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   Swapna Krishna (skrishna@wandering.shop)'s status on Tuesday, 14-Mar-2023 23:42:03 JST Swapna Krishna

   I interviewed Michelle Yeoh a few years ago about #StarTrekDiscovery and I mentioned offhand that I'd written an article about what seeing her use her accent on the bridge of a starship meant to me.

   She stopped and said "Wait, that was YOU?"

   And then proceeded to talk about how much that article had meant to HER and how it contributed to the success of the show.

   I can't think about it without crying.

   (The original article: https://authory.com/SwapnaKrishna/On-Star-Trek-Discovery-and-Michelle-Yeohs-accent-aa6d2eb01b3a24970abf406c39146df33)

   #MichelleYeoh #StarTrek #Oscars

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     HïMY SYeD :mstdn: (himysyed@mstdn.ca)'s status on Tuesday, 14-Mar-2023 23:42:09 JST HïMY SYeD :mstdn:

     in reply to

     @skrishna Michelle Yeoh is now the first Star Trek Captain to win an Oscar.

     Her Accent included.

     | #MichelleYeoh #StarTrekDiscovery #CaptainPhillipaGeorgiou #PhillipaGeorgiou #StarTrek #Oscars

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     ScottinSoCal 🇺🇦 🕊 🏳‍🌈 (scottsocal@computerfairi.es)'s status on Tuesday, 14-Mar-2023 23:42:14 JST ScottinSoCal 🇺🇦 🕊 🏳‍🌈

     in reply to

     @skrishna

     I had the same reaction when they showed Culber & Stamets getting ready to go to work. Just brushing their teeth, a normal, routine thing. Just a regular couple, doing what couples do.

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     Wokebloke for Democracy (dougiec3@libretooth.gr)'s status on Tuesday, 14-Mar-2023 23:42:16 JST Wokebloke for Democracy

     in reply to

     @skrishna
     I first saw her in "Tomorrow Never Dies" and been happy to see her in anything since. Congratulations to you!

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     PO TAY TOES (ipsotaters@mas.to)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Mar-2023 02:15:07 JST PO TAY TOES

     in reply to

     @skrishna Sometimes when I'm feeling low I like to watch the Supercop outtakes in which she rides a motorcycle up a ramp and into the air and lands on top of a moving train https://youtu.be/CIAyyugbq54?t=38 (at the 38-second mark)

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     Jason_Dodd (jason_dodd@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:36 JST Jason_Dodd

     in reply to

     @skrishna as if i needed another reason to swoon over her.

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     Dhavide Aruliah (dhavide@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:42 JST Dhavide Aruliah

     in reply to

     @skrishna

     It surprises me how much small bits of representation — in fiction — affect me as an adult. Thank you for giving voice to that notion in your article & for your moving story about the interview.

     I felt similarly seeing a Jodi Whittaker Doctor Who story about Partition (Demons of the Punjab, 2019). By then, my days as a South Asian boy in 1970's Britain had long since passed, but I still teared up finally seeing characters like my family front & centre in Doctor Who.

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     HFM (hfentonmudd@zeroes.ca)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:44 JST HFM

     in reply to

     @skrishna She is a big part of the #startrek resurgence that’s for sure!

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     jack the nonabrasive (karabaic@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:46 JST jack the nonabrasive

     in reply to

     @skrishna My dad used to make fun of Chekov’s bad Russian accent, but I think he was secretly proud of the Slavic representation. He was a machinist at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the “nuclear wessels” line became a family joke.

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     Mark Tomczak (mtomczak@qoto.org)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:48 JST Mark Tomczak

     in reply to

     @skrishna I honestly loved that.

     I enjoyed most of Star Trek 2009, but the one thing they played as a gag that stuck out to me like a sore thumb was the computer not understanding Checkov's accent. Because my over-analyze-everything brain latched onto that and went "Oh... I guess that means either Russian accent is super-rare in the future or we never cracked the nut of making voice recognition accent-agnostic. That's... Kind of sad."

     And I know they didn't intend it that way, but it's Star Trek. Shit means things.

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     VoxofGod (voxofgod@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:51 JST VoxofGod

     in reply to

     @skrishna It's hitting me even, not even entirely sure why

     Yeah that's so great

     I liked her fine beforehand, but after seeing her with the accent in that first episode, I have become a huge stan for #teamMichelleYeogh

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     Isaac Rabinovitch (isaac32767@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:52 JST Isaac Rabinovitch

     in reply to

     @skrishna Interesting. To this White guy, the way Yeoh speaks on Discovery is unusual, but appealing precisely because it's unusual – TV shows tend to have a certain blandness problem. (Recall all the POC on TOS who were supposed to be from all over the world, but spoke with generic American accents.) It never occurred to me that to Asian fans, this would be a crucial bit of representation. Consider me educated.

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     maegul (maegul@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:53 JST maegul

     in reply to

     @skrishna wow that’s awesome!

     I can’t help but ask … would you have preferred if the captain Georgiou character had been kept around instead of killed off?

     I ask because it feels to me like a missed opportunity to have a character like that given a full tenure “in the chair”. But I don’t have your perspective.

     And we could still have had the empress too as her mirror counterpart no?

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     Swapna Krishna (skrishna@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:56 JST Swapna Krishna

     in reply to

     • Lyric, Destroyer of Worlds

     @pynkbites I haven't seen any writing specifically on it, but I have a feeling M’Benga's accent meant a LOT to a lot of people!!!

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     Lyric, Destroyer of Worlds (pynkbites@queer.af)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:57 JST Lyric, Destroyer of Worlds

     in reply to

     @skrishna Nice article! I'm happy Strange New Worlds has continued the trend of leaving in authentic accents, particularly with Dr. M'Benga. It really makes Starfleet feel like an genuine global alliance as opposed to an Americans-only club.

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     Swapna Krishna (skrishna@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:13:59 JST Swapna Krishna

     in reply to

     Ok y'all, a few things:

     (1) That article is from freaking 2017. There is zero point in critiquing it now. All you're going to do is get muted.

     (2) If I knew it was going to go viral multiple times, and be read by an audience other than Asian American kids, I would have written it very differently. Please keep in mind that it was written FOR Asian American children of immigrants before anyone else.

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     Swapna Krishna (skrishna@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:14:00 JST Swapna Krishna

     in reply to

     She means SO MUCH to me, my captain, and to see her succeed like this is amazing and incredibly well deserved.

     (The site I wrote the article for took down all their pre-2019 content, so that's a personal copy of it.)

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     Swapna Krishna (skrishna@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:14:00 JST Swapna Krishna

     in reply to

     The interview unfortunately also doesn't exist anymore, but I found a transcript. Here's what #MichelleYeoh said to me about keeping her accent on the show.

     I forgot about this: ”You know how it is. That's what we are."

     I'm crying again.

     #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery

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     Lyric, Destroyer of Worlds (pynkbites@queer.af)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:14:02 JST Lyric, Destroyer of Worlds

     in reply to

     @skrishna Hell yeah! I love M'Benga!

     Michelle Yeoh honestly deserves to be captain of her own Trek show. They should be able to resurrect the Starfleet version of Georgiou for the task, considering how often folks rise from the dead in the franchise. 😂

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     Farah (farah@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Sep-2023 03:14:05 JST Farah

     in reply to

     @skrishna omg! Yes and thank you for that article!! I never thought anyone would come close to Stewart’s Picard but she DID and then some. She was so incredible in that show. I was absolutely smitten

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     Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦 (kegill@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Sep-2023 09:20:15 JST Kathy E. Gill 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     • AnnaAnthro

     @skrishna @AnnaAnthro

     Not sure how this wound up in my timeline but I am SO glad it did!

     Thank you for writing and re-sharing this story. I got a little teary. (Loved Micheal Yoeh as Discovery Captain Georgio and her evil alter-ego, too.)

     Representation is so important, and Gene Roddenberry was a pioneer.

     I have ❤️ed Star Trek since TOS (I’m old! 😂). I was thrilled to see Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) in Voyager for similar reasons.

     Added:
     Another swoon:
     Sonequa Martin-Green's Michael Burnham

     🖖

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