Joss and Firefly and race, oh my!

[chickpea]

I was going to write this a long time ago, but you know me and my inability to write anything substantial that isn't about imagined boy dramas, so. That was the disclaimer. Oh, here's another one: I'm going to forgo transitions in this entry, because I can't be arsed to figure out how to string all these thoughts together. Transitions are going

Comments

[randominity]

I've taken an age and a half to even attempt responding to this, because I think you've really said it all. I'm much like you in that I don't tend to notice things like a lack of minorities in a series unless I'm explicitly thinking about it. And even then, I'm less likely to think that a negative or stereotypical portrayal is really that, until it's pointed out (someone once compared Book's role in the Serenity movie to that of a "Magical Negro" and it had never occurred to me to even think that. I'm not sure I agree, but the thought hadn't even crossed my mind in the first place).

My friend and I took to making drinking game jokes every time we saw an Asian in the background in Firefly. "Asian person, bottom left corner! Drink!" We saw more people of east-Indian descent than Asians, I think, which struck me as odd: as you said, would it have been so difficult to even just fill the background with Asian faces, even if none of them had lines? (It would be better if one or two did, of course).

I also liked what you said about picking and choosing the parts of Western/Asian culture the appeal to us for the purposes of building the FF universe. I think I had some words to say about exotification and Orientalism, but they've left my brain now. Margaret Cho's blog entry was good food for thought, though.

(and ha! about your conversations with your parents. My Chinese friend was always doing that. She'd call home and be all, "Hi Mom, [Chinese Chinese Chinese]. Okay. Okay. [Chinese Chinese Chinese]. Yeah. Okay. [Chinese Chinese]. Okay, bye!" And my other friends and I would look at each other like, "...what?")

[chickpea]

What's the "Magical Negro" role? I don't think I've heard that term before. I've been trying to come up with a definition on my own (based on my own recollections of the BDM), and the nearest examples I can come up with are from books: the old man in The Cay and Jim in Huckleberry Finn. Is that close?

I think I had some words to say about exotification and Orientalism, but they've left my brain now.
Ooooh. I want to hear them, if they come back to your brain.

[randominity]

[The Magic Negro]

If I come up further commentary, I'll be sure to come back to this thread and let you know!

[randominity]

Come up WITH further commentary. argh.

[randomsignal]

Your comment in the first paragraph reminded me of complaints I heard when the first Star Wars prequel came out. SOME people were saying Jar Jar Binx was a negative African-American stereotype and I was just going "huh?" I didn't see it at all. He reminded me of Gomer Pyle. So I think at least some "stereotypes" may be in the eye of the beholder.

As for Book, I can't think of a character in film or TV whose racial type was more irrelevant. Book was Book. If anything, he made me think of the guy in Kung Fu, the way he was always so serene, but always full of surprises.

[bossymarmalade]

Jar-Jar was a pretty harsh 'rasta' stereotype more than an African-American one; if you haven't been exposed to Caribbean stereotypes, you might not recognize it. Same with those aliens who were involved in the trade wars with Naboo (or whatever -- it's been a while since I've subjected myself to Phantom Menace, heh) having really strong pseudo-Chinese accents. It was gratingly obvious to me, but then I'm from the Caribbean and now live in the most ethnically Chinese city in Canada. *g*

So I think at least some "stereotypes" may be in the eye of the beholder

I think that's true, in a fashion ... if you've experienced prejudice, you're a little more sensitive to the portrayals of your ethnic/racialized/gendered group. If you don't need to think about that kind of stuff and it doesn't directly affect you, then these portrayals don't scan as stereotypes to you.

If anything, he made me think of the guy in Kung Fu

The 'yellowface' white guy in Kung Fu? ;p