Tag: stop using Iz as an excuse

elliexer:

goshfrickingdarnit:

fangirljeanne:

rosworms:

powermetalnerd:

stayuglystayangry:

fawnbro:

this is the boy volcano. you can tell it’s a man because the song says so and also it has no tertiary sex characteristics, it just looks like a volcano. it’s a volcano with a human face

this is the girl volcano. you know she’s a girl because she literally has a pretty human face and long human hair and a high voice. if they didn’t make sure you knew she was a woman you might have thought these anthropomorphised volcanoes were Gay

Pixar’s Umbrella Heteros Short 2: This Time Its Volcanos

This post makes me so mad. You’re all ignorant children parroting whatever bullshit comes your way. The volcanoes are based on the Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwoʻole (better known as Iz) and his wife Marlene. They were made specifically to resemble the couple, you fucking walnuts. This is why we can’t have nice things. You take everything beautiful and try to corrupt it with your shitty politics

This is Iz and Marlene. 

He’s not just “that dude with the cover of Over The Rainbow” okay? He’s fucking important. He was a musician, yes, and he was an activist for Hawaiian rights and independence. 

He used his music to promote awareness of the second class status of Hawaiian natives created by the tourist industry.

When he died, the Hawaiian state flag flew at half mast. His coffin (but not his body, he was cremated) lay in state at the state capitol building in Honolulu. Just the third person in Hawaiian history to be given that honor. And the only one who was not a government official. Ten thousand people attended his funeral.

He is a big important part of Hawaiian culture and history. So don’t get all social justice warrior about sexuality and gender when this is really about a culture and honoring the memory of people who are important to that culture.

Okay, the two later responses to the OP didn’t sit right with me for a couple of reasons. 

First off, it seems like they completely missed the very VALID criticism of the completely unnecessary need to gender and impose heteronormativity on inanimate objects that is a systemic problem in a lot of art, but particularly an issue with animation in America. 

Second, none of the assertions made about Israel Kamakawiwoʻole or Lava’s connection to him are true. Like it’s NOT TRUE AT ALL.

Lava the song is writing by James Ford Murphy, a white guy. The same guy who wrote the screen play for the short. Murphy himself said he was inspired by Iz’ version of Over the Rainbow, when it came to writing the song. That’s the end of Iz’ connection the project.

Uku, the volcano, is voiced by musician and vocalist Kuana Torres Kahele. While Uku’s face is “an amalgamation of the faces of Kahele,The Honeymooners star Jackie Gleason and the bulldog Marc Antony from the Chuck Jones animated short film Feed the Kitty.” He is not modeled after Iz, nor is the female volcano modeled after his wife. Her design is more modeled after the geology of the islands than any human woman. 

Lastly, stop using Polynesians and our culture as an flimsy excuse to shut down very relevant discussion about unnecessary gender coding and heteronormativity in media aimed at children. 

If you ACTUALLY gave a shit about Native Hawaiians and their culture you’d be upset that a masculine volcano is the focus of the story, instead of Pele. You’d be asking why they would even do a short about some random ass volcano named after a Hawaiian version of a Portuguese instrument that isn’t actually native to Hawai’i. 

Hell, you’d bother to do a two minute Google searches before acting like an authority on something you don’t know shit about. But oh no, you just assumed an animated volcano that kind of looked like the ONLY Hawaiian singer you know, who you only know because you watched an Adam Sandler movie, was modeled after him and ran with it. 

So how about next time you save us all some time and just shut the fuck up! 

Bolded bc this is literally everything I hated about that entire exchange. People need to grow the fuck up and stop being assholes about correcting people who are misinformed. The 3rd and 4th comments were literally just bullying op so. nah. 

THANK THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

ALSO while we’re fuckin here can we PLEASE take a moment to realize how FUCK RACIST IT IS to compare poc to INANIMATE OBJECTS?? ESPECIALLY NATIVE PERSONS OF COLOUR.

LIKE IT’S SERIOUSLY GROSS.