this is an awesome, critical thread, but i sort of want to counter-thread—or tangent-thread—off of it slightly, bc there’s this thing we do re: representation that i think is deeply unhelpful in discussion— https://twitter.com/champagnesharks/status/1313189358724407299

and that is approaching representation as a forward moving action. What do i mean?

great question. The implied thesis of this thread leans toward a notion that the “wrong writers” have been employed to tackle the stories in question, and if the “right writers” were employed, the art itself would be improved in some specific ways

but representation doesn’t actually work like that—as evidenced by the points made in the actual thread lol

representation—which i would define as “identity alignment between creator and character”—cannot be considered a forward moving goal on its own, no matter how specifically you align the creators to the content

because the problem isn’t just who is or isn’t doing the creation

the problem is who is deciding what good representation is or isn’t

a “criticism” of the writer of the “Emmett Till” episode (in the thread replies) is that she repurposed the story of Till to be reflected in and by her personal lens....as though thats...ethically wrong, in some way?

the challenge is 1 side of this debate might say “she is a black woman and therefore is allowed” and the other might say “just bc you’re black doesn’t make this right”

and i’m like...y’all are both right—a story is both yours and not yours. the refraction of a story you value, by any other lens, might feel disrespectful to that story, bc it’s simply different

retrospectively, we can observe the identities of the creators and the consumers and we could try and “fix it” by aligning those identities (basically what we’re currently doing) but it won’t actually make things more or less respectful

especially if the “we” in question is dominated by its own specific demographic of producer and creator

anyway, “class and other factors” are *absolutely* important when discussing matters of representation. And also, representation is a retrospective analysis to help us learn to tell a different story—i don’t think it makes for a great story on its own.

as always, grateful for your hearts and minds this morning. Stay queer, kids