frogge

ash this was an amazing read, ty for writing it up. i wanted to ask, what do you mean by "it could've been significantly more impactful for Sable to clearly acknowledge and engage with the roots of Moebius' art "? honestly that sounds fantastic but I can't even begin to picture how that would look like. how would you engage with those roots in the world of sable/in general?

phenomenal post, thank you so much for this write-up

awesome post. while I was reading it I began realizing that, say, hypothetically, if I wanted to make something new, interesting, but historical aesthetically, but also not draw from cultures outside of ones within my purview, I'd be in trouble... because I and many like me have no cultural or historical ties to authentically draw from. We have no culture(or aesthetic)- we either have been long since distanced from so as to render it moot, or that wasn't stolen/appropriated from others, or that isn't directly linked to horrific violence. The blame for this of course lies with the whiteness monolith invented ages ago that persists today, and that's frustrating and demoralizing, and it's definitely something to ruminate on. I'm not sure if we're far enough divorced from that to think of "creating a new one", that's something that happens naturally over eons of time, something we don't have. And, never will, god willing lol. One wonders what you CAN do... but hopefully that gap can be filled by voices of people who DO have an authentic story to tell.

I'm glad to see more people writing critically about Sable. As much as I enjoyed the game, I couldn't help but feel these elements needed some more genuine interrogation by its creators and fans. This piece by Oma Keeling came out on the lead-up to the game's release and is very critical (fairly so imo) of it's presentation & themes from a cultural and historical context. It's the only other piece of writing I've actually seen discuss the game this way other than yours, it's a good read. https://glitchout.blog/2021/06/22/sable-demo-the-trouble-with-a-timeless-desert/

Thanks for the excellent write up, and for all the resources as well - CARI seems like a really awesome initiative!

I feel this way pretty strongly about Pokemon's Sinnoh region, how it's inspired by Hokkaido, but it's really weird about the Ainu. It was especially brought into sharp relief by Legends Arceus which was literally about early Japanese Ainu relations, and was still really uncomfortable about that topic. (and it's quite jarring that there's an American professor there, but turns out that's historically accurate haha)

Hi I hadn't heard about CARI before this post and it's very cool to me, I was wondering if you had an invite to the discord because it says "click the link above" on their website but there is not link present, and I was like oh maybe I can keep tabs on them with rss, but they don't appear to have RSS implemented into their website either lol

This was a thought-provoking read - I certainly learned a lot!

I am struggling to understand how one would design Cuphead in such a way that would be considered culturally sensitive and appropriate. In your writing you say that Cuphead should not have used the dice/heaven+hell symbolism because of its racist origin, yet then state that it would be whitewashing for them to ignore it completely. Is there any way, then, a designer could use the aesthetic from the era in an appropriate way? If not, are there some design styles which should forever be considered "off-limits"?

I also wanted to add my own two cents as somebody with Middle Eastern & some African heritage. I do not mind when artists - of any culture/ethnicity - draw from Islamic iconography and architectural styles, even if it's through a European lens. I have not played Sable but I wouldn't have any problem playing it. It's a work of fiction and I wouldn't expect it to be a transparent, faithful representation of the source material and I don't think that's a bad thing.