RecklessGhost-Art's Bulletins
Here is my Artfight!
https://artfight.net/~RecklessGhost-Art
Priority: Revenge (Any team) > Friends (Any team) > Attacks > Friendly fire
Stole this from MantrasMuse
I know I don't have a lot of you but-
You comment "Trick or Treat" and I randomize one and do something for a character I think you would like or your IC comment
potential treats: Art of varying quality little customs moodboards
potential tricks: cursed images silly sketches random thing that makes me think of u or ur oc (video, song, item, idk a food) an awkward sweaty hug
TW: Incest, cultural insensitivity
(PSA for important info: LMK = Lego Monkie Kid, and JTTW means Journy To The West.
Journey to the West is one of the 四大名著 [Four Classical Novels of China]
Lego Monkie Kid was made to introduce Lego to China, by making basically a fan continuation of one of their classical story's (Kind of like how Percy Jackson is like a future generation to Greek Myths) and they seemed to take great care when making the show)
First of all, I love Lego Monkie Kid. It's one of my current Hyperfixations, and I love to talk with people about it. But, it has a cultural context that can not be stripped away, so...
Onto the issue, I Just had to spend the past hour explaining to people who shipping Sun Wukong (The Monkey King) and Macaque in LMK was hella culturally insensitive (And basically incest), and when I showed the very heavily explained information by someone from China, plus a short and clear TDLR for those who didn't want a ton of reading, only one person acknowledged it and it wasn't even the person who brought it up.
screams
The conversation basically went like this:
Them: "NO they aren't brothers"
Me: "They are, in the actual JTTW thing (somewhat)"
Them: "Wait macaque is in the journey to the west? I thought he was an original character made by Lego" [So they don't even know]
Me: "The ONLY reason people ship them in LMK is because westerners (like me), Aren't fully familiar with JTTW and don't know its lore or anything about the real characters. The reason LMK was even made was to introduce Lego to China using their most well known tales"
Someone else: "Actually in JTTW Wukong has several sworn brothers including DBK. So basically the entirety of the first season of Monkie Kid is just family issues"
Them: "I just read some stuff on it but from what I see Macaque is just a monkey demon" (So, again, justifying with .2 seconds of research, then they tried to just, change the topic)
Me: Posts information from a person from that culture with direct information
Them: Radio Silence
Personally, I am studying up on JTTW now because I don't wanna be ignorant when talking about an Eastern culture when I am just trying to enjoy a fandom (That and I love Mythology and have been meaning to get into different Eastern one's recently, and since JTTW mixes up the three most popular ones, its a great place to start)
I can forgive people for not knowing so long as they stop and realize the mistake when people point out the truth, but come on man
For those of you who don't understand where the problem lies, here is a bulleted TLDR by an actual Chinese Man:
- I feel it is unfair to consider LMK independent from JTTW, given just how much LMK draws from JTTW.
- I feel that the fandom’s earnestness to detach LMK from JTTW does not consider how LMK is a Chinese piece of media and is thus insensitive of JTTW’s place in Chinese culture.
- JTTW functions as a Buddhist allegory. Within this, Six-Eared Macaque represents Sun Wukong’s flaws and strife, and is literally created from him. Therefore sharing the same DNA while being two separate people, functionally siblings. Which is what has led Chinese popular culture to commonly interpret these two as such.
- That being said, even if LMK makes them beyond a shadow of a doubt not siblings, I still think it’s gross to ship people who were siblings in the source material. Shipping is not the only way to interact with media.
He also added: - "Please don’t go through such lengths to ignore the original text and its significant Buddhist context just to justify a ship. There are other ways to interact with media other than shipping.
I’m a gay Chinese man and I too want to see more gay rep in Chinese media, but let me tell you, the monkey brothers are not a healthy place to look for them."
And one last point from him that I believe is important if you Consume media with any other culture's audience in mind:
"I’m uncomfortable with people detaching LMK from JTTW because it feels like an avoidance of the original Chinese culture and context. LMK was originally produced with a Chinese audience in mind. As such, the target audience would have gone into LMK with the cultural context JTTW holds. Detaching JTTW is insensitive to the original intent of the producers, insensitive to the fact that LMK was produced for an audience that isn’t just white westerners, and insensitive to JTTW. Therefore I think it is disrespectful to consider LMK without considering JTTW.
It will take time to understand Journey to the West, especially if you’re not a fan who grew up with the story. However, I believe that if you’re interacting with media from a culture not your own, you hold a responsibility to take measures in order to interact with said media and its culture respectfully. If creators are going to share an important part of their culture with you, then it is common decency and courtesy to interact responsibly. It’s better to expend the effort to familiarize yourself with JTTW than to act insensitively, watering down its significance for the sake of digestibility. "
If you would like to read the full commentary by him, follow this link: https://antidotefortheawkward-art.tumblr.com/post/656297020540223488/i-just-got-into-the-lego-monkie-kid-fandom
Thank you for reading my little rant, enjoy your day! (if you wanna know a good place to start learning about JTTW, I recommend Overly Sarcastic Production's videos)