Updates: What’s Happening with Moniqueblog

Okay, so I’ve been away for a couple of weeks, but those weeks weren’t spent being idle! I was hard at work on some new projects that I hope will make Moniqueblog better and help me get me closer to how I’d really like to represent myself and my ideas on the internet.

The big news is that I’ve begun work on another website! This site, What Would Monique Do? (whatwouldmoniquedo.com), is going to be a site that focuses much more on race and culture in entertainment than Moniqueblog currently does. Here’s the full rundown in this manifesto I created to help me promote the site/outline my ideas:

Genesis

What Would Monique Do? originally began as the basis for Moniqueblog.net. When I first created Moniqueblog in 2009, the site focused primarily on how race and culture was perceived in today’s entertainment. As the site grew, Moniqueblog also started incorporating geeky elements such as rants about Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, discussion about Sherlock and TV recaps. While some of the geeky elements still had an analytical approach to dissecting entertainment (such as looking at the relationships of Sam and Frodo and Sherlock and John from a queer theory perspective), the website was losing what originally made it unique, which was its laser focus on race and culture.

In 2014, I decided to break Moniqueblog into two parts; Moniqueblog as it exists will continue to be a geek culture site, focusing on television recaps (such as Sleepy Hollow and Almost Human). What Would Monique Do?, however, will have a much more concentrated and sharper focus on how race and culture are represented and perceived in Hollywood. Topics will include how actors and actresses are cast, the big business of being “beige” in Hollywood, common offensive or detrimental tropes in Hollywood films, multicultural fantasy castings of films, and highlighting those in the movie and television industries that set good examples for those who love and follow entertainment.

And now the burning question: Why is the site called “What Would Monique Do?” It’s simple–he thesis for the site is if I had the power to control things in Hollywood, what would I do to make things better for the underrepresented? Hopefully, this site will show exactly what my vision for a better, more inclusive Hollywood would be.

The Breakdown

What Would Monique Do? breaks down into different posts for each day. The post topics are as follows:

Monday

Each Monday, I’ll highlight an actor who is also a man of color (MOC). This is like an alternative to the “Man Candy of the Week”-type of section a women’s site or fashion magazine might have. However, the man of the week for my site will typically have contributed something towards equal representation in entertainment.

I’ll start the week off with a question pertaining to race and culture in Hollywood, such as “Do you support Rooney Mara being cast as Tiger Lily in Pan?” I’ll give a quick pro and con argument and then throw the question out to the audience. They will then comment in the comments section, and (as they will be made aware of), some of the coolest answers will be featured in my Friday results post.

This post will focus on one of the many White Savior movies floating around in Hollywood. The trope of the “White Savior,” a character who is 1) white and 2) always is in the position to save the underrepresented or disadvantaged, is a trope that still makes big business in Hollywood. However, it’s a trope that still paints minorities as lower-class citizens.

Tuesday

With this post, I’ll highlight when Hollywood has gotten it wrong when it comes to casting characters. Such examples include the entire cast of Noah—a story set in the biblical Middle East—Jake Gyllenhaal as the title character in Prince of Persia, and Ricardo Montalban as Nakamura in Sayonara.

I’ll highlight a character that has been “queer-coded” by Hollywood. Queer-coding is a practice that has a long history in Hollywood, with “queer” attributes laced into some of the personalities of silly characters or villains. This practice is one of the ways Hollywood turns certain characters that we’re either supposed to laugh at or hate as “the Other.”

Wednesday

WOC Wednesday is similar to MOC Monday, except I’ll highlight a woman of color (WOC) and their achievements towards making Hollywood a more inclusive place.

Being racially-ambiguous, or as I like to say, beige, is big business in Hollywood. Many actors and actresses literally make their careers based on their multicultural backgrounds and ambiguous looks. It’s a way to have a ton of role opportunities in the racially and culturally ignorant Hollywood—a way to game the system, if you will. But it also detracts roles from those who are actually black, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc. Each week, I’ll highlight an actor or actress that has made their living off of being “beige.” The post won’t be a condemnation of the actor or actress in question, since they are caught between Hollywood’s way of doing business and representing their own multicultural heritage.

Thursday

This is generally harder than finding racially insensitive casting moments, but they’re out there. One current example includes Tamara Tunie (half Native-American, half black) as the character Marie, also Native/black.

Just like how there are tons of White Savior films, there are tons of Evil Minority films. Whether they’re good or bad, these films still portray negative stereotypes of minorities. One current example is Olympus Has Fallen, in which the villains are North Korean terrorists.

Friday

The results post from Monday’s question. I’ll post at least 5-6 responses from the week.

Fantasy Friday is the flagship of the site, since it was the first portion to the thesis of the site. These posts will take upcoming and old movies that have less-than-accurate casting (like Noah for the above reason, The Last Airbender for casting mostly white actors and actresses as Asian characters and casting a darker East Asian actor—Dev Patel—as the villain) and recast them with actors and actresses that could have better represented the characters. I’ll also create fantasy castings for films that haven’t been made yet, thereby giving Hollywood some ideas for some new racially-inclusive films.

Misc.

There are some terms that I will use regularly on the site, such as “WOC,” “MOC,” beige,” “whitewashing,” “darkwashing,” and the like. There will be a static page on a list of terms so new visitors can get up to speed quickly and start enjoying the posts faster.

Every month, I’ll have the “What Would Monique Say?” podcast, in which I talk about some of the month’s biggest topics concerning race and culture in Hollywood. Even though the topics might be serious, there will still be a sense of levity and fun.

In fact, throughout the site, there will still be a sense of levity, but there will also be a present intensity and simmering pointedness that will certainly titillate readers, but also get my point across. The topics are serious, and how we think about these topics is very important. But the topics don’t have to be presented in a dry academic fashion; people, including myself, don’t respond to that. Instead, the topics are couched in hilarious, biting, entertaining titles and imagery.

So that’s the jist of the new site! The plan is for it to be up and operational by September 1, so if you want to be in on the ground level, click the link above and sign up for the email mailing list!