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Loki, on 03 April 2012 - 06:14 AM, said:
worrywort, on 03 April 2012 - 04:55 AM, said:
I imagine that author is correct about fantasy in general (lily white farmboy saviors and all), but wrong about GRRM in particular -- he does focus on white characters for the most part, but also for the most part, they aren't exactly heroes. And sure the Easterners are the "exotic" ones, but that's still within the context (and perspective) of medieval morons slaughtering each other over a throne. I actually think complaints along those lines re: Martin are off the mark a bit. I think he's flipping the script plenty, even if it's still a medieval Europe based fantasy, because it wouldn't be honest to create non-weird cultures...just make sure to remember that Western-based cultures are just as weird. History, everywhere, is almost entirely the history of people being awful to each other. There is a somewhat tone deaf questioning of Mad Men in recent years, about the lack of non-white roles, and the response is basically: yah, that's a conscious decision, and part of the point! Though at the same time, that does mean in the real world a cast with very few slots open for non-white actors, which is problematic in another way. And indeed, in GRRM's books-turned-TV show, the same problem arises to some degree. But that's why we've got Steven Erikson, duh! Hopefully, as fantasy authorship diversifies, its ideas and peoples will too (and it wouldn't hurt to have a few non-white farmboy heroes too, at least for young adult readers).
Not discussing - just thought you might find this response by Ari Marmell interesting.
My groove is messed by the fact that I know I should be studying but I don't want to be studying. And I hate doing things I don't like. Humph!
If you're the same Loki who responded to the blog post, I liked it. White authors can and should write non-white characters when appropriate, do their best to avoid shoehorning, tokenism, or exoticism (for its own sake) as well, and yet it's also true that it just can't be done perfectly all the time and not everybody's interests can always be met. There's also balancing individual authors and their personal interests, with a problem that might belong more to the whole industry...and artists/content creators don't have a responsibility to create anything they don't want to (though it's appreciated when they challenge themselves of course). And the best point, though I've never read him, is Saladin Ahmed seems to be the best answer to his own questions: if you have the opportunity, create the content you want to see created. It's tricky from just about every angle, but in the case of GRRM, it seems to me he's basically a medieval history geek and a sci-fi/fantasy geek, and he's doing the best he can to write what he wants to write while still acknowledging that's not all there is to write about...there's a whole world out there.
I've found this to be a very fruitful non-discussion.
) - I need to make Matador give it me early....three months is far too long to wait!!!
