CoC in demand
So, I started thinking about just how many CoCs are underrepresented in fandom, sometimes vastly so (*cough* Gus on Psych * cough*), and it became rather depressing - and then I started wondering about the ones that aren't underrepresented, and why that is.
At which point thelana made a very interesting post about that, among other things. Her example of ( Read more... )
At which point thelana made a very interesting post about that, among other things. Her example of ( Read more... )
I'm not involved in some (all right, most) of the fandoms you discuss here, but your discussion is very interesting, and sort of makes me want to do a similar analysis on my own fandoms.
I wonder if a comprehensive comparison to white characters in the same fandoms would yield anything -- that is, looking at the similarities between underrepresented white characters and underrepresented CoCs, and by comparison well-represented white characters and CoCs.
I've not done a study myself, but my sneaking suspicion is the problem is as much in the creation of canon texts as it is in the ways fandom respond to those texts, if not more so. That is, people tend not to write CoC very well in some cases, the same way mainstream texts often don't write queer characters or even just women very well -- so often non-white and/or non-straight characters are two-dimensional "token diversity" characters and women are often characterized by how they relate to the male characters as opposed to being rounded characters in themselves (i.e., the girlfriend, the wife, or the mother of Character X). In all of these cases, the characters are developed SO poorly there's next to nothing for a fan to sink his/her teeth into.
I acknowledge, we as fans are VERY good at grasping at straws, but if a character has nothing interesting about them in the first place except for the fact that they happen to be a CoC/queer/female, what really recommends them?
So, as I said, I think the failure of diversity in fandom may be as much a fault of canon texts as it is of fans. Does that make any sense?
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Oh, absolutely. That was why I wanted to look at positive examples rather than negative ones - because I've seen so many posts of "why doesn't anyone write X?" filling up with comments about how X is poorly written, or not angsty enough, or not shippable enough, or whatever. So I wanted to see what made people like and/or write a CoC.
I acknowledge, we as fans are VERY good at grasping at straws, but if a character has nothing interesting about them in the first place except for the fact that they happen to be a CoC/queer/female, what really recommends them?
I think this is one reason CoC characters (and queer/female characters too) need to be lauded individually as well as a group. I mean, it's good and necessary to point out a lack of representation, but it shouldn't be the only reason to write a char. So it should also be pointed out that the specific character is awesome, badass, clever, funny, gorgeous, or whatever.
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Despite the many and varied flaws of Torchwood (don't get me wrong, I love Torchwood), that's something I really respect about the show: how it brings a variety of marginalized groups to the fore, even more so than Doctor Who. And also ones you might not necessarily think about, too. The fact that the show takes place in Wales at all demonstrates a certain amount of bravery on the part of Russell T. Davies. Ianto and Gwen aren't just Welsh buffoons, and Tosh isn't just a stereotypical "Asian computer whiz," and with the possible exception of Jack, none of them is defined particularly strongly by their sexual orientation.
But on another note: I think part of the issue for writers is the problem of writing something you're NOT -- it's pretty natural to default to your comfort zone in writing (i.e., your race, your gender, your social class), but more so than that, it can get dangerous to step outside your comfort zone.
I was recently reading a book by a British woman, one of whose main characters was an American woman , and I spent a good portion of the book thinking, "no, that's wrong...that's wrong...that's wrong..." whenever she wrote from the American character's POV, because she got North American slang wrong and her patterns of speech were off (for the record, I'm Canadian). Moreover, I was really annoyed by how broadly the author drew the character -- she was such a stereotypical liberal-left child of a hippy and there was NO subtlety to her at all. And in that particular situation, there is very little political about it besides simply, "you got it wrong" because there isn't a power relationship (American middle class white women and British middle class white women coming from a similar position of privilege).
Reading it did make me wonder to a certain extent, especially because I think white (generally male, straight) writers are between a rock and a hard place: if they don't represent marginalized groups, they're prejudiced, and if they do represent them but rely on cultural archetypes they're prejudiced, and if they don't rely on cultural archetypes then people accuse them of just painting a white straight character a different colour and/or orientation (and thereby misrepresenting the marginalized group, anyway), and if they're incidental characters then they're not representing the group well enough, and if they're major characters then they're being arrogant by thinking they can speak on behalf of said marginalized group. Especially at a time like now when that sort of unconscious prejudice is SO prevalent (it's the kind we really haven't acknowledged as a culture yet), trying to write someone else's voice can be creative suicide.
(I should probably note at this point that I do graduate work on race theory as applied to literature)
So then -- well, I think probably the problem is bigger than, "fans don't like enough CoCs" or "writers don't write enough CoCs," and becomes, "PoC don't write enough TV Shows." I mean, I remember looking at some of the protests during the writers' strike, and almost ALL the writers were 35 year old white guys. What kind of representation is that? People have been forced to read/watch the white straight male POV for hundreds of years, to the point where we've all learned to look through those eyes simply because we have to and now we're used to it. And instead, I think there needs to be way more perspectives in the mainstream.
And while I'm thinking about it, I'd also like a pony. *sigh*
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Oh, absolutely. But a very smart man (Dag Hammarsköld) once said that whatever you do, someone will condemn you for it. So the way I see it, it's better to do one's very best than to let it slide with the excuse that "even if I did do something, someone would complain."
"PoC don't write enough TV Shows."
Ayup. And I think one of the ways white people can help is by sometimes stepping down so that the PoC can get what should have been theirs a long time ago. But I also think that since white people do have the power over, among other things, TV shows, it's better not to say "Oh, I can't write a CoC, I'll leave that to the PoC." Besides, maybe the PoC writer who does come through really wants to make a show about Marie Antoinette, y'know?
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