PSA

[labellementeuse]

Dear wider world:

"maori spirits": not universally evil, also, not often called spirits. Also, Maori do not have shamans or medicine men or live in teepees, and they never have. Ever. Kaumatua is not a difficult word to find and it would be so much better than shaman, thanks.

Also, enough of the soul-eating Maori monsters!11!!1. If you want to incorporate that aspect of Maori culture, great, good for you, but get it right. Otherwise, don't use it in fic, don't use it in fanworks, and DON'T, DON'T, DON'T use it in actual published work - and published only a few years ago, I might add - that you want to get money for. (*cough* Gotham Knights 16-17. The thing that pissed me off the most about them is that it was half-right- some (some) of the art was pretty good (and then some was awful. There's a whole goddamned wiki page on ta moko and it even has pictures! But it is fairly recent, so.)

And may I just add? I know next to nothing about Maori culture and history, I don't speak te reo and I don't even know my mihi. So if I can tell that it's appalling, so can everyone else. JUST SAY NO to using a culture you know nothing about.

NO LOVE
Me

This PSA was brought to you by Gotham Knights 16-17 (Devin Grayson, Roger Robinson), and then seeing it once to many times as a gimmick. And I really like GK, so it pissed me off more than normal. NO MORE EATING BRAINS, WORLD, OKAY?

ETA: THIS IS ME PUBLICALLY DEFENDING keymash's HONOUR, BY THE WAY. I was busy sleeping when she was being given the inappropriate smackdown by my brother and his friend, who are clearly unable to distinguish IRONY from LJ comments. So, *ahem*, I have known keymash for, like, at least over a year and she was so totally making a joke oh my god. A satire, even. *shakes head*

That said, I am sort of glad because that was very funny.

Comments

[amphibious-one.livejournal.com]

Yeah... writing about what you know is the only answer. Nonetheless, I think it's kinda cool people are taking an interest (of whatever kind) in the culture.

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

Well....yeah, but if they portray it as basically indistinguishable from generic Native American culture (or generic NA culture as portrayed in fiction, anyway, since I know that's been screwed over as well) then what's the point? They're not taking an interest in the culture, they're cherrypicking a few images and concepts and making it unrecognisable.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Oh, me too. This is probably why it bothers me a little more, because I get a little zing of "Ooh, New Zealand got a mention! Maori even!" And then I go "Oh, wait, but it's just being used as shorthand for exotic, possibly cannibalistic* culture and tiny Western country. :("

*they really latch onto that for some reason. grr

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

Even better: use tohunga, as in, the actual Maori for priest/wise man/what have you. Google is your friend. Don't be afraid of it.

*fumes*

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I couldn't find tohunga easily on wikipedia, which is why I used kaumatua. But yeah. Or even asking someone, just a little bit.

[melata-fic.livejournal.com]

...Um.

Why do they not research? It is not that difficult, surely?

And it sounds so much better if research is done.

I know the basics, but even so. *annoyed*

[mandor700.livejournal.com]

But then again, I can't picture them going out of their way to correctly portray a culture, especialy when 90% of the audience will be less informed than them.

[melata-fic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but they could spend ten minutes online and find out. Or set it somewhere else. Like wherever they thought it actually was. *snort* Shamans.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

It's even that they did kind of half-assed research that bothers me. There was obviously a little bit done, some of the detail on the art was good- and then some of it was total crap. MEH.

And, yeah, I wouldn't have thought it would be that difficult. It's quite a recent comic, it would have been pretty easy to ring someone. There are people who know stuff about Maori culture in most cities these days, even if you do have to brave, like, a museum or something. *sigh*

[melata-fic.livejournal.com]

Yes. Though surely there is enough info on the internet, or in, Gods forbid, a book? Grr.

I still think they could have invented an amalgamated tribal culture.

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

Please, where do I find this atrocity? I want to read and laugh and learn thigns to avoid in my young adult incorporating Maori culture contemporary fantasy...

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

It's Batman-universe comic Gotham Knights issues 16 and 17. They're probably out in trade paperback somewhere but I can't think of where. I'm about to put up scans of the truly terrible stuff, along with some of the stuff in this comic that I love, with a bit of blether, too.

also uh I could email you the files, like. Just say the word.

[bad-mushroom.livejournal.com]

I can imagine that Native American culture and Maori culture are quite different. Hell, I can't really see how you can confuse the two. Even with the little I know about my own Native American heritage (and I'm an eighth or a sixteenth! I could fucking live on a reservation! It makes me sad how little I know) and the even less I know about Maori culture, they're...well, completely different. Gargh. Do your research, people.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

See, this is the thing! Some of the stuff they said, it was just so obvious that they were talking out of their ass. Which is really more offensive, that they coulnd't even be bothered covering it up, they just wanted a random culture to half-use.

Grr.

[bad-mushroom.livejournal.com]

I second that grrrrr.

[keymash.livejournal.com]

A MAORI STOLE MY HANDBAG AT STARMART YESTERDAY... PRETTY MAD AT THEM RIGHT NOW, TUI.

[rewihendrix.livejournal.com]

are you joking or are you just really racist? If it were an Indian person, would you be really mad at all Indians?

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

You have a very distinctive turn of phrase, may I just say? Immediately recogniseable in the shortest comment.

... I think it's something to do with all the caps?

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

I can see where you're coming from, but OTOH I've seen some people - mostly within an RPG context - become such slaves to true culture that their work becomes meaningless. When push comes to shove, real life culture is not actually suitable for fiction, and nobody is actually claiming to represent reality, so some compromise must be made.

Admittedly it's better to knowingly discard something because it doesn't fit the story than include it on the false assumption that it's true, but one shouldn't assume ommissions are from ignorance.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I agree with what you're saying about the value of the art for the art, but in this case they could have just made something up, which well, it's not like they don't do that in comic books all the time. These are otherwise fantastic issues in a great run, and they're really important issues in a couple of ways, and it could have all been so easily fixed...! Anyway, I'm posting some scans to show what I'm pissing about.

If only it were just omissions. If it were omissions I could cope. It's that they actively chose to use Maori culture for these issues- I mean, this is set in Gotham, not Auckland- and then paid a bare lip service to it that really bothers me.

[mandor700.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Wiki, did you know that Gotham Knights are also 'New York's recent entry to the growing worldwide ranks of multiethnic and non-discriminatory rugby union teams worldwide.'

Wow

[keymash.livejournal.com]

jhsfjdkf HONESTLY. YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES. LIKE SHARKS. :| will not make the mistake of bleeding^[1] in your journal again. in fear of them, Tui. in fear.





^[1]

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I AM SORRY, ALSO THAT I JUST SPENT HALF AN HOUR REPLYING TO LIKE EVERY COMMENT IN THAT THREAD BECAUSE IT AMUSED ME SO, and now you will have lots of comment notifications in the one thread which is always a pain in the ass.

They're usually really lovely. I don't know what got into them. *performs tests for mad cow*

[megaffe.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you about representing cultures correctly. I have to say, these poss were so funny though, just made my day :)
(seriously, my neighbours probably think I'm mad, I'm laughing out loud alone in my room)

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

my neighbours probably think I'm mad

I am restraining myself from saying anything, because I know you have a very active imagination and you can fill in the blanks. >:D

(omg my friends and family had a bitchfight in my journal. for laughing.