If it helps (and IIRC), it was started to draw attention to the minority of Muslim characters in fictional media, and to encourage fandom writers to respectfully explore those characters and their respective culture(s) by writing about them. Especially given that so many of these characters are seen as mere background for the Christian (and overwhelmingly white) main characters, and are often mere tokens in an attempt to claim onscreen diversity, and fandom's favorite activity is trying to fill in the blanks, it encourages me to see writers, both those who are Muslim, and those who want to explore Muslim characters, doing so in a visible way. As a non-Muslim, obviously I can't assert that everyone participating is going about it intelligently and open-mindedly and respectfully, but from what I've seen, this is the tone being encouraged.
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syntheid
don't have a thinky religion-culture icon yet, this is the closest i've got ATM. :)
Date: 2008-09-02 03:29 (UTC)If it helps (and IIRC), it was started to draw attention to the minority of Muslim characters in fictional media, and to encourage fandom writers to respectfully explore those characters and their respective culture(s) by writing about them. Especially given that so many of these characters are seen as mere background for the Christian (and overwhelmingly white) main characters, and are often mere tokens in an attempt to claim onscreen diversity, and fandom's favorite activity is trying to fill in the blanks, it encourages me to see writers, both those who are Muslim, and those who want to explore Muslim characters, doing so in a visible way. As a non-Muslim, obviously I can't assert that everyone participating is going about it intelligently and open-mindedly and respectfully, but from what I've seen, this is the tone being encouraged.