So, as you know by now, I'm a teenager. As such I haven't lived on this earth very long and am going to be an idiot for at least five more years before reality, and common sense, smack me hard enough to make me wiser. However there's just one thing that I just can't understand....
Why is there a lack of colored Protagonists in fantasy?
Why is there a lack of non-stereotypical Native Americans in Fantasy?
Why do all the Asian characters in fantasy have to come from Wuxia or Asian themed fantasy?
What happened to the Latinos in fantasy?
Is anyone starting to get what I'm saying? You see I come a background that is a bundle of races. I have an African-American mother and a Caucasian father, and some Native American on my Mom's side, so I see the world as a huge melting pit. Now don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like my father's side of the family, I love Europe they've got some awesome history, but I just want to see other parts of me represented. It get's tiresome after awhile seeing the same old pale skinned girl on the cover of the book and being told 'This is who you're supposed to aspire to be like.'
Now saying that does this mean if a girl has a strong character, such as Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games, that I shouldn't try to be like her? Of course not! But at times how can you really relate to someone who has more of a race boundary than I do? I hate to be the one to say this, and burst your shiny little bubble, but no one is as free thinking as we would want to be. Some people just WON'T get into fantasy, urban or otherwise, because there's no Colored, Latino, Asian, Native American characters. At the same time others have just become sick to death of a lack of representation and need a change,
Don't believe me? Then why is everyone and their mother getting so hyped up about a fantasy story called The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms? Something tells me that it has more to do with the fact that the main character is colored, and on top of that female, than anything else. Not that N.K Jemisin isn't a good writer, I'm saving up for her new series, but the idea that a character can be black and female in a fantasy story happens to be novel is more of a seller than anything.
People it shouldn't be this way! It should be that when I want to go to the fantasy section to read about a shoddy love triangle between a human and two mermaids I should be able to find the same stupid plot done again and again, but with more than just white characters.
With that being said I firmly believe that if you're an African-American, Latino, Asian, and Native American writer instead of whining about how you can't get your people to be represented in books just go ahead and publish one with your race as the protagonist. I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, "But I won't be able to sell it to a publisher!"
Then skip over the publisher. If you're writing an amazing story that is unique, deep, original, and the reason they won't but it is because your character isn't fitting the 'selling mold', then go ahead and self-publish. I'm willing to bet that people who have money will buy your books just so that they can relate a little more to the characters.
I would like to write people of different races, but as a white person, that comes with its own can of worms. I know this first hand because I was born and raised in South Africa and am surrounded by race related discussions on a daily basis. A white person who tries to use black culture etc. in their work often gets accused of appropriation. And I understand the sentiments, even if its not always true. But it can come across as just another form of exploitation, just the "white man" using the "black man" for his own ends. etc. etc. It's a sticky little mess to try and climb out of.
ReplyDeleteI understand. I hear it all the time from my mother's side of the family. Perhaps you could write under a pen name or slowly introduce various characters of other races with bigger roles. That way you can ease people into the idea that you can write various people without being accused of wrong doing?
DeleteHow about 'Wizard of Earthsea' by Ursula K. Le Guin?
ReplyDeleteI've never read it, what's it about?
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