E.K Johnston commissioned an artist to draw Sister, the first canon trans Clone Trooper.
In this artwork, Sister is drawn with cornrows.
At this point, people (Disney specifically) are so fucking willfully ignorant of anything Polynesian. Sister is a Clone Trooper. Which means she’s based on Temuera Morrison. A Māori man.
Cornrows have racial and cultural significance in Black culture. They are specific to Black culture. They’re not Polynesian. They shouldn’t be worn by a Polynesian woman. Black and Polynesian are not interchangeable races. Each are specific and deserve recognition and respect. Using cultural elements interchangeably is disrespectful to both parties and it’s so hurtful.
it’s hurtful to Polynesian fans like myself, who just want representation, and it’s hurtful to Black fans because their cultural identity is constantly stolen as an aesthetic.
This is such bullshit and I’m so fucking sick of it.
First: it’s a fucking fantasy. And when you write a fantasy, you can take from different cultures and mix them togheter. Clones are not Polynesian. There is no thing as Polynesia in the Star Wars galaxy. They’re inspired by Polynesian culture and inspiration can be drawn from other cultures for them
Second: it’s a fucking hairstyle. I happen to like it and I even had my hair styled like this even if I’m white. And before you start insulting the white racist american I’m not american! And if you say i can’t have an hairstyle because it’s black copyright, then you (rest of the world that is not italy) can’t make pizza, pasta, lasagne…
Third: can we focus on the fucking positive thing for once? She was just trying to do good. Shut the fuck up, you whole lot.
You… you do realize fantasy doesn’t exist in a vacuum right? And that the clones are still based on a REAL culture. The mental gymnastics on this one are boggling to me. You will admit they’re drawing inspiration from a specific culture but then we’re not allowed to get angry when they misrepresent that culture? What?
It’sjust a hairstyle TO YOU. You say you are white. I sincerely doubt you’ve been lacking for people who look exactly like you represented in media. Those of Polynesian culture ARE lacking that representation so having the clones be based off their culture is IMPORTANT, and even more important is to have it done RIGHT. Do YOU know what a Polynesian person looks like without having to google it? Do you know the trends of their looks, how their hair is styled, what shape their noses are? Their jaws, their skin color? Their eyes? Their eye shapes, the thickness/thinness of their lips? If the answer to ANY of these is no, THAT’S WHY REPRESENTATION MATTERS. Because you don’t know. Because, hell, I don’t know either! But I do know exactly all the ways a white person can look. That’s an issue.
Once again, fantasy does NOT exist in a vacuum. It is not completely isolated from the world we live in nor are we from it. It is influenced by and in turn influences us. Having proper representation matters. Can I ask you WHY the artist chose to give cornrows to this character? Why is it important for them to have this very black cultural staple? Why couldn’t they have chosen something from Polynesian culture?
I would bet it’s because the cornrows ARE recognizable as from a POC culture and that it didn’t matter which exact culture it came from. The clones are already meant to be slightly darker-skinned, and you know who else has dark skin? Black people! They’re all under the same umbrella anyway, aren’t they? Let’s just use what we know is a staple of dark-skinned people (cornrows) on this equally dark-skinned person.
Do you see why this is damaging? Do you see why this is wrong? If you don’t, let me spell it out for you: POC are not a monolith. You cannot group them all under the same label (which is ironic bc POC seems to do just that). Each culture is unique and different and should have those differences respected and celebrated, not blatantly borrowed and transposed onto some drastically different culture.
It’s NOT just a hairstyle, it’s an important piece of black culture blatantly being misused because it looks cool. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, fantasy still doesn’t exist in a vacuum. These are obviously humanoid clones and they still are bound by our laws and our rules. Hair works in specific ways. The way people look follows trends, like black people having different hair types than Polynesian people. This is going to be true no matter if it’s fantasy or not because, once again, fantasy doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is still somewhat grounded in reality because of the fact that these are human beings we are still working with. In this particular case, it’s a human being based off a Polynesian human being, and a Polynesian human being is distinctly different than a black human being.
What about Boba Fett being called daimyo in TBOBF? Isn’t it Japanese? The point of fantasy is to take inspiration from reality to make something cool, as you call it, and there is no such thing as misrepresentation when a culture is not specifically named but just used as an inspiration. I would totally agree with you if we were talking about a realistic movie with a Polynesian character, but this is not. And let fantasy run for a moment… maybe that hair means something special to her? Someone who helped her become who she is? (It could be something linked with the real meaning of it, I bet it would be a great story) Or maybe she just likes it that way?
I agree with you that her hair should look like the ones of a Polynesian, but I also think she’s free to have whatever hairstyle she likes.
@clonehub and the person so nice to tell me to stick my head in a toilet, i’m not racist. I’m the last person to call racist, but i know you won’t believe me so i’m not wasting my breath trying to convince you. Keep thinking me as the white racist shit. Your loss.
@ollovae3 italians have been discriminated, stereotyped and made fun of all around the world. Not as black people, of course, but southern italians expecially have had their fair share of discrimination. And yes, most of the times italians are made fun of, pasta is used. Since pasta is something important to our culture, it shouldn’t then be used by others because it tastes good, that’s what you’re saying.
You say probably one of the most incorrect things I’ve seen about fantasy’s roll in interactions with irl cultures and then immediately follow it up with “I’m not racist. I’m the LAST person to call racist”. How do you even measure that lmao??
As someone else already said, fantasy does not exist in a vacuum. If you draw inspiration from a culture, you have a duty to present it in a non-offensive manner. Just because it’s in space doesn’t mean it can’t be racist or bigoted. The fact that you think a) Fantasy has little to no responsibility to not be racist just because nothing is Explicitly Stated as being from X real-world culture only exposes your incredibly poor understanding of the role of fiction, especially as it works in society. The fact that you think Sister is an autonomous woman who makes her own decisions and not primarily a (misrepresented) character made a white woman only supports that fact. The fact that your Italian ass keeps thinking whatever y'all went through is comparable to what Polynesians have gone through (esp regarding representation) just makes you racist. But I know you probably won’t even read this, let alone believe me, so I’ll leave it here.
I’m not comparing what poc went through to what italians went through, of course. I know perfectly we had it easy. But the point I wanted to make on that one is that in my view culture is something that needs to be shared with the rest of the world so we can all learn something.
On the hair, i’ve already said it and I’ll repeat it, I would totally agree with you if this was set on Earth. Then it would be misrepresentation and offensive.
But Star Wars is set in another galaxy. Why couldn’t be clone culture a mix between Polynesian and Afro-American? Why do we have to represent cultures selectively even in fantasy worlds? Why can’t we fuse them together to make something new?
You completely lack any and all critical thinking skills or media literacy.
I bet you think the green light in The Great Gatsby was just green, maybe because F. Scott Fitzgerald liked the color green, but not because it symbolizes the money and wealth Gatsby believes will bring him back to Daisy.
It’s fiction–sure, but NOTHING, absolutely nothing is written in a vacuum. Do you know what that means? It means that writers and creators cannot separate themselves from real-world experiences. We are tethered to our own realities and that reality is a constraint within which we create.
Really, I can’t see why using an hairstyle on a character necessarily has to mean the author disrespects poc cultures and sees them interchangeable. Maybe she just google for hairstyles and liked this one?
And if can’t mix cultures togheter and with our own ideas, how are we supposed to create a new world and not a copy of reality?
***
I’ve already said I’m not comparing discrimination on italians to slavery, that wasn’t the point I was trying to make with my example. A dialectical failing, sorry.
For Italians being slavers, they bought a great deal of slaves from Africans. Decide for yourself what this means. And our colonial period was nearly inexistent, limited to the fascist regime. And do I have to take the blame for something done by my ancestors?
I’m not worshipping Columbus, never said I was. I know he was a slaver. And maybe it would’ve been better if he hadn’t rediscovered America.
***
My blog is new, because I’ve recently discovered Tumblr. And I’ve come here for the fandom stuff, certainly not to harass people or defend “whites” against “blacks”.
I just happened to get involved in this argument. Sorry if my presence disturbs you, but I have no intention to leave because the basis of a democracy is hearing ALL opinions. Otherwise we fall in what Toqueville called “dictatorship of the masses”
Take me as a way to exercise your debate skills. Bye.
(Oh and I like your divisor. Cool)
You can’t look at this
And say she didn’t do it on purpose.
Oh, and btw, you couldn’t have had that hairstyle either.
