![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weber_dubois22 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
disney_pocsWHY DOES disney_pocs EXIST?
I came across this comment in the mini-promotion of the community @![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
d_princesses and while it's not an unwarranted question, it just feels odd to ask given I used less words to describe the why in the profile, but I'll humor the questioner since I feel like typing.
The aim ofdisney_pocs is not to replace d-princesses, that would be absurd and unlikely. The latter community was created in 2004 when LiveJournal's community participation was at its strongest and the webmasters had yet to pull the mutinous inspiring Strikethrough of 2007. The first, disney_pocs, was created during the "Exodus of LiveJournal" and the era of lack of participation as a result of the creation of places like MySpace (now dead in the water), Facebook, Tumblr and Dreamwidth.org. I, as a Moderator of this site, don't hope to usurp d-princesses status as the only stable and semi-active Disney community left not wholly dedicated to graphics posts and Role Playing Promotion. My intention was just to create another space for fans with a particular taste or interest. The chances and hopes that I'll ever grow a userbase with the participation rate of d-princesses has been good and dead since, I dunno, 2009 --- when I initially started creating communities and hoped to recruit fellow mods (all of my requests for such have been universally ignored to the point where its simply a reflex to post the thread for it now). However, I don't doubt there'll be someone who'll find use of this space.
disney_pocs is not separating the Disney Princesses so much as it is bringing focus to arguably the least discussed Princesses, Heroines and Heroes (the dudes) out of the bunch of Disney characters within the fandom. In all the years I've lurked d-princesses, of the active participants of that site, there is a one thing I've noticed about the content and discussions on said community:
They tend to focus on the "first" five Disney Princess Alumni (the fifth being Aurora).
Their interest to discuss in the POC princesses, heroines and heroes rarely matches
the intensity of their adoration of aforementioned gals above.
And while that's all good and well, conversation or material pertaining to the Princesses and Heroines Jasmine, Mulan, Tiana, Kida, Esmeralda and the others outside of a ensemble post is a rarity there. Moreover, disney_pocs' focus is more than just the Disney Princess Brand --- though it may be all that those are interested in and more than a little difficult to find quality material for the other heroines/heroes in regards to what I've been posting when I've got time. It's aim is to focus on the other POC characters in Disney's canon, how their represented in Disney and Pixar's media, how their media regurgitates problematic or positive elements and moreover just a general appreciation of their existence without having be arsed to deal with brick-wall commentary that ultimately inspired this community's creation. It is not restricted to just the Disney Princess brand, therefore making far more unique in its objective than d-princesses which is just the appreciation of the princesses.
Speaking frankly, a community for the white princesses and heroes already exist. Its d-princesses, its every Disney community on livejournal or elsewhere that functions on the subconscious belief that Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella, Eric, Beast, Philip, Prince Charming and Prince Ferdinand is everyone's favorites and are the ones folk want to talk about the most because how their permeated and recycled through the social/fandom consciousness as important above say Jasmine, Aladdin, Tiana, Naveen, Kida, Esmeralda, Mulan, Shang, Lilo and Nani and etc. It's every community that gets its heckles up in a bunch when the subject of race, representation and Walt Disney's less than pleasant personality comes up. It's a community that blockades a conversation that ultimately attracts comments like "I don't see race" and "race/skin color isn't important" whenever someone questions the status quo or brings up the racism of the past and present of the company.
There is a problem when a question as simple as "What other fairy tales would you like to see in a Non-Eurocentric lens?" (paraphrasing) or the subject of "racebending" white characters into POCs turns a thread into a debate and chart sheet of "yes, there were POC in Europe" or "its important because" because some are uncomfortable with the focus of an aspect that shapes a great many lives of those who aren't white.
disney_pocs is not segregation of Black, Brown, Biracial and White like the user above assumes, but a magnifying glass that places importance and appreciation on the POC princesses and characters over the white characters that are well taken care of without issue because their the default. To argue otherwise would be missing the truth right in front of you. If I posted half the material I post here at this com, there would be a "I don't see race" debate every time because someone disagreed with the material in a manner that clearly illustrates they don't understand the point of the post, their quite comfortable with "tradition" or don't like facing the issue of under-representation of POC in Disney media whenever they drag out the "I don't want diversity for diversity's sake" quote, as though that's what the post was promoting. So what better way of avoiding the bludgeoning of a stallion by isolating the issues away from the people who don't want to see the other side of the argument because I'm tired of reiterating myself to them.
To conclude, disney_pocs exists for the same reasons disneyofcolor, feministdisney, disneyforprincesses, racebending.com, thehispanicheroine, mermaidsofcolor or any other community dedicated to a character, issue or show does. Exposure, appreciation, singular focus and adoration for something other than what is commonly thought to be important or more popular than the latter. It's not the denouncement of the white princesses, its not saying their lesser than the POC princesses or that they suck. disney_pocs is simply removing them from the equation because they're spoken for a hundred times over where the others are not and they represent the system that bars POCs from the level of exposure and use that they experience in promotional merchandise, discussion and general appreciation. I hope that clears things up anyone wondering about the existence of this community.
I came across this comment in the mini-promotion of the community @
d_princesses and while it's not an unwarranted question, it just feels odd to ask given I used less words to describe the why in the profile, but I'll humor the questioner since I feel like typing.
The aim of
disney_pocs is not to replace d-princesses, that would be absurd and unlikely. The latter community was created in 2004 when LiveJournal's community participation was at its strongest and the webmasters had yet to pull the mutinous inspiring Strikethrough of 2007. The first, disney_pocs, was created during the "Exodus of LiveJournal" and the era of lack of participation as a result of the creation of places like MySpace (now dead in the water), Facebook, Tumblr and Dreamwidth.org. I, as a Moderator of this site, don't hope to usurp d-princesses status as the only stable and semi-active Disney community left not wholly dedicated to graphics posts and Role Playing Promotion. My intention was just to create another space for fans with a particular taste or interest. The chances and hopes that I'll ever grow a userbase with the participation rate of d-princesses has been good and dead since, I dunno, 2009 --- when I initially started creating communities and hoped to recruit fellow mods (all of my requests for such have been universally ignored to the point where its simply a reflex to post the thread for it now). However, I don't doubt there'll be someone who'll find use of this space.disney_pocs is not separating the Disney Princesses so much as it is bringing focus to arguably the least discussed Princesses, Heroines and Heroes (the dudes) out of the bunch of Disney characters within the fandom. In all the years I've lurked d-princesses, of the active participants of that site, there is a one thing I've noticed about the content and discussions on said community:
They tend to focus on the "first" five Disney Princess Alumni (the fifth being Aurora).
Their interest to discuss in the POC princesses, heroines and heroes rarely matches
the intensity of their adoration of aforementioned gals above.
And while that's all good and well, conversation or material pertaining to the Princesses and Heroines Jasmine, Mulan, Tiana, Kida, Esmeralda and the others outside of a ensemble post is a rarity there. Moreover, disney_pocs' focus is more than just the Disney Princess Brand --- though it may be all that those are interested in and more than a little difficult to find quality material for the other heroines/heroes in regards to what I've been posting when I've got time. It's aim is to focus on the other POC characters in Disney's canon, how their represented in Disney and Pixar's media, how their media regurgitates problematic or positive elements and moreover just a general appreciation of their existence without having be arsed to deal with brick-wall commentary that ultimately inspired this community's creation. It is not restricted to just the Disney Princess brand, therefore making far more unique in its objective than d-princesses which is just the appreciation of the princesses.
Speaking frankly, a community for the white princesses and heroes already exist. Its d-princesses, its every Disney community on livejournal or elsewhere that functions on the subconscious belief that Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella, Eric, Beast, Philip, Prince Charming and Prince Ferdinand is everyone's favorites and are the ones folk want to talk about the most because how their permeated and recycled through the social/fandom consciousness as important above say Jasmine, Aladdin, Tiana, Naveen, Kida, Esmeralda, Mulan, Shang, Lilo and Nani and etc. It's every community that gets its heckles up in a bunch when the subject of race, representation and Walt Disney's less than pleasant personality comes up. It's a community that blockades a conversation that ultimately attracts comments like "I don't see race" and "race/skin color isn't important" whenever someone questions the status quo or brings up the racism of the past and present of the company.
There is a problem when a question as simple as "What other fairy tales would you like to see in a Non-Eurocentric lens?" (paraphrasing) or the subject of "racebending" white characters into POCs turns a thread into a debate and chart sheet of "yes, there were POC in Europe" or "its important because" because some are uncomfortable with the focus of an aspect that shapes a great many lives of those who aren't white.
disney_pocs is not segregation of Black, Brown, Biracial and White like the user above assumes, but a magnifying glass that places importance and appreciation on the POC princesses and characters over the white characters that are well taken care of without issue because their the default. To argue otherwise would be missing the truth right in front of you. If I posted half the material I post here at this com, there would be a "I don't see race" debate every time because someone disagreed with the material in a manner that clearly illustrates they don't understand the point of the post, their quite comfortable with "tradition" or don't like facing the issue of under-representation of POC in Disney media whenever they drag out the "I don't want diversity for diversity's sake" quote, as though that's what the post was promoting. So what better way of avoiding the bludgeoning of a stallion by isolating the issues away from the people who don't want to see the other side of the argument because I'm tired of reiterating myself to them.
To conclude, disney_pocs exists for the same reasons disneyofcolor, feministdisney, disneyforprincesses, racebending.com, thehispanicheroine, mermaidsofcolor or any other community dedicated to a character, issue or show does. Exposure, appreciation, singular focus and adoration for something other than what is commonly thought to be important or more popular than the latter. It's not the denouncement of the white princesses, its not saying their lesser than the POC princesses or that they suck. disney_pocs is simply removing them from the equation because they're spoken for a hundred times over where the others are not and they represent the system that bars POCs from the level of exposure and use that they experience in promotional merchandise, discussion and general appreciation. I hope that clears things up anyone wondering about the existence of this community.
