Jiz Lee, Stoya, Nikki Darling, and Asa Akira talk about representation, the marketing of white women vs. women of color in adult movies, and how porn is still a very white industry. And unfortunately you have to click much deeper to find real, respectful diversity.
"What Porn Stars Want You To Know: We Don't All Look the Same" (Iris)
As Cassian Andor in Rogue One, Mexican actor Diego Luna decided to use his natural accent rather than adopt an American or British one. And that fact was particularly meaningful for one fan and her Mexican father. Tumblr user riveralwaysknew wrote a touching post about her father, which Luna himself shared on Twitter, noting, “I got emotional reading this!”
I got emotional reading this! #RogueOneStarWars pic.twitter.com/kfNXxYxWWI
— diego luna (@diegoluna_) January 4, 2017
The post reads:
Read the restI took my father to see Rogue One today. I’ve wanted to take him for a while. I wanted my Mexican father, with his thick Mexican accent, to experience what it was like to see a hero in a blockbuster film, speak the way he does. And although I wasn’t sure if it was going to resonate with him, I took him anyway. When Diego Luna’s character came on screen and started speaking, my dad nudged me and said, “he has a heavy accent.” I was like, “Yup.” When the film was over and we were walking to the car, he turns to me and says, “did you notice that he had an accent?” And I said, “Yeah dad, just like yours.” Then my dad asked me if the film had made a lot of money. I told him it was the second highest grossing film of 2016 despite it only being out for 18 days in 2016 (since new year just came around). He then asked me if people liked the film, I told him that it had a huge following online and great reviews.
In one simple comic, artist Gavin Aung Than celebrates the power of seeing yourself represented in art:
In this spoiler-free Twitter thread, comedian and Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani explains why Rogue One's diverse cast—and especially fellow Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed—meant so much to him:
Didn't think about structure once during Rogue. The fight in Jedha struck me. Ppl who looked like me & dressed like my ppl were good guys!
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) December 16, 2016
I held back tears for the rest of it. An action movie guy that looks like me? How cool! (And I know @rizmc only looks like me in my dreams.)
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) December 16, 2016
So I never once thought of structure or acts or anything. I just smiled, fought back tears & walked out into a better world. Ok that's all.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) December 16, 2016
Chris Wood is a councillor from the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a xenophobic party known for its leader and lawmakers' racist and sexist gaffes; this week, he added to the annals of UKIP inanity when he took to Twitter to complain that the BBC had cast a person of color as Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI. Read the rest
Our minds naturally group things in culturally specific categories -- for Americans, robins are more "bird" than albatrosses -- and we're better at categorizing more prototypical items than outliers -- but what does this mean when we group humans in categories like "real Americans"? Read the rest
