I posted this as a comment on the Backstreet Rookie finale thread and wanted to also cross-post here:
Before we close this chapter and forget about it, I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you all.
I appreciate that this ended as a heartwarming and memorable drama for some, but I want it also to be understood why the Dal-shik aspect of this drama was a real injury to our values, especially at this time. I wrote an essay about how these representations contribute to real-life harm here: Diversity in Dramaland: K-dramas and Racial Stereotypes. The Dramas Over Flowers podcast (which I co-host) also spent weeks researching and producing a special episode called Representation in Dramaland: Race and Identity. I ask anyone unfamiliar with this side of the conversation to please take some time to check these out.
I’m not asking you to stop watching or loving this drama or any other, I just want us to be able to put our reflexive reactions aside and listen to how some things affect other people differently, and how we all have the right to ask for safety from harmful stereotyping. I would love us to be able to have an open and honest conversation about this within our fandom without the people who are harmed by this being driven away, especially here on Dramabeans.
That brings me to my last point. I appreciate the effort that missvictrix has put into pointing out that Dal-shik was racially problematic, but there is still little to discuss why that was so. Moreover, what I and many other readers really needed to see was Dramabeans as an institution taking a clear, anti-racist editorial stance. The Dramabeans community is international and multiracial, and the editorial silence on this topic sends a message that DB is either unaware of how it is harmful, or it doesn’t care. The lack of a clearly defined position of anti-racism has made a section of the community feel unheard, and even at times, unwelcome.
I love K-dramas. I love Dramabeans. I have given Dramabeans my best work and poured into it countless hours in the last six years that I have been a writer here, and even more before that as a reader and regular commenter. Though my time as a writer has come to an end, I want to see DB continue to succeed, and I want DB to be a welcoming and inclusive space for every member of the fandom, especially its most marginalised. However, that’s not something that can or will happen without intentional effort.
I think there are three things that would help immediately:
1) Community moderators. It’s difficult for a single person to manage the job of moderating discussions. A moderator is someone who can actively step in to facilitate a discussion and, when needed, de-escalate and remind members to mind their manners, while still allowing the conversation to continue. They are also the first points of contact for anyone in the community who wants to raise a concern.
With a really active and dedicated commenting community, it would be great to recruit volunteers from that very same source. Beanies who love this space the most would make fantastic moderators. You can do a recruitment call just like you do for writers, appoint 3-5 people and give them access to the comments dashboard so they can do the job efficiently and as needed. They would answer to the editor, and hopefully that lessens the burden on staff and leaves them free to concentrate on their other work.
2) When a drama appears that has problematic elements, please don’t leave it to become an elephant in the room! I’d like to see issues addressed at an editorial level, if not with an article that discusses it, then at least by opening a dedicated space to facilitate that discussion. Dramabeans has done so in the past when javabeans and girlfriday tackled some difficult topics (i.e. the PSH rape scandal), but we’ve yet to have a good editorial-level discussion on race portrayals and racism, ableism, transphobia, more complex forms of sexism, and other types of representation problems. We’ve had missed opportunities in the past (see: Man Who Dies to Live) which show what happens when the editorial ball is dropped, and I don’t think anyone wants to see a repeat of those experiences.
3) Open a dedicated channel for readers and staff to give feedback and suggestions. DB management would not be bound to take action on any matter, but it’s a mechanism that can hopefully allow some community-driven problem-solving, and help lessen the burden on editorial staff.
I also want to make it clear that being critical doesn’t mean we don’t or can’t love things. Part of showing that love is discussing its problems. And as an endeavour whose mission statement is to deconstruct K-dramas, nobody is better placed than Dramabeans to host that conversation.
Ultimately, taking actions like these will help make Dramabeans a better place for everyone, and I sincerely hope you’ll take this feedback into consideration.
Saya
August 11, 2020 at 10:32 AM
I posted this as a comment on the Backstreet Rookie finale thread and wanted to also cross-post here:
Before we close this chapter and forget about it, I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you all.
I appreciate that this ended as a heartwarming and memorable drama for some, but I want it also to be understood why the Dal-shik aspect of this drama was a real injury to our values, especially at this time. I wrote an essay about how these representations contribute to real-life harm here: Diversity in Dramaland: K-dramas and Racial Stereotypes. The Dramas Over Flowers podcast (which I co-host) also spent weeks researching and producing a special episode called Representation in Dramaland: Race and Identity. I ask anyone unfamiliar with this side of the conversation to please take some time to check these out.
I’m not asking you to stop watching or loving this drama or any other, I just want us to be able to put our reflexive reactions aside and listen to how some things affect other people differently, and how we all have the right to ask for safety from harmful stereotyping. I would love us to be able to have an open and honest conversation about this within our fandom without the people who are harmed by this being driven away, especially here on Dramabeans.
That brings me to my last point. I appreciate the effort that missvictrix has put into pointing out that Dal-shik was racially problematic, but there is still little to discuss why that was so. Moreover, what I and many other readers really needed to see was Dramabeans as an institution taking a clear, anti-racist editorial stance. The Dramabeans community is international and multiracial, and the editorial silence on this topic sends a message that DB is either unaware of how it is harmful, or it doesn’t care. The lack of a clearly defined position of anti-racism has made a section of the community feel unheard, and even at times, unwelcome.
I love K-dramas. I love Dramabeans. I have given Dramabeans my best work and poured into it countless hours in the last six years that I have been a writer here, and even more before that as a reader and regular commenter. Though my time as a writer has come to an end, I want to see DB continue to succeed, and I want DB to be a welcoming and inclusive space for every member of the fandom, especially its most marginalised. However, that’s not something that can or will happen without intentional effort.
I think there are three things that would help immediately:
1) Community moderators. It’s difficult for a single person to manage the job of moderating discussions. A moderator is someone who can actively step in to facilitate a discussion and, when needed, de-escalate and remind members to mind their manners, while still allowing the conversation to continue. They are also the first points of contact for anyone in the community who wants to raise a concern.
With a really active and dedicated commenting community, it would be great to recruit volunteers from that very same source. Beanies who love this space the most would make fantastic moderators. You can do a recruitment call just like you do for writers, appoint 3-5 people and give them access to the comments dashboard so they can do the job efficiently and as needed. They would answer to the editor, and hopefully that lessens the burden on staff and leaves them free to concentrate on their other work.
2) When a drama appears that has problematic elements, please don’t leave it to become an elephant in the room! I’d like to see issues addressed at an editorial level, if not with an article that discusses it, then at least by opening a dedicated space to facilitate that discussion. Dramabeans has done so in the past when javabeans and girlfriday tackled some difficult topics (i.e. the PSH rape scandal), but we’ve yet to have a good editorial-level discussion on race portrayals and racism, ableism, transphobia, more complex forms of sexism, and other types of representation problems. We’ve had missed opportunities in the past (see: Man Who Dies to Live) which show what happens when the editorial ball is dropped, and I don’t think anyone wants to see a repeat of those experiences.
3) Open a dedicated channel for readers and staff to give feedback and suggestions. DB management would not be bound to take action on any matter, but it’s a mechanism that can hopefully allow some community-driven problem-solving, and help lessen the burden on editorial staff.
I also want to make it clear that being critical doesn’t mean we don’t or can’t love things. Part of showing that love is discussing its problems. And as an endeavour whose mission statement is to deconstruct K-dramas, nobody is better placed than Dramabeans to host that conversation.
Ultimately, taking actions like these will help make Dramabeans a better place for everyone, and I sincerely hope you’ll take this feedback into consideration.
Anisa
August 11, 2020 at 4:33 PM
♥️ ♥️ ♥️ ♥️ ♥️