Author: Clara Mae

Clara Mae is a twenty-something year old who works somewhere in San Francisco. If not at work, is probably off eating ramen, petting dogs, or attempting yoga.
Fantasy, Movies

Fantastic Beasts is Not So Fantastic with Diversity

Update 11/25/16: The original version of this post stated that Tina was simply white. I have since realized that Tina’s full name is Porpentina Goldstein, and that she and her sister Queenie are likely of Jewish descent (and thus both have only conditional whiteness). I have updated the post with this information in mind. 

The Harry Potter universe is a world that’s followed most of us since we were kids. While in many respects it’s aged along with us — we see Harry grow up and have kids, and the film Fantastic Beasts is certainly aimed at an older audience — in other aspects it has remained disappointingly behind the times. In particular, Fantastic Beasts is yet another example in the Potterverse of how marginalized folks, particularly queer people and/or people of color, continue to be exactly that: marginalized.

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Movies, Television

Why It Matters When Women of Color Play Love Interests

I tweeted this over a month ago from The Nerds of Color handle, when I was excited about the Zendaya news and wanted to quickly hop on the celebrations. Suffice to say the tweet raised some eyebrows. The tweet fails to mention other recent castings or acknowledge the other women of color who came before them, in both film and TV. And from a feminist point of view, the inclusion of romance in a film is often considered a disservice to the female character (coughBruce/Natcough). The complex ways in which women of color are portrayed on screen is worth exploring, so let’s take a closer look at that now. How far have we come in terms of representation? And what does it mean to show a woman of color being loved?

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Books, Fantasy

10 Things to Consider If You Haven’t Read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Yet

The script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth and probably final story about Harry Potter, was finally released yesterday. Written exclusively for the stage by Jack Thorne, JK Rowling, and John Tiffany, the London play is nearly all sold out through December 2017, and Potterheads everywhere celebrated the midnight release with costume parties. Fanfare aside, the big question is, is it worth the read? Here’s ten things to consider (without plot spoilers!):

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Books, Sci Fi, Television

Netflix’s Altered Carbon and Asian Consciousness in White Bodies

A few weeks ago it was announced that Netflix is adapting Richard K. Morgan’s 2002 sci-fi novel Altered Carbon, and that the main character, Takeshi Kovacs, will be played by Joel Kinnaman.

© Brian To/WENN.com

This guy. Playing somebody named Takeshi, who is specifically described in the articles as being at least biracial Japanese.

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