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Singularity Prevails Only With Integration – An Inclusive Wild-West, Cyberpunk, Hip-Hop Kickstarter
Ranger Rendezvous. Close date: 5/7.
Ed Oh writes,
I was reading this interview with Michelle Rodriguez in Slate the other day and it's just brilliant. She was asked 2 simple questions
What's it like to be a famous action-movie actress?
Why are the Fast and Furious movies so entertaining?
Pretty standard questions, but instead of giving anything resembling a standard answer, Rodriguez opted to summarily smash it with the god-like hammer-force of Mjolnir.
"I asked for it. So, I try to smile as much as possible and be grateful. I tell myself, Michelle, I know you wish you had some privacy from time to time, but it's either this or live the conventional life… No explosive sets, no fight sequences, no bad-ass one-liners to cook up, no amazing stunt work to witness, no movies. Screw that!"
Well said, well taken, and Amen. That's totally reasonable and even presents a positive outlook on what is commonly the biggest complaint in Hollywood. And then she laid this down.
"I feel that the success of the Fast and Furious franchise has a lot to do with globalization… its multicultural cast… its timing… and a rare, innovative storytelling style. It took a new look at… Latino, black, Asian, and Caucasian camaraderie and exposed the melting pot that is the new world.
The chemistry of the cast built the loyal fan base, and the fact that these characters live by their own code and answer to no one but one another creates a hero-like admiration for a multicultural audience that usually has no heroes in Hollywood to relate to. The Fast and Furious franchise is an underdog giant in Hollywood, and I hope it paves a road for many multicultural, big-budget, quality productions in the future.
The world's majority is Hollywood's minority, and when that changes as the standard modus operandi, that's when I believe blockbusters will reach a whole new global fan-base quota never really met before outside of Avatar and Titanic. We just need some really talented people to place their Hollywood bets on a brown, yellow, black, and white cast instead of limiting heroes to one race or one sex. We're getting there, slowly but surely. Singularity prevails only with integration."
Um… wow. Legend.
Insightful, intelligent, something else i… inspiring? Totally. Respect.
I wasn't like super of the fact that I want to see Michelle Rodriguez in more interviews, but I do. That was some great stuff. And from the looks of the accompanying photo to the article, I apparently want to take a selfie with her too.
THE TREND
Ms. Rodriguez's statement really gets to the heart of the unexplored possibilities of multi-ethnic casting in Hollywood and addresses a rising trend of progressive representation in fictional media from great LGBTQ moments in comic books to films passing the Bechdel test grossing more than those that did not.
Seeing these promising trends taking hold I couldn't help but feel that perhaps this project that I've been working on for the past decade has some demand behind it. I turned to Kickstarter and Bleeding Cool to see if I was offering something that people actually wanted.
A LIMITED ISSUE
After growing up reading a variety of comics, graphic novels, movies and animation, I took a particular liking to titles like Kill Bill, Afro Samurai and Cowboy Bebop due to their ability to address the above, nonchalantly fusing Eastern and Western elements and setting a standard for original content.
Devices were not the basis of these stories, instead they were driven by classical motivators like revenge, honor, and loyalty and bucked all kinds of conventions in a good way.
But these were limited and contained universes.
When these stories ended, the doors to those worlds closed with them and while I believe there are multiple examples of empowering women, multi-ethnic casting, and LGBTQ representation, they rarely get ongoing vehicles expansive, sensational, and complex enough to explore the possibilities like say the Marvelverse or Harry Potter.
I mean, Stan Lee concepted fictional metallic elements and JK Rowling, magical jelly bean varieties.
Their worlds aren't held together with zombies or robots or zombie-powered robots, they're just well thought-out places with realistic systems, rules, and characters organically sharing space with fantastical elements and concepts.
X-Men was such a great proxy for race and addressing LGBTQ issues because the series put mutant integration at odds with a conventional society and saw it through the possibilities.
THE RANGER KICKSTARTER
Eleven years ago I started working on a project with a collaborative goal and the Ranger series was the result– an action-packed, wild-west, cyberpunk, hip-hop graphic novel series with a femme-centric concept. Something that I always wanted to do was to unhinge the gender-norms of traditionally male archetypes and wield them freely. Not reinterpret everything through a female lens per se, but I feel that not everything has to be so rigid.
While I am aware of many great works currently featuring empowering stories, I wanted to create something that was expansive enough to be shared so other creators, writers, and artists looking to delve into issues like immigration or socioeconomic inequality with a cast as diverse as America is had one more place to share.
The Rangerverse is a near-future Blade Runner-like world where, hundreds of years prior (1800), women began manifesting superhuman abilities in a 100 to 1 ratio over men.
The world powers entered the modern age as isolationists igniting a series of cold, cyber, world-wars. However, international blowback birthed a network of terrorist cells and crime syndicates forcing a new beginning in foreign relations and joint operations. As the governments of the world begin working together out of necessity to maintain order, a new market of tourism is emerging for those who can afford the risks of the new frontier. At the helm of such agencies and ventures are Rangers.
The year is 2199.
When a vicious turf war erupts across the Bay Mega Area seeing the leaders of the Kido-gumi assassinated, Vaughn is suddenly thrown into a strangely prophetic chain of preparations and contingencies planned by his recently deceased father, Hachi, and "uncle" Gen.
As the gang war rages on between the ruthless cartels, the vicious Slavs, the deadly Red Lotus, and Lil' E's territorial crew, things get oddly personal when Vaughn's framed for murder. The wife of Akina Nakano–an old friend and ally.
The setup and a string of unlikely assassinations force Akina and Vaughn to cross paths yet again.
Together, they go about overturning the underworld unearthing a secret society, a bitter vendetta, and two gifted youngsters caught in the crossfire.
I am running the Kickstarter to not only print Volume 1 itself but to produce it as well. I am but a humble writer with only limited self-trained artistic ability. The funding goal is to not only cover printing, shipping, taxes, fees, promotional materials, digital publication, and editing but also to hire the necessary artist/s. With Volume 1, I'm hoping to see if the Ranger project can develop any legs, and if so, how far it can walk!
If the campaign is successful Volume 1 is slated to release in December of this year.
For Bleeding Cool readers, for a special promotional reward, I have added free print/s to all reward tiers $30 and over! Just remember to mention Bleeding Cool…
The Kickstarter Campaign is in its opening days and its a small project trying to blossom into something far bigger. So far exposure has been slim and the project has already run into small barriers but the campaign is still in it's early stages and the few supporters that have emerged have been extremely enthusiastic and helpful.
It's beyond comprehension why women are such an underserved market in the comic book world when female leads like Ghost in the Shell's Motoko Kusangi or Kill Bill's Beatrix Kiddo were so universally admired. With the Ranger project I hope to contribute to the effort seeking to change up the playing field!"
About the Author
Ed Oh is a Cal alumnist where he studied Public Health, learned bboying and improv (from bboys Naoya, Kenny, Mike, Luke & the Oakland Breakers and Theatre Rice respectively), and first started the Ranger project at the barely legal age of 19.
He went on to work the non-profit scene in SF for 5 years in youth employment, marketing and communications; performing improvisational comedy with the troupe (now known as) Hobofish; while, volunteering for "No on Prop 8" and Hyphen- a magazine dedicated to Asian America.
He now resides in the Los Angeles area doing the day job thing, volunteering for NEI in his spare time, and trying to start up this whole Rangerverse thingy.
(NEI – Nutrition and Education International – empowering women, combating malnutrition, and reducing infant mortality through soy)
https://twitter.com/rangerverse
https://www.facebook.com/rangerverse
http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/
He also loves fashion, photography, cooking (human and dog), technology, bushcraft, boxing, and (most recently) knifethrowing.
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