I Don't Trust Anyone Who Hasn't Acknowledged Their Capacity For Evil.

To people who use "þ" as an aesthetic "p"

þink again.

How to meet your new best friends

Raven being Desi

Hello, hello again, I'm back with another tirade! This whole thing started with seeing a fanartist post a drawing of Raven (a DC Teen Titans character created by George Perez) as dark skinned with a Desi associated hooked nose. One commentor began to complain saying 'Raven isn't a dark skinned Indian, she isn't Indian at all'. When the artist pointed out that they were referring to the fact that Raven's original design was based of an Indian model, the astute commentor acknowledged that Ravens 'style' was Indian but was influenced by other models of other nationalities as well, so lets break it down.

Raven's style

I assume you're talking about the red dot on her forehead. It's called a Bindi and it's not a part of Indian culture, it's a part of Hindu culture. Traditionally, the west has not cared about the difference, assuming any part of Hinduism is just spiritual hokum and using it in art and pop culture without consideration. But no, the Bindi is worn by Hindu women and yes, it is cultural appropriation for the Bindi to be worn by non-Hindus for aesthetic. More of Raven's character involves Hinduism too. Meditation, and chakras also frequently appear in Raven's magic and were also Hindu practices. Then there is the topic of Ravens model.

Her name was Persis Khambatta. She won Miss India and is the model that George Perez named as the original influence for Raven's character design. But that isn't definitive, I hear you cry. White people can be Hindu too! And the same quote that lists Persis as an influence also lists a Fran MacGregor as a later influence! And that is true, but also like...

That, dear reader, is Raven in New Teen Titans wearing a Sari, which is one of the traditional styles of clothing for Indian women. All of this combined methinks makes Raven being Desi a pretty decent possibility, right? Well, apparently not, according to some people on Reddit, since there is still the issue of

Raven's Ancestry

Raven's mom is white. She Elizabeth Roth, by both her Germanic last name and her blonde haired character design, is definitely one white lady. And Raven's father is Trigon, aka the devil from the bible. And like, there is no way that there is a historical precedent of Christianity associating Hindu culture with evil (just ignore Indiana Jones the Temple of Doom and the demonisation of Kali and Lord Sheev from Star Trek and Lady fucking Shiva and that time Tim Drake fought an actual Indian god for some fucking reason). I mean there is no way that the bible says anything negative about 'Idol worship' (cough cough Romans 1:21–23, Exodus 20:3–6, 1 Corinthians 10:14 cough). Is it really that much of a stretch to say that the devil, as far as DC is concerned, may have some Indian traits. Or that Raven's home of Azarath, steeped in spiritualism and mysticism and definitely-not-Hinduism, may have had some Indian culture there too? But I feel like all this pedantic behavior is kind of missing the point.

What is the point of representation anyway?

Why does Raven being Indian coded matter?

Well, it matters because if we include her in the Indian coded bucket, there is a total of 4 desi coded characters in DC, three of those 4 being the Al Ghul family. The sum total of all actual canonical Desi characters in both DC and Marvel combined, is one. Just one. Kamala Khan from the Marvel universe.

Representation, specifically changing the ethnicity of pre-existing characters in later adaptations is done to better reflect the audience diaspora, so that the audience can see themselves in those character. Little Desi girls want to believe that they can be superheroes, just like anybody else. And if we don't have that in cannon, we will make it in fannon.

Accuracy be damned.

Average Stardew Wednesday

Uh oh! You are now a were-animal! This means you become a human-sized animal hybrid with uncontrollable bloodlust every night!

Spin this wheel to get your species

tes THDPSSSSPS 💜

I'm going to *remembers suicide is often not a desire for death itself but rather an attempt to radically change one's life because the current state of being has become unbearable but the person can't think of any way to change it other than death* kill myself

They're just built different 😎

How has Rust not died yet

[Rust belongs to @afoxofcosmicproportions!]

Oh no…