featuring work by Kristen Carter, Yen-Rong Wong, Kirsty A. Niven, CB Mako, and RoAnna Sylver
contents A Word From The Founder by Anjulie Te Pohe
03
Acknowledgements
03
Once Upon A Time by Sarah Beth Kolodziej
04
Wanderer by Sarah Beth Kolodziej
05
One Thousand Years by RoAnna Sylver
06-08
Changlings by RoAnna Sylver
09-11
One Link In An Infinite Chain by Nathan Comstock
12-14
Nightmare - After "Link's Awakening" by Nathan Comstock
15-16
Reset by Ashely Adams
17-19
Pynch by Chiara Sullivan
20
Sleeping Beauty by Kirsty A. Niven
21
A Primer on Fandom and Fan Fiction by Diem Nguyen
22-26
The Diversity Bait and Switch by Kristen Carter
27-32
poetry
non-fiction
Shipping, Fanart, and the Women of Colour by 33-45 CB Mako Ace In Space by Anon
46-56
Not A Sandwich by Cee Arr
57-59
The Land of New Year by Yen-Rong Wong
60-65
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fiction
Acknowledgements
a word from the founder
Founder and Editor-in-Chief Anjulie Te Pohe Cover
Issue Two of Koru Mag has been a long time in the making; we’ve had set backs and steep learning curves, but this issue is finally here for you to read. Our sophomore issue is all about emulating fiction – whether that be fiction on the big or small screen, in novels and fables or in video games – and discussing the stories we consume.
Abigale C. Dagher – Translucent Watercolour on Watercolour Paper (9x12) Editors Britt Pickett Gabriela Martins Jazzmin Awa-Williams Jennifer Bridie Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi
Each writer in issue two brings something new to the table and this includes discussions about women of colour in media like The Diversity Bait and Switch; The Land of New Year, which is a new spin on a classic tale; and Sleeping Beauty, a poem about a miscarriage. So prepare your preferred beverage, sit in your comfiest chair, and enjoy.
Sarah Beth Kolodziej Trevor W. Marszalek Copy editors Candice Richards Sumudu Samarawickrama Lila Harrison
Anjulie Te Pohe Graphic Design Founder and Editor-in-Chief Mairéad Asche Böttger
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Aimal Farooq
Once Upon A Time By Sarah Beth Kolodziej
I want…
I must pull back the arrow, to be fearless as
break free from prison,
Katniss Everdeen
believe in magic, pursue friendship,
as wild as
battle my demons,
Bellatrix Lestrange
and embrace my mortal self… yet be as romantic as
If I ever hope to achieve
Lucy Pevensie
My Once Upon A Time…
I crave… security like Charlie peace like Eragon everlasting love like Arwen But wanting and desire will get me nowhere…
Bio: As a member of the magazine team for Koru, I’m excited to be included as a writer in the submission process. I’m from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and a proud alumnus of King’s College. My dream is to make a difference both as an English teacher and as a writer. 04 koru mag
Wanderer By Sarah Beth Kolodziej
I am a wanderer,
Most importantly,
perhaps not in body
I embrace my inner me,
but in mind.
my quirks,
I’ve dabbled into multiple realms,
my friends above all else,
my thoughts a world of their own.
my family, my writing,
I cherish each moment… my wild ideas the way that lady bug I never miss a chance clung to my shirt to dance as I walked or sing for what seemed like hours or fly or when my best friends came to visit, I’ll tell you just why… pleased to realize that their pictures I am the one they call covered my room Loony Lovegood because I like to surround myself with memories of such beautiful people.
Bio: As a member of the magazine team for Koru, I’m excited to be included as a writer in the submission process. I’m from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and a proud alumni of King’s College. My dream is to make a difference both as an English teacher and as a writer. 05
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One Thousand Years By RoAnna Sylver
Shoes don’t fit over feet with talons. Hats don't fit over horns. But you can file down your claws, and avoid smiling wide enough to reveal your fangs.
The whole thing's almost more trouble than it's worth. Some nights you'll feel like giving it all up, Un-cramping your muscles and stretching your wings wide, Actually taking a deep breath without constant, exhausting hypervigilance And letting out a roar. An inhuman scream. Not bloodcurdling, not bloodlusting. Frustrated. Scared. Sad.
Holy shit, we slept for a thousand years, woke up in a new world that hates us just as much as the old one, and all we got was this lousy Tshirt (which ripped pretty much instantly).
But you'll still do it. Fit into the clothes. Fit into the crowd. Try not to step into the light, light isn't your friend. You don't have many friends here.
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But if you do everything right, stay careful, stay small, You might someday.
(Kindred spirits, who've seen horrors that would blast your soul, And risen from the ruins of trauma, pieced together shattered stone To build castles in the sky.)
But be careful. The friendliest pack of wolves with all their wagging tails Have fangs just as sharp as yours. And you're not one of them. Don't be too quick to give away your secrets. Like your name. It took you long enough to get it.
It means something. To you. To anyone who hears it. It means you belong here. It means this world belongs to you too. It means that even if superstition and the sword rule just as cruelly as ever The pen is still mightier.
Sorcerers once chanted magical words of power And some things never change. We just call some things by different names now. 07 koru mag
You named yourself. So one day the world will see you for yourself. Hear your name. Use it. And call you 'friend.' Even if it takes a thousand more years.
Bio: RoAnna Sylver wrote this poem. She also sings, voice acts, draws, has several weird genetic conditions, knows too much about Star Trek, currently writes the oddlyhopeful-dystopian Chameleon Moon series, and lives with family near Portland, OR. The next adventure RoAnna would like is a nap in a pile of bunnies. 08 koru mag
Changelings By RoAnna Sylver
War changes people. I don't mean into hawks with red tails; I mean children with red hands, Though they never held the strings. I mean you can watch eyes (human, inhuman, inhumane) Turn dull over years. Hollow over victories. Empty over loss.
I mean that you can pinpoint the moment When you realise your life is fundamentally different from 90% of humanity's. That nobody will ever really understand, And you can never, ever go back again.
It's not on the battlefield, usually. It's not even a nightmare. Or your complete inability to answer When your mom asks “how was your day� over dinner, And your brain grinds to a halt And your head fills with white noise and static snow and memories of screams, Some of them yours.
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Sometimes, the moment of change is in the grocery store, Trying to pick out cereal, And realizing you've been stuck between Cheerios and Froot Loops for ten minutes. You can't make this decision. Just can't. It's too much. And it's almost hilarious. Because yesterday, you made one split-second choice That decided the fate of thousands.
<They died. Maybe quickly, maybe not. But they were the bad guys. And millions would have died if they hadn't. I did the math. The numbers added up. That's what being ruthless is. And that makes it okay. Right?>
I don't know anymore. I can't tell you my name, because some days I don't know that either. I don't know which eyes I'll see when I look in the mirror. Tiger? Wolf? Gorilla? Hawk? Bear? Alien? Would I even know my own if I saw them?
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Was I brave? Was I good? Did any of it matter?
Buddy, I don't even know what kind of cereal I want. I'll let you know if I figure it out.
Bio: RoAnna Sylver wrote this poem. She also sings, voice acts, draws, has several weird genetic conditions, knows too much about Star Trek, currently writes the oddlyhopeful-dystopian Chameleon Moon series, and lives with family near Portland, OR. The next adventure RoAnna would like is a nap in a pile of bunnies. 11 koru mag
One Link in an Infinite Chain By Nathan Comstock
As you wander through these dark woods that seem to rearrange themselves at every turn, As you collect this assortment of underwhelming talismans- a lantern, a bracelet, a feather do you ever get the feeling you’ve done this before?
They dress you in green clothes because that is what the hero wears in the stories, and in some stories the hero wears green clothes because they dressed him in them, you are this hero because they decided that you are, but doesn’t this tunic feel right, somehow? Doesn’t the sword feel warm in your hand? Don’t you know just how to make it sing?
The names on the map look so familiar, though you have never left your own small village Kakariko, Lon-Lon, Lake Hylia, and the old Deku tree looks at you like an old friend, and when you meet the Princess, though you are only together for a few minutes before she is swept away into the darkness of Ganon’s keep, you share a look that tells you she, too, is tired.
Of course the guards, impenetrable to you with their pikes, are helpless against the demon.
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Of course the man who sells you the arrows never learned how to shoot. There are six stores selling weapons here and none selling food, but no one even thinks of buying one and taking on Ganon themselves, not the burly, rock-eating Gorons, not the old man who teaches you swordplay, it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t their job. They have a hero for that. What else are heroes for?
The world will always be in danger, from the pig-headed demon or the wind sorcerer, they are the same really, and they cannot be truly banished, only imprisoned, and you cannot be killed, because there will always be another boy to take up the green frock, the Master Sword will always sleep until it is needed, nothing you can do will change that.
So go ahead. Collect the bow, the shovel, the bomb bag and the Yoshi doll, learn an instrument, master it like there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a big repeat sign at the end of your life, wave the baton like youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the conductor, maybe you control the winds or the seasons or time itself,
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none of this will free you from this cycle - win or lose you will be reborn,
win or lose you will fight again.
Bio: Nathan Comstock is a poet and performance artist living in Boston, Massachusetts. His work has been published in such places as Amethyst Arsenic and Maps for Teeth. He has had poetry featured on the Indiefeed Performance Poetry podcast, and has competed at the National Poetry Slam. He also performs music with his twin brother in their band, Pirate Not Included. 14 koru mag
Nightmare - After “Link’s Awakening” By Nathan Comstock
Everyone here believes they have been dreamed into existence by a giant fish. It’s all very surreal - they don't believe me when I tell them I come from another place. They say there is no other place.
I say fish don't know anything about love, about loss, about life on land, so how could a fish dream up any of this? I say, "Do fish even sleep?" I try to tell them that I am real, and they are real, and the creatures that warp their landscape are real monsters, I have fought real monsters before.
These ones call themselves nightmares, because their power comes from the night, from fear, from what people imagine they might do, they are not nightmares in the mind of a giant fish,
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they are flesh and blood creaturesI will prove this by killing them.
The nightmares believe these stories too, or so they tell me, but I know they are crafty enough to lie if they think I will spare them. The last nightmare tells me that if I kill him the fish will awaken and I will have destroyed the world.
I plunge my sword into his shadowy form anyway, and he flies apart in a burst of light like they all do, but he doesn't leave anything behind. He doesn't leave anything behind, the cave is crumbling, now the whole island is crumbling, now I am awake, clinging to a piece of driftwood in the middle of the ocean, I know now it was all a dream. I wish I knew whether or not it was mine.
Bio: Nathan Comstock is a poet and performance artist living in Boston, Massachusetts. His work has been published in such places as Amethyst Arsenic and Maps for Teeth. He has had poetry featured on the Indiefeed Performance Poetry podcast, and has competed at the National Poetry Slam. He also performs music with his twin brother in their band, Pirate Not Included. 16 koru mag
‖:Reset An Undertale Poem By Ashely Adams
This first time we played I held your buttercup-stained smile between my ribs. We were a god that broke the crust on our kingdom. But I lost your heart in the garden, my body in the arrows *I watched you return, a hollowed corona. It smelled like rattling bones and dust.
Promise not to laugh when I tell you this world is kill or be killed.
*Remember the blind dogs; the snow is so deep. Your face was meant to be stitched with tears,
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not this fractured science. Here, I find you again under angel rune, flowers echoing our new
*name—the fallen human, achainofpulsingletters you could never arrange into truth.
I shatter the king in the mountain. Swallow these jarred spectrums all for you.
*My rusted blade can’t cut through your SAVE FILE 3 stop this SAVE FILE 3 ecstatic megalovania.
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This metal LoVe pulls me down through folded timelines. A cinnamon mercy
*will bury us. Let me share this weight at the end of the world. if only for a moment. Our DETERMINATION breaks the mirrored sky. A sunset crowns our happy ending
I don’t want this to be over. *to let go Are you sure you want to reset? :‖
Bio: Ashely Adams is an associate editor for NMU’s literary journal, Passages North. She has been previously published in Rum Punch Press, Heavy Feather Review, Permafrost, Flyway, and Anthropoid. She can be found on Twitter talking about birds, metal music, and writerly things. 19 koru mag
Pynch By Chiara Sullivan
One was
They were
A forest in the night
A magician and a thief
Changing seasons during the day
A scholar and a truant And stars of the same constellation
Chapped hands And warm breath shared in the night And gasoline And sharp lines elegantly blurred The other was A dream in your mind Fragile raven feathers The beating heart of a baby mouse And snarls And dark hooks on pale skin
Bio: Chiara Sullivan is a voracious reader who spends far too much time wandering the well worn paths of her imagination. At any given time you can find her blogging here or here, tweeting, and instagramming. Her work has been previously published on The Regal Fox. 20 koru mag
Sleeping Beauty By Kirsty A. Niven
The trees hone their weapons, guarding and imprisoning – I at their very centre, awaiting the day. The thorns thicken and blanket, forming their nest. Your presence is growing; I alone know what I have.
Leafless, their arms wrap around each other, twisting into irrevocable knots. Crows scream above, sending their warning. The pulsing dance begins, the sap floods at my feet.
Dawn disappears in a flurry of flesh and twig, as the nest empties its eggs. Ghost of what was, the cries fade as their yolks crash to the ground. I suppose I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.
Bio: Kirsty A. Niven lives in Dundee, Scotland with her husband and two cats. Her poetry has appeared in GFT Presents: One in Four, The Dawntreader, Mothers Always Write, the anthology A Prince Tribute and several other publications. She also contributed towards the Dylan’s Great Poem Project of 2016. 21 koru mag
A Primer on Fandom and Fanfiction By Diem Nguyen
Fandom is a normal, everyday phenomenon. Fans are often characterised by the way that they participate in fandom. For Michel de Certeau (as cited in Jenkins 2015), the strict boundaries between producers and consumers are disrupted when textual poaching occurs. In this context, producers are referred to those who exist in a space with access to ‘strategies’ as well as equipment of production (Hills 14). Consumers, on the other hand, do not own a legitimate production space of their own and therefore “poach” or appropriate texts in the producer’s sphere (Hills 14). Fan producers are considered textual poachers as they “raid” dominant culture by selecting aspects of the text that they perceive as useful or pleasurable (Jenkins 24). When fans are textual poachers, they become active participants in the construction and circulation of texts. This enables fans to use their readings of media texts to construct their own cultural and social identity. The media constructed representations of fans as “cultural dupes” and “mindless consumers” are subverted as fans are empowered (Jenkins 23). Similarly, cultural hierarchies are destabilised by fan culture as active fans go against institutional authority who are the “possessors of legitimate culture” as defined by Bourdieu (as cited in Jenkins 2015). These active fans assert their right to claim the text by appropriating and reimagining meanings to serve alternative interests (Jenkins 18). In other words, fans are “consumers who also produce” (Hills 5). Fanfiction is a form of fan production and textual poaching that offers an opportunity for fans to negotiate their self-identity. Writing fanfiction allows fans to rework and reimagine the primary text in a way that enables them to share the stories that they would like to see or read. Moreover, an individual’s gender, class, sexuality, and
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nationality cannot be divorced from their fan practices. This suggests that certain fan practices are further capable of presenting a more individual and accurate representation of fans and their identity. Furthermore, the production and consumption of fanfiction highlights the importance of intersectionality as it is seen as gendered practice (Bury 72). For example, female fandoms and slash fandoms are considered different and deviant (Bury 206). Young female fans are also often dismissed as being obsessed, hysterical, delusional, or silly. Think of “Twihards”, “One Direction Infection” and “Bieber Fever” which are all used to deprecate young female fans for their passion. Staigner (as cited in Hills, 30) states that “fandom cannot be easily bifurcated into good and bad”. There is a gendered policing of women’s fandoms. Women and girls’ fan practices are looked at with derision while male fans are not. This is another form of curtailing female interests and desires as well as denying agency to the female audience. Who gets to decide what are acceptable and unacceptable fan practices? Why are people intervening in women’s fantasy worlds anyway? Women and girl’s desires are often marginalised and fandom tends to be a dynamic, productive, and subversive space that allows female fans to express this as well as for their perspectives to be privileged. Slash fanfiction is defined as stories that are centred around the romantic relationship of two same-gender characters (usually male characters) who are both coded as heterosexual in the primary text (Tresca 37). Slash is predominantly written by heterosexual women for heterosexual female readers (Graham 136). According to Joanna Russ and Constance Penley (as cited in Bury 2005), slash is “feminised”
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pornography as it offers an alternative to sexual encounters determined by a patriarchal authority. Patricia Lamb and Diana Veith (as cited in Bury 2015) also argue that slash destabilises the narrative of a heroine who is passive and subordinate. Both of these interpretations are influenced by the idea that women desire portrayals of intimacy between equals. This is something that a heterosexual landscape does not allow (Bury 77). In other words, slash fiction presents a female idealisation of malefemale relationships. The narratives in slash fanfiction privileges heterosexual female fantasies and projects the female desires onto the male body. This therefore allows slash fiction to increase the available options of identification for female fans (Lothian et al. 106). Similarly, through reading or writing fanfiction, queer voices are also able to explore their own sexuality by using the characters in the fictional worlds to understand their desires, and by constructing narratives that resonate for them (Tresca 44). These fan practices are incredibly empowering as they allow consumers to have agency. Additionally, given that there are no proper spaces for marginalised voices, textual poaching is also transgressive as it is a way of demanding and creating better representation. The world of fanfiction consequently functions as a safe and welcoming space for oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exploration of identity surrounding sexuality and gender. However, it must be acknowledged that while fanfiction can function as a safe space for many to explore their sexuality and identity, it also has the potential to be harmful. This is specifically the case with male/male slash pairings. While heterosexual female readers may find pleasure in such fantasies, the power dynamics between the characters may be a 24 koru mag
cause of concern. These power dynamics include problematic heteronormative gender roles and binaries that can reinforce dominant/submissive relationships. Ideas surrounding the fetishisation of gay male bodies may also be reinforced.
Bio: Diem is an Arts (Cultural and Gender Studies) student at Melbourne University who spends most of her time listening to podcasts and reading feminist texts. She is the mastermind behind the podcast â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bookish Friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which focuses on YA fiction but also explores whatever bookish thing Diem fancies. 25 koru mag
References Bury, Rhiannon. Cyberspaces of Their Own: Female Fandoms Online. New York: Peter Lang, 2005. Print. Hills, Matthew. Fan Cultures. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2003. Print. Jenkins, Henry. Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Print. Lothian, Alexis, Kristina Busse, and Robin Anne Reid. “‘Yearning Void and Infinite Potential’: Online Slash Fandom as Queer Female Space.” English Language Notes 45.2 (2007): 103–111. Print. Tresca, Don. “Spellbound: An Analysis of Adult-Orientated Harry Potter Potter Fanfiction.” Fan CULTure: Essays on Participatory Fandom in the 21st Century. Ed. Kristin Michael Barton and Jonathan Malcolm Lampley. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2014. 36–41. Print.
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The Diversity Bait and Switch By Kristen Carter
Growing up as a black nerd, I watched a lot of sci-fi and fantasy television shows like Charmed, Roswell, and Xena: Warrior Princess. As time went on, I began to notice something strange: none of the main characters on my favourite shows looked like me. If there were any black characters or people of colour around, it didn't end well for them. I honestly thought things were getting better, but then I noticed a problem with a couple of my recent favourite shows. Teen Wolf and Sleepy Hollow advertised themselves as “progressive” shows; both had a person of colour in a leading role, but then they slowly changed into something else. Or, simply put: they performed the old bait and switch. One of my favourite shows as a young adult was Teen Wolf. However, Teen Wolf doesn’t handle race well. For instance, Scott McCall’s race seems to be ambiguous at best. I think he’s supposed to be biracial, but they never actually say. In a 2012 Huffington Post interview, actor Tyler Posey even commented on the fact: “Well, his mom has got a dark complexion, so I think he’s half-Latino. It never comes up in the show, but I’m pretty sure that he is Latino. I mean, look at the guy! He looks Latino, a little bit.” Tyler Posey may believe that Scott McCall is biracial because he’s biracial himself; although I believe he self-identifies as MexicanAmerican. Tyler Posey continued to say something along those lines in numerous interviews. I feel that perfectly sums up the problem with Teen Wolf; while they portray him as an all-American teenager, they never touch upon the most noticeable aspect, his race. They shy away from it and only hint at it in season three. In the episode 27 koru mag
“Galvanize”, we learned that Melissa McCall’s maiden name was Delgado. We also learned that she didn’t change her name after her divorce because “McCall” was Scott’s last name as well. Other than that, they never talked about the divorce again. Delgado is a common last name in Latin America. It has Spanish and Portuguese origins. Nothing ever came from that little piece of information. The writers just dropped that tidbit and quickly moved on. It also doesn't help that the actors who play Tyler Posey's parents aren’t people of colour. The actor who played Rafael McCall (Matthew Del Negro) tweeted that he's 100 percent Italian. While the actress that plays Melissa McCall, Melissa Ponzio is also Italian with Native American ancestry. This furthers adds to the confusion around Scott McCall’s race. I attribute this confusion to the creator of Teen Wolf, Jeff Davis. In a 2012 interview with AfterElton, Davis said: “I’m trying to create a world where there’s no racism, there’s no sexism, there’s no homophobia. And I know it’s not real life, but I kind of don’t care. I’d like to create a world where none of that matters: you have the supernatural creatures for that to work as an analogy. In my mind, if you can create a world like that on TV, maybe life starts to imitate it.” In a Tumblr post Davis went on to say: “When we send out breakdowns for cast it always says ‘All ethnicities.’ I'm quite proud of the fact that our lead actor is Latino. But I have also always said I will not make Teen Wolf an ‘issues’ show. I think a series like Glee or even the humor of Modern Family are far more equipped to handle those subjects. I also worry that as a white male who grew up in a pretty ordinary middle class 28 koru mag
I may not have the insight to be particularly adept at tackling issues of race head on. While there is no way I can write without socialization and my own personal bias both informing and affecting my work, I believe my first job is to entertain. That's what I love about writing. Entertaining people. If I skirt the issues of race and sexual politics, the reason is most likely that I don't feel like I'm going to be very good at tackling those issues within a show about teenage werewolves. I don't really know how to write those stories. But I think I do know how to scare people and how to make them laugh. There are far better writers out there like Aaron Sorkin, Shonda Rhimes, David E. Kelley, far more equipped to tackle those subjects. I'm here first and foremost to entertain. All else comes under the banner of ‘best effort.’” During my time in the Teen Wolf fandom, I noticed quite a few things. Mostly the racism, but other -isms reared their ugly heads. The fandom and the writers, to a certain extent, seemed to shift away from Scott and focus on his best friend, Mieczyslaw "Stiles" Stilinski. I saw many fans say they preferred Stiles, which I shrugged off. They would go on to say that the show should focus on Stiles instead of Scott. If the writers did that, it would no longer be Teen Wolf. Further, by focusing on Stiles, the fandom attributed all of Scott's positive attributes to him. It seems like once a show reaches a certain level of success, the vocal fandom has a bit of sway with the writers. During the first season of Teen Wolf, the show focused on Scott McCall. Then they moved on to an ensemble cast format. I believe it would have been okay, had they tied the other characters and their issues back to Scott and how it affected him and the pack. But they didn't do that. Sleepy Hollow used a similar tactic: they introduced us to an amazing and dynamic character, Grace Abigail "Abbie" Mills, and the first season hinted that good things were going to come. Sleepy Hollow
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lured us in for two reasons: firstly, the show seemed committed to and understood the need for diversity and inclusion. Secondly, they advertised themselves as something we have never seen before, and as far as I can remember, I don't recall having a black woman leading a fantasy show â&#x20AC;&#x201C; especially one on a major network. They were able to sell themselves as one of a kind. Sleepy Hollow had an excellent cast and writers; it was the perfect situation. We could have had it all! Instead, they wasted everything. Gradually, they began to shift focus from Abbie Mills, and after a while, the jig was up. By the second season, the writers started moving away from what made the show successful. They began to focus more and more on Ichabod Crane and his family. First his wife, then his son and their never-ending family drama. Toward the end of the third season, Sleepy Hollow became unrecognizable. Not only because they killed off the main character, Abbie Mills, but because they slowly shifted the focus to Ichabod Crane and his journey. The show became so busy focusing on Ichabod and his issues, that they forgot about Abbie. Who was she outside of being a Witness? Throughout the seasons her allies and friends dwindled. She lost so much for "the cause," and it's typical of these shows, but this time it felt different. The way they handled her death was awful. Even if they had to kill Abbie, they didn't have to make her death all about Ichabod. What these two shows had in common is that they drew us in with diversity and inclusion, and then they performed a bait and switch. Slowly but surely, the show started focusing less on the lead and more
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on the white best friend. A lot of shows do that, but these are good examples of what fans of colour are tired of seeing. We are sick of being promised a show that is inclusive and then defaults to the white character. I have had enough of these kinds of shows being touted by white creators and showrunners as something new and wonderful, only for it to turn out to be the same old thing. I felt the weight of Sleepy Hollow more because I was older and by that time I knew what the deal was. Now, at 25, I am a bit more jaded. However, I still hold out hope that we will get a diverse and inclusive sci-fi or fantasy television show that won’t pull a bait and switch. If you look at the history and progression of television, we are slowly moving in the right direction. First, we started as supporting characters, and now we are the lead actors. I won’t pretend like it’s perfect, but we are making incredible strides. I just hope that this problem will be solved soon.
Bio: Kristen Carter was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. Reading and writing stories has been an obsession since childhood. Currently, she attends college for Communication Studies. Besides writing, Kristen fancies herself an amateur photographer. She likes binge watching shows on Netflix, sleeping in late, and baking. 31 koru mag
References H, L. "'Teen Wolf' Star Tyler Posey On His Character's Ethnicity: 'I'm Pretty Sure That He's Latino' (EXCLUSIVE)." HUFFPOST. July 23, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/teen-wolf-startyler-posey_n_1625161. J, R. "Teen Wolf Creator Responds to Allegations of Racism, Deletes Post." GAWKER. July 31, 2012. http://gawker.com/5930518/racismdebate-ravages-teen-wolfs-online-community.
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Shipping, Fanart, and the Woman of Colour By CB Mako
The word “ship” was one of nine over-used words in 2016 (Garcia, 2016), and according to author Kathleen Smith of The Fangirl Life, it’s okay to ship. By 2017, “shipping” had reached mainstream status, so much so that that Vanity Fair and EW have recently included shipping in their articles. (Robinson, 2017; Serrao, 2017). I grew up watching Voltron, an Americanised, mashed-up version of two Japanese animations called Beast King GoLion and Dairugger V. I fangirl Voltron and ship Keith and Allura. It's a “het” ship and recently labeled as a “rare pair” by the new online fans of Dreamworks Netflix's 2016 animation, Voltron Legendary Defender. Voltron has had a few reincarnations since 1984: an early computer generated (CG) animation called Voltron Third Dimension (1998), and Voltron Force (2011), the latter of which was animated by Toon City in the Philippines. Voltron Force was broadcast in Australia on free-to-air television via ABC3, and by 2012, Australia came out with an exclusive box set of that series, which made me one happy fangirl! In this 2011 reincarnation Commander Keith and Princess Allura were older. It was amazing to see that my two favourite 80s cartoon characters had matured with the fans.
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Voltron Character Chart compiled by adrenalineRush1996 34 koru mag
I joined the online fandom community in late 2012, gushing about Voltron Force's Keith and Allura. I was the eager, enthusiastic newbie inside existing discussion groups that had been around for decades. I also found myself lost and confused when navigating the nuances, inner hierarchies, and jargon. As an outsider, the discussions in USA-centric forums appeared odd, different. I pushed away the thought that American fans of Japanese anime were xenophobic. Were they? Some fans couldn't believe I was tweeting, emailing, and chatting with them in real time, all the way from Australia. The seasoned fans seemed to think that the Voltron fandom was only in the USA. Were they unaware that there were fans outside the USA? My interactions seemed too enthusiastic, bubbly, and happy for their liking. I was too irreverent, perhaps disrupting their staunchly held hierarchical spaces. I had difficulty understanding why fans didn’t like Voltron Force. Despite sharing my ship, fans complained about minute details such as Keith and Allura's change of eye colour. The artwork, the redesigned uniforms, and even the story became subjects for scepticism and debate. Some of the fans even mentioned that Voltron Force's Keith was simply...too dark. They didn’t know I had the same skin colour as Keith’s. My pen name didn’t reveal that I am a fangirl of colour.
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In 2016, Netflix launched a new series from Dreamworks Animation: Voltron Legendary Defender which is a reimagining of 80s cartoons Voltron. Adapted from a pair of anime series—Toei Animation robot anime: Beast King Golion and Armored Fleet Dairugger XV—the 80s Voltron story centred on five young pilots who fight against an evil empire of alien conquerors with the help of five mechanized lions that combine to form a giant robot. I was relieved when the 80s Voltron fans—who’d previously hated Voltron Force—enjoyed watching the Dreamworks Netflix version. But there was one thing that was missing. The seasoned Voltron fans were not shipping Keith and Allura. Confused, I decided to draw three different versions of Keith and Allura using the same pose. Using a digital drawing app called Sketchbook Pro on my mobile phone, I captured the exact colour palette used in each of the animation series.
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Left Panel: 80s Voltron Keith and Allura skin tones were nearly similar. Middle panel: Voltron Force version Keith and Allura’s different skin tones more apparent. Right panel: Allura transformed from a blonde and blue-eyed princess to a woman of colour.
Did the change of skin colour, the difference of skin tones reflect the negative feedback about the characters? 37 koru magmag
Fansplaining—a podcast by, about, and for fandom—had a brilliant two-part episode #22 with “Race and Fandom”. Podcast hosts Elizabeth Minkel and Flourish Klink had invited fans from diverse backgrounds as part of this podcast and asked key questions such as, “Do you see racism underlying fandom’s pairing preferences? How have fandom’s attitudes on race affected you personally?" The podcast was an eye-opener for me. It confirmed something I couldn’t pinpoint, name, nor understand inside my own fandom. Using statistical reference of a specific fandom and fanfiction from Archive of our Own, Rukmini Pande (2015) noted that, “Most English language fanfiction, whether it involves straight or queer relationships, remains concerned with white characters... it is a worrying trend that even when non-white characters have significant roles in a canonical work, fanfiction very often fails to register this – or worse, undercuts it... characters of colour receive significantly less attention than their white counterparts. In Marvel Cinematic Universe fanfiction, characters of colour receive significantly less attention than their white counterparts. Clearly, interracial pairings (red) receive far less attention." Meanwhile, in the realm of comic book entertainment, the hit CW series The Flash underwent a similar change for one of its core characters. Iris West, traditionally depicted as a pale-skinned brunette or redhead, was now played by Candice Patton, a woman of colour. “When the geek community is asked to empathize with characters who 38 koru mag
don’t look like them, the backlash can be severe... Perhaps this reveals the heart of the matter—that white viewers are forced to empathize with characters that don’t look like them in a genre they thought they owned." (Bastien, 2016). Fansplaining’s podcast episode #22B also mentioned that generally, people have different reasons and excuses why they don't like shipping women of colour (Klink and Minkel, 2016), Citings from Klink and Minkel, Pande, and Bastien confirmed what was happening inside my specific ship. When Voltron Legendary Defender presented Allura as a woman of colour, the 80s-era Voltron shippers from the USA didn’t like the change. They posted long emails inside the Yahoo group, explaining and defending their own reasons. Did the 32-year gap between the original Voltron series (1984) and Voltron Legendary Defender (2016) represent and reflect society’s outlook in real life? (Pyun, 2017)
Before 2016 ended, the mega-fandom Star Wars mourned the passing of Carrie Fisher who played the iconic character Princess-General Leia Organa. I couldn’t help but reflect on my fandom’s own iconic princess, Allura. Growing up in the 80s, under the watchful eyes of autocratic parents, I viewed Leia in the cinemas, and Allura on the telly every week, reflecting on what I wanted to be when I grew up: a strong, capable individual, who could do anything and still be loved by someone. And just like Allura, I wanted my own Keith by my side, and to soldier on. 39 koru mag
But the narrative seemed to shift recently. Leslie Loftis, a lawyer and a writer for The Federalist, who fangirled both Star Wars and Voltron, wrote about Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TFA), “Princess General Leia in TFA, she is a ruler without a planet, a daughter without parents, a sister without a brother, a wife without a husband, and a mother without her child. Any one of those could, and has, broken a woman. Any combo of two would see a real woman struggle. But carrying all of them, Leia is still quipping. Because that’s what we are told strong women do — endure everything, on our own. And then we wonder why women are so exhausted. We do as we are told and chase the impossible with no option of grace. Hollywood writers don’t recognize what makes heroines iconic to the fans. They pay attention to the feminist formula for the Strong Independent Woman (TM) and write guys who happen to be female. They often modify women to give them mystical powers in order to explain why they can hang with the men in battle. The heroine shouldn’t be too beautiful and certainly not sexy ... and she can’t be dependent in any way or men. No rescuing. No romance. Either she does it all on her own or it doesn’t count.” Haxine (2016) raised that "...We shouldn’t be defending this trope in the name of feminism or defending the uncreative writers who are seemingly incapable of giving these female characters both romantic love and character depth... Men always receive stories where they are both in love and their character is fully fleshed out, so 40 koru mag
why do women have to choose between them when we can have both?" To give concrete examples of what Leslie Loftis and Haxine pointed out, I watched Voltron Legendary Defender seasons one and two on Netflix. Allura, the last woman survivor of a decimated planet, remained in the castle ship while the rest of the team went out on training and missions. It was a similar situation in the ongoing comics series Voltron Legendary Defender written by the same writers from the Netflix Dreamworks Animation team. In Volume 1, Allura was left alone in the castle recuperating while the rest of the Voltron Paladins were out in their space robot lions. Why didn’t they include Allura in the narrative?
(manip panel from Voltron Legendary Defender comics Issue 3) 41 koru mag
Haxine (2016) mentioned the issue of a woman of colour not being seen as worthy of love, which media critic and writer, @FangirlJeanne explained, “WOC, black women especially, get coded as sexless caretakers, emotionless warriors, or hyper-sexual jezebels. What each of these racist tropes lacks is healthy, loving relationships. We don’t see women of color being loved, being cared for and thus struggle to see them as romantic partners, beyond sexual fetishization. That has a damaging effect on women of color, both in how we view ourselves and how people dismiss their own racial bias as our fault. As well as contributing to the abusive ways our actual partners treat us because we’re strong we can take harsh treatment. They think we owe them more emotional labor and should be the caretaker. When we are emotional or upset, we are seen as aggressive.” So, did Voltron fans react in the same way as fans from other fandoms when faced with central characters of colour? Did they stop shipping Keith and Allura because Allura is now a woman of colour? Already, I've seen fan-artists create fan merchandise—charms, stickers et al—without Allura, giving various excuses when asked why they’d omitted her in their designs. The challenge I’m keen to raise with The Powers That Be—now that Allura has been redesigned as a woman of colour—what arc will the writers give Allura? Would the Dreamworks team of writers buck Hollywood’s formulaic trope of a “strong” woman, woman of colour— alone, angry, and aggressive—to evolve into a fully fleshed out 42 koru mag
with a loving, healthy relationship? After 32 years, I hope that this time around, the Dreamworks Voltron Legendary Defender writers can finally provide fans something the show’s previous incarnations neglected: a happily-ever-after ending for the iconic Princess Allura with Keith by her side.
Screen capture from Netflix Voltron Legendary Defender Season 2, Episode 12 ‘Best Laid Plans’
Bio: CB Mako is a member of West Writers Group, art student of Footscray Community Arts Centre, winner of the 2016 Grace Marion Wilson Prize (Non-fiction); participated at the Emerging Writers' Festival and Melbourne Writers Festival (2016). Her non-fiction and artwork have appeared in The Suburban Review and The Lifted Brow. 43 koru mag
References Angelica Jade Bastién. ‘For Women of Color, the Price of Fandom Can Be Too High’, New Republic, (6 October 2016) <https://newrepublic.com/article/137489/women-color-pricefandom-can-high> Patricia Garcia. ‘These Were the 9 Most Overused Words on the Internet in 2016’, Vogue, (28 Dec 2016) <http://www.vogue.com/13515918/overused-slang-words-2016/? mbid=social_onsite_twitter> Haxine / Nerdy People of Color. ‘Do Love Interests Make a Film Less Feminist?’, Medium, (17 December 2016) <https://medium.com/@nerdypoc/do-love-interests-make-afilm-less-feminist-5d9ca205e014#.vc56ypnxq> Flourish Klink & Elizabeth Minkel. ‘Episode 38, The Year in Fandom 2016’. Fansplaining, (28 December 2016) <http://fansplaining.com/post/155076968818/episode-38-theyear-in-fandom-2016-elizabeth-and> Flourish Klink & Elizabeth Minkel. ‘Podcast Episodes 22A and 22B Race and Fandom’. Fansplaining, (31 May 2016) <http://fansplaining.com/post/144557202888/episode-22a-raceand-fandom-part-1-flourish-and> Leslie Loftis. ‘From Days of Long Ago… Or Netflix Attempts a Reboot’, Medium, (10 June 2016) <https://medium.com/@AHLondonTX/from-days-of-longago-or-netflix-attempts-a-reboot-2d551071c761#.epo5n0xcf> Rukmini Pande. ‘Explainer: What is Fanfiction?’ The Conversation, (7 October 2015) < https://theconversation.com/explainer-whatis-fanfiction-48150> Sabrina Pyun. ‘Voltron Season 2: Still A Leader In Representation’ Comicsverse. (2 February 2017) < https://comicsverse.com/voltron-season-2-representation/> Joanna Robinson. 'How Online Fandom Is Shaping TV in 2017', Vanity Fair, (19 January 2017) <http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/01/onlinefandom-tv-2017-riverdale-twin-peaks-better-call-saul-timeafter-time> 44 koru mag
Nivea Serrao. 'Voltron: Legendary Defender EPs on season 2's biggest moments', Entertainment Weekly (20 January 2017) <http://ew.com/tv/2017/01/20/voltron-legendary-defenderseason-2-postmortem/> Kathleen Smith. ‘Why I Will Never Stop Being a Shipper’, Medium, (July 2016), <https://medium.com/@fangirltherapy/why-i-willnever-stop-being-a-shipper-6cf7656e30a8#.njokwkye9>
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Ace in Space: The Importance of Luke Skywalker to a Secret Asexual By Anon
Asexuality has little to no representation in any media. Hell, most members of the general population don’t even know asexuality exists, what the term means, or that it’s part of the LGBTQIA+ (“A” standing for Asexual, Aromantic, and Agender) alphabet soup. I didn’t know it was a thing until I was 25 and found out that asexuals are people that experience little to no sexual attraction. I didn’t start thinking I could be asexual (ace) until last year. I am now 28 and have never had a relationship, either physical or romantic. And I’m not going to lie: it’s hard not to feel like a freak. But then Mark Hamill – sweet, wonderful, starlight-being-in-humanform, Mark Hamill – said this in an interview with The Sun: "...fans are writing and ask all these questions, 'I'm bullied in school... I'm afraid to come out'. They say to me, 'Could Luke be gay?' I'd say it is meant to be interpreted by the viewer... If you think Luke is gay, of course he is. You should not be ashamed of it. Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves.” This is not the only instance of Mark Hamill saying Luke’s sexuality is up for debate. Hamill has talked to fans on Twitter and Facebook about the possibility of Luke being gay, bisexual, or pansexual. Each time Hamill is asked about Luke’s sexuality, he has responded the same way, telling fans that they have the power to see themselves in Luke. However, I would like to contest Mr. Hamill on one point. In the above quote he says to “Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves.” I find that very hard to do. Why? Because, in essence, Luke’s whole 46 koru mag
character – his personality, his convictions, his motivations and his drives – all come down to one truth: Luke Skywalker is a man who loves everyone around him deeply. But the love that we see on screen is obscured because it isn’t the type of love we are used to seeing in the media. We are so used to being told that love is romantic or sexual, that we are completely blinded when that love takes the form of the platonic or the fraternal. I am not going to argue that Luke Skywalker is unequivocally ace. The beauty of Mr. Hamill’s quotes is that Luke gets to belong to everyone, and it would be selfish of me to put a big red stamp on Luke saying “ACE” and call it a day. Yet I would like to argue that Luke Skywalker is of great importance to the ace community simply because he is a main character who doesn’t have a love interest. For those of you muttering “Leia” under your breath, I shall quote to you the immortal words of “Brooklyn 99” Jake Peralta to you: “Luke didn’t know, okay?! No one knew!” Not only that, but Luke is a steadfast symbol of active compassion, whether it be to a cause, to his friends or even to his greatest enemy. For Luke, love is not about some abstract idea with no real world effect. It is an act that he chooses to perform, even at his own cost. For the ace community – who are often told that our types of love aren’t as valuable as “real love” – Luke’s story is a powerful message.
Luke and Leia – Love As Confusion And Connection We all wince at the Hologram scene now. The one where Luke sees Leia for the first time, and his first comment after “Who is she?” is that “She’s beautiful.”
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Not that anyone can really blame Luke there. Leia is beautiful. But beyond that, when you meet her as a person, she is a force of nature. Strong. Intelligent. Full of conviction to her cause. All while possessing the vitriolic, take-no-prisoners attitude that one could only develop as a diplomat, ambassador, and military leader. No wonder he was enamoured. I’m enamoured. That doesn't mean I want to bone her. Gold bikini or no. I made a joke above about Luke’s attraction to Leia, but as an asexual, the idea of mistaking one form of love with another is a common one. Below is a meta-post (that is an in depth discussion about a show, book, and, in this case, a film) by Tumblr user evilqueenofgallifrey: “okay but Luke being gay would actually explain his interest in Leia A WHOLE LOT AND MAKES IT WAY LESS INCESTY think about it this boy is hella gay, like so so gay, he’s never been attracted to a girl in his life but maybe feels like he should, and then he meets Leia he feels this connection, this pull to her, and because he’s never experienced attraction to a woman he thinks that this is what being attracted to girls feels like, when actually that’s not it at all, it’s just that his subconscious can sense that it’s his sister and that therefore she’s super important to him gay Luke = sibling connection mistaken for attraction = LESS GROSS INCEST” Now, as I said before, I’m not here to rip the Gay!Luke headcanon (an unconfirmed fan theory) out of anyone’s hands, nor imply that being gay and ace are mutually exclusive. However, evilqueenofgallifrey’s comments resonate with me, because I have experienced similar situations where I confused closeness, admiration, and aesthetic 48 koru mag
with romantic and sexual feelings. We are told time and time again that the strongest emotion you can have for another person must be sexual love, so of course when we feel a rush of strong, overwhelming emotions for a person, that must be the fabled pants-feelings we’ve been hearing oh-so-much about. But as the films progress, Luke and Leia sort through those emotions and we see them form a connection that is even closer than their romantic relationship could have ever been. Luke and Leia showcase one of the rare examples of nonsexual, platonic love transcending romantic love. From the moment Luke and Leia realise what their true connection is meant to be, there are no “what ifs” or “such a shames”. Partially because it would be gross (I’m looking at you, Mortal Instruments). But it is mostly played by Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher as a realisation that this relationship fits them better. And not only are they content with that, they are stronger because of it.
Luke and Han - The Transformative Power of Love While Luke and Leia seem to have a strong positive bond from the moment they meet (jokes about stature aside), Luke and Han are at the opposite ends of sliding scale of idealism vs. cynicism. After Luke loses his home, the family who raised him, and everything he has known, he chooses to turn his grief into action. Luke wants to become a Jedi, destroy the Empire, and save the galaxy, and he genuinely believes that not only is it the right thing to do, but that it can be done. Han just wants to pay off his debts and get Jabba off his back. His actions are more reactions than anything else, and they are completely self-serving. Two scenes stand out in highlighting their different philosophies. The first is when R2-D2 first discovers Leia is imprisoned in the Death Star. Luke’s immediate response is that they 49 koru mag
change their plan and go rescue her, a woman he’s never even met in person. Han’s is to not get involved. As Luke shouts at Han, “But they’re gonna kill her!” Han barks back, “Better her than me!” The second is when Han is leaving the rebel base on Yavin 4 and Luke is trying to convince him to stay. When he expresses his disappointment to Leia his words are “I really thought he would stay” because it’s unthinkable to Luke that Han wouldn’t. The idea of abandoning people in their hour of need is unthinkable to him, because his gut reaction in any situation is compassion. But more than that, Luke has love and compassion for Han and wants to see the best in him. This pays off because the threat of disappointing Luke obviously plays on Han. He stops Luke in the midst of storming off, just long enough to say to him, “May the force be with you.” For a man who called the Force “a bunch of simple tricks and nonsense” not too long ago, this is a fairly big show of respect, putting aside his beliefs because he knows they’re important to Luke. After Luke goes, Chewie growls at Han and Han plays it off saying, “What are you looking at? I know what I’m doing,” implying that Chewie also realises that Han is full of crap. The biggest show of how much Luke’s acts of compassion have impressed on Han is when he returns to help Luke blow up the Death Star. After that point, we always know where Han’s loyalties ultimately lie, and for Han, Luke is the one person who first demonstrated to him what loyalty was.
Luke and Darth Vader – Love: The Thing That Makes Us Human 50 koru mag
The idea that love is what makes us human is something that has been flung at the feet of the ace community time and time again. It is so ingrained in the public consciousness that those who do not love in the way society tells us to are perceived as deficient somehow. It is one thing to abstain from sexual love. That is something noble and high minded. It’s a sacrifice. But not wanting it in the first place? That just makes you abnormal. Let’s look at this in regards to the Jedi philosophy. In Attack of the Clones, Anakin describes the Jedi’s attitude to love like this:
“Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential to a Jedi's life. So you might say, that we are encouraged to love.” This detached, universal concept of what love should be ultimately leads to Anakin’s downfall, because he fails to live up to the concept. It is his forbidden love of Padmé that leads him on a quest to try and save her life, which makes him more vulnerable to Palpatine’s machinations and leads him to eventually turn to the Dark Side, in the hopes this would grant him the power to save her. Love here is shown as a fatal flaw, however I would argue that it is only exacerbated through the Jedi’s insistence that Anakin have no human connections, instead only dedicating himself to a higher general love. Luke faces a similar challenge. While training with Yoda on Dagobah, he is able to feel Han and Leia’s pain in Cloud City as Vader tortures them. Yoda insists he must abandon his friends to their fate and complete his training. Luke refuses. While he does pay a great physical and psychological cost for his actions, we really can’t argue 51
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with his decision to try and save his friends from certain death. It is also completely in keeping with his character. While for the Jedi counsel of the Republic, keeping emotionally detached was paramount to their philosophies, Luke never seems to manage this. In Return of the Jedi when he faces Jabba to save Han his outward appearance seems calm but his words betray his anger. “I'm taking Captain Solo and his friends. You can either profit by this or be destroyed. It's your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate my power.” He then proceeds to destroy the Hutt who has been plaguing Han’s life since we first saw him in that Cantina. When he fights Darth Vader for the final time in front of Emperor Palpatine the only time he succumbs to his rage is when Vader threatens to turn Leia to the Dark Side. Every show of anger, violence, and strength Luke displays is on behalf of his friends and the people around him. This parallel to his father’s character is clear, but unlike Anakin, this love isn’t something that leads to Luke’s downfall. It is something that leads to Anakin’s redemption. When Luke finds out the truth about his parentage, Obi-Wan and Yoda both insist that Luke has to fight and defeat Vader. Luke: There is still good in him. Obi-Wan: He's more machine now than man. His mind is twisted and evil. Luke: I can't do it, Ben Obi-Wan: You cannot escape your destiny. You must face Darth Vader again. Luke: I can't kill my own father! Obi-Wan: [resigned] Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope. 52 koru mag
Later in Return of the Jedi Obi-Wan tells Luke, “Bury your feelings deep down, […] They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor.” However, Luke – who still sees good in Darth-fucking-Vader, the man who cut off his hand, tortured his friends and is the right hand of a galactic dictator – instead turns himself over to the Empire and plays upon his Father’s humanity, something Obi-Wan denied was possible. In Return of the Jedi when Palpatine calls upon him to strike down Vader and become his next apprentice, Luke throws away his lightsabre, the most iconic symbol of the Jedi and the Sith, and states, “You have failed, your Highness. I am a Jedi. Like my Father before me. I will never turn to the Dark Side.” Tumblr user lizznotliz described the scene in their tags as follows: “[…] this moment. is the best moment. dressed in black. declaring himself a jedi. like his father. who is lying on the ground at his feet. luke is defiant and earnest and so very very good. he is a good man. and he is the best of the jedi. what they should have been. obi-wan and yoda tried to teach him not to feel fear or anger. to reject those feelings out of hand. but luke says no and he lets himself feel fear and anger. he just doesn't let these emotions control him. he works with them to do what's right. to save his friends on cloud city. to redeem his father. luke is the best of us. and he is a jedi like his father before him. i did not properly appreciate you as a child. but i do now […]” Additionally, Anakin’s background is crucial to understanding how important Luke’s display of love and recognition for his father, is to Vader’s redemption. Anakin grew up as a slave. When the Jedi arrive he naturally assumes they have come to free the slaves, but instead 53 koru mag
they only free him and leave his mother behind, because Anakin has skills that suit the Jedi’s purposes. To the Jedi he’s a tool. They demand that he removes all semblance of his own individuality and emotions to fit within their ranks. Palpatine toys with Anakin’s need for acceptance to lure him over to the Dark Side. But in the end, Vader is just another tool for another man, as he has been his whole life. Additionally, Anakin’s background is crucial to understanding how important Luke’s display of love and recognition for his father, is to Vader’s redemption. Anakin grew up as a slave. When the Jedi arrive he naturally assumes they have come to free the slaves, but instead they only free him and leave his mother behind, because Anakin has skills that suit the Jedi’s purposes. To the Jedi he’s a tool. They demand that he removes all semblance of his own individuality and emotions to fit within their ranks. Palpatine toys with Anakin’s need for acceptance to lure him over to the Dark Side. But in the end, Vader is just another tool for another man, as he has been his whole life. “[…] luke skywalker. the only true jedi. the jedi who did come here to free slaves. ‘this weapon is your life’ anakin is told. anakin who spends his whole life being a weapon. until there’s luke. luke who throws away his lightsabre. luke who insists that a life is always more important than a weapon. and that no person can be reduced to a weapon. luke who refuses to kill his father even though all of his teachers tell him he must. luke who places such absolute value on his father’s agency that he’d literally rather die than deny it. luke who identifies himself wholly and completely with his father. in the very moment that he throws his weapon away. and rejects the most fundamental teaching of the old jedi order. luke who chooses to embody the unconditional love that his father so long ago claimed was the true calling of a jedi. (but no other jedi has ever lived up to it). luke skywalker who is a jedi. like his 54 koru mag
father before him. like his father after him” It’s this show of love and faith in Vader’s humanity and selfautonomy that leads to Vader killing Palpatine, saving his son, and bringing peace to the galaxy. So yes, Mr. Hamill. With all due respect, I do judge Luke on his actions. But his actions are based on love. Who he loves, how he shows that love, and how that love changes people. All without romantic or sexual love. Not to get too sappy, but in a way, Luke’s love not only reaffirms Vader’s humanity, but my own. I may never have the love you see in rom-coms or on reality TV. I may not have the fairy-tale romance that Disney churned out time and time again. But I can have the kinds of love Luke represents. And those kinds of love are just as deep, powerful, redemptive, and utterly human. And I will always be grateful to Luke Skywalker for that. I may even love him for it.
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References NA. "NA." Tumblr. March 10, 2016. http://evilqueenofgallifrey.tumblr.com/post/140784791320/okay -but-luke-being-gay-would-actually-explain-his. NA. “NA.” Tumblr. NA. http://fialleril.tumblr.com/post/149107750706/ridleysdaisys-sobasically-what-this-means-is. NA. “NA.” Tumblr. NA. http://lizznotliz.tumblr.com/post/133333016150/acelukes-neverill-never-turn-to-the-dark. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Directed by G. L. Performed by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher. USA: Lucasfilm. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Directed by G. L. Performed Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor. USA: Lucasfilm. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. Directed by G. L. Performed by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher. USA: Lucasfilm. W, D. "Luke in outed space." The Sun. April 19, 2016. https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/bizarre/1072659/katyperrys-a-star-in-stripes-as-she-performs-at-hillary-clintonbenefit-gig/.
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Not A Sandwich By Cee Arr
About three things, I am somewhat sure. Firstly, Edward is, apparently, a vampire. Secondly, there is a part of him – however small – that thirsts for my blood. And thirdly, I’m getting the hell out of this relationship. Edward might be physically attractive, but he admitted he wanted to bite me. That’s not sexy. That’s creepy. Before you start to argue for freedom and lack of shame for sexual desire, Edward didn’t mean it in a consensual, though admittedly xrated, way, either. He meant it in a “by the way you might die, sorry about that” kind of way. And… no. Just no. My crush has had thoughts about murdering me. By drinking my blood. It might be time to find a way out of this. To willingly carry on with this relationship would be putting myself in danger. While it may get me the attention I’ve been wanting from my father, I’ll likely end up dead. Which would probably prevent me from going to the dance or… well, breathing, or doing any of the other things I like. What kind of relationship could we possibly have, knowing that part of him basically views me as a pale, under-cooked, Happy Meal? Could he love a Happy Meal in that way? 57 koru mag
If he were ever tempted to nibble on my ear, would he be thinking of adding barbecue sauce? And would he want fries with that? These are the questions that keep me up at night. How do I break it to Edward that I want him to back the hell off? He needs to, and I don’t know how well he’d take that. I could stake him through the heart, I guess he would get the message then. It’s a little on the extreme side though, and there’s also the unappealing potential of arrest and conviction for murdering someone who – to the outside world – is a 17-year-old kid. Plus, could I bring myself to kill him? I may have accepted (however impossible it may seem) that if vampires do exist, then Edward is a vampire, but that doesn’t mean I could end his life… after life… whatever. Anyway, I’m not so great at hand-eye co-ordination, and bringing myself to kill Edward Cullen in cold blood (no pun intended) isn’t something I feel overly capable of. Maybe I should just avoid him, and, if necessary, get a restraining order. My father is a cop, after all; the police and legal system are likely to take me seriously. One of the privileges of being the daughter of a police officer. I think if I said “Dad, I have a stalker,” he’d listen to me in the interest of throwing some serious hurt Edward’s way. Can you get a restraining order on the grounds that the guy you’ve been pining after is a member of the undead? I can work the wantsmy-blood angle; that’s messed-up. Plus, call me paranoid if you want,
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but I swear he’s been watching me sleep. Charlie would hit the roof if he knew that. I figure it’s time that I started spending more time with Jacob instead. I’m not saying it will necessarily lead to romance (though I’m not going to deny the possibility) but Edward tends to leave Jacob alone – which can only be to my advantage. Jacob is a good friend, and he’s fun to talk to; he has actual interests instead of whatever it is that Edward does all day. Lurk around in graveyards? Eat people? Whatever. Jacob will be a good companion to hang out with – a friend, to do normal stuff with. The last thing I need is to get caught up in weird vampire business. Or, for that matter, be in a relationship with a guy who literally views me as a piece of meat. He needs to decide whether he wants a girlfriend, or a sandwich. I am no one’s lunchtime treat.
Bio: Cee Arr is the pen-name of an international woman of mystery (able to confuse people in multiple countries via the magic of the interweb.) A sexually fluid chick with mental health problems, Cee Arr spends her time being a bookish rebel on her blog, DORA (diaryofareadingaddict.blogspot.com) and on Twitter (@CeeArrBookNerd) 59 koru mag
The Land of New Year By Yen-Rong Wong
"Is it time?” asked Bessie. Frannie glanced at the clock and nodded slightly. “All right then, it’s time to go!” Jo ushered the other two girls out the back gate, and all three jumped the fence surrounding the enchanted wood. The trees perked up as soon as they detected the presence of the three children, and greeted them accordingly. Happy new year, the trees whispered, swishing this way and that. “It’s actually New Year’s Eve,” Frannie scolded gently. “Oh Frannie, stop it! They know – oh look, there it is – and they’ve even decorated it! How wonderful.” Jo pointed at the Faraway Tree, which was draped in red and gold. Lanterns hung from the tree’s larger branches, and marked each resident’s door. Even the Angry Pixie had joined in – though her decorations were notably more subdued than everyone else’s. “Come on!” The three scrambled up the tree to Silky’s door, where she was already waiting with cookies and hong bao. “Happy new year! Moonface took a peek earlier today and it is most definitely the Land of New Year – and today’s New Year is Chinese New Year.” The girls scarfed down the cookies and tucked the hong bao into their pockets.
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“Is Moonface still up there?” Bessie mumbled, her mouth full of cookie crumbs. “I think he came back a few hours ago, I heard him fighting with Saucepan Man just before,” Silky replied. “Well, we can always go and find him if he’s not at home,” Frannie enthused, running to knock on his door. Moonface flew out from behind the door, hong bao in hand. The girls ran to him and gave him a massive hug. “We’ve missed you so much!” Bessie said, taking her hong bao from his hand and taking a sneaky look inside. “We’ve missed you too,” Moonface replied. “Life here really isn’t the same without the mischief we get up to when you three are around.” He winked at Silky, who pretended to look nonchalant. "We don’t get up to too much trouble, do we?” Frannie asked, looking up at Moonface. “We always manage to come back safe!” “That you do, dear, that you do.” Moonface gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze, before looking back at the rest of the group. “Are we ready then?” Moonface beamed. “Yes!” Even Silky chimed in. “What are we waiting for?”
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The group of five turned their attention to ascending the tree, and it was not very long until they approached the ladder that reached into today’s magical land. “I can smell the food already,” Bessie whispered to Jo. “You’re always thinking about food!” Jo replied. Before Bessie could think of a witty comeback, they heard Moonface’s voice drift up to them from the bottom of the ladder. “Hurry up, you slowpokes!” And so they climbed the rungs, entering a land full of colour and sound. There were people performing dragon dances and lion dances, a blend of red, yellow, and gold. They were, of course, accompanied by suitably attired drummers, and the dancers nimbly navigated their way through the ever-growing crowd of people. The group walked slowly through the crowds, making sure not to lose sight of each other, soaking up the atmosphere. Some troupe had even convinced the Saucepan Man to take part in a skit that enacted the story of the monster, Nian. Bessie, Jo, and Frannie giggled behind their hands while they watched the skit unfold, booing when the Nian monster appeared, and cheering when it was scared off by Saucepan Man’s loud clanking and the sight of the other villagers all dressed in red. “It’s like he’s born for this role!” Silky joked, prompting a pointed glance from Saucepan Man, before he recommenced his clinking and clanging. “Oh, you know I’m joking! Just don’t forget to come back at 62 koru mag
the end of the day, okay? We’ll miss you if you don’t come back.” Saucepan Man seemed to blush, but covered his face with a strategically placed pan. “Come on, it’s time to eat,” Bessie nudged. “We can always come back for Saucepan Man.” The group moved onto the feast – of course there would be a feast! It was a free-for-all – grab a plate and pile it full of delicious goodies. There was a whole table full of fish, and another that showcased all different sorts of dumplings. There were spring rolls galore, and for dessert – the appropriately named nian gao, as well as an array of sweet rice balls. “You have to eat one of everything,” Jo counselled everyone. “That way you maximise the luck and prosperity you have for the year.” Moonface grimaced and grumbled. “Why is there so much fish? It smells so awful!” “Well, Moonface…,” Jo started, while Bessie and Frannie smiled at each other knowingly. They recognised the teacher-like tone in Jo’s voice, and proceeded to shovel food into their mouths to escape a similar fate. When they had eaten as much as they thought their stomachs could hold, the group moved onto another skit – the story of the zodiac. Everyone applauded when each of the animals reached the other side of the riverbank, but the biggest cheer of all was saved for the boar, 63 koru mag
who really was last but not least. At the skit’s end, all five were undecided on where to go next. Ultimately, Frannie decided for them. “Time to get you home, I think,” Silky prompted, seeing Frannie attempt to stifle a big yawn. “But we have to stay for the firecrackers!” “All right, all right, fine, but remember we have to leave before the end of the day, or else we’re stuck here forever.” Silky used her sternest voice, so the children knew she meant business. They didn’t have to wait very long. The distinctive sound of firecrackers started off in the distance, and the three children were mesmerised by the flutters of red paper they left in their wake. “I’ve never seen real firecrackers before,” Jo breathed, trying to grab a flicker or two of paper to put in her scrapbook. And then there was the bell, the bell that reminded everyone that the land at the top of the faraway tree was moving on. “Time to go! There will always be next year!” Silky ushered Jo and Frannie back to the faraway tree. “Wait! Saucepan Man!” Before Silky could react, Bessie ran across the square to fetch the Saucepan Man, who somehow managed to keep all of his pots and pans on the run back. 64 koru mag
The smell of burning firecrackers followed them down the ladder, and the Saucepan Man and Bessie managed to tumble down before the land moved on. They all sat around the base of the ladder, happy and full. “I don’t think any other Chinese New Year will ever beat this one,” Frannie said, leaning her head on Silky’s shoulder. “I can’t think of anything better than spending this day with all of you,” Silky replied. “You three are like family to all of us, even if Dame Washalot or the Angry Pixie don’t necessarily say so. We love having you around.” The three girls hugged Silky and Moonface as tightly as they could.
Bio: Yen-Rong is the founder and editor-in-chief of Pencilled In, a literary magazine dedicated to showcasing work by young Asian Australian artists. She is based in Brisbane, and shares her apartment and writing space with her cat, Autumn. Her work can be found at http://inexorablist.com/, or you can follow her thoughts on Twitter @inexorablist. 65 koru mag
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