#race

Race-switching The Dukes of Hazzard

While the 2005 film remake of The Dukes of Hazzard was being planned, there were rumors that Anthony Anderson was being considered for the role of the villain, Boss Hogg . This would have been interesting, as Anderson is Black, and Hogg is not. But they ended up giving the role to Burt Reynolds. Boss Hogg is a malevolent but jolly buffoon, and I have trouble picturing handsome, self-possessed, well-built Burt Reynolds in the role. But I haven't seen the film, so maybe it worked. Today I saw a picture of Anderson and once again regretted the lost opportunity. But then I thought: why not a versi

Content-Type: text/shitpost · EN

A difficulty in race-switching the Dukes of Hazzard

A couple of weeks ago I considered a version of The Dukes of Hazzard in which most of the characters, and the Duke Brothers themselves, were Black. I overlooked at least one important detail that I have not been able to resolve. I said: One thing absolutely must be changed: The General Lee must have a new name and it cannot have the Confederate flag on the roof. I said the new car could be named for Robert Smalls . It would be a black Dodge Charger, with the state flag of South Carolina on the roof. I'm still satisfied with this. But I forgot an important detail. The General Lee's horn plays t

Content-Type: text/shitpost · EN

AI is a Race Car, Not Autopilot

AI-assisted coding feels a bit like being handed the keys to a race car. In the right hands, it’s quick, precise and capable of covering a lot of ground in a very short amount of time. In the wrong hands, it’s still quick - and more likely to end badly. Speed is not the whole storyThe obvious comparison is speed. A race car is built to go fast. AI-assisted coding tools are also built to make software development faster.

ryansouthgate.com · EN

Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps

Religion suffuses role-playing’s most basic structure: the adventuring party with a fighter, thief, wizard, and cleric. Fantasy mainstays like demons, dragons, heavens and hells, pantheons, diverse monsters, and magic originate in religious lore. The decisions people make without thinking about their cosmology carry ideological weight that validates some demographics and denies others—and not even just in terms of religious identity. This article is a toolkit to help creators and players of games and fiction build religious characters and organizations, portray them with fairness and respect,

James Mendez Hodes · EN

Asian Representation and the Martial Arts

This article discusses how Asian martial arts stereotypes fit into orientalist dynamics, in which the Western gaze rewrites and reduces Asian experience to a cool violent thing for white consumption. I also point out how imperialist, exploitative attitudes complicate real-world martial arts practice. Finally, we’ll go over practical guidelines for representing Asian martial culture in your creative work. You’ll leave this article prepared not only to avoid racism, but also to craft stronger martial arts stories in general.

James Mendez Hodes · EN

How to Change Your Conversations About Cultural Appropriation

This article discusses cultural appropriation. More precisely, it discusses discussions about cultural appropriation, which stress me out more than any other cultural consulting topic. The question of whether a given expression is or is not cultural appropriation, and the corollary question of whether cultural appropriation is even real or not, tends to polarize and ossify conversations between otherwise like-minded people. But what if we reframed the conversation? What if we talked about the same content, but we broke the topic of cultural appropriation down into its component parts: the dist

James Mendez Hodes · EN

The most important point I can make about orcs

Seeing my friends and acquaintances struggle to explain why we feel so strongly about orcs to people who vehemently disagree, I thought I'd try rephrasing my orcticles’ most important point in language which both sides—since evidently now there are sides—could accept.

James Mendez Hodes · EN

Interview: Tony Chatman on Bias and the Uprising

This interview is with my friend Tony Chatman, a speaker and a corporate relationship specialist who works with organizations to create a more healthy and inclusive culture. As an uprising galvanizes the United States in response to police killing unarmed Black Americans like Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, Tony speaks to me about unconscious and implicit bias, and the psychology of police brutality. This post’s crowdfunding proceeds go to bail funds and racial justice organizations across the United States.

James Mendez Hodes · EN

Representation Tier List

Would you care for a slightly more organized and precise way to discuss representation in media? Do you promise not to reduce discussions of representation in media to just this method of organization? Yes and yes? Cool. Here’s a tier list. Casual media enjoyers may find it fun to mess around with. Critics might get a little more use out of it, though many experienced critics already have favorite rubrics of their own. But if you’re in the business of creating fiction, or especially of helping others deepen diverse and marginalized themes and content in their work—cultural consulting, for inst

James Mendez Hodes · EN

US midterms: Iowa Senate race tightens as candidates make final pitches

Al Jazeera English

Race Conditions on a Human Scale - Computerphile

Computerphile