Forest

Candlewhisper Archive wrote:

Hmm... I kind of see where you're coming from on that.

Like I wouldn't want to see an actor playing someone of a different colour (that is, outside of something like Altered Carbon where its about sleeving). But gender is trickier. We're asking an actor born with a male phenotyped body but who identifies as male in real life to play a character born with a male phenotyped body who identifies as female.

So essentially, the only bit which we're asking him to act is the internal experience. That makes it no different really from a straight guy playing a gay guy (or vice versa). I mean, isn't pretending to be something you're not the very essence of acting? And Redmayne, he's a good actor. He was entirely convincing as Stephen Hawking, and entirely convincing as Lili Elbe.

I guess though there's also an inclusiveness angle here, in that the mainstream majority taking roles that a minority actor could have played could be seen as counterproductive to a more inclusive Hollywood. Kind of like using normal-sized actors to play Hobbits when there's so many achondroplastic actors who could have had those roles.

I'm not sure where I stand on this, but I think overall that generally speaking actors should be able to play any role, save where there's historical issues making such things taboo (such as white actors playing blackface or yellowface). I'm less concerned about which actor plays who, and more concerned about a movie's overall sensitivity. Two straight actors leading Brokeback Mountain, I can get into that, because the film's depiction of homosexuality and prejudice is done with the right viewpoints, and the right overall message. But give me any one of hundreds of films where homosexuality or transgender denotes villainy or victimhood, and we've got problems.

Link of relevance: https://www.glaad.org/publications/victims-or-villains-examining-ten-years-transgender-images-television

I do still have issues with straight actors playing gay characters, and it’s because of these roles that could be used to increase diversity are being given to people who are part of the same old system. How often is it that out gay actors play straight characters? It happens, but not nearly as often compared to the relative availability of roles.

I do, however, agree that the treatment of the subject matter does matter more than the actual sexuality or gender identity of the actors.

However, with trans narratives, the trans community is so much more misunderstood and vilified than the gay community to where it just feels more . . . wrong, I suppose, for their stories to be told by someone who has not lived that experience when there are actors out there who have much deeper connections to the material. Then again, there is the point that a famous actor like Eddie Redmayne’s fame draws audiences, but that then goes into the issue of studios being reluctant to utilise diverse people that might cause a “controversy”.

Make Today Count.

Darths and Droids wrote:

Doesn't work for World Assembly Telegrams. It's hardcoded.

I wouldn't mind receiving those via notifications, but not telegrams.

Mount Seymour wrote:

This looks great, but one note: all those water bodies are named after historical Forestians (for example, obviously, Devdan Ocean is named after our original founder, the nation Devdan). I notice you've renamed the Sea of Basking Turtles to simply Sea of Turtles, at least -- it has to be Basking Turtles to be meaningful, because Basking Turtles was the name of the Forestian after whom it's named.

Oh. I simply assumed that it was named after the animal. There were a few other names I changed to either simplify them or make them sound much more like real geographic places, so please tell me if they are problematic. And I will change the name of the Sea of Turtles to the Sea of Basking Turtles.

Edit: I’ve changed the photo, and I will keep doing so periodically. This means that the URL for the image will keep changing, but I’ll just edit that original post.

The current version (the one where I changed “Turtles” to “Basking Turtles”) is here:
https://i.imgur.com/SFgotqT.jpg

Turbeaux wrote:

Middle Barael misspelled "Straits" as "Straights." Also, Turbeauxer maps label the "Forestian Ocean" as the "Forester Ocean."

Yggdrasil occupies an entire spheroid ( https://bit.ly/2WlhTNF ), but the arrow on our map could point toward a natural means of travelling to that spheroid.

Yes, that is what I meant by Yggdrasil: they occupy an entire planet, whereas we occupy only a continent. Although I suppose perhaps if you just keep going eastward, eventually you’d somehow manage to switch between universes and get to the Yggdrasil World (that is how we explain the coexistence and interaction between different universes: if you are not focusing on it, movement causes one universe to fade into another, and that all universes are in superposition).

I will promptly fix the straits mistake, and as for Forestian Ocean vs Forester Ocean, it really I guess would be up to the individual nations, as they are very similar, but I know that different nations have different opinions on Forestian vs Forester. I think I’ll leave it as Forestian on the actual map just because Forester sounds more like a demonym than an adjectival, although since they are so similar sounding, it doesn’t make much of a difference. It’ll almost be like how some pronounce Oceania as “oh-shee-ANN-uh”, while others say “oh-SHEEN-nee-uh” or “oh-shee-ANN-nee-uh”, or like how some say Antarctic Ocean while others say the Southern Ocean.