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Ask me anything video

🕑 Added 2025-01-17 12:18:15 +0000 UTC

Comments

Phoenix

I'm not Rom, but I had a dance teacher who is. She said that Romani lineage tracks to a tribe in Northern India. Like Jennifer, I don't think you were being insensitive. But I'm happy to see this conversation being had, and I appreciate your response.

Jennifer Marten

Awesome, thanks Novum! I have no doubts that you consider the words you use and why it might make sense to use the terms you did/do. I wanted to make sure this newer (to me at least) understanding of that word is a thing in America and make sure you can address it as needed in any videos posted to the public. I am positive you will get comments about it, I was surprised how uncomfortable I felt hearing that word (from an American perspective with no relationship with people in that demographic). That's absolutely not a reason to not use the word, as you outlined, but I did want you to be prepared for possible negative feedback on YouTube. I think your reasoning makes complete sense and appreciate how much thought you have already put into it! I am not the type of person to comment "negative" things on videos but as a Patreon member I did want to give you a heads up! Thank you for your understanding and I look forward to your upcoming Bo is Afraid video!

Novum

Hi Jennifer, yeah I appreciate that's a complicated issue and I may not have chosen the right words. Can I just say before I explain, I *really* appreciate the way you went about this. This is the exact right way to suggest corrections to someone's language. Which is a topic I'm very prickly with and this is the best anyone has ever 'done it to me'. As for why I used the term: 1. There's an element of 'tight omniscient' when I'm unpacking films, so I'm trying to use the language, feeling, opinions of characters as part of the narrative of the analysis. Think when a book narrator implies the feelings of a character from the third person narrative. They're called gypsies in the film (iirc) so I'm aping that. 2. It's a little bit different in the U.K., the term is still very iffy, but some Romani groups do self-identify with the term 'gypsy', it's still not the politically correct term and is going out of fashion, but given the clear distinction of our Irish/Romani traveller communities 'traveller' generally refers to the Irish/English travelling community and 'gypsy' has more Romani connotations. In terms of groups-that-incur-public/racial-outrage, travellers are generally much more maligned and I can see why the Romani communities may prefer to self-identify this way. 3. Most crucially (and I might be wrong about this) the Romani gypsies were a distinct historical group allegedly descended from Egyptians. That's quite complicated again and I don't know enough about their origins beyond that to be confident about it but iirc there is a difference between saying 'Gypsy' in a contemporary sense and referring to a historical group with that name. Now I may be in the wrong as to all of the above, but those are the three things I was considering when I used the term. I will do further research into it and I really appreciate how you pointed this out.

Jennifer Marten

I did just want to say, in America, Gypsy is considered a slur, I don't believe you are using it in that way but with the Nosferatu video coming up I wanted to make sure you were aware. I've noticed you used that terminology in two recent videos. Here's a link to a good explanation https://now.org/blog/the-g-word-isnt-for-you-how-gypsy-erases-romani-women/

Jennifer Marten

Adorable child answers to what you want to be when you grow up! Thanks for the video, glad to know you better!

Erin Russell

I really enjoyed this! It was a good AMA! Thank you for being vulnerable with us. Also, for what it's worth, I'd LOVE to hear you talk about the sopranos.

Ken

at like 19mins : i agree that a lot of film “analysis” videos only regurgitate plot nd its so frustrating . its to the point where i want to contribute meaningfully bc the state of “analysis” on YT is sad . i was so happy to find ur channel bc its exactly what i was looking for and satisfies the itch my brain for understanding the layers of film

John C.

I would recommend Nausicaa for your first Ghibli. I feel like the story might be more approachable and the subject matter more suited to your tastes.

Caroline

For what it’s worth I thought the AMA thing was really cool! Sorry it was a bit of an anxiety fest, though! Thanks for letting us all get to know you a little better!