Live Blog: Let’s Get Critical: Fans, Creators, and Social Justice
What’s up, everyone! Shubz Blalack here! For those of you at the Con, join us in Room 303 for this moderated roundtable discussion with Anita Sarkeesian, Alejandra Espino, Suzanne Scott, and moderator Miley Martinez!
Alejandra Espino (AE): How can we create being politically engaged while not losing the pleasure of creation?
Anita Sarkeesian (AS): How can we be fans AND be critical? What does that mean and how do we actually do that?
Suzanne Scott (SS): Race, fandom, and social justice. Teaches about race, fandom and video game culture. How do you manage the “squee” in a critical fashion? We need to find a meaningful critical ground.
Check out the organization of transformative works!
Topics and questions raised:
How do we talk about representations of economic classes?
Chauvinism in favor of the STEM fields.
Creating characters in a feminist context in a culture of sexism.
Points made:
AE: Being critical is what fuels creativity.
Who is being represented in geek culture is not always who is consuming geek culture.
What times of fandom are industrially valued?
AS:There are a lot of interpretations of feminism and what that means.
AE: I create fantastic characters with the idea of the “outsider” in mind, someone that is marginalized.
AS: Storytelling needs to be the way we change the world.
AS: Art is to make change.
SS: More attention towards the industrial structures that promote not promote social change.
It will take a social movement for oppressive storytelling to change.
We need to spend more time to what will create change versus what will pull the focus away from it.
Closing Statements
SS: Discomfort often exposes the prejudices people have. Having a conversation about that will be a great step towards social justice.
AE: Don’t let others cease the criticism you may have.
AS: Your anger towards social injustice can be used to create something to fight it.
