Step 47: Leave The Past In The Past

I learned a few tough lessons last year, and one experience in particular had me fleeing social media for months on end (hence why I haven't posted here in ages). The trust I had placed in people whom I thought I could confide in had been betrayed, and as a result I failed to uphold the trust others had placed in me. It was a lose-lose situation all around, and those bridges dumpsters have regrettably been burned.

An apt metaphor for 2016 on the whole.

It took me several months, but I've finally pruned most of my social media accounts to remove any vestiges of whatever might threaten to remind me of that awful period in my life. Not because I harbor any ill will toward anyone, but because I live in a perpetual state of anxiety and the thought of imposing my online presence on anyone who wants me to go die in a fire turns my insides into knots. If for whatever reason I unfollowed or unfriended anyone reading this by mistake, please consider sending me a message and I will correct my error.

Feel free to slide right on into my DMs.

Now that that's out of the way, I have... well, really nothing new to report. I'm working on another illustration project at the moment that will be announced sometime in the near-ish future, and it's all very glamorous work (and by glamorous, I mean me sitting in my studio hovering over my tablet for hours on end and drinking copious amounts of coffee). I'd like to think that I'll have much more to write about soon considering everything I have queued up in the pipeline, but we all might die in a nuclear fallout tomorrow, so who knows. At the very least, you can find me posting on Twitter and Facebook once again.

Still better than Donald Trump's Twitter account.

Step 37: Stand Up

Please forgive my absence; it's been a tough weekend.

I haven't talked about it on my blog, but my book is an LGBTQ story.  An agent asked me recently what my goals were for Defining Lines, and this was my response:

"I wrote Defining Lines as my contribution to the LGBTQ movement. I’m not a politician and it’s unlikely I will ever sway the masses or be in a position to enact laws that protect LGBTQ rights, but by writing this book I am offering my voice to those who might not be able to speak up. It might come as a surprise that I identify as a straight, cisgendered woman, but I wrote this story simply because it was something I wanted to read. I wanted to read about the lives of ordinary people living under extraordinary conditions, who may choose to live a life in secret for their own safety but are nonetheless brave for being true to themselves. I wanted to normalize the idea that love is love, no matter who you are attracted to or how you identify yourself. I wanted young gay and transgendered people to see Defining Lines not hidden away in some tiny boutique that specializes in LGBTQ literature, but proudly on display in the Young Adult section at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com next to Anna and the French Kiss and The Fault In Our Stars, because the story of Defining Lines is the story of millions of people who shouldn’t feel marginalized because of who they are."

In light of the events in Orlando, my resolve to make this book available to every underrepresented individual in this country is stronger than ever. My goal in life is to live long enough to see the day when two men kissing doesn't even register on anyone's radar, and for trans people to be able to live their lives openly and to the fullest without nary a blink of judgmental eyes. If Defining Lines can help normalize that ideal and sway even one person towards the idea that love is love in all forms, I'll die a happy person.

I sure do, John Oliver.  And I'm singing right along with them.

Step 6: Consider The Following

Since I don't have any news to report on the literary front, and since this blog is my own little corner of the web for me to do as I please, I'm going to discuss my feelings on something that has been making the rounds of the internet the last few days. I recognize it's a touchy subject, and as an upper-middle class, heterosexual, cisgendered, white female, I am acutely aware of the fact that my voice will not weigh as heavily as others (which is 100% understandable and totally okay by me).

It has to do with a little movie called Ghost in the Shell.

Motoko Kunasagi or Mary Kemp? You decide.

I'm just going to get this out of the way right off the bat: I don't agree with this casting decision. I've loved Scarlett Johansson ever since I saw her in The Horse Whisperer, but this doesn't have anything to do with her acting abilities. Ghost in the Shell is an established world set in futuristic Japan, and the main character has a name that clearly reflects her ethnicity. I absolutely believe that there is a systematic cycle of whitewashing in Hollywood, and this casting choice just reinforces that fact. An amazing opportunity to cast a minority actress in the lead role has been squandered.

"But Shea!" you might say. "Ghost in the Shell is a work of fiction! She's a cyborg! Maybe she changed her face! Maybe the producers needed a big name attached to the movie to get it funded! Aren't you happy that a beloved manga and anime series is getting a Hollywood adaptation?"

My response to all of the above is: Perhaps. Yes, I'm happy to see that Hollywood is showing interest in some of my favorite stories. Yes, it is a work of fiction, and we've seen a few directors step up to cast actors that go against the established grain, like Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm. But before you unleash your cries of unfairness and double standards, let me just point out that there is no shortage of movies for white actors to star in. All minorities want is their slice of the pie.

...without being the token black guy. There, I said it.

I don't think that's asking for too much. And with Ghost in the Shell, there's an added layer of insult to injury in the fact that Hollywood has backed a movie clearly set in Neo-Japan, but decided that the one thing that would make it better is by casting a white actress in the lead role that was clearly intended to be an Asian character. You know what that's called? Cultural appropriation.

Say it ain't so!

Now, cultural appropriation is a loaded term. There are some instances that are so obvious we as a society have (completely mostly somewhat) eradicated them from our system. Black face is one example, as is wearing a Native American headdress if you haven't touched an enemy in battle.  There are other instances that fall more into a grey area, like caucasians wearing their hair in traditionally black styles; I would love to sport braids, but I have listened to what people of color are saying, and out of respect I have opted not to wear them.

So what about instances where a society encourages other ethnicities to embrace aspects of their culture? Is it still cultural appropriation if someone of said culture says it's okay? I'm not asking this as a rhetorical question--I actually need to know. Because if it isn't, I have a pretty uncomfortable revelation for you: I have cosplayed as Motoko Kunasagi myself.

Dun dun DUN.

In fact, it isn't even the first time I've cosplayed as someone Japanese...

Sakabatō fictionalized for dramatic purposes.

...or changed my skin color to more accurately portray a character...

Does this chainmail make my ass look big?

Granted, Fran from Final Fantasy XII is technically an alien species, but when I put on the makeup for the first time in 2007, admittedly cultural and racial appropriation was not on my mind. It has since been brought to my attention that darkening your skin--even for silly purposes like cosplay--is not kosher in this day and age, and I would hesitate to do it again.

There's obviously a wide gap between cosplay hobbyists and Hollywood, and I never considered attempting to make myself look more Asian anytime I wore a culturally-specific costume, but it's still food for thought. I am an active member of the cosplay community, and the last thing I want to do is trample on other people's feelings in a misguided effort to show my love for a fandom. To that effect, I am still trying to understand the nuances of appropriation within the grander scheme of things, such as casting a Chinese actress in a Japanese role, or a cisgendered actor in a transgendered role. There is something to be said about taking baby steps when it comes to bringing a traditionally closeted subject to the forefront of Hollywood--I am thankful that shows like Ghost in the Shell and Transparent are finally getting the spotlight they so richly deserve--but how long can we give them a pass in favor of exposure before getting to the heart of the matter and pointing out why they are flawed?

The world may never know.