I will be attending Arisia 2020 January 17-20, 2019, in Boston, Massachusetts.
My schedule is as follows:
Saturday, 5:30 pm, Marina 3
“Diversity in History”
A.J. Odasso [moderator], Sol Eidan Houser, Diana Hsu, Victoria Janssen, Sioban Krzywicki
The perennial refrain: “but having gay people/women/people of color in this fantasy story would be historically inaccurate!” Panelists will challenge whitewashed assumptions about American and European history, and what kinds of people did and did not exist in “the past” (spoiler alert: they pretty much all existed) and discuss their favorite facts and stories about black people in the Renaissance, queer folks in the 17th century, women in the Age of Sail, and more.
Sunday, 11:30 am, Marina 1
“Captain Marvel Has Nothing to Prove to You”
Heather Urbanski [moderator], Christopher K. Davis, Lyndsay Ely, Victoria Janssen, Jennifer Pelland
February’s Captain Marvel was the culmination of two years of the typical online calls for boycotts and attempts to influence its reviews negatively when a tentpole franchise doesn’t have a white man in the lead; it nevertheless found considerable success, if its box office and an internet full of pictures of fans dressed as Carol Danvers is anything to go by. As the first MCU release with a woman as the sole title character, we’ll talk about what worked and what could come next.
Sunday, 7:00 pm, Faneuil
“Fanfiction from Fandom to Fandom”
Cassandra Lease [moderator], Lisa Batya Feld, Victoria Janssen, A.J. Odasso, Shoshanna Traum
We’ll discuss the ways that fanfic writing styles can differ based on the medium of their source material – movies, TV shows, books, comics, podcasts, and more. We’ll talk about when writers try to emulate the style choice of the original work, and how fandoms can arrive at signature styles all on their own.
