By Monique
Here are this week’s blogs posts I’ve read this week:
Lots of opinions on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: It seems like either you like Tina Fey’s The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt or not. I’ve watched one episode and I didn’t really feel it. Not for any reasons dealing with stereotypes or the like; it just didn’t grab me. But it’s grabbed a lot of folks, and they have varying opinions on how the show tackles race and uses (or subverts) stereotypes.
Indian Country Today Media Network wrote about that the plotpoint of Jane Krakowski’s character being Native American and how her character is passing for white in an effort to live an affluent life. Some folks have an issue with the plotline and with a non-Native actress playing a Native character. ICTMN also asked Native Max Magazine co-editor Johnnie Jae about her thoughts, to which she said she found the plotline to be surprisingly hilarious and relatable.
Alanna Bennett created a post for The Mary Sue about the many opinions folks have about the various dealings with race on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. She references the article I linked to above as well as an article by Arthur Chu, who came away from the show thinking that the show could have pushed its offensive boundaries even further to really skewer stereotypes.
Why “Race Together” failed: Starbucks had a bad week with its “Race Together” initiative. Prof. David Shih breaks down why the initiative wasn’t well thought out, calling it a “liberal white fantasy.”
Vulture lets Deadline have it: Deadline’s “ethnic castings” article has been decried one of the lowest, stupidest, most racist and xenophobic articles out there about proper representation in Hollywood. Vulture’s Dee Lockett also went in on Deadline, outlining some of the worst quotes in the problematic article.(I’ve also written about the article!)
Diverse comic books threatened: Comic books are experiencing a bit of a rebirth with the introduction of diverse comic books featuring superheroes of different races and many who are women. But some comic book fans see it as a threat and want them removed. Matt Binder wrote about this for Salon, calling it “the new Gamergate.”
Arthur Chu interviewed: Arthur Chu originally achieved fame from Jeopardy!, but now he’s become an online celebrity, taking on race relations and gamer nerd discussions. Chu was interviewed by Esther Wang for The Awl, and the interview is rather intriguing.
The Native American showcase at SXSW: RYOT’s Ben Roffee talked with musician and activist John Trudell about the Native American music showcase that took place at SXSW, and how he’s using the showcase as a way to remind younger kids about their culture and heritage.
What do you think about these posts? Give your opinions below!
