A Letter to Miranda July, and my overall issue regarding casting minorities in Hollywood

Dear Miranda July,

I recently read your most recent and debut novel The First Bad Man. I finished it within a week, which took longer than expected due to my hectic schedule at that time. I never bought it. I never buy books, especially novels (the only exceptions are some graphic novels, literary classics and some used novels/novels on sale). Instead, I placed it on hold and waited as the 455-something-th person in line. I was fine. In fact, it built my anticipation for reading this more.

Before I get on to the issues regarding this novel, let me go back in time to when I first discovered Miranda July. A very close friend of mine was reading No one Belongs Here More Than You when we were in high school. The stark yellow of the slim book intrigued me and the your deer-caught-in-headlights look on the back cover. So much so that when I was sixteen, I accumulated enough money of my own to purchase one out of the two copies sold at my local Chapters (at that time).

At the time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Truly. Some scenes still stick with me, which in the case of other books I've read,  have been long since forgotten about.

From there, you were (kind of?) on my radar. I remembered your limited edition of No one Belongs Here More Than You with the variation of book colour choices. I remembered your art installation [specifically Eleven Heavy Things], which I wrote a whole critique on in my art class.

I later watched Me And You And Everyone We Know when spotting it at my public library (for context: I volunteered at my local public library and one of the duties was shelving DVDs. Scored some pretty rad ones as I had first grabs at a lot of them!). I didn't finish it (not in the hating-it way but I-honestly-can't-remember-why way) but one scene in particular (the two girls watching the guy looking at the girls from his window scene) was one was brought laughter from both my dad and myself. 

Another project that popped up on my radar was We Think Alone. I subscribed, read some, forgot all about it. At the time, I didn't mind Dunham so I wasn't surprised that she was one of the correspondence.
Now, I'm not surprised they're friends, and not in a good way.

Another project she did with some fashion designer was a bag that represented a women's "going out for the night/club/bar/event" bag.
It's a clutch called "The Miranda". It retails for $1500 (still on sale by the way. Gee, I wonder why). It showed me personally of a too good for you air and attitude and exuding this bougie-ness which I never thought she had prior to this project.

Then, and I don't know how I discovered this (by myself anyways) on my newsfeed, but Miranda July was coming to Toronto to talk about her book (mentioned first paragraph), her life and other artworks, etc. I was estatic. So much so, I was extremely disappointed when I found out that tickets were sold out (it was a free event) but hopeful when I read that I might have a chance if I come 15 min before the show started (in case of no-shows).

I show up to the event with this glimmer of hope and luckily for myself if worked out. I sat down, listened attentively, had a question (but didn't have a chance to ask it) and even re-purchased the damn yellow book so I could get it signed (in all fairness, the first one I bought as a ripe teenager got warped in a rainstorm). They were selling The First Bad Man there too, don't get me wrong, but to me it's not worth $25.00.

And boy am I glad I did not spend that amount.

As I read the book, something was rubbing me the wrong way about it. At first I couldn't place my finger on it, but soon I came to the conclusion: race.
Yes, race. Yes, I understand that most people in the United States are white. Yes, books are allowed to describe race. No, they should not be done (anymore anyways) in the manner July used. Ever.
It's a little subtle at first, but then becomes a pattern. Consistent.

Here's an example.
Any character that's described and is white is described by their expression, hair, eyes, lips, face-shape, clothes, everything to the air they produce.

Then, there's "The Indian mother", and "The Asian chubby girl" and "The Hispanic women"

....
Seriously.
Seriously????

COME ON!

Besides this being the worst book of your, and goddamn Lena Dunham praising it, pushing this book into hypedome (didn't know that until recently but not surprised), this irked me to no end. I'm comparing this to the first Hunger Games novel, to which the author described people of colour by their features and not just race. It brings the issue of your perception of people that aren't white like you and encourages society of how other races should be described, which is entirely wrong.

It bothered me to a point where I was trying to re-collect the memories of your short stories, and I couldn't for the life of me remember such atrociousness about race. However, I'm doubting that at the moment and will go back to that book to confirm.

I hope one fine day (but in reality never)  read this and acknowledge my problem with the book. It it a serious issue amongst the numerous issues minorities deal with that while may seem slight, has a much bigger impact than you can imagine.

Yours truly,

Me

 PS. Somebody? More like Nobody (seriously, no one bothers being the messenger).

Which brings me to Hollywood and media with minorities.
It is a huge issue still to see other races case in titular roles, or have any speaking role in a film (when it is not a film based on colour as the main theme). This is such a huge issue still because at this point in the century, any goddamn fucking character played in a film (minus a biopic) can and should be played by anyone.

Race. Does. Not. Matter. When. Casting. Roles.

And yet, it does.
Don't bullshit me about "not enough minorities want to be in Hollywood". That is bullshit and you are fed lies from other people or are in serious denial.

Yes, there's The Mindy Project. But that' one, one. And after the black nurse on the show, it's all white people.

And don't get me started on the "token black guy/girl" which nowadays just is "token minority" in media.

I am riled up about this because it's 2015 and unless we start altering things, it's never going to be altered. So many people of colour are struggling in Hollywood and while casting directors are to blame, so are so many more people out there, July included.

With all this in mind, please check out Buzzfeed's article (aka my inspiration for this additional rant as this sums up my issue with Hollywood so beautifully) on Dylan Merron's work.

Rants & Raves v12.0 (and counting)

As I wrote the title I immediately recalled the amount of posts I have probably made that involved ranting and raving and realized how many different versions have existed since I formed this blog at the start of the teenage years (ogahd).

Usually I would file this under "tumblr" but this time it pertains to work ethic, working with people (well not really in this case) and most of all people's goddamn perception of you in the work force (or university force? Both I guess).

As much as this should not irk me, it really does. People's perceptions, whether it is based on whatever past life experiences they've had, blindly ignorant of the entire universe and its surroundings or is completely insecure about themselves have the galls to bring it upon themselves to automatically determine the incompetence of a person especially ESPECIALLY if you have never even worked with this person in any particular project.

Just...NOPE.

Even when working on a project (in fact I kind of wish a course was more involved in collaboration this year as apparently isn't enough for some people) is trying gain perspectives of all sides of the situations and work things out before hand before dividing and conquering to no avail. This has not occurred many times but when it has I feel the ending result is no one being very satisfied.
To be fair, I could speak up more, but when it comes to myself and groups, everything feels lost in translation or there are very few times any sort of compromise occurs.

Or in this case, I'm the wheeler side-eyeing Ash. 

Now, forget about group projects for a second and let's focus on that person. This person who as I have mentioned before has never worked in a group project but already dismisses or chooses to ignore your skill sets and believes--yeah without even working with you on a project--that you do jack shit in the past projects you have worked on.

Really? really. I pity the fool, I pity ....it! 

When trick asses like this show up, and when you actually know that sooner or later you are enevitably going to work with them, it's just best to focus on your goals and basically prove them the fuck wrong.


All I can say, and end off this post, is this:

After all this time?

It's crazy.
To think it all started with a girl on my bus.
A girl whom I still follow on Twitter these days anyway.
Mentioned Teen Vogue, and how she was going to their Fashion U conference.
Back then, the minimum age was 13.
Back then, things seemed a lot different.
The conference sounded interesting and I've always wanted to attend..and still do (where's the money though hahaha).
However, this led me to purchasing an issue of Teen Vogue (unfortunate that it had Taylor fucking Momsen on the cover...fortunate enough to lead me to Aimée Han and her blog).
Thereon, I got sucked in the blogging community, particularly the fashion blogs and bloggers.
I still recall from the blog, cavaan (more specifically an ezine), I discovered Tavi Gevinson and prior to that Tommy Ton and Sea of Shoes (I fucking hate her though...sorry). The Sartorialist, Susie Bubble..the list is endless.
Though upon realization that blogging my way to fame is useless, and the industry itself is not only competitive (which industry isn't nowadays?) but wasn't something I was outrageously talented in.
However, it is still my hobby.
Though not exactly skinny enough, or even have the money to purchase a Birkin, let alone a Hermès scarf, I'm still stuck on style.

It's kind of funny how this has also transformed into a gaming blog of sorts. I describe my process here anyways. It would be nice to submit some portfolio work here too, but I may just stick to beauty/OOTDs/Hauls/Food and actually try to keep my deviantart as active and alive as possible.

And to answer the question: Always, always.

Media....and it's culture(ness)(noscity?) depiction of South Asians

Let me first start by going off topic.

I've recently started hearing from all the fandoms  about Hannibal. I knew at first (to my dismay then) that this was a TV show as the fangirls  people talking about it were mostly only into TV shows. The only Hannibal I knew of was from Silence of the Lambs and that was a brilliant film with some brilliant acting and script writing and plot as a whole.

However, I decided to give the show a chance and whaddya know? I really like it! It is very reminiscent of Criminal Minds (which I've stopped watching...it's getting far too repetitive) but Madds Mikkelsen depicts Hannibal so well and his chemistry with Will Graham is great. FYI, this revolves around the first novel of the Hannibal series, The Red Dragon (I have yet to read those. I'll add them to my long list of must-reads).

*****

Now where  was I? Oh yes.

Throughout the past couple years or so...probably more but it seems more apparent nowadays, is the rise of South Asian actors/actresses in TV/Movies. (FINALLY!!)

Remember how there was always the token black kid? Then later you'd spot that one Asian kid? And finally, there's the "brown" kid! 

Okay this might not be the BEST example.

What brought me to this discussion was seeing Mindy Kahling from The Office, who not only was one of the main writers for the show (besides being a producer and directing a few episodes), she also starred in the show and is currently producing/directing/writing AND starring her own show called The Mindy Show starring none other than herself. 

Wikipedia states how she is the first South Asian American to be the main star of a North American TV Show (or just American?). This makes me feel how this wouldn't occur otherwise if someone else was in control of the show (and production house..) but other than that, it's taken a huge leap from South Asians just being simple secondary cast members (with the exception of Kal Penn)!! I think it also helps that she's not supermodel skinny and quirky and in my opinion, hilarious.

I've talked to other friends who are South Asian but many said they disliked it (not their style..understandable) or they don't know why they watch it :/ I found that whoever from my high school watching this may have a bit of a shocker as she has sex with other guys (gasp) and is not über cultural. -_-
Let's not forget some who are main cast members!

Yet sometimes, I feel that we're taking a few steps backward here...especially in the movie industry.

Today, I saw Star Trek: Into Darkness with a friend of mine. She mentioned how some people were saying that Benedict Cumberbatch was portraying Khan. 

Me reaction: 

Benedict is awesome and a God for all I know but WHAT or more importantly WHY. Wrath of Khan was a white guy back then, but considering it's 2013, you'd think they'd change that... sigh. Especially considering the starship of the fleet...maybe change Khan's name...I dunno! 

Personally, one the bigger reasons I liked this film was due to Cumberbatch's performance so I'm glad he was in this but him as Khan? Maybe it's just me...

Update: this article sums it up better than I can.