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Anonymous writes...
While I appreciate you taking feedback on Halo from us Muslim fans and trying to improve her representation, I honestly think she's too flawed to be fixed for a number of reasons:
1. Gabrielle Daou. I think this is an odd name for a Muslim Arab character. Gabrielle derives from Gabriel, which is a Biblical name. The Quranic version is Jibril (the archangel) and as far as I know there's no feminine version...plus a lot of Muslims don't like to use the names of the angels for humans in the first place. It would've been better to give her an Islamic name; there are SO many with beautiful meanings that you could've played with. And the surname Daou is not one I've seen before, so I could be wrong about this - I've tried researching and it's been hard to find information about its origins. It doesn't appear to be a very common surname, I'm curious how you guys even found it because it's not in any of the lists of most common Arab or Muslim surnames I encountered. But from what I can gather, it's mostly seen in Lebanon. I don't know exactly where Qurac is in the YJ universe, but I know in DC it's typically around Saudi Arabia and Iraq. If that's the case, there are lots of surnames more common to that area you could've used to make it more accurate or you could've used a more common Muslim surname. This may come off as nit-picky, but I think these sorts of things matter if you're going to make her ethnicity and religion a central part of her character. We're past the days of making vaguely Arab characters with traits from several different cultures like Disney's Aladdin.
2. Going off that, you've got an American South Asian woman voicing her doing a generic "brown voice"...I'm an American South Asian woman myself and that does not feel right to me. South Asian and Arab cultures are often blended together in Western media (Aladdin again) and they're very different. Why not make Halo Pakistani since the voice actor knows Urdu or use a voice actor who speaks Arabic to create a more accurate accent?
3. What is the reason Violet continues to wear the hijab? She just says it "feels right." One of my biggest pet peeves with how Muslims are portrayed in Western media is thinking that every Muslim woman wears a head scarf because the Quran says so. It's actually a huge source of debate within the religion, people have different interpretations of what modesty means, and many of us do not believe in wearing it. Then on top of that, there's the politics surrounding it. Of course I respect the women who do choose to wear it and the ones who do have a variety of reasons why. If Halo is supposed to be hijabi representation, it'd be great to know why she chooses to continue to wear it and maybe help dispel some of the stereotypes around it. As of now, it kind of seems like she only wears it because Gabrielle was a Muslim and that's what she thinks Muslims do.
4. The whole concept of the motherbox occupying the body of a dead Muslim girl. It almost feels like whitewashing in a way - you've got a character who's coded as Muslim but really isn't one. I don't know if that's the best way to describe it, but it just feels icky to me.
I'm sorry for the length and I know none of this was intentional. But it just feels like there was not enough research done when creating this character and it would've been better to have an Arab Muslim writer help create her. I do not like her as Muslim representation and I'd really like to see less emphasis on that aspect of her character. In my opinion, "Gabrielle Daou" died and her identity as a Muslim died with her. Violet Harper is a different person who simply occupies her body, so Islam does not need to continue to be a central part of Halo's character.
Greg responds...
1. You have a good point here. But the name didn't come from us, it came from the original comics (with a slight adjustment). Sometimes, we compromise/split the difference to honor our source material. It is, perhaps, a flawed approach, and in the future we'll think twice about it. But I don't agree that Gabrielle's name, which may not be perfect, is SO wrong that it invalidates her as a character. And in any case, Gabrielle is gone. So her name is moot.
2. I won't pretend I'm an expert, but we asked the voice actor to do an Arabic accent. This is what she gave us. Again, given that Qurac is a fictional country with intentionally vague geography, I don't think we're so off the mark here that it invalidates the character.
3. By now, I'm hoping you've seen why Violet continues to wear the hijab. They are on a journey of discovery. Sometimes, you just need to have a little patience with us. We can't always address everything instantaneously. We have a lot of balls in the air and many, many characters.
4. I think the point you're missing is that Violet WASN'T Muslim. Gabrielle was. Violet stated that they weren't a Muslim. Out loud. Clearly. Now, they're wondering if Islam has meaning for them. Nothing's been decided yet. But they're interested in learning. And I don't know why we'd want to discourage that. I mean if ANY non-Muslim character - whether from Qurac, Happy Harbor or New Genesis - decided they were interested in exploring Islam, you wouldn't discourage them, would you?
(Sidenote: Jews do discourage conversion. It's possible, but we don't encourage it. But Islam and Christianity are two religions that seek out converts.)
5. We probably should've involved a Muslim writer early on. And we probably should've consulted with MPAC much sooner than we did. I won't deny that. Although we DID consult with individual Muslims and got feedback. You may not like the answers they gave us, but to paraphrase Madia from this past week, no major religion is a monolith. You can no more claim to speak for all Muslims than the Muslims that we talked to.
Here's where I disagree with you. (I respect your opinion, but I do disagree with your conclusion.) We now have other Muslim characters, such as Khalid Nassour and Madia Daou, so Violet is not in the show to BE our Muslim representation. They are there to be Violet Harper/Halo. Their interest in Islam is, we believe, an important part of their character, and I have no interest in taking that away from them. But Violet doesn't have to carry a flag for Islam either. And to be clear, neither Khalid nor Madia nor Samad nor Muhammed nor Jane - all Muslims - are in the show to be REPRESENTATION. They are characters. But the more Muslims we have in the show, the less any one character has to carry the weight of being THE Muslim in the show.
In any case, I truly hope you've been watching this week. I'm hoping that the scenes between Madia and Violet have given you a new perspective. If not, well... so be it. We can't please everyone. But in general, I've gotten a tremendous amount of positive feedback from the Muslim community on those scenes, and so we're staying the course. And this time out, at least, the course was set with the help of MPAC, a Muslim writer and a Muslim voice actor. That's really the best we can do.
Anonymous writes...
Does the UN know about the light? If so how much do they know
Greg responds...
The U.N. has offered a membership to the Light, complete with all the perks, including unlimited access to free smoothies at the smoothie bar on the fifth floor.
APRIL FOOLS'!
There's no smoothie bar on the fifth floor. It's on the third floor, and everyone has to pay their own way.
STILL APRIL FOOLS!
The U.N. has been briefed on its existence, but the League has only presented what it could prove.
STILL STILL APRIL FOOLS!
No, wait. That last one's right.
Bree writes...
What's the name of those lenses the Team use? Who invented them? When?
Greg responds...
1. They're called Intensa-Lenses.
2. They were invented by Professeur Oeil, the French cousin of Professor Ojo.
3. Before breakfast.
APRIL FOOL!
Actually, I don't think we ever bothered figuring that out. Sorry.
Anonymous writes...
What was the relationship between Tim and Cassie like? I heard the relationship is now toast so I hope this isn’t a spoiler.
Greg responds...
They were constantly caught making out on Wonder Woman's invisible jet because they kept forgetting that even though the jet was invisible, no one inside it was.
April Fool's!
Actually, I think that's best left to the audience's imagination for now.
Justin writes...
How did Paul react when he learn Garfield Logan was meta human ? During the time of the events of young justice outsiders how did Garfield Logan's Godfather Paul react after he learn Garfield had form his outsider superhero team ? How did Paul react he learn Garfield was dating Queen Perdita ? How did Paul react after he lean his boss Gretchen Goode was was a alien after Cyborg exposed her merging back her other self on tv ?
Greg responds...
1. He was stunned and appalled.
2. He openly questioned whether some of Gar's enemies might not attack the set.
3. He asked for an introduction to the Vlatavan Royal Family.
4. He locked himself in a closet for 72 hours.
1. Paul stated in the press that he knew it all the time.
2. He expressed pride.
3. He suggested he knew about their relationship before they did.
4. He had suspected as much.
Now, the question is... which set of answers is an April Fool's joke, and which is what really happened?
Ram writes...
Hi Greg,
1. How broke is Green Arrow?
-Hes dressed rather smart for someone whos broke.
-He could afford a hospital room for Speedy.
-Hes able to afford to run several vaults fully equipped with weaponry and the electrical bill that comes with it. He also repaired the damage from the bomb Speedy planted in it.
-He can afford arrows for himself and his protege.
-He can support himself and Roy (and probably also the medical bills that come with sending him to therapy, etc.)
2. How successful is Bowhunter Security?
3. How was Roy a shareholder in Bowhunter despite being a minor? Was Ollie a caretaker for his share as his guardian?
4. Did Ollie help Will start his Private Security business? How did he find investors for it?
Greg responds...
1. He's not destitute. He's just not a millionaire any longer. You're assuming he paid for Speedy's healthcare, but that's not a safe assumption. The League has funds for that sort of thing. Also, Oliver set up a substantial trust for Roy before Oliver lost his fortune. That trust went to Will, but he's since given the bulk of that over to Roy.
2. Fairly.
3. Roy's no longer a minor. Technically, i.e. legally and chronologically, he's about 28 during Season Four.
4. No. (I mean he didn't hinder it, but he didn't help financially in any way either.)
4a. By "he" do you mean Will or Ollie?
Jason R Carter writes...
1) How were Jade and Artemis not put into foster care since Crusher was clearly an unfit parent?
2) Is it wishful thinking to assume that he might be a better grandfather than he was a father?
2) Which might he prefer to be called: Grandpa, Granddad, or Pop-Pop?
Greg responds...
1. Who do you imagine reported him as such?
2. It is wishful thinking. Which doesn't mean it might not be true. Though wishing doesn't make it so, either.
Your second question 2) I'm thinking, he'd go with "Crusher."
Anonymous writes...
1.Does the Masked singer (US and all international versions) exist In the Young justice universe? 2. why Did Terra after She meet Forager for the time call him a Hippo when he looks nothing like one and is clearly an alien insect?
Greg responds...
1. I don't know.
2. When did she call him a Hippo? I have no memory of that at all. Are you sure you heard her correctly?
King_Joey writes...
1. If the Monkey god chose Gar to be his Beast Boy would he have been able to give Gar those powers without the Martian blood transfusion? Or did the Martian blood act as a necessary catalyst for the power of a god?
I ask because, in the small amount of screen time we have gotten from the Monkey god I think we can conclude that he is impulsive or at least mischievous enough to see that there was a kid with Martian blood and say "let me take advantage of this." Rather than having seen Gar and "chose" him before the Martian blood thing.
Of course this does not mean that he would have just done nothing with Gar at all if Gar had never gotten Martian Blood. You never know :)
2. Would Gar s skin turn green after the Monkey gods tampering or before?
Greg responds...
1. That's been left intentionally vague by the Monkey God, assuming there is a Monkey God. But I'd say both were required.
2. Again, these things aren't mutually exclusive. Define "tampering". We don't know how many times Monkey bit Gar, either before or after his transfusion.
King_Joey writes...
I have absolutely no problem with suspending my disbelief in a TV show. That is the reason I never thought about the Law of Conservation of Mass until Season 3 episode Nightmare Monkeys. But now that I know that is a thing in universe for Young Justice I have questions about it.
1. When the Beatle scarabs give there hosts armor, weapons, tools, wings, or produces anti-bodies, where does the extra mass come from? Especially for those GIANT plasma cannons Blue Beatle and Black Beatle product during there first fight?
2. When Bane uses Venom, I can see the liquid serum
converting into muscle mass. However when Baran Flinders transforms into Mammoth there is a small amount of liquid in the injector, yet he becomes... well, MAMMOTH. Where does that mass come from?
3. When Dr. Mark Desmond uses the Blockbuster formula to transform into Blockbuster where does that mass come from?
4. If Beast Boy's powers were given to him by a god, is he a metahuman or is he more like Captain Marvel? A human granted powers that magically break the laws of physics.
5. When The Atom or Bumblebee shrink are they losing mass, or are they shrinking the space between there subatomic particles? Because if that is the case that would explain why they can not reach the subatomic level.
Seriously, I am only asking because the show brought it up.
Greg responds...
1. E = M*C(squared). (Sorry. Ask Greg doesn't allow for a tiny number two super-scripted above the C, but hopefully you get the idea.) That means that M = E divided by the square of C.
2. That's a damn good question. I don't know.
3. Ditto.
4. These things aren't mutually exclusive.
5. I'd lean toward the latter.
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