By David Futrelle
In these troubled times, it’s good to know that the guys at One Angry Gamer have their priorities straight. Forget police violence, forget the tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths caused by Trump’s utter mishandling of the coronavirus. The crucial issue of our time is exactly how short the shorts of Faye from Cowboy Bebop should be.
As you may know, Cowboy Bebop is a famously sexy Japanese anime show from the nineties that Netflix is resurrecting as a live-action series.
But one element of the original might not make it into the reboot: the exceedingly skimpy clothing of the character Faye. In an interview with io9, you see, show writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach mentioned that Faye’s outfits will be toned down a scootch because “we need to have a real human being wearing that.”
Naturally this has made Billy D of One Angry Gamer even angrier. Accusing Netflix of having
a certain kind of formula … which almost always undermines the original work to push some kind of subversive, Left-wing oriented message,
he laments that their version of the
Cowboy Bebop show will not be faithful to the original, especially when it comes to how sexy Faye is supposed to be dressed.
Who likes short shorts? Apparently not Netflix.
Billy is especially outraged by the idea that cartoon Faye wears clothes not fit for a real human.
So basically, wearing short-shorts, thigh-high stockings, thong suspenders, and a cropped V-neck sleeveless halter-top isn’t something “a real human being” would wear?
Well, no, it’s not. I’ve seen plenty of skimpy outfits in my day but I’ve never seen anyone dressed like Faye walking down the street.
You mean to tell me that real women have never worn what Faye has worn?
Generally speaking, no.
So the women who attend sporting events in the summer wearing cropped tops and short-shorts aren’t real human beings?
He then shows women wearing much less revealing shorts than Faye. And without the thigh-high stockings.
You mean to tell me that celebrities like Lady Gaga wearing cropped tops and short-shorts with heels are women who aren’t real human beings?
Well, no, but to be fair Lady Gaga once wore a dress made entirely of meat that has its own entry on Wikipedia. One time she wore this. And another time she wore this. In other words, she’s not really a good bellwether for “what real people wear” in the real world.
In the comments, One Angry Gamer’s completely normal readers responded in completely normal ways.
“I’m just done,” wrote one.
let this shitty society burn and let the kikes take over and let everyone go extinct
Another responded:
Nah.
lets burn the kikes instead and take BACK the society we once held dear
only this time, no more sympathy for subhumans
Huh. If I were running One Angry Gamer I’d be a little more perturbed by my own readers’ inhumanity than by the exact shortness of Faye’s short shorts.
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While I don’t find the anime Faye particulary skimpy, her attire also isn’t important to the show. Who care about changing minors details ?
@Ohlmann
Apparently this ‘gentleman’s*’ boner cares.
*using the word in it’s losest possible sense.
@Nagfljar : while antisemitism from Rowling is definitely a real possibility, in the popular culture the archetype of greedy humanoid creature is based on jewish caricature, so it’s super easy to continue them without realizing. Antisemitism by laziness in other words.
See also : that flying slave keeper in Star War the Phantom Menace ; the goblins in World of Warcraft (even if their hyperactive nature and frightening love for technology and explosive help disguise that). If memory from warcraft are right, it seem that warcraft goblins took the greedy trait because they already looked like the stereotype for greedy race and not the other way around.
It’s somewhat similar to how black-skinned non human tend to indicate a savage and wilder subspecie (black orc, black troll typically), and people don’t do that as a jab to africans even if they contribute to continue the stereotype.
@Naglfar: Being a lesbian (who is apparently both butch and femme at the same time *shrug*) I read that post of Rowling’s rolling my eyes. But the responses were pretty damn funny! Just a question for folks though, where does the whole person who definitely isn’t imaginary but just happens to live in Canada thing come from?
https://nitter.net/deeeeewarrick/status/1269396283195658240#m
That tweet summarize how pathetic is Rowling pretty well.
OT: how to bunker:
https://twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1269411521987256320
@Ohlmann
I know it’s easy to do unintentionally because it’s engrained in the culture, but it is still harmful to pass this on in children’s entertainment.
@Varalys
How does that work? Do you present as one on some days and the other on other days?
It says here that it’s because Canada is a big country and has certain stereotypes about its inhabitants. And if you’re in the US it’s close but still far away at the same time (i.e. closer than Europe but still a long drive from most places in the US).
O/T: Republican Congressmen are now making fake civil war flyers that are supposedly from Antifa. I’m not sure what’s sadder, that they thought anyone would take it seriously or that many Republicans are.
@Nagflar : you dress one of your side in a butch way, the other in a femme way. Because the society is tolerant you can choose whether it’s your right side or your left side that is butch.
As for the stupide republican propaganda, the rule #1 of propaganda is to say things people want to hear. That immensely lower the barriers for it to be believed.
It do work on everyone, not jsut on guillible, frightened, hateful people ; but thoses are even more likely to bite. Still something to be on the lookout for. I personally made way too much time to doubt the supposed video of a black agent of the FBI in civil being controlled by police and chewing on them.
@Ohlmann
What settings do that? The only settings I can think of with a darker-skinned sub-group of nonhumans are the Lord of the Rings (film versions) and classic Warhammer Fantasy. And in both of those, the “black orcs” were more intelligent and disciplined than the common ones.
As for Warcraft, it has long had issues of trying to subvert problematic fantasy tropes and then… not actually doing so. Especially the whole setup of “While the Alliance and the Horde look like stereotypical ‘good races versus evil races’ conflict, neither is good or bad and both are shades of grey.”
Then you actually play the games and discover that no, the Horde ARE the bad guys, even as the developers (and a scarily large number of players) insist that their many, many war crimes (from destroying cities with bioweapons to genocide to slavery) are in fact totally justified, but the Alliance are Terrible Villains because they… once destroyed a military training camp after allowing the civilians to evacuate, and because they say mean things about the Horde and are therefore Evil Bigots.
@Naglfar: It’s super weird. Like I wear men’s clothes, always have done since I was a kid. My current uniform is skate shorts, nerd t-shirt, checked men’s shirt and hoodie. If my hood is up and my face is hidden I get misgendered quite a bit. But I have quite a soft face and waist length hair, so when that comes down I’m suddenly femme. When I was clubbing back in the 90’s in Manchester’s gay village, even though I was wearing jeans and a shirt and had massive shoulders from lifting, I got accused of being a straight and usually had to snog a woman I was with to “prove” I wasn’t and be let in! So yeah, I mean I am a cis woman and just dress in what is comfy for me and don’t cut my hair because hair is a pain to maintain otherwise, but like I say I am Schrodinger’s Lesbian 😀
@Allandrel : it’s the case in numerous D&D settings too, as well as less well known stuff like the Confrontation universe.
Note that black orcs as you say are more intelligent and disciplined than the regular one, but also more brutal and savage, and they are meant to be bad.
For World of Warcraft, they fail at it, but remember the Alliance have been shown to :
* try to enslave natives (in Vol’dun in particular)
* eradicate religious minority (Mag’har most proeminently)
* warmongering hard against the Horde (Jaina in particular, but also a lot of quest objective in the horde)
However, the *leadership* of the horde have been alway depicted as either incompetent or hitler-level or evil, while the leadership of the alliance have alway be competent and well meaning.
Generally speaking, if you play as the horde, you *do* see the Alliance as a bunch of fascist. The way events are framed and the one you see make sure you can’t sympathize with the Alliance. In a meta level, it’s good, but most people probably don’t see the fine prints.
@varalys the dark
My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada
Avenue Q
The Bert-like character (who is definitely not…that way…because he has a real girlfriend!) sings it.
A very out gay fellow I know played that role in a local production.
He was fantastic.
@Varalys
I find this rather interesting in and of itself, for a few reasons. First, I would think going to such a club in the first place would suggest that one is in fact sapphic, as straight women probably don’t often go to lesbian clubs. Second, femme lesbians exist now and I would assume they existed then as well. Third, that test doesn’t make much sense to prove gayness, as a straight woman could probably snog another woman and feign affection even if she weren’t attracted.
Though I guess this is yet another case where gatekeeping doesn’t make much sense.
@Naglfar and others commenting on cultural anti-Semitism: Thank you so much. And Naglfar, the Star Wars slave trader you’re referring to is Watto: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Watto
Anyway, I have another example to add: the Ferengi from latter-day Star Trek. Their entire culture is based on greed and mercantilism (they live by a code called “Rules of Acquisition”), and IIRC, almost all the various Ferengi characters have been played by Jewish actors. As Naglfr and others have observed, stereotypes such as the “greedy Jew” have such cultural power that they are spread by creators who would never use them intentionally. (The infamous Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks is another example of a negative stereotype — in this case, the ignorant, clownish black man — being transferred to an alien.)
That’s the one. The list is mirrored at https://onepetulantgamer.net
@personalpest
Yeah, Watto and the Ferengi are also rather problematic for the same reason, that even if unintentional they perpetuate negative ideas about minorities.
I can believe that the goblins might be unintentional (though it wouldn’t surprise me if it was intentional), but I feel like it would have been hard to make Watto without knowing about the resemblance to Jewish stereotypes. He wears a hat not dissimilar from a yarmulke, he speaks with a Yiddish accent, and he has a large nose.
@pk1154: THANKYOU!! Sorry it gets quoted quite a bit online and I always feel out of the loop.
@Naglfar: Ah well see come the mid-90’s gay was suddenly trendy here in the UK when I was at Manchester University. We were well known to have all the best pubs and clubs and straight women who just wanted to go out and dance without being leered and pawed at enjoyed the gay clubs immensely. I know this cos my usual clubbing group contained two straight women, who apparently looked more lesbian than I did. Humph. The Paradise Factory was the strict one because on the night we usually went The Loft (the upstairs dancefloor, the place had three levels) was women only and had limited space. Damn that was a fun space to strut my funky stuff in once I was finally let in. Place shutdown along time ago, but the happy memories never fade.
Re the whole Canadian SO thing … interestingly enough, before I fell in love with Mr. Parasol, I was in an LDR with a fella from Montreal. Luckily the whole “lives in Canada” wasn’t quite a thing yet. Unluckily, my phone bill was ridiculous.
This reads like the sarcastic comment someone might have made mocking One Angry Gamer on this post, but it’s just… it’s just what he actually said. Parody proof.
@PersonalPest
I would argue that the Ferengi are a different case, for the twin reasons that they were principally created by a Jewish man and that the creators are quite explicit about the symbolism they put in, right down to the name. “Ferengi” means, essentially, “white people”. The Ferengi are us, the United States, as we look to the Federation.
They are specifically identified as being akin to “Yankee traders” in their first appearance in season one of Star Trek TNG “The Last Outpost”.
@Varalys
Ah, I didn’t know that re: gay clubs in the 90s. Thank you for the explanation.
I was looking for reviews of Monster Train when I found an otherwise glowing review on One Angry Gamer, that had to have an aside about how the designs for the female monsters weren’t “creative” enough.
For reference, here’s one of the first players are likely to see: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/RY1Rmm
@Naglfar: No probs! It was kind of funny, when I started going out in The Village as the gay bit of Manchester was called in 93, it was kind of furtive, you watched your back for trouble, there was a feeling of oppression in the air. By 1995/6 the area was one of the safest and vibrant in the city and so lively even in the winter months there would be crowds drinking and laughing along Canal Street (a much vandalised sign as you can imagine) where most of the pubs and bars were. After the incredibly homophobic head of the Manchester police retired, the force started mending fences with the community almost instantly and did extensive outreach (I know this because I attended a couple of discussion groups at the Lesbian and Gay Centre). So it was always being policed by the mid-90’s but they were protecting us not threatening us (for what it’s worth Manchester Police tweeted in support of BLM and afaik have not provoked the crowds at the cities protests). Ooh I’m all nostalgic now, might have to put some Happy House on!
The Drow are a fairly famous D&D race of black-skinned elves that live underground, are matriarchal, and are 99% of the time innately chaotic evil.
Whole lotta implications there.
(Duergar are similarity evil Dwarves that are typically depicted as being darker than their innately good counterparts, though typically they are grey rather than black.)