and genderbends

^ Just made a poll for that one lol.

They're wonderful!

Agreed

they're always well done, but I'd love to see some European cultures represented, which never are.

^ I can agree with that.

Some are neat, others are a bit problematic especially when some artists change the races of the minority characters. I don't mind when white characters are altered since white people have more than enough representation in Western media.

I love it! I think Frozen would have been amazing in a Russian setting

^^ to be honest I think it's a bit hypocritical to be against white washing but be pro-changing the skin of only white people. I do get where you're coming from with the representation thing but I personally think that if a person is down with race bending white characters then the person should be down with changing the rave of a minority character to a different minority culture. Unless the person is doing it just to be a racist or something of that nature. I just hate or when on tumblr I see people getting praised for race bending a white character but then another race bends a minority character and they're racist scum. Bit of a double standard. *Hides behind desk*

All that said this is a touchy subject so I hope I didn't found like a racist arsehole. I also don't mean to direct this at you alone nor do I disrespect your opinion.

It is touchy, but it's problematic because the minority princesses are usually tied with either actual people or real places. Pocahontas was an actual person and it's weird to change her race as if it were an accessory. Some people also find it offensive because it means that all non-white people are somehow interchangeable. For some, race bending only works if you change white characters because it shows people how whitewashed mainstream media is and how diverse it could be. Changing the races of non-white characters doesn't convey that kind of message.

I can totally agree with that. Especially with Pocahontas as yeah she is a real person. I wouldn't change say Katy Perry or Whitney Huston's races so I wouldn't do it with someone like Pocahontas. That's almost fetishizing a person. I can also see how that's rude, no one wants to feel interchangeable regardless of race, gender, size, ect. I feel in this instance though that instead of racebends the peoples in charge of the media should start creating more of a diversity. However that's completely out of the hands of fans, which is unfortunate. I guess on a personal level, I think racebends of all kinds are neat. So long as it's in good spirit. But who am I to tell others what they can and can't feel/think. As long as no one's being hateful I'm all cool.

I think we're on the same page here. I'm okay with race bending so long as the artist shows sensitivity and actually did research and understands the implication of their art. However, no matter what the artistic intent is, someone will take issue with it (which is true of all media, once something is made public, it will stand public scrutiny). In the case of Letherebedoodles (whose the source of all the images in this poll) I think that this person is being sensitive and I like most of their works but the one image that I have issue with is the Pocahontas one for reasons explained above. To give Doodles credit, he/she is aware of the controversy and has done his/her best to explain the intent behind the work. I guess the point is that even with the best intent, there will always be some issue, especially with something as controversial and personal as race.

I would say so too. Exactly, how I feel about it. They should make this kind of art for the right reasons, not to just be offensive or 'cutting edge'. That's another thing--like you said--no matter what kind of art/song/ect it is or what message you're trying to send, someone's gonna be unhappy. But that's just how it is when people have different opinions, world views, and sensitivity levels. But what would the world be without diversity? Boring really. I can totally and completely agree with you here. Race, gender, religion, sexuality, all get controversy as such is more personal to people in general. I personally don't take offense to race/genderbends, but I certainly can't speak for the masses.

Enormously