Classic vs Ugly & Hateful
Most of the time, in contemporary books, we expect a certain level of human equality. There aren't many novels out there in which the characters you're meant to sympathize with have blatant shows of racism or sexism. The world we live in isn't perfect, so you do get "casual" displays of -isms on occasion, which hopefully get called out by as many readers as possible as loudly as possible. Because there's no excuse for racism/sexism/general hatred of other people.
Or is there?
Thing is, you'll find any number of -isms in the classic works of fiction. CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia are full of sexist and racist depictions. The Last Battle is the most appalling, but the attitudes are threaded throughout all the books.
But, y'know, it's ok, because CS Lewis is a product of his times. He couldn't help being a misogynistic, racist dude because everyone was a misogynistic, racist dude when he was writing books. So you can go ahead and ignore those bits of his books and just enjoy the stories he wrote.
But it's not ok because regardless of when it was written, we're reading it now and putting that language and those ideas and attitudes in our heads now. Racism is racism, misogyny is misogyny, and it's never acceptable. Studying the past is one thing, but reading from within that mindset is quite another.
Two schools of thought on the issue. Both have their merits. Where do you fall?
Or is there?
Thing is, you'll find any number of -isms in the classic works of fiction. CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia are full of sexist and racist depictions. The Last Battle is the most appalling, but the attitudes are threaded throughout all the books.
But, y'know, it's ok, because CS Lewis is a product of his times. He couldn't help being a misogynistic, racist dude because everyone was a misogynistic, racist dude when he was writing books. So you can go ahead and ignore those bits of his books and just enjoy the stories he wrote.
But it's not ok because regardless of when it was written, we're reading it now and putting that language and those ideas and attitudes in our heads now. Racism is racism, misogyny is misogyny, and it's never acceptable. Studying the past is one thing, but reading from within that mindset is quite another.
Two schools of thought on the issue. Both have their merits. Where do you fall?