Moana. Lilo And Stich. Jango Fett.

Moana. Lilo and Stich. Jango Fett.

The three examples above have one thing in common.

They are some of the ONLY examples of accurate and non racist Polynesian representation in mainstream media.

Three. Things.

Two movies.

And one character who gets mere minutes of screen time.

Polynesian people are an after thought in society and media. Our land is “profitable” our culture “entertaining”. We are viewed like relics in a museum, pretty too look at, but never worth more than a glance. Our soul is stripped away and our culture made “ palatable” for tourists. We are seen as accessories to vacations. After thoughts.

Can you name three Polynesian actors? Without saying Jason Momoa or the Rock? Did you know Polynesians were the first people to discover Antarctica? Did you know Hawai’i was a formal kingdom? Did you know the Dole company, along with white settlers, overthrew the Kingdom of Hawai’i with the help of the US? Did you know most Polynesian native languages were ban by White Settlers? And only reinstated in the mid 1900s?

How much do you not know? And this isn’t a slight. I mean it genuinely. How has the media effected your view of Polynesia and it’s people? And If you know a lot, I admire you! Genuinely. But you can’t ignore the gap in media. This is not mainstream knowledge.

Which brings me to Star Wars specifically.

Temuera Morrison, a Māori actor, was cast to play Jango Fett in “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.” In this movie, he plays a Mandalorian bounty hunter who is payed to be a Clone donor. Using his DNA, an entire army is created. Clones of him, known as “Clone Troopers”.

Despite being Clones of a character Temuera Morrison plays, Clones have NEVER looked Māori in their main media. (The Clone Wars)

I genuinely. Do not think this was done on purpose AT FIRST. Genuinely. HOWEVER! Unintentional bias and ignorance is STILL bias and ignorance.

When you get a group of character designers and they’re all white, and they all grew up AS white people, in a world that provides the privilege of ignorance to white people, you will get ignorance. Unintentional or not. It is still racism. It’s still white washing. It’s still feeding ignorance around Polynesians.

Ignorance about Polynesians is what creates this.

Ignorance. That went unchecked. Ignorance that turned into internal bias. Internal bias that turned into racism.

How Temuera actually looks was an after thought. His round face and hooded eyes, were an after thought. His accent and body type was an after thought.

This after thought spun again and again and again, and now, the Smartest Clone is the lightest. And the Dumbest Clone is the darkest. And their faces are angular, beyond recognition.

This is racism. Plain and simple.

So how do you help?

LISTEN TO POLYNESIANS!!! Learn about our people, learn about our actors, learn, learn, learn.

Prevent ignorance by listening. Prevent internal bias by learning and unlearning.

And speak up. Call Disney out on their racism! Call out character designers on their white washing. Call out artists for their white washing.

And lastly, Have difficult conversations. No one likes to be ignorant. But sometimes we all are, and unchecked, that ignorance can light the fire of racism and harm. And it will spread, and grow, until it’s a wildfire burning everything in its path. That fire burns my people, burns me. Hurts my heart, my soul, my perception of myself.

Do not let Polynesian people be an after thought

So…I became a grishaverse fan after watching Shadow and Bone on Netflix. I personally loved Mal in the series and I didn’t understand the Mal hate on here then…but, I just finished Siege and Storm…y’all were right, my b

#teamnikolai

Boba Fett at all ages has the most “wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy” energy of any character

“I hurried my steps, and soon I was in the square where Mal and I met every evening. I spotted him leaning against the lip of a fountain, talking with his Zemeni friend he’d met working at the warehouse. I couldn’t remember his name…Jep, maybe? Jef?”

— Siege and Storm (2013) by Leigh Bardugo Chapter 1

My conspiratorial ass:

Friendly reminder that Jesper was definitely using his grisha abilities in season 1 of Shadow and Bone.

When he was shooting the volcra in the fold, the last shot he fired was emphasized by the camera angle zooming in on his gun (specifically the bullet being fired) and his eyes were closed. He made the shot perfectly.

He must have also used his abilities when facing off against Ivan. Ivan is a heartrender with an amplifier, which makes him very dangerous if he has you in his line of sight. To keep Ivan on defense, Jesper had to stay hidden and out of his sights. 

Jesper fires three shots at Ivan and all of them hit in the same exact place on his kefta. How did Jesper manage to aim so precisely three times in a row when he shot through several bed sheets and aimed at points on the wall/metal objects so the bullets would ricochet, all without a clear line of sight on Ivan? He couldn’t have. He probably used his abilities to guide the bullets toward the kefta that Ivan specifically told him was Fabrikator-made to be bullet resistant, so it probably had some kind of kevlar-like material woven into it that Jesper could have sensed and guided the bullets to. 

Jesper does something similar in Crooked Kingdom when he sends the rubber bullet at Kuwei without a good line of sight, so it’s not an unreasonable assumption that he did it to Ivan too.

When Jesper has Ivan pinned to the ground, Ivan asked “What are you?” and Jesper deflected his question. Then, Ivan said “You’re a--” but before he could finish, Jesper knocked him out and said “You should have stopped while you were ahead.”

Of course, this implies that Jesper knows that he’s using his abilities to gain the advantage when shooting, whereas he didn’t think about it in the books until Wylan pointed it out to him. But, because Shadow and Bone is an adaptation of the books, they have some creative freedom to change things around a bit (such as the timeline, character descriptions, dialogue and events, etc. that we’ve already seen changed). 

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how the show is adapting the books. The Shadow and Bone storyline is almost identical to the book (with the exception of the ending and the Crows’ involvement, of course) as well as Nina and Matthias’ backstory. I’m really excited to see how they incorporate the events of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom (and Wylan) into the show!

I agree, but I think for storytelling purposes, it was meant to be that way. It was meant to show the audience that the republic was failing and becoming corrupt, which lead to its demise.

Everything from Palpatine’s extended term limit, corrupt senators, the creation and use of the clone army, countless war crimes, the death of innocent civilians and creatures, and the Jedi order losing their way and choosing to fight in the Clone War was to help aid this narrative.

It was genius on Palpatine’s part. When you think about it, Pong Krell, Maul, the Zygerrian Queen, Barriss Offee, Trace and Rafa, Ventress, Slick, and Fives were absolutely right about the Republic’s corruptness and it’s imminent downfall. The Republic was evil, and that’s why it became the Empire. The Empire had to rise from something, and this was what George Lucas chose.

I am so frustrated rn with the people that try and make it seem like Jedi loved the clones, with maybe the exception of Plo, and maybe Shaak. The Jedi cared about the WAR, NOT their MEN. Men that trusted them, had feelings, emotions. Men that, like slick, even ended up betraying the order because hey! This life is fucked and why should we be slaves??? They may be programmed and a clone of another man, but that doesn't make them less of a person! Less of a breathing creature that deserves to make their own decisions.

You can say what you want, but they were enslaved. You saw from jedi as bad as Pong Krell, to as mild as Yoda, Anakin, or even Obi-Wan that they didn't care. Ping-Pong-Dong turned them against each other, ignoring the mission on umbara just to destroy the clones.

Anakin, as @nibeul mentioned in an absolute stellar post, fucking let a whole group of men die for a fucking R2 unit. Who tf does that? I get it, he's had R2 forever, but he killed those men! And people still stand up for him.

Obi-Wan and Yoda?? Fucking JOKES. They didn't even try to spare them. They slaughtered those men with zero remorse even if they couldn't control themselves! They were in a trance, they had a fucking chip for gods sake! How are they going to fight that? I know some could, like Rex, but not all can.

Plo was the only one that actually just let it all go .down and happen, sparing his men, his bros, even if they were in "the wrong." (Because is there really a right and a wrong in this war?? both sides suck ass in their own ways.) He was said to be the best pilot ever, right below anakin even, I think. And he didn't even attempt to fly off or fight back. He didn't want to be the reason his men died, blood on his hands. Or at least that’s how I see it.

I know this is random but FUCK, Jedi puss me off. They aren't right at all, the clones deserved better tbfh. Like honestly, if it weren't for the fact slick got some of his brothers killed, I wouldn't have blamed the guy. I would have tried to leave the order and free my brothers if I was in that situation. I would have left, because you know what, with all those men you could overthrow them. Get new fucking soldiers, not men that don't even know what happiness outside of the war is.