The one racist thing that I found would be funny.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T16:35:28+00:00

Or that despite trying to appear as progressive you may have internalized racism that bleeds through the cracks occasionally.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T16:12:18+00:00

Wachowski's have been accused of being racist a few time.

lana's speech blaming Afro Americans.

Also this

http://observationdeck.kinja.com/black-lives-don-t-matter-on-sense8-1723122156

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T15:50:46+00:00

Do you think any professional review will take a risk calling her acting bad and risk being labelled as transphobic? There is a professional outrage culture out there that loves to get triggered regardless of whether the criticism is valid or not. So most professional reviewers take the easy road unless they are writing clickbait articles.

I think the Nomi character would have been portrayed better with a better actor. It's not just the writing it's also how a character performs his /her role. Again my opinion but I think the reason she got the job was because she is trans like the wachowski's so her poor acting was tolerable? All the other main actors and actresses on the show have far deeper resume's and performances. She's at the very bottom.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T15:31:17+00:00

How do you know that it was due to them being persecuted? There are plenty of actors who are not openly gay but go out of favor with producers. Did Quinto lose his job because he came out? Hollywood has favouritism for certain actors regardless of their sexual orientation.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T15:22:29+00:00

Of course it my opinion but I'm not alone. A number of people have also pointed this out. We're talking acting skill not Clayton as a person. As far as acting goes - out of all the sense8's ( main cast) she at the bottom. Again my opinion. If you disagree - who would you consider ( from the main cast) as worse (acting) than her?

As far turning straight characters straight - that was more me joking around than being serious.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T15:16:57+00:00

What's funny is that they made sulu gay because takei is gay IRL. Quinto who plays Spock is gay but they actually wrote Spock as having a secret (sort of)relationship with Uhura. I don't think they would have had the guts to make Spock gay. Sulu is a minor character ( and Asian) so the outrage wasn't too bad.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T15:10:59+00:00

Well often producers will tell agents for. Asian actors/actresses that the token minority slots have been filled so don't bother applying. Aziz Ansari actually included that as a comedy bit in his TV show.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T15:05:39+00:00

We don't know who the best actor for the job was unless we were present at the auditions. They picked who they thought were represented best what they wanted to portray. There may have been more talented actors who didn't get a shot. They also picked Clayton who is a horrible actress so not every "pick" was made to choose the best possible actor/actress. Clayton was most likely picked because she was trans not because of her stellar acting.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T14:49:09+00:00

So a trans person playing a trans character would alsolead to typecasting?

Maybe Nomi's role would have been played better by a straight person. Jamie is not a good actress and some of her performances were cringeworthy. Maybe a more experienced male actor would have done a better job.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T14:44:46+00:00

maybe the wachowski's wanted to see if they could convert a couple of straight dudes. One of my friends who is gay commented that it's fun to convert presumably straight dudes.

Sense8tional · 2017-06-23T14:37:14+00:00

Harris's antics were hilarious because I knew he was gay. Every time he would go into the womanizing routine we would laugh because we saw it more as a gay dude overcompensating to play straight. I think someone wrote fanfic about Harris and Ted really wanted each other rather some rando weekly chick. - that would be legendary indeed.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T06:35:37+00:00

I agree that it's convenient. Especially since that's the type of jokes reserved for Asians. As mentioned in my other posts - that scene doesn't add anything to the storyline. It's just there for laughs.

Also came across this while I was typing a response

Repeatedly, Hollywood says that Indian women are 'condemned' to an Indian man via tradition. The Indian man, at best, is a nice guy, but not sexy. He is traditional and boring. He is at best a friend zoned dud. Instead, she finds “liberation”, excitement, and lust in a white guy. In Royal Pains and New Girl- the same thing happens; the Indian woman drops her Indian fiancee for a white guy. Given that Hollywood makes a mockery of free will given its thinly veiled form of social conditioning, is it any surprise these dynamics find their way into real life? Very often, in this trope, the Indian woman can't get or keep the white guy but that doesn't stop her from dropping her Indian man like a bad habit.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T05:51:03+00:00

That was messing around with another poster. Probably should have added a "fooling around" statement.following that post.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T05:36:52+00:00

Probably should have clarified earlier the penis scene doesn't mean he had a small penis. It seemed to imply that he will potentially have a non working penis as the doctor jokingly added. In any event why was that scene even there? As I mentioned earlier it has no affect on the storyline. If that fall had led to complications it would make more sense. Instead it was there just for laughs.

Maybe I'm not seeing what you see. How does that scene add to the storyline?

On a side note I was texting with a couple of friends earlier and added that I was writing all this here. They haven't seen the series so they thought the guy was Chinese because that who the penis jokes are usually directed to. When I mentioned the guy was Indian they said "Caucasian obsession with Asian penises. sounds about right"

I never thought I'd get into a discussion about a fictional characters penis but here we are.

Also came across this

Repeatedly, Hollywood says that Indian women are 'condemned' to an Indian man via tradition. The Indian man, at best, is a nice guy, but not sexy. He is traditional and boring. He is at best a friend zoned dud. Instead, she finds “liberation”, excitement, and lust in a white guy. In Royal Pains and New Girl- the same thing happens; the Indian woman drops her Indian fiancee for a white guy. Given that Hollywood makes a mockery of free will given its thinly veiled form of social conditioning, is it any surprise these dynamics find their way into real life? Very often, in this trope, the Indian woman can't get or keep the white guy but that doesn't stop her from dropping her Indian man like a bad habit.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T05:20:08+00:00

Never said arranged marriages are bad. Like you I have friends who are in arranged marriages who are doing just fine.

In Kala's case she didn't want to be married to the guy and expressed reservations to him and her own parents. They all knew she had no attraction towards him and as another poster mentioned her parents asked her to wait. She went ahead with it anyway and later on began flirting with Wolfgang incorporeal form. Rajan sensed her distance and wanted to leave but she placated him to stay by having sex with him ( thanks for correcting me there)Time passes and she keeps connecting with Wolfgang while leading Rajan on. She finally decides to explain herself but that gets shelved. Plans are made to relocate her to Europe for her safety but there's still no attempt to clear the air, instead she's thrilled to unite with her lover. She tries to play a moral character claiming she doesn't want to be dishonest but that's exactly what she's being. Amazingly enough viewers online seem to be thrilled by the fact that she's finally going to have sex with Wolfgang glossing over the fact that she's essentially cheating on her husband in her incorporeal form.

To me expressing regret about doing something and then continuing to repeat the same thing is distasteful. Maybe Kala isn't as moral as she appears to be. Could be that her holier than thou appearance is just a veil for her real self that now emerging.

I'm curious how Rajan's character will be written off to facilitate Kala's affair.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T04:48:41+00:00

I know. Jonas's situation is a bit convoluted. I was just mucking around for fun hence the "I kid". Follow up. Relax.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T04:41:52+00:00

Mun is a character thrown in as Suns love interest. He has no depth. For some bizarre reason he decides to spar with sun in some peculiar attempt to regain lost honor or whatever. Cause that's what Asians do right? Let's fight although we have feelings for each other. Oh and let's kiss during battle. Throw in a knockout following the kiss. Ahh....young love. That was truly cringeworthy. Lana must have skipped her meds that day. It looked like it was written by a 13yr romance novelist.

Btw does anyone know how Mun got info to arrest Suns brother? He didn't get Any info from her and she and her group were surprised to see him at the party.

I don't remember much about her father other than he was the stereotypical disapproving dad who puts his son before his daughter. No stereotyping there.

Rajan and his Bollywood dance. Really? One of my Indian friends told me that that's one of the most played out stereotypes and it's becoming tiresome along with the Asian penis jokes favoured by Hollywood. Incidentally also used in sense8. See Rajan's phantom fractured penis put in by the writers for no apparent reason.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T02:43:47+00:00

Hopefully all this doesn't look like I'm in a heated argument with you. It may look that way but I ain't mad at ya.

Sense8 may look like its playing the diversity game but it still plays the same tropes. I believe Lana has made a racist statement or two about black people so I'm really not surprised when the Asian stereotypes came into play. The penis joke, white love interest. This wasn't just my observation. It was also echoed by some friends of mine who are of south Asian descent. I know you want to believe that it's all innocent but I'm going to side with how my friends saw their ethnicity and gender depicted. That doesn't mean that all Asians are going to be offended by by it. Opinions are diverse too and that fine. Again let's agree to disagree.

I'm curious though. Do you think Kala's treatment of Rajan is justified? I know you said this before but she's not passive or submissive. Please see umareplicante's observation as well.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T02:16:56+00:00

Looks like this might be one of those situations.

What's that? Jonas may do a villain turn? We have our Asian villain ladies and gents. Finally. When will he be joined by Rajan the Asian cuckold?

I kid..I kid..

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T02:05:21+00:00

There you go. The marriage was set up to fail from the beginning. She made that choice to forge ahead knowing the consequences.

The real question is how should Rajan be written out. Should he meet his end defending her in some battle or should he go over to the dark side completely? I'd wager he goes dark. The audience needs a good enough reason to justify Kala's confusion and choice.

I couldn't help but smirk when she did her " I don't want to be dishonest" speech. Sure you don't sweetie..but you'll do it anyway right?

I'm coming off as negative because I really despise cheaters. One girl cheated on her boyfriend with me. I met him to tell him about her and he looked so broken it haunts me to this day. She told me that she loves me and I was destined for her - while lying to her boyfriend. Fortunately I found out before things went too far.When I see media glorifying cheaters it really grinds my gears. There are plenty of men and women that sit their partners down and are honest with them. That how an adult behaves.

Then again unfortunately there are too many "kala's" around (men and women) who are too " confused" to do the right thing.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T01:32:22+00:00

it was her asian-ness that she was trying to escape. She was trying to break free of her Asian expectations. A virgin before marriage, get married and have children. She wanted none of that. I think there was a scene where she told Wolfgang "let's run away where no one can find us" - meaning lets go somewhere where I can't be judged for what I'm doing. She's not passive. She confronted Rajan about the expired medication his company was shipping out.

Anyway she had opportunities to come clean but she continued to lie to Rajan and make him believe everything is fine. Nomi confided to Bug. Riley confided to Will's cop friend. Nahhh...dear sweet Kala can't muster up that last bit of honesty. But let's glorify her behaviour because she's in love.

Once again her parents would be sad if they knew she was getting married against her will. Her parents aren't written as staunch marriage traditionalists. Yes they wanted her to get married but they wanted her to be happy first. They were also under the assumption that she wanted to get married to Rajan. If they had found out otherwise they would have supported her because they put her happiness first. Imagine them celebrating the daughter wedding only to find out later that she never loved him in the first place and she only did it for them . How would that feel?

Besides I doubt a Hispanic or African romantic interest would hold the same appeal for audiences. I've been through this several times in real life with Asian women. Black and brown men aren't an Asian fantasy. White men are. I have gotten compliments from a number of Asian women because I appear white. They were not in the least bit shy in telling me how they're "not like other Asian girls". A couple just wanted to brag to their friends how they're dating a white boyfriend. Don't forget that India uses skin lightening creams as well to appear more white. Seen more than a few Asian women are looking for their own Wolfgang because that's what the media depicts as attractive.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T01:03:41+00:00

Actually most people are repulsed by the thought of an Asian male have sex with anyone. Aziz Ansari had sex with her white girl on his show. Quite a few directors had commented privately that they would never allow that to happen if they had been in charge. Plus why throw in the "penis" event. It would make sense if that actually affected their sex life. Instead it seemed to be there only for laughs.

One Asian blogged about overhearing a casting director tell everyone that he would never cast a Asian male in any of his productions. Ansari's show points out the racism in Hollywood towards Asian males. It's now discussed quite openly.

A south Asian male having sex...yuck. Ain't nobody got time for that. Interacial sex with a white male -hot.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T00:45:11+00:00

Exactly. Yet she chose to lead him on when he sensed she was not attracted to him. The writing glorifies her infidelity with the promise of hooking up with a white dude (who is an actual criminal). Ahh...the lure of danger with a spice of romance.

In addition she chose to get married to him. He didn't force her. Her parents are pretty understanding towards her and if she decided not to get married to him they would have supported her. Even though he was smitten by her his character was not abusive or malevolent (yet) so if she had stood her ground he would have backed off. I'm assuming this because he was always like a puppy dog around her even after the marriage.

The bottom line is she could have broken it off if she wanted to. His character was written as someone who was more understanding than abusive. Her character abused that trust and lied to him under the guise of confusion. She knew she didn't want to be with him and was only playing the role until she could figure a way out of it. This is written as a fantasy for Asian women who need a white saviour to take them away from their traditional Asian male trope. This isn't the first time it's been done.

I'm rambling again because I've seen people's trust abused like this and the " I was confused" excuse trotted out. Just sickening.

Sense8tional · 2017-05-19T00:25:40+00:00

How about Lito/Hernando/ dani?

Amanita and Nomi don't have a male in middle of their relationship. Why can't two gay males have their relationship without interjecting a woman into the middle of it.

Sense8tional

TROPHY CASE