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Coal All The Way

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https://stannisbaratheon.tumblr.com/post/58498886405/live-action-modern-day-the-lion-king-new-york

OP might not have had the stuff to pull it off well but the idea itself as presented by the gifset is pretty good imo

??????? that's not a canon, that's some movie quotes pasted over gifs from other movie(s).

They used the word "canon" badly, the meant "fandom." It's the fandom of the fic as per yuletide.

I just... what. Just because you like a movie doesn't mean it's suitable for your political commentary.

The Lion King is literally about upholding the status quo. Rebelling and changing things is explicitly shown as bad. Scar trying to rule when he's not the real king literally brings on a drought that ruins everything, until the one true heir returns.

It's about growing up and overcoming your internal issues too.

If you want a Disney animal movie, why not use Robin Hood? That one at least is about rebelling and fighting the system.

You might not like Civil Rights Era Lion King, but it's what was requested.

Yeah, now that I know that the gifset, not the movie, was requested, that moves the "wtf" away from the fic writer and towards a just general wtf. Next time, maybe don't add the movie as a fandom to avoid this kind of confusion. Or link to the gifset in the author's note or something.

I gotta think adding the movie as a fandom tag was probably just a way to get around the unwrangled fandoms problem. Anyone looking solely at the fic info + tags would see pretty clearly that it wasn't a movie fic.

Is it though? Is it really? I love the period/location and I love fiction about the period/location. I considered treating some of the people requesting it, just because I like it so much. And Hamlet is 100% not the story I'd pick, even via lions. And the tumblr post doesn't make sense, either.

Is the son of an activist leader a 'heir"? That would make way more sense if you set it ~40 years earlier when Harlem society was largely oriented around various preachers and their churches. Then, you could have Mufasa be a preacher and it would be remotely meaningful to expect some sort of hereditary relationship.

Not to mention, the core of the activists were young, particularly students. It's not really a dynastic type situation and that feels really unnatural as a narrative.

Also, I don't get what the gifset is trying to do with Scar being part of organized crime and saying the "blood and bribery" of the 70s is opposed to the activism of the 60s. There was prominent activism all the way through, and I can't help but not like the way it is framed because the typical opposition is between the 60s as more integrationist and the 70s as more separatist. So as someone who is familiar with the way this is talked about, I can't help but be suspicious of the framing.

OTher random things that occur to me. "Prominent leader of the mafia underground" in the sixties? Nope. The Italians sure as fuck wouldn't have a Black man and Black-run organized crime only really picked up during the Vietnam war, via trafficking heroin.

Final note:

https://66.media.tumblr.com/8907b7911b5fc1f22824a7a219157b1d/tumblr_mro06ityQB1qddfrco8_r1_250.gifv

Soooo Black people engaging in behavior which is often called a revolution or insurrection to avoid the implications of calling it a riot are now equated to stampeding wildebeest? Ok.

(I wouldn't normally fuss like this, but if you're going to act all important about wanting fic about this time period and get it so thoroughly wrong, I can't help but roll my eyes right out of my goddamned skull. Offer RPF: that shit was plenty dramatic. If not, there's plenty of literature about and by Black people that they could read/offer instead.)

Oh god dammit, you convinced me. I was going to roll my eyes about this race wank over a fun au someone wanted and got, but yeah if we think more deeply about the gif set it's trash. I think most of the likes must be from people (lbr majority white people) who don't know much about black american history. I still think it makes sense as something beloved because it's a fun au as long as you don't think for more than five seconds about it. If they made this into an actual movie without significant changes, it would (rightfully) be criticized to hell and back for subtle racism.

cyrt

Yeah, same. I was at first excited about the whole thing, but like you said--then I thought about it and started not being into it at all. And I really don't want to wank about people doing things they enjoy, I particularly don't want to wank about people being encouraged to write more Black characters (this is why I've been sitting on one version of this rant all exchange), but some of the prompts here are just ludicrous. The AU doesn't make any sense at all for the time period and the prompts are veering wildly between "not making sense for the Lion King" and "not making sense for the time period." But mostly just makes me irritated about the history getting so wildly wrong. It just feels so empty. If you're interested in fic-like stories about Black activists, find an actual goddamn canon and not a weird gifset that is mildly sus just by itself.

If you want the Lion King to be about people, write it about the Ashanti Empire or something. I just can't get past how thoroughly the basic premise doesn't make sense in mid-century Harlem.

Oh and in case anyone is curious. The Shakespeare + Black history combo that someone should do a gifset about: Macbeth and 90s hiphop. Think about it.

AYRT

So are you saying if I request "Samurai Among Panthers" as a fandom and Richard Aoki/Huey Newton Black Panthers fic (leaving it up to you if Aoki was double crossing him as an informant or actually just in love), you'll, uh, write it?

cyrt

YES. That is an A+ ship. I want like six versions of it--probably most of them would be the "actually informant" camp, because that is some juicy fucking angst right there, but I'd also love if he was sincere!!

Have you read that great Jacobin article about it? It was informative and stuff, but the extensive discussion of just how into guns Aoki was just makes me want some filthy Aoki/Newton gunkink. It was such a symbol of power to the both of them! That's gotta be sexy.

AYRT

HE COULD'VE ACTUALLY BEEN AN INFORMANT BUT ALSO ACTUALLY IN LOVE, HUMANS CONTAIN MULTITUDES and I like my angsty romance complex. I can imagine a whole lot of stroking of barrels while looking in each other's eyes FOR SURE. MAYBE NEWTON KNEW OR HAD AN INKLING ALL ALONG BUT HE LET IT GO BECAUSE HE WAS BLINDED BY ALL THE GOOD BLOWJOBS. Gosh coalie I wish we knew each other in name space lol.

Re: Jacobin, are you talking about "The Case of Richard Aoki: Berkeley Radical, Black Panther, FBI Informant" or the other more general one about FBI infiltrating the left? I've read the first but not the second, which maybe I will someday, idk.

This is a good comment and you should feel good.

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