Announcement: the Racebending Revenge Ficathon

[dark_administrator]

Four weeks from today, on the 2nd of July, 2010, a live action movie will be opening that replaced the entirely chromatic cast of its animated TV version with all white main leads except for a brown villain. The show is Avatar: the Last Airbender, and racebending has been a fandom-motivated protest against it that has led to a wider organisation against whitewashing in Western media.

In support of the cause, we would like to announce a challenge ficathon:

Re-write one or more white characters in the fandom(s) of your choice as chromatic/non-white/PoC, in a story of at least 500 words, with some acknowledgment of how the racial difference would make a difference to the story being told.

ETA Gender-bending and Alternate Universe (AU) stories are permitted, though we ask that you focus on the racial implications of the difference between canonical character and the reenvisioned one.

For inspiration, you can turn to the chromatic re/casting posts masterlist, as well as collaborate with fanartists or vidders who might wish to participate.

Stories posted to the challenge collection at AO3 will be revealed on the 2nd of July, 2010; if you wish to post them elsewhere, we ask that you do so on the same date, and link to them at the dreamwidth community journal.

Some critics of the chromatic recasting meme pointed out that racial identity was integral to the characters because whiteness was not in fact a blank slate. We agree. We want to know how a man called Sherlock Holmes in Victorian England would function if his skin was the colour of soot, or what Latino Dean and Sam Winchester would do to convince people to trust them, and if Buffy the Vampire Slayer can be Asian and still save the world (a lot).

Please comment to this post in order to sign-up. You may mention the fandom(s) and/or character(s) you plan to racebend if you wish to let other people know that someone is doing them, but it is not necessary, and we welcome multiple takes on a character or fandom.

If anyone would like to help out with graphics for headers and icons for this comm here and over at A03, we would be delighted!

ETA: Our challenge is live, but we still welcome submissions! Our master list of fanworks is available at Racebending Revenge Challenge Fanworks & Resources, and links to fanworks for the challenge may be made there. We also welcome fanworks at Racebending Revenge Archive of Our Own Collection.

Comments

[dark_administrator]

Excellent!

[fresne]

Intriguing. Possibly a good time to finally write that Superman story in which Kryptonians are black. With that being the only difference from the original canon, a la, "Superman Red Sun". Ponders.

[cadenzamuse]

I just have to join in the \o/

[sqbr]

Hi

So: this is only for fic, not art or comics? (or for that matter vids, though I don't make those) I might draw some anyway, but it would be good to know if I can post it to the collection :)

[colouredmango.livejournal.com]

This is an awesome idea-- Is it too late for sign ups?

[livrelibre]

You have no idea how happy you just made me (how are you so awesome?!) and thefourthvine: You all know how Dark Agenda is having the Racebending Revenge Ficathon, right? Where people make a white character not white? I want someone to make Tony Stark's skin much, much darker and see what happens. I cannot even tell you how much I want that.

[esmenet]

I'd like to (tentatively) sign up for Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist.

This is such a great idea. :D

[crazymongomofo.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the nature of my posts, but to the guys at Dark Agenda, I am signing up for this story take on The Last Samurai.

Sorry if I didn't make that clear at the beginning.

[dark_administrator]

Hey there!
We are glad you want to participate in our challenge. Just to remind you of our rules, we ask that all fiction be posted on the 2nd of July. You can post it to your own journal, or to the AO3 fiction archive.

If you would like a code for the AO3, we will be creating a sign-up post in a few days where you can leave your email address in a screened comment.

We are screening your comments to this post, since it is meant for sign-ups, but we look forward to reading your complete story.

[dark_administrator]

Not at all, we don't plan to close sign-ups at all. Welcome aboard!

[dark_administrator]

Comics would be perfectly acceptible, since they have a narrative element. As do vids. The only reason we hesitate about fanart is that it seems to resemble the original chromatic casting meme in rewriting the physical body, without being able to comment on the differences such a change would make to the narrative. But if you feel that art can meet the challenge requirements, then we are more than happy to include it.

[dark_administrator]

Wonderful. We will consider you tentatively signed up!

[crazymongomofo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that.

Thanks for the code too. I would appreciate if you could provide a sign-up post soon so thank you for the opportunity.

[sqbr]

Yeah, it occurred to me about five minutes after posting that it would be difficult for straight art to fit the challenge properly, though comics could. Still, it's good to know it's eligible in theory, and thanks for getting back to me so quick!

[jordan-the-kid.livejournal.com]

I know this might sound like a dumb question but how do we submit the stories?

[grey_bard]

Hmmmm... Okay, I have a question. Would it count if I au-ed a regeneration (or added a regeneration) of The Doctor to make him (visually) of non-white ethnicity?

Culturally, his background would still be the same (alien!) but the way humans from the modern day reacted to him would be different.

This is particularly of interest due to the, ahem, situation surrounding the last time he was cast. (The Doctor is going to be black! Oh wait no he isn't.)

[chaosraven]

This looks amazing! I'm going to have to think about who to use, but I really hope to create something!

[st_aurafina]

Do you have enough volunteers for headers and icons? Would icons for people's fics be something worth offering?

[dark_administrator]

Excellent, we look forward to your contribution!

[dark_administrator]

Absolutely! Given the racial implications of how the Doctor gets treated, racebending his physical body would make a very big change to the narrative, and we look forward to how you might tell that story.

[dark_administrator]

If Edward Elric considers himself White then yes, the character is eligible for racebending; however we would like to caution in general about anime and manga characters who might read as white for certain white audiences, but in fact fit within the Japanese tradition and ethnicity.

Glad you want to sign up!

[dark_administrator]

You can request a code for the archive here!

[dark_administrator]

Also, most authors would probably love to collaborate with fanartists who would like to create art for the fic! Would you like a special brainstorming post for that? We don't know how much interest there is in the challenge from fanartists yet; which is probably our fault for seeming exclusionary.

[dark_administrator]

We personally would love headers, both for the comm in general, and the challenge in specific, as well as an icon or two for the mod account.

Icons and manip art for people's fic would probably be pounced on with delight, so give us a day or two to gauge interest for a brainstorming/collaboration sign up post.

[dark_administrator]

Not a dumb question at all, please don't worry!

We would suggest that you sign up for an Archive of Our Own account by leaving your email address in a comment to this post.

Once you have an account, you can post your story there at any time, and it will remain hidden from everyone else until the challenge collection goes live on July 2, 2010.