In topic: "Racial: When all black homestucks hang their heads in shame bc of the voice actors "
There's a level on which I'm fine with the castings even if they go into the show, I guess,but yeah it is pretty frustrating. Jade's pretty indicative of the dissonance for me here--on an individual level I find the idea of the voice actor for Tails (and Genis from Tails of Symphonia! both really formative characters for me) playing Jade really exciting.
On the other hand she and Jake are the characters I particularly fixate on racially, as fellow islanders. (To a lesser extent Roxy and Dirk also fall into this space for me.) I like black/varied poc reads for all the other characters too of course, and it's not even like Jade and Jake are Caribbean since it's a Pacific island, *and* I know that singling Jade and Jake out to be The Brown Ones has its own messy representational history anyway, but they're just the ones I imprinted on as a teen so its just how I feel. So having Jade be white feels particularly disappointing, personally.
That's kind of where I'm at. Ultimately I think race in Homestuck is inescapably unsatisfying to me--I don't think more varied trolls would make me feel better because the trolls are themselves kind of a subtly different racialized category and I think having *their* castings be diverse but the kids be all white would be just about the worst case scenario.
But even in a world where all the castings change after the pilot and it gets a lot better in that respect, the truth is Homestuck is fundamentally a story of U.S. exceptionalism where a bunch of kids adjacent to the States specifically get to live/matter and we never hear from anyone from any other country again, even if I very charitably imagine that Grandpa and Mom really saved lives by mass distributing Sburb.
The point being, even if I imagine Jake and Jade as Caribbean or Dave and Dirk as afrolatin (and I do), and they're played by actors who reflect some version of that or another headcanon, it's not like there's ever a world where they would speak *Spanish* in the story, and to me the politics of race are tied into the politics of geography and language-- so this is an aspect of Homestuck that's just always going to quietly suck for me.
It's still really good in other ways. I still think its valuable to voice a desire for better, and especially to celebrate fans when they do the transformative work that makes these characters into mirrors of us, and even if it's a broken promise I do still appreciate the araciality gambit for enabling that to some extent.
But Homestuck is kind of a story about the psychological reality of american empire to the bones, and white as default is baggage that comes with that too, I think. A truly racially diverse/positive version of Homestuck would look completely different as a story to me, I think.
Sorry for the rambleeee I am more or less sorting out my feelings about it in real time since I came across this thread.
'"I thought this was a love story," you say.
Your Lola's insistence has remained with you since the beginning, and you say these words in a quiet manner, with a shrug, as if to let these performers know it is fine, it does not matter that much, this thought—that maybe the definition of what a love story is could be stretched to include all that has up till now taken place. You say it like an apology. Like it is a thing to be apologized for.
A runaway child, charging through the porcelain shelves:
I thought this was a love story. I had hoped this was a love story.
You say it with shame, embarrassed at having said it, wishing you could take it back.
You say it, worried that you have betrayed some secret part of yourself that does not wish to be exposed—
an old gremlin in you, sick and yearning. You say it with hope.
Timid, and without conviction.
The hope of someone who knows they are about to wake from a dream to a reality they do not understand. The pub awaits, as does your empty bed.
I thought this was a love story.
You regret having said it; as if you know it will lessen the quality of the tale. Rob it of its smoke and shadow. But still, you say it.
And this moonlit body smiles. And from the wings the patting of the drums slowly builds, and the curtains behind the dancers rise. Because you are right, this moonlit body tells you;
This is indeed a love story. Down to the blade-dented bone.'
-You, in the Inverted Theater - The Spear Cuts Through Water
"I don't care if the best I can hope for is half of what I want. I'm not here for a realistic outcome. I'm just going to fight! Forever! With perfect greed! Until I get everything!"
-Saturn, Heaven will be Mine
