Things I Learned from Starkid

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Sat, 25 May 2013 17:30:45 -0700

Wait, what was the rape joke in AVPSY? I think I missed it?

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:27:16 -0700

It’s at the end when Hermione says that she remembers everything from when she was petrified, “Including what Filch did to me. The Wizard Cops are arresting him now.” This implies rape or some other kind of sexual abuse, and when I wrote my letter to Team Starkid a lot of people contacted me to make sure I’d mention that because it was super upsetting to hear.

Okay, so I feel like I need to give a disclaimer about what I reblogged yesterday, because I think...

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:01:41 -0700

Okay, so I feel like I need to give a disclaimer about what I reblogged yesterday, because I think my reasons for reblogging it are being misread.

I was not trying to say that no one should watch Twisted, Starkid is terrible, or that they should give up on Twisted. What I was trying to say, and maybe I didn’t do it very well, was that it’s important to be aware that there are some things about the casting that are problematic.

The reason that I think it’s important to be aware of it is that it’s easy to hold people as amazing as Starkid on a pedestal, and as a result it’s easy to buy into things that maybe shouldn’t be bought into. For example, it would be easy to look at the rape joke in AVPSY and decide that rape jokes are okay because Starkid did it, rather than understand that rape jokes are bad, but we can still love Starkid. So when there’s something problematic, I find it’s easier to have it in the open so that it can be critically analyzed.

So, I’m sorry if I didn’t present that very clearly.

Hugs and butterfly kisses,

Things I Learned From Starkid

The more I get to know you as a tumblr user, the more I begin to think you don't really like Starkid all that much. Well, the creative and production teams, I guess seems more accurate. Am I wrong to assume that?

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:54:55 -0700

I really like the people involved in Starkid. I just don’t hold them on the pedestal that a lot of fans seem to. They are people, and like all people they do things I sometimes wish they wouldn’t. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t like them, or that I don’t appreciate the pretty amazing things they’ve done.

Why do you post so much overly critical and negative starkid things? I thought you enjoyed their satirical comedies...

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:52:53 -0700

I love Starkid. I love their comedies. I’m also somebody who has a hard time watching media without trying to critically analyze it. I don’t feel like I post that many negative things (Really, it’s just been reblogging this and my own post about female representation), but if I do it has nothing to do with disliking them. I’m sorry if I come across that way.

Things I Learned from Starkid: Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:36:33 -0700

Things I Learned from Starkid: Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.:

onepackfrombroke:

thingsilearnedfromstarkid:

uncannyacting:

thingsilearnedfromstarkid:

gimme-my-glitter:

peggingwithstyles:

Well, them doing Twisted isn’t bullshit, their casting is bullshit.

The entire cast for Twisted is white (save Lauren Lopez, who is often whitewashed by the TSK fandom anyway)

If there are any corrections to this, I’d be glad to know which ones they are.

However, the…

I disagree. I’m sorry, but I do. Findind racism in everything is the actual racism.

Maybe they didn’t think about all of that while casting for the show.

All right, they might have made some jokes of stereotypes. But freely joking about an stereotype is not racism, is joking about the racism. There’s a difference there.

“Finding racism in everything is the actual racism.”

Well, you’ve set yourself up nicely, haven’t you? Now, if anyone brings up racism, you can turn it around on them. Meaning that you never have to listen to see if their point is valid. You get to take advantage of a Catch-22: As soon as someone mentions that something is racist, they become the racist one, and if they don’t mention it, people will say it’s their fault for never bring it up.

I’m not insulting anyone who wants to watch Twisted. I DO want people who watch it to be aware of some of the implications. It’s okay to consume problematic media, but it’s important to be able to recognize ways in which it’s problematic.

Seriously though, Starkid is a theatre in company in which the (mostly) same actors do different shows. They are not horribly racist, they just don’t have a diverse group, which isn’t a crime.

I am convinced Britney Coleman isn’t stupid or complacent, and that if she thought anything she participated in was offensive to black people, she would have asked not to do it. And the Cho Chang thing? So what? Who cares? If we’re gonna get on white people for playing non-white people (which in Broadway productions would be weird but still not racist. This is Starkid they use the same people), then shouldn’t we get mad at girls for playing guys? Or guys playing girls? Shame on them for casting Lauren as Draco! Or Joe as Umbrige!

I kind of get where OP is trying to come from, as a black person, I’d honestly be a little weird-ed out if they did “Princess and the Frog”, but also, if they went out and casted all the ethnicities they needed to be accurate, it wouldn’t be Team Starkid doing the show.

Except that they DID cast people who weren’t in previous musicals for Twisted, so they could easily have decided to make it a priority to cast people of color.

You also have to think about the audition process. What if people of color didn’t audition? Or better yet, what if they did audition and they had no talent. Would you want them in the show anyway just because of the color of their skin?

Of course I wouldn’t want people who couldn’t act in the production. However, a) I don’t see why that’s “better yet,” and b) At this point, we’re going off speculation. MAYBE no people of color auditioned, or MAYBE they did and weren’t good enough. However, I fail to see how there could have been no people of color good enough for the roles, and that Starkid could probably have tried harder.

But that’s also not really the original point. The original point is that it’s incredibly presumptuous to write roles that are characters of color and then hand them all to white actors.

I personally don't think that Cho Chang is a valid point at all. The joke came from the fact that the girl who plays Cho Chang in the movie is named Dorothy, so I don't think it was a racist choice. And if they're talking about her saying "Ya'll" They also have to remember certain aspects in theater are always exaggerated, because everything in theater should be bigger than life.

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:31:54 -0700

So, since I’m not the original poster I can’t really respond to you saying that it’s not valid. It’s not fair for me to speak for someone without any idea what they would say.

I am curious as to your source on where the joke comes from. I’d never heard that before.

Submitted anonymously.

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:30:23 -0700

Submitted anonymously.

Things I Learned from Starkid: Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:23:26 -0700

Things I Learned from Starkid: Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.:

uncannyacting:

thingsilearnedfromstarkid:

gimme-my-glitter:

peggingwithstyles:

Well, them doing Twisted isn’t bullshit, their casting is bullshit.

The entire cast for Twisted is white (save Lauren Lopez, who is often whitewashed by the TSK fandom anyway)

If there are any corrections to this, I’d be glad to know which ones they are.

However, the…

I disagree. I’m sorry, but I do. Findind racism in everything is the actual racism.

Maybe they didn’t think about all of that while casting for the show.

All right, they might have made some jokes of stereotypes. But freely joking about an stereotype is not racism, is joking about the racism. There’s a difference there.

“Finding racism in everything is the actual racism.”

Well, you’ve set yourself up nicely, haven’t you? Now, if anyone brings up racism, you can turn it around on them. Meaning that you never have to listen to see if their point is valid. You get to take advantage of a Catch-22: As soon as someone mentions that something is racist, they become the racist one, and if they don’t mention it, people will say it’s their fault for never bring it up.

I’m not insulting anyone who wants to watch Twisted. I DO want people who watch it to be aware of some of the implications. It’s okay to consume problematic media, but it’s important to be able to recognize ways in which it’s problematic.

Seriously though, Starkid is a theatre in company in which the (mostly) same actors do different shows. They are not horribly racist, they just don’t have a diverse group, which isn’t a crime.

I am convinced Britney Coleman isn’t stupid or complacent, and that if she thought anything she participated in was offensive to black people, she would have asked not to do it. And the Cho Chang thing? So what? Who cares? If we’re gonna get on white people for playing non-white people (which in Broadway productions would be weird but still not racist. This is Starkid they use the same people), then shouldn’t we get mad at girls for playing guys? Or guys playing girls? Shame on them for casting Lauren as Draco! Or Joe as Umbrige!

I kind of get where OP is trying to come from, as a black person, I’d honestly be a little weird-ed out if they did “Princess and the Frog”, but also, if they went out and casted all the ethnicities they needed to be accurate, it wouldn’t be Team Starkid doing the show.

Except that they DID cast people who weren’t in previous musicals for Twisted, so they could easily have decided to make it a priority to cast people of color.

Things I Learned from Starkid: Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:31:06 -0700

Things I Learned from Starkid: Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.:

gimme-my-glitter:

peggingwithstyles:

Well, them doing Twisted isn’t bullshit, their casting is bullshit.

The entire cast for Twisted is white (save Lauren Lopez, who is often whitewashed by the TSK fandom anyway)

If there are any corrections to this, I’d be glad to know which ones they are.

However, the…

I disagree. I’m sorry, but I do. Findind racism in everything is the actual racism.

Maybe they didn’t think about all of that while casting for the show.

All right, they might have made some jokes of stereotypes. But freely joking about an stereotype is not racism, is joking about the racism. There’s a difference there.

“Finding racism in everything is the actual racism.”

Well, you’ve set yourself up nicely, haven’t you? Now, if anyone brings up racism, you can turn it around on them. Meaning that you never have to listen to see if their point is valid. You get to take advantage of a Catch-22: As soon as someone mentions that something is racist, they become the racist one, and if they don’t mention it, people will say it’s their fault for never bring it up.

I’m not insulting anyone who wants to watch Twisted. I DO want people who watch it to be aware of some of the implications. It’s okay to consume problematic media, but it’s important to be able to recognize ways in which it’s problematic.

Things I Learned from Starkid: Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:25:46 -0700

Things I Learned from Starkid: Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.:

purplesquidthe3rd:

peggingwithstyles:

Well, them doing Twisted isn’t bullshit, their casting is bullshit.

The entire cast for Twisted is white (save Lauren Lopez, who is often whitewashed by the TSK fandom anyway)

If there are any corrections to this, I’d be glad to know which ones they are.

However, the…

Look, it may have been an accident; at least the all-white cast thing. Most of the time I don’t think about skin color. I would just cast who I think was best for the part.

It probably was an accident; I doubt they were thinking about it that much. Which is the problem. Especially since they did some casting from outside of who’s been in their productions before, I think they should have made a conscious effort to cast people of color. If you’re telling a story about people of color, it makes sense to have them played by people of color.

Team Starkid doing Twisted is bullshit.

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:43:48 -0700

peggingwithstyles:

Well, them doing Twisted isn’t bullshit, their casting is bullshit.

The entire cast for Twisted is white (save Lauren Lopez, who is often whitewashed by the TSK fandom anyway)

If there are any corrections to this, I’d be glad to know which ones they are.

However, the rest of the cast is white.

Twisted is the untold story of Jafar, but Jafar is not white

This is whitewashing, and it happens frequently in Hollywood on all scales, and I’m not here for it.

People of color have a hard enough time getting roles without white people taking those roles from them. To take an entire production that has previously been focused around PoC, and cast the entire thing with white actors is racist.

There is a host of other productions that TSK could have done that have white casts, or they could have cast actual Desi actors in the production. They did neither of these.

And yes, they should be limited to only playing white roles when there are so few roles given to PoC. Especially considering how often whites decide to freak out whenever a PoC is even almost cast as a character historically played by a white person. Though, there is a difference, and this has already been written about.

This is not the first racist thing that Team Starkid has done.

Let’s not forget their horribly racist introduction of Cho Chang at the beginning or AVPM, their constant portrayal of Dean Thomas as a “stereotypical black person” because apparently that’s funny to them, and the fact that in AVPSY they had Britney Coleman doing “gospel runs” in the background during a song.

Most of the Starkid fandom is white and probably uneducated on this anyway (as I suspect most of Starkid is also) so as far as I know no one has pointed any of these things out.

This is why the only Twisted I’ll be watching any time soon is the one that will be airing on ABC Family this summer starring a Desi boy, and a black girl.

Fuck TSK for this. Seriously. They can get bent.

To my followers: please read this and think about what the writer is saying. Whether or not you watch Twisted is your choice, but I think it’s important to be aware of some of the implications of white writers and white actors doing this production. It’s especially concerning when you take into account that some of the other things they’ve done, as pointed out in the later paragraphs, suggest that they might not make very much effort to handle it sensitively.

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Thu, 23 May 2013 17:30:21 -0700

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Wed, 22 May 2013 17:30:31 -0700

Help a guy raise some money for Top Surgery.

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:09:27 -0700

Help a guy raise some money for Top Surgery.:

thingsilearnedfromstarkid:

chases-top-surgery-fund:

Hello!

My name is Chase, and I’m an 18 year old transgender guy from Seattle, WA. I’m trying to raise money for my reconstructive chest surgery.

I came out as trans* when I was 13 and socially transitioned that year. My medical transition started in April of 2012 at the age of 17 when I started Testosterone. Now, having lived as male for 5 years and having been on Testosterone for a year, I want to move my medical transition forward to get top surgery.

I have no health insurance and I work two minimum wage jobs. I can’t save up money on my own for this, and my family can’t afford to help. I don’t like that I have to ask for help for this, but not knowing if or when I’ll be able to afford to get surgery is taking a toll on my emotional health.

The total on the site is an estimate of what I would need to get my surgery done by my preferred surgeon plus air fare and hotel stay once I’m there. I have not gotten in contact with a surgeon yet, since I don’t know if or when I’ll be able to pay for surgery.

If you could help me out by pitching in or signal boosting this, I would really appreciate it. I’ve seen Tumblr do some amazing things.

Thank you so much,
Chase

I know this isn’t Starkid related, but Chase is one of my best friends, and I really want him to be able to get his surgery. Anything you can contribute would help. Thank you.

Reblogging again to mention that if everyone who follows thingsilearnedfromstarkid donated just 5 dollars, he would have more than enough money.

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Tue, 21 May 2013 17:30:46 -0700

Help a guy raise some money for Top Surgery.

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:34 -0700

Help a guy raise some money for Top Surgery.:

chases-top-surgery-fund:

Hello!

My name is Chase, and I’m an 18 year old transgender guy from Seattle, WA. I’m trying to raise money for my reconstructive chest surgery.

I came out as trans* when I was 13 and socially transitioned that year. My medical transition started in April of 2012 at the age of 17 when I started Testosterone. Now, having lived as male for 5 years and having been on Testosterone for a year, I want to move my medical transition forward to get top surgery.

I have no health insurance and I work two minimum wage jobs. I can’t save up money on my own for this, and my family can’t afford to help. I don’t like that I have to ask for help for this, but not knowing if or when I’ll be able to afford to get surgery is taking a toll on my emotional health.

The total on the site is an estimate of what I would need to get my surgery done by my preferred surgeon plus air fare and hotel stay once I’m there. I have not gotten in contact with a surgeon yet, since I don’t know if or when I’ll be able to pay for surgery.

If you could help me out by pitching in or signal boosting this, I would really appreciate it. I’ve seen Tumblr do some amazing things.

Thank you so much,
Chase

I know this isn’t Starkid related, but Chase is one of my best friends, and I really want him to be able to get his surgery. Anything you can contribute would help. Thank you.

DOES ANYONE HAS THE SHEET MUSIC FOR THE SONG STATUS QUO?

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:58:49 -0700

pancakebatters:

More specifically for the line
“I’m not defined by boundaries”
For voice?
Not the chords for guitar or cde etc?
But like the actual notes with their correct speed etc?
I tried figuring it out but er.. yeah. writing down notes just by ear was never my strongest point.

If anyone has the sheet music, send pancakebatters a message, all right?

Submitted anonymously.

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:30:30 -0700

Submitted anonymously.

Submitted by melswimms

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:30:41 -0700

Submitted by melswimms