For Independent Creators of Color “Likes” and “Shares” are just… Likes and Shares (2nd post July 1, 2017)

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Making MultiFacet: from an L.I.T.E. anime to a full anime

7 min readJul 1, 2017

Protagonists of diversity from The MultiFacet anime project www.themultifacet.com

It’s easy to critique big sci-fi and fantasy blockbusters that have won our hearts and minds (and wallets) about a lack of representation: MUCH harder to fund indy future projects with People Of Color that need to work their way into mainstream cultures and your existence.

As part of his Kickstarter Campaign that runs from June 26-Aug 9 2017 Nadir Shirazi Creator/Executive Producer of The MultiFacet anime project is writing a series of articles on Medium that document his four years of trial and error to make art. Art that came out of a desire to see more than just white discourses in nerd culture after 34 years of consuming it. He’s a second gen western millennial Canadian of Pakistani parents, and the more fantastical the world the better. He’s challenging people of colour and allies to help financially sustain independent works that elevate identities not seen in speculative fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy.

He is used to being heavily criticized but keeps agitating anyway. He is a lifelong anime nerd and former multi-faith consultant and educator. He also spells colour with a ‘U’ because he is Canadian, but sometimes without for his American friends.

I remember the moment very clearly. Well… I don’t remember the day, it was sometime three years ago. Just the moment itself.

My co-creators and animators at Rune Entertainment (www.rune.co) Paul Wollenzien, Nancy Nor, and Fraeya Pinto had called me into their Toronto Studio to show me the characters they had been working on.

I remember sitting down with excitement and anticipation, I was so nervous. I can’t draw for beans (even my stick men come out crooked) so when they showed me my characters I was stunned.

Not because the characters weren’t gorgeous, they were! But because they were characters of colour and diversities.

That sounds dumb when you realize I had asked for characters of colour. But I was having a moment nearly three decades in the making.

As someone who had grown up consuming any piece of speculative fiction I could get my hands on, I had my own moment of cognitive dissonance. That’s because I had grown up reading, viewing, and consuming all of these fantastical worlds…
…that were full of white protagonists.

So over years of discourse I just thought that was normative. Even the Japanese anime characters I loved I inferred as white through my own discourses.

But when I saw that there were now a multitude of diversities in my own art (there are white characters, chill out) all of a sudden that dissonance burst!

Even my own ex-wife who herself is a darker skinned women of colour blurted out when she saw the female lead protagonist… “why are the characters brown and black?”

So at that moment I realized that maybe I was part of something else happening here.

It turns out I am not the only one. Over the last several years I have run into an amazing number of creators out there trying to help bring works of anime art to life that feature or are created by people of colour. I have personally funded each of their Kickstarter campaigns and believe they all are going to be future smash hits. I’m speculating on speculative fiction.

However as amazing as the works are trying to be, there seems to be this narrative that repeats itself for indy creators who are trying to elevate diversities.

Because even though each of my creative colleagues projects were funded, if you talk to them they will all tell the same story.

They literally had to move heaven and earth to get crowdfunded. That for every backer, they got 100 well wishers who were so enthused about the project but then shrunk away at the mere mention of funding it.

What’s challenging is that many of these well wishers are part of a very frustrating cycle.

On social media they get tons of people saying how they love the projects diverse characters or creators approach, and how they want to see them proceed. How it is about time people who look like “them” show up in anime, sci-fi, fantasy, and fiction. How they can’t wait to see the show or series or episode etc.

Yet when it comes to funding the projects, the vast majority are quick to say “oh sorry I have no money.” Even worse are the trolls who say your efforts are going to fail. They still pay attention to your project, but instead of backing try to discourage others from backing.

It sounds harsh but that is nonsense. Most creators have priced their projects to allow you to fund them if you skipped one high end coffee or fast food night. Or if you skipped one movie ticket for yet another “whitewashed film”.

What people of diversity are saying is “well, I like it but someone else should fund it to bring it to life.”

Sorry that means the projects won’t proceed.

Big studios run by white executives who do business as usual aren’t going to swoop in because they don’t get how much this type of representation means to us.

So despite, being a cash strapped creator of a project myself, I go out of my way to find a way to FUND (even if its $10) as many projects as I can that elevate diverse identities. Because the world needs to see them.

Can you fund everyone’s project?

Of course not. But there are millions of us nerds of diversity who are supposedly outraged by all of the “whitewashing” we see in speculative fiction.

Independent creators of series need to get to the business of bringing out rich source material, but are also the producers, fundraisers, logistics and human resources. We fight 10 battles and find it very trying when people who haven’t financially contributed or understand how hard it is to produce works, pop up months later and say “so when is the show coming out?”

So the next time you feel conflicted that you LOVE Game of Thrones but don’t like that Daenerys is a white saviour, or the next time you think that Harry Potter is the greatest thing ever, but that people of colour hardly spoke in it…
… Well maybe look right in front of your face.

That maybe, just maybe someone in your own social media network, or on a crowdfunding campaign is creating the next masterpiece.

Something that allows underrepresented diversities like yours to have voices in culture: that translate to real life.

That billion dollar studios won’t miss you, but that your funding means the world to those indies fighting to create the next epic series that reflects our changing world.

Indy Creators of Colour have put their life savings into showing you glimpses of what they can do.
They find a way to keep going despite how hard it is.
But should it be that hard to begin with?

Indy creators of (and who) elevate color choose this path, so that’s on us. But we are representing more than ourselves. We are representing you, and you, and you, and you. Maybe its time to represent us too…

…With more than likes and shares.

Nadir Shirazi is Creator/Executive Producer of MultiFacet a L.I.T.E anime set in world divided between extreme forms of religion and secularism that elevates people of color. His 2nd Kickstarter runs from June 26- Aug 9 2017 and can be found by visiting https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/themultifacetseries/the-multifacet-series-1st-refraction-web-motion-co

To critique, compliment, or conversate connect with him by…

Web: themultifacet.com
Web: themultifacetfaq.com
E-mail: series@themultifacet.com
Facebook: fb.com/themultifacetseries
Twitter: twitter.com/nadirshirazi
Tumblr: icantdrawbutidea.tumblr.com
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/nadir-shirazi-38329591/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/themultifacet/

For Independent Creators of Color “Likes” and “Shares” are just… Likes and Shares (2nd post July 1, 2017)

Written by Nadir Shirazi M.Ed.