended, then that's not the audience's problem, it's the artist's problem or society's problem or both. In the current Whoverse, I'd say it's both.

As a viewer, I can tolerate a certain amount of misogyny, sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. on TV, but eventually it hits my weight limit for FAIL. That limit varies according to the individual; I don't think a person is necessarily a "bad viewer" to keep on watching a show with big, fundamental problems if they enjoy other parts... as long as the viewer recognizes and cares about those problems, rather than denying them by saying things like "but boys die too!" (Personally, my policy toward questionable TV is aheming episodes via non-official channels until I feel comfortable enough with a show's politics to support it financially by watching it live or buying DVDs.) The point is not to sign your brain over to a show just because you like certain parts of it. But I can see you get that already, of course!

One more quick note: I haven't read all of them, but if you go to the main page, deadbrowalking has some really interesting entries under its "doctor who" and "torchwood" tags on the two shows' treatment of race. There's a good case to be made that a man of color is significantly more likely to die than a white male character in the Whoverse, considering the percentage of men of color who end up dying, out of the total number of male characters of color. (See http://community.livejournal.com/deadbrowalking/218283.html , a guide to the dead bro walking cliché in the DW Christmas specials. I also recommend http://community.livejournal.com/deadbrowalking/217488.html on RTD's "joke" about Hitler playing the Doctor, confirmed by national newspaper the Guardian.) For women of color, odds of dying may be even higher. I shiver when I think of Lisa and Beth: two out of three major black female characters on TW, whose bodies are possessed, tortured, killed, and exoticized as "monstrous aliens" by the narrative, which uses the "alien" status it bestows on those characters to justify the violence that the text—and sometimes its white heroes—inflicts on them. Since overall TV representation of non-white characters is disproportionately low, each time a show chooses to portray a character of color is weighted more heavily because of it. So too are the characteristics of those representations, and how frequently those types occur.

Wow, have to split the comment into two parts...

Re: I'm glad you shared this mix!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

In short, I don't think a controlled "Feminist Explosion" can block the light of the TV screen, if that light is really there in the first place. Feminist and anti-racist analysis of media is important because if entertainment is worth consuming, it's worth questioning: it reflects who we are and what we want. While I'm okay with handwaving, say, the occasional faster-than-light travel in science fiction, media treatment of people affects how viewers feel and think about others and about themselves. As http://thehathorlegacy.info says, popular media have the power to introduce new ideas to people. Cultures need to change, cultures are informed by their media, and media can help people change their thinking. I recommend that site if you're at all interested in good discussion about gender issues in media. I was recently reading a couple of posts there on How I Met Your Mother; any pleasure I might have lost in the episodes discussed was more than surpassed by the sense I'd learned something valuable about how I see these issues—and how popular culture views and shapes our feelings on them.

And yeah, without being fond of Astrid, I can still say her resurrection was an incredibly stupid move by the Doctor, and demeaning for her—did the resurrection restore her consciousness? Is she floating around for the rest of eternity, caught in the terror of the fall to her death, and unable to communicate with anyone? I hope not.

Re: I'm glad you shared this mix!

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Really, the only way that her resurrection was not an incredibly stupid move is if he actually meant to do what he did. (Which, of course, is even worse.) After all, he does seem to have a habit of collecting immortals; one could have been an accident, two might still be stupidity with a capital "D", but if the third one comes around... Eeek.

For bumping-off purposes, women and people of color are pretty much perfect, because it's ingrained that they're disposable: peeps of color (especially african-american men) are cannon fodder, girlpeeps are sacrificial. (One doesn't have to look much farther past Ianto's fabricated killing spree to see that.) For instance, the other day I went to see Street Kings with a friend, and though we spent most of the movie chucking tropical skittles at the people in front of us, I noticed that except for Scribble, all of the african-american men in the movie were almost exactly the same. They dressed the same, they spoke using the same phrases, they had the same expressions and they all died similar ways. In the case of the white men, however, every character had a distinct style, wardrobe, movements, even set makeup - someone had made sure that they were individually interesting.

(Coincedentally, the friend that I went with was an african-american dude who is a giant teddy bear but I won't get into that. I'm a white chick and though we've gotten some looks hanging out together, I don't think we'd ever been more aware of that divide between us than when we were watching the black dudes getting mowed down, introducing themselves as "nightmares", being corrupt enough to kill & kill again.)

Instead of being cannon fodder, women - like children - are considered innocents, and so having them killed off evokes feelings of "hey, not cool". You practically tell how evil a character's supposed to be by how many broads he's bopped off. And really, in a cruel sort of ironic way, that's almost as damaging to the white men as it is to the chicks (of all colors). Because the message there is:

Women: Save us. We need protection. Our existence is point for the moral wellness of all.
Men: I need no help. I cannot have attachments to other men or even other women.

Gah.

...Overall older women and/or women in authority disproportionately turn out to be Bad or overtly set in opposition to Our Heroes, apart from the exceptionalist Sarah Jane.
The media doesn't seem to like portraying older women in this way, particularly because since they've surpassed their younger, meeker counterparts - lambs that didn't make it to the slaughtering block in time. The thing is, older people command respect (though this is quickly changing in our rather ageist culture), and that's not a thing anyone wants to give to women. Therefore, it's convenient to pretend that for females, life stops at thirty-three, and anything beyond it is just not talked about. And if you DO talk about it, or - the horror - live it, then you are obviously evil, an outsider, because you don't fit into our culture. You are a "witch", and you will be burned at the stake.

Re: I'm glad you shared this mix!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Really, the only way that her resurrection was not an incredibly stupid move is if he actually meant to do what he did. (Which, of course, is even worse.) After all, he does seem to have a habit of collecting immortals; one could have been an accident, two might still be stupidity with a capital "D", but if the third one comes around... Eeek.

I'm frankly a little scared to see who he makes immortal next, and how he does it. At least resurrecting Astrid didn't bring on the apocalypse? ... no, that doesn't make it better.

For bumping-off purposes, women and people of color are pretty much perfect, because it's ingrained that they're disposable: peeps of color (especially african-american men) are cannon fodder, girlpeeps are sacrificial. (One doesn't have to look much farther past Ianto's fabricated killing spree to see that.)

Trufax. I didn't even think of Ianto's imaginary killing spree, but word for nameless dead women! Perfect for (white) male angst, since the narrative generates women's pain in order to fuel a dude's!

You & your friend sound like my kind of moviegoers with the Tropical Skittle -throwing, heh.

I noticed that except for Scribble, all of the african-american men in the movie were almost exactly the same. They dressed the same, they spoke using the same phrases, they had the same expressions and they all died similar ways. In the case of the white men, however, every character had a distinct style, wardrobe, movements, even set makeup - someone had made sure that they were individually interesting.

I am nodding vigorously! Your observation skills are ace. African-American men = interchangeable cannon fodder is exactly the right description.

I'm a white chick and though we've gotten some looks hanging out together, I don't think we'd ever been more aware of that divide between us than when we were watching the black dudes getting mowed down, introducing themselves as "nightmares", being corrupt enough to kill & kill again.

Black men really get the worst of it in audiovisual representation. It's the epitome of political and aesthetic failure on the part of artists perpetrating these stereotypes. And it's so easy to go with the flow.

Instead of being cannon fodder, women - like children - are considered innocents, and so having them killed off evokes feelings of "hey, not cool". You practically tell how evil a character's supposed to be by how many broads he's bopped off. And really, in a cruel sort of ironic way, that's almost as damaging to the white men as it is to the chicks (of all colors). Because the message there is:

Women: Save us. We need protection. Our existence is point for the moral wellness of all.
Men: I need no help. I cannot have attachments to other men or even other women.

Sing it, yeah. Patriarchy damaging (white) men even as it oppresses women.

The media doesn't seem to like portraying older women in this way, particularly because since they've surpassed their younger, meeker counterparts - lambs that didn't make it to the slaughtering block in time. The thing is, older people command respect (though this is quickly changing in our rather ageist culture), and that's not a thing anyone wants to give to women. Therefore, it's convenient to pretend that for females, life stops at thirty-three, and anything beyond it is just not talked about. And if you DO talk about it, or - the horror - live it, then you are obviously evil, an outsider, because you don't fit into our culture. You are a "witch", and you will be burned at the stake.

You've tied it all together, especially with your points about how the media avoids representations of older successful women because those women didn't get bumped off earlier, and nobody wants to give them the respect one might feel is due to older people.

Yours are great comments, and I'm happy you responded to my (lengthy) remarks on media representation of fictional women and people of color. I feel inspired! Or full of renewed rage as a woman of color, or something. Thanks, and I'll be back later to pick up some music!

Re: I'm glad you shared this mix!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

Also, I laughed when I saw stupidity with a capital "D". Hee! Donna should give him a t-shirt with that on it. Although knowing him, he'd probably think it was D for Donna.

Re: I'm glad you shared this mix!

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Black men really get the worst of it in audiovisual representation. It's the epitome of political and aesthetic failure on the part of artists perpetrating these stereotypes. And it's so easy to go with the flow.

I think part of the problem is that we (and by we I mean practically every culture of the world) still hold onto that idea that everyone who does not look like us, looks the same. We say this about asian people; asian people say this about us. It's universal, in one of those really, really ironic ways. Because of this, we tend to associate different skin pigmentations with different emotions: when we want a gibbering crowd for comedic effect, we use a flock of little Asian ladies; when we need people (things, really) to blow up to a - usually, though not always - less comedic effect, we use african-american men; when we need menace to no comedic effect at all, we have a knot of middle eastern men, glaring. Automatic visual response + cultural lesson-learning usually = bad.

Aw, I feel so flattered - I inspired rage by rambling! (This is one of my greater achievements, so far.) ...Mind if I +friend? It was lovely to debate rant.

(Personally, I hold that Donna should get an "<-- I'm With Stupid" shirt. Or something. There are not nearly enough cracks made at the Doctor, when there is so much general crack'dness to laugh at.)

Re: I'm glad you shared this mix!

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I think part of the problem is that we (and by we I mean practically every culture of the world) still hold onto that idea that everyone who does not look like us, looks the same. We say this about asian people; asian people say this about us.

This is absolutely true.

Because of this, we tend to associate different skin pigmentations with different emotions: when we want a gibbering crowd for comedic effect, we use a flock of little Asian ladies; when we need people (things, really) to blow up to a - usually, though not always - less comedic effect, we use african-american men; when we need menace to no comedic effect at all, we have a knot of middle eastern men, glaring. Automatic visual response + cultural lesson-learning usually = bad.

Cogently observed and illustrated!

Aw, I feel so flattered - I inspired rage by rambling! (This is one of my greater achievements, so far.)

Ahaha. Rage is awesome*—it's a good thing I have lots of it! And friend away. I don't post that often, but I'll add you to my disorganized filters so you can hopefully see entries later (future rants, or something besides really old quizzes and crap). It's been a pleasure to rant to you and vice versa. ...I mean, share my views in a totally organized and irreproachable fashion.

*Sometimes, anyway!

Personally, I hold that Donna should get an "<-- I'm With Stupid" shirt. Or something. There are not nearly enough cracks made at the Doctor, when there is so much general crack'dness to laugh at.

It would sure save her a lot of explaining!

[braintastic.livejournal.com]

Um, I am unsure whether or not I will be downloading anything, but I'm commenting to say that I like your concept. Thumbs up for pointing out WiRs (although not for the existence of WiRs - that sucks).

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Yes, they do - but thanks!