Writing and political correctness.
For people who savor the snark, get out the popcorn 'cause fantasy author Scott Lynch did a breath-taking job of tearing someone a new one when they complained about how one of his characters was a middle-aged black female pirate with kids. It was magnificent. Call it schadenfreude, but I really, really enjoy seeing someone deserving get their butt shredded.
I've been thinking about this for a while now, this tangled, touchy issue of race, feminism, and writing. It's a difficult issue and organizing my thoughts about it took ages and... well, I don't know that I'm done yet, really. That's okay, because thinking about these things should be a work in progress--dynamic, not static. One thing I do know for sure is that the topic of political correctness now rates an automatic wince for me, and maybe not for obvious reasons.
First, I'm never sure what people mean by it. Oh, I know what people think they mean. They mean to imply that when you're "politically correct", you're bending over backwards and going too far to accommodate a particular group. But I'm rarely convinced that this is what's actually happening. Look at Lynch's example, where a reader suggested that Lynch was kowtowing to the notion of political correctness by writing a black female character in his story. Isn't that kind of, well... weird? That by merely including black characters in this universe and having them do the exact same stuff that the white characters are doing, you're somehow making a bizarre authorial decision that nobody would find credible otherwise?
It's not like Lynch wrote a book about rum-swilling psychic space unicorn pirate-bards who swashbuckle the mainsail (or whatever it is pirates do) and poop pieces of eight. Black people actually exist in our world, too! Is it because the character is female and a mother? I know plenty of women and mothers who'd make damn good pirates. Some of them are reading this right now. *waves*
I don't really get the idea that writing something besides an all-white cast is somehow "politically correct". That would imply you're loading the dice by forcing a contrived, artificial situation that sacrifices realism for the sake of an idealized notion. But the real world is made up of lots of ethnic groups, so how is an imaginary world with ethnic minorities unrealistic or fake? I'm even more confused by people who proudly refuse to countenance such an idea, citing that they're "politically incorrect" as if that's somehow a daring, edgy thing.* After all, isn't it PC to portray women in fiction doing anything but standing in the kitchen, making sammiches for the men? Because that's what women do, right? They can't go off and have adventures or appear in stories. That'd be crazy...
... I think you see what I mean? It's not being PC if you write a story that has non-white characters in it. It's not even being PC if your protagonists are non-white, or female, or both.** That stuff happens in real life, so there's nothing unusual or illogical about it happening in fiction, too.
But. Let's say for the sake of argument that all of that is being PC. That by writing a story about a Chinese heroine who's commuting to work on the subway but misses her usual stop only to disembark into some sort of steampunk faerie-land, you're being the PC-est person in the whole friggin' PC universe.
So what? Who are these weirdos who think that this is a bad idea?
That's my .02 and then some. I realize not everyone will agree, but IMO, this isn't social justice, it's just common sense. I understand that not everyone's going to feel comfortable doing this crazy PC thing where we behave as if the world is diverse place full of many different kinds of people, but I admire the hell out of the people who give it a go-- even if it doesn't turn out the way they hoped.
* Quite the opposite. There's nothing edgy or daring about upholding an outdated status quo where it's okay to keep treating people like inferior beings because they fall into a minority group.
** And I am very much aware that there are many possible choices here re: race, gender, abledness and sexual orientation, to name a few.
Back to the snark. Lynch's critic is clearly suffering from a low brain cell count, since this person appears ignorant of the fact that:
1) "wish-fulfillment fantasy" is redundant. Look up the definition of "fantasy", you troglodyte.
2) There were female pirates in real life, making all their "but weak wimmenz can't possibly control the menfolk!!!" arguments sound even more idiotic in light of their simultaneous "OMG your story isn't realistic!!" complaint.
3) Who the hell cares? It's an awesome idea, and awesome ideas should be written into stories. It's as simple as that.
Incidentally, I enjoyed Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, the first installment of the Gentlemen Bastards series. It wasn't without its issues, but it was fun, especially if you like teeth-gritting OMG-I-can't-look-aw-crap-just-tell-me-what-happens-okay fantasy adventure full of thieves, scoundrels, magic, and the criminal underworld.
I've been thinking about this for a while now, this tangled, touchy issue of race, feminism, and writing. It's a difficult issue and organizing my thoughts about it took ages and... well, I don't know that I'm done yet, really. That's okay, because thinking about these things should be a work in progress--dynamic, not static. One thing I do know for sure is that the topic of political correctness now rates an automatic wince for me, and maybe not for obvious reasons.
First, I'm never sure what people mean by it. Oh, I know what people think they mean. They mean to imply that when you're "politically correct", you're bending over backwards and going too far to accommodate a particular group. But I'm rarely convinced that this is what's actually happening. Look at Lynch's example, where a reader suggested that Lynch was kowtowing to the notion of political correctness by writing a black female character in his story. Isn't that kind of, well... weird? That by merely including black characters in this universe and having them do the exact same stuff that the white characters are doing, you're somehow making a bizarre authorial decision that nobody would find credible otherwise?
It's not like Lynch wrote a book about rum-swilling psychic space unicorn pirate-bards who swashbuckle the mainsail (or whatever it is pirates do) and poop pieces of eight. Black people actually exist in our world, too! Is it because the character is female and a mother? I know plenty of women and mothers who'd make damn good pirates. Some of them are reading this right now. *waves*
I don't really get the idea that writing something besides an all-white cast is somehow "politically correct". That would imply you're loading the dice by forcing a contrived, artificial situation that sacrifices realism for the sake of an idealized notion. But the real world is made up of lots of ethnic groups, so how is an imaginary world with ethnic minorities unrealistic or fake? I'm even more confused by people who proudly refuse to countenance such an idea, citing that they're "politically incorrect" as if that's somehow a daring, edgy thing.* After all, isn't it PC to portray women in fiction doing anything but standing in the kitchen, making sammiches for the men? Because that's what women do, right? They can't go off and have adventures or appear in stories. That'd be crazy...
... I think you see what I mean? It's not being PC if you write a story that has non-white characters in it. It's not even being PC if your protagonists are non-white, or female, or both.** That stuff happens in real life, so there's nothing unusual or illogical about it happening in fiction, too.
But. Let's say for the sake of argument that all of that is being PC. That by writing a story about a Chinese heroine who's commuting to work on the subway but misses her usual stop only to disembark into some sort of steampunk faerie-land, you're being the PC-est person in the whole friggin' PC universe.
So what? Who are these weirdos who think that this is a bad idea?
That's my .02 and then some. I realize not everyone will agree, but IMO, this isn't social justice, it's just common sense. I understand that not everyone's going to feel comfortable doing this crazy PC thing where we behave as if the world is diverse place full of many different kinds of people, but I admire the hell out of the people who give it a go-- even if it doesn't turn out the way they hoped.
* Quite the opposite. There's nothing edgy or daring about upholding an outdated status quo where it's okay to keep treating people like inferior beings because they fall into a minority group.
** And I am very much aware that there are many possible choices here re: race, gender, abledness and sexual orientation, to name a few.
Back to the snark. Lynch's critic is clearly suffering from a low brain cell count, since this person appears ignorant of the fact that:
1) "wish-fulfillment fantasy" is redundant. Look up the definition of "fantasy", you troglodyte.
2) There were female pirates in real life, making all their "but weak wimmenz can't possibly control the menfolk!!!" arguments sound even more idiotic in light of their simultaneous "OMG your story isn't realistic!!" complaint.
3) Who the hell cares? It's an awesome idea, and awesome ideas should be written into stories. It's as simple as that.
Incidentally, I enjoyed Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, the first installment of the Gentlemen Bastards series. It wasn't without its issues, but it was fun, especially if you like teeth-gritting OMG-I-can't-look-aw-crap-just-tell-me-what-happens-okay fantasy adventure full of thieves, scoundrels, magic, and the criminal underworld.