The Garuda, the Jambu Grove, and the Queen of the South Seas?

[whynot]

I mentioned to a couple of people that I'm fiddling around with a reinterpretation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe using Southeast Asian folktales and a cosmology that focuses on cycles rather than linear trajectories and dichotomy. What I'm thinking is, it's still four kids, but instead of the crisis in this world being WW2, it's the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Instead of the kids being sent out of the countryside to escape the Blitz, the parents have to leave the country because there were no jobs in Indonesia. The kids have to stay with their weird uncle. Anyway, I started writing it.

Writing non-autobiographically about Indonesians in Indonesia weirded my brain out. It kept on switching to "speaking Indonesian*" mode (not my most articulate mode, lemme tell ya), and I found myself trying to remember Indonesian vocabulary and sentence structure before I remembered that OH YEAH I'm writing this in English. It was just that my brain was going, "Okay, time to deal with Indonesian people who have X mannerisms and Y ideologies. Adjust!" And then it does. So, I have a few pages written, but the writing's stiff and the diction is off, trying to stay in English but instinctually veering to Indonesian.

I found myself asking, "Are these Indonesian names too off-putting for a non-Indonesian reader?" Then I had RaceFail flashbacks and I was like, "D-:!" wtf. My real name has always been a source of contention for me. It's the typical long foreign name, and people would be like, "Say your name, dude!" like it's just entertainment. And one time, after performing my name, one girl was like, "Yeah, but what is it without the accent? Say your name without the accent." Bitch, that was my name without the accent! diaf :(

In college, I changed my nickname to something simpler - not a Western name, just something monosyllabic (and spelled with two letters, but it still gets misspelled all the damn time anyway I JUST CAN'T WIN) - and my buddy Asef from high school was like, "I can't call you that. You're not that." He says it's colonial mentality on my part, and he talks about how Kang Wook goes by Kevin in Indiana now, and Bilal goes by Billy in Oregon; he makes a face and shakes his head. I don't know if I should be flattered or ticked off at this attitude. On the one hand, I respect his intentions, sure, down with the global western hegemony etc. On the other hand, don't tell me what I should call myself. Who are you to tell me who I am and what my reasons should be?

I also found myself asking, "Who the hell wants to read about Indonesians and Indonesia anyway?" But then I remember that questions like that are why I wanted to write this in the first place.

* Can I just say it kind of SHITS ME OFF when people say "Do you speak Bahasa?" 'cos that just means 'language'. Indonesians don't say we speak Bahasa. Bahasa Indonesia means 'Indonesian language'. It grew out of Malaysian (Basa Melayu?).


And now for something completely meme-ish! Tell me in the comments something you think I'd never ever write, then I try to commentfic this thing I would supposedly never write.

Comments

[dirty-diana.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but what is it without the accent? Say your name without the accent."

Because the way it sounds while being mangled by white people is the way it's supposed to sound? OH MY GOD WHAT.

I have to admit I am probably like your friend sometimes, and I know even as the judgy words are coming out of my mouth that it's none of my business what people do. And also just that because I wish we lived in a world where no one cared how anglicised your name is or how straight your hair is doesn't mean we actually live in that world. So people have to do what they have to do, based on that. But that doesn't stop be from occasionally being sad, because I am like that.

You could write...something about some X-Men! Since I know none of your current fandoms. Sorry. :)

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but we recognize and deal, I guess. I'm not gonna be naming my kids anything that's gonna require any sort of simplification. The writer Pico Iyer, he's from south India and his parents named him Pico for the same reason, after some Italian... architect or whatever, instead of the Indian polysyllables they know foreigners usually stumble over. It's not to say that foreigners are stupid, but to say that, we just want to make it easier for ourselves.

I changed my official name at 18, but only to add my dad's last name to it. The naming system in Indonesia is different in that we don't take on our father's or husband's last name. But then we moved to the Philippines, where the naming system is more Western. My parents received letters from my school addressed to Mr. and Mrs. my-last-name, but that wasn't their last name. So we all just changed our last names a few years ago for the convenience of it.

ETA: Oh! and what specifically about the X-Men? movieverse XD

[dirty-diana.livejournal.com]

but we recognize and deal, I guess

I get that. Sorry if it sounded like I didn't. :)

Anything Scott? Or Ororo. Or both. <3

[lazaefair.livejournal.com]

There was some representative down in Houston who once suggested that Asians change their names to Western names to make things easier for workers at voting polls. It was ridiculously offensive, but I was thankful that all the comments I came across on that news story, even from Americans, were all, "Bitch, I bet she doesn't change her name to 'Hua Mei' when she moves to CHINA."

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

:((((((((( faaaaaaaaiil.

what happened to her afterward?

[marycontraire.livejournal.com]

That story actually sounds pretty awesome. You should keep working on it. And then publish it with your real name.

Edmund/Effy from Skins. Go!

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Neither Edmund nor Effy are surprised that their older brothers don't get alone. Tony is bored and Peter is irritable, and when Effy bums Edmund his third cigarette, Peter says, "Stop that, it'll destroy your lungs."

"Really," says Effy. "I never knew."

Tony takes off early, ruffling Effy's hair before he goes. She ducks and swats his hand away, and Edmund takes note of the dullness in Peter's eyes as he watches Tony and Effy casually slag each other off.

"I'll walk Effy home, Pete," Edmund says.

"Why didn't you just go home with your brother?" Peter asks her.

"My brother isn't going home," says Effy, smoke trailing out of her mouth.

"Where's he going?"

"To cheat on his girlfriend."

Peter rolls his eyes and shakes his head, and shortly thereafter he leaves. Effy looks at Edmund and says, "Let's get out of here."

"All right," he says, and takes her hand.

[(Anonymous)]

I had kind of the same idea once. The plot line was something about a neighboring country to Narnia, but the one that had creatures not from Greek/English mythology, but from Russian/Eastern Europe and its ruling princes (kniazia) kids from Russia/Eastern Europe. I thought it will be interesting to see how the two countries, two sets of fairytale creatures of different origin and kids of two different backgrounds would interact with each other and what will be the new country look like. I will be interested to see what you would make with Indonesian background

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

That sounds fascinating! Did you ever end up writing it? I wanna do a lot more research on Indonesian folktales before or as I go through with this.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Oooh. STORY. (I once started writing a version of...uh, after the return LWW with four kids in modern America, then I wrote fic instead.)

True story: my parents were going to name me Katarina or Katerina, then they decided it was too foreign and decided to name me Katrina instead. Because the extra vowel makes all the difference?

Honey, I cannot think of something you'd never ever write. I do not know what this says about us, but there it is. Um. Peter/White Witch?

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

I remember you telling me about that! Is that ever gonna see further work or the light of day?

I cannot think of something you'd never ever write. I do not know what this says about us, but there it is.
Hahahahaha IKR! I think this meme is just my roundabout way of asking for crack-prompts. UMMM, this didn't turn out to be REALLY Peter/Jadis... but here you go anyway!


Peter raises his sword. "You are in no position to bargain, witch."

She laughs. "Oh Peter, I am not bargaining. I am simply laying down the terms."

+

When Peter heard word that Jadis is returned and mustering followers in the northwestern woods, he told Edmund to stay at Cair Paravel.

"Do you still think me under her spell?" Edmund spat out.

"No," Peter lied. "But the Calormene ambassadors are getting restless, and I need you to deal with them." Peter told Lucy to stay at Cair Paravel because she can mollify Edmund better than any of them. They argue with him, protest that he is treating them like children, but in the end he is their High King and they will do as he commands.

"Be careful," Susan said to him at the gates, the morning of departure.

He kissed her hand and said, "I'll be back before you notice I've gone."

+

Jadis says, "I swear on my sister's life that I will leave Narnia, never to return, if you will do for me one thing."

Peter doesn't say anything, doesn't move.

"Get me the White Stag," the Witch commands. "When it crosses into your kingdom, hunt it down and bring it to me, and tell no one I have asked this of you."

Peter raises his eyebrow. "And if I don't do as you say?"

Her gaze is impassive. "Then I will have your brother."

His jaw tightens. "Fine."

"You wear your weaknesses on your sleeve, your majesty," she smiles.

"You'll have your stag, Jadis," Peter says, "and then you will leave these lands forever."

"Swear on Aslan."

He does.

+

Tumnus announces the sighting of the Stag.

Peter is ready.

[tevere.livejournal.com]

Sorry to journal-crash -- I surfed by on friendsfriends. But I just needed to say that I will TOTALLY READ YOUR STORY, and it sounds amazing. Especially the Queen of the South Seas, because that story always gives me chills.

Regarding names-- I mean, in speech your characters will probably use shortened versions of each other's names, and that should be easy enough to follow for a Western reader. Once I was writing a SPN story about Indonesian immigrants in the States, based on the kuntilanak myth, and I deliberately chose to give my characters names like Juliantini (Tini), Satirianah (Rana), Steisinisari (Steisi), Imelidiawati (Imel). Because, I mean, they're beautiful names! And sure, 'Ryan' and 'Irena' are just as Indonesian as anything, but why are people reading if they don't want to move outside their comfort zone?

PS. OTW is always looking for help with Indonesian translations!
PPS. And I hear you on the 'bahasa' thing. NOTHING SHITS ME MORE.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Ooh, no problem at all! It's always an awesome surprise to meet fen from the archipelago. I usually feel like I am the only one. I've met like... ONE other Indonesian fen. Nice to meet you!

I'd have to do mad research for this story. My knowledge of Indonesian folktales is rather patchy, and I also want to make use of how there's a lot of Indian mythology in Indonesian mythology, or how all Pacific Rim countries seem to have variations on the one story about the daughter of the moon and the hunter who steals her clothes. Cultural cross-pollenation ftw!

Haha, yeah nicknames are pretty unavoidable Indonesia. I dunno how useful my Indonesian would be to anything, I left the country at age 6, so my Indonesian is kind of fossilized at around there.

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

I would definitely read it, although there'd half to be a bit of hand-holding on the folktales because they are completely out of my background and I wouldn't pick up any nuances.

On the name thing, I've always considered it more about the hassle it gives you. My name doesn't really have a background, it's just weird and made-up and I swore all through childhood that I would change it when I was older. I changed my mind once I stopped being a moody little preteen, but I still answer to at least three pronunciations from the people I don't see often enough to keep on correcting. And so far, they've always been more embarassed about it then I have.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Honestly, it's convenience that made me pick up another nickname. But then it just reminds me of my dad and his billion remote controls. Each one is supposed to make our lives easier and operate another awesome machine, but at the end you just have a lot of remote controls. It's a new kind of hassle. Friends from high school still tend to introduce me using my old name, and when friends from then and friends from now meet, there's occasionally confusion since they know me by different names.

I'm gonna give my kid names that don't need to be shortened to anything.

[deepad]

You know that I am 100% fully behind your story, and actually, if you wanted to write it with large chunks of Indonesian dialogue, and just give translations in footnotes afterwards like they do with the old novels with tonnes of French in them? I would love you even more. Write it for the other Indonesian kids reading Narnia in Indonesia, man!

And I am sorry about the dude who gives you grief because of your name, because I try very hard to call people what they want to be called, but I still can't bring myself to pronounce first gen Indian names by their Americanised accent versions.

And yes! Bahasa I am guessing comes from the Sanskrit 'bhasha', which means 'language'. These must be the same stupid people who ask me if I speak 'Hindu' or 'Indian'.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Heeee, I knew you would be! <3 Yay!

I don't know if I know Indonesian well enough to pull that off. I moved out of the country when I was 6. Yanno, what with RaceFail still fresh in everyone's memory, it makes me wonder about the appropriation thing, and what my role is when I take source material from a culture from which I've become alienated, and source material from a culture in which I am the foreigner. It reminds me of the the backlash surrounding "Sita Sings the Blues". I want to be a storyteller, but also responsible and respectful.

Probably! There is a buttload of Sanskrit in Indonesian -- Sanskrit words, Sanskrit names (lots of girls named Sita, my name has roots in the word 'apsara', 'roti' means bread and 'puja' means worship/compliment). The Javanese script is very Sanskrit looking. And we've appropriated a lot of the stories -- the Ramayana is well-known, we have wayangs named Arjuna, etc. Soooooo much South Asian influence.

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

This totally sounds awesome. (I think I said that before? I am saying it again!) What happens to them? What's the country like?

I feel like...it's fantasy, right? So these should be readers who are used to weird and crazy names people just made up--Indonesian names shouldn't be a problem, and if they are your readers can suck it up and deal? (Although I say this as someone who took years to figure out that Aslan was actually not called Alsan. Fail.)

Names are so complicated. I was always annoyed because my name is so freaking common, but then I never have to tell people how to pronounce it. (Also, wtf, because you should pronounce your name to someone else's specifications?)

Dude, is there anything you won't write? Ummm. Ooh, Harry Potter/Narnia crossover? Edmund/Hermione? (Or Edmund/Luna, actually.)

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

(Not that you should have to be worried about using Indonesian names *anyway*, because I think people should be able to handle it, but you know, since you were.)

[be-themoon.livejournal.com]

HOW DID I MISS THIS?

*is really really excited* FIRST OFF. INDONESIAN NARNIAAAAA. THE SEA QUEEN. EVERYTHING IS CLEARER UNDERWATER.

Also, if you want crack!prompts still, I'd love to see Jadis/Nimueh, because you keep throwing it out there as something that would be awesome and nobody writes it. D:

OR. OR OR. JADIS/HER SISTER. THE ONE WHO DOESN'T HAVE A NAME AND JADIS KILLED THE WHOLE WORLD FOR.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

This is the fault of my recent GIFing out.


Nimueh whispers an incantation and the cut on her palm closes itself.

Jadis opens her eyes.

+



The last thing Nimueh remembered before she died was a roll of thunder and a flash of light, a young boy's revenge echoing in her ear.

+

He is a powerful boy, Nimueh explains. He has a great destiny. She had sought to make him his, make him theirs, but she failed. His will is strong, and his heart too bound to the mortal world.

Jadis laughs. "These boys and their destinies. They'll be the death of us, my lady. Trust them not, nor their hearts."

+

Nimueh was betrayed by a sorcerer, one of their own; Jadis was betrayed by a king. "And oh, to be betrayed by a king," she crows. "There are worse betrayals. I do not regret my death. Everything happens in its own time, after all."



"Sister, what shall we do first?" the White Witch asks.



"First we drink," says Nimueh, "to us. To the ones they thought they could cast aside."

After all, they are both here, now. They had both been returned to the earth, but now the earth returns them to the world.

[labseraph.livejournal.com]

My real name has always been a source of contention for me.

I hear ya. I live in my home country and still people have problems with my name. They will misspell it (though my e-mail address is clearly my name as it is correctly spelled) and in the end, I introduce myself as only the first syllable of my name.

And get people who think I'm Chinese as the 1st syllable of my name sounds like a Chinese surname.

Most Westerners have problems pronouncing my name, so I end up with another nick (a name which I hated as a child) and just had to grin bear it.

*hugs Lass*

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Names! Sometimes you just can't win. My parents both have 'simple' western names, and me and my brother both have lengthier, more traditional names. As a result of the complications and variations my names and nicknames cause, I have become rather detached to them. I know who I am, no matter what people find it most convenient to call me.

*hugs back*
*apologizes for late reply* <33

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I want to read this!

(Mind you, my entire experience of Indonesia is filtered through stories told by my godfather, who lived there when I was little.)

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Hee, good to know this would have an audience! I still want to write it. Then again, I want to write a dozen other things and god knows when I'll actually get around to writing things that aren't my current fandom anymore. My experience of Indonesia is limited to toddlerhood and vacations, so it's pretty limited too.