like clockwork.

[amonitrate]

So, a SPN Big Bang author, gatorgrrrl, thought it would be "the best idea ever" to write a RPS story that takes place in present-day Haiti, in the aftermath of the earthquake. From the summary and the excerpts I've read, it fits into a long history of such fiction, especially in film, as gabby_silang points out.

[ETA 6/16/10: The author has locked her story and

Comments

[vikki]

I agree that it should be talked about; I hugely agree. Last night, before giving the wank a serious read-through, I thought that I would love to write a fic set in India, using SPN as a vehicle for talking about the culture, native rights and migrants and the awesome of Kali and the people - the ADP hydropower fiasco, for instance - but wow, I thought after really digging into it - I. No. Not me. Someone who lives there should do it. I'm far too divorced from the subject.

[amonitrate]

Yeah. I'm grateful for conversations like this one because not so long ago I wouldn't have grasped what was problematic with a fic such as this without someone outright explaining it to me. I know I've read and liked uncritically fics that would fall into this same ... genre, for lack of a better term, in the past.

I went back and forth about saying anything and whether it was appropriate for me to do so, and I'm not sure whether it is, but there were a couple points I hadn't seen when reading around yesterday and today so I made the post.

I'm not sure it's always inappropriate to use real settings/situations for fic, but I do think as a writer you have to be very, very sure that you're capable of giving it the care and sensitivity it deserves. And identifying, as you did, that maybe you're too distanced from it to do so is probably a good thing to be aware of. As well as identifying whose story you're choosing to tell in that setting, and why.

[vikki]

I was kind of =/ at the summary, but the moment I saw excerpts I just could barely look at them, which is, for me, coming a long long way myself. I still have to be somewhat primed, my phasers set to stun, before I'll pick up on the full extent of a fail!fic like this.

I didn't talk about it on my journal. This isn't because I feel like I have no right to and more because I couldn't look at it, and it's my policy that I must understand both sides of a wank situation before I post about it. Just because I am white and American doesn't mean I can't go, 'wow, I think this is just fail', though; however, I can see why it might come across as the white man championing the cause of Justice for the Poor Brown People. It's ... difficult subject material, and the best of intentions can lead you so far down the wrong roads. I honestly do believe that the author of this BB fell into this exact trap

[amonitrate]

I do understand how the author could think the premise was a good idea (though the fact that it is a very current event effecting living people complicates that); I have less sympathy for how she executed it, but I get that part too. Many of us grew up with this kind of thing in the movie theatres and in the children's books we read and on television, and if you're like me and grew up in an area that was probably at least 90% white, these kinds of discussions just don't happen around you. The contrary: stories like the one in this fic are held up as heroic, as classics, as something to aspire to even.

So yeah, I get it.

[vikki]

I don't mean to excuse her. Just because the media and life I live excuses this form of racism doesn't mean it's 'okay' that I am racist, or that she is racist. I'm just saying that I think she, like me, did not recognize the biases within herself that are unconscious, and somehow was surrounded by people who shared similar biases.

In the end I am bettered for this fail, for one. Self-examination ftw.

(sorry, I will stop vomiting all over your thoughtful post, now.)

[amonitrate]

Yeah. No excuses, just recognizing cause and effect. Those blockbuster hollywood films have no excuse either, but I get how they get made.

The effects of well-meaning stupidity

[deiseach]

I don't know if you're aware of this, and judging by the author's lack of anything approaching awareness she definitely wasn't, but remember the story about the church group arrested for trying to take children out of Haiti

Re: The effects of well-meaning stupidity

[amonitrate]

Yeah, I'm familiar. And I do think this type of fictional work completely feeds into the thinking that allows that kind of real world event, and it could be argued that it feeds into the US foreign policy, too. Which is why I don't think "it's just fiction!" is a valid thing to say. Or the author's original arguments in comments (now not visible) that this story happens all the time in hollywood (I'm paraphrasing). Yeah, it does happen all of the time in movies and books, and yeah, it has an effect in the world. It's not only entertainment.

*curls into ball dying of embarrassment*

[deiseach]

No, please tell me that's wrong. She didn't actually try to excuse herself along the lines of "But this kind of story is being done all the time!" and use Hollywood movies as a defence of the kind of template she used?

*flails* *points* *gibbers*

Okay, I got nothing more to say here.

I think you should write it - here's why

[keerawa]

I just need to throw my oar in here, as someone who's first fanfic was about a Haitian OC who had been impacted by the (at the time current) atrocities in Croatia.

It would be awesome if there was such a slew of women from India writing fanfic here on LJ that your story would have nothing new to add to the discussion. But that is clearly not the case.

I understand that it's intimidating. Race!Fail discussions set the bar even higher. Yes, you might make mistakes. Yes, you might be setting yourself up for criticism. Write it anyway.

To say, 'No, I can't write about this,' is to limit the power of your imagination, and also the power of your ability to counter ignorance and wide-spread stereotypes

Re: I think you should write it - here's why

[amand_r]

I agree with you. The best way to avoid race!fail when you write about stuff is to solicit opinions from people who can be honest about it from the getgo. If you go in saying, "this is something that I need to be accurate on, and not stereotypical on," then consult with the right people while you do it, then you can avoid a lot of problems.

The reality is that we need to write about POC and not whitewash fic and cultures because we are afraid. We just have to research it like we would any other issue or thing.

Re: I think you should write it - here's why

[amonitrate]

Yeah, I think checking with people you trust to be really honest with you and who might know what they're talking about is really important. Because those stereotypes aren't always blatant and obviously racist, they can be more subtle too.

And, you know, if someone is trying to tell you something, listen. Really listen and think about it. Don't just make superficial changes that don't address the deeper issue.

Which can be easier said than done, when you're wrapped up in a piece of writing. The impulse to argue and rationalize and defend is really strong.

Re: I think you should write it - here's why

[amand_r]

True, but on the other hand, I would hope that having the foresight to realise that you aren't an expert on things and might present a skewed view would make you more hypervigilant about accuracy and listening to others.

Re: I think you should write it - here's why

[amonitrate]

Yeah. I guess that can be a hard thing to be aware of/acknowledge sometimes. Knowing that your own world view is skewed, sometimes in ways that you won't recognize on your own, or until someone points it out to you.

It's really really easy to keep on thinking that everyone thinks the way you do and exists in the world the way you do so you just never consider these things at all. And that's what privilege does.

Re: I think you should write it - here's why

[amand_r]

Yes, but what I am arguing is that being aware that you are possibly skewed is the first step in fixing or approaching that problem. This author basically didn't have that wisdom in the first place to say, "this might be something I should either treat very sensitively or not at all", and perhaps if she had, she might have enlisted help to produce a work that was better, more sensitive, more accurate and less stereotypical. I'm less concerned with the two white man find each other in haiti and more concerned with the portrayal of haitians in general in the fic.

On the other hand, I wouldn't have read the fic, even if it was in a fandom that I read, so this is all moot on my part when I talk about the details of her plot.

Re: I think you should write it - here's why

[amonitrate]

That's a really good point, yeah. Sorry I missed it further up.