And now, Unpopular Opinions
Maybe these things each deserve a post of their own, but the problem with that is I should have written down some of this stuff long ago, and haven't. Best to just get the thoughts out then to let them go unwritten, only to later crop up in conversation to annoy my friends.
It Doesn't Matter If You Call It Science Fiction
I've seen a number of complaints about things that are obviously science fiction not calling themselves science fiction, or even refusing to call themselves science fiction. Culprits have included Lost, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and everything Margaret Atwood does. And by complaints, I mean "people getting their panties up in a bunch on the Internet."
As a science fiction fan I suppose it's only natural to feel slighted when someone does this, as it seems like a rejection of the things you love, of the lifestyle you've embraced. But when you really get down to it, all we're really talking about is genre, a subjective categorization of ideas. Ideas don't have feelings; they don't care what they're called. The concepts are going to be the same regardless of whether you call Lost a character study or a mystery show or adventure drama or yes, science fiction. And if not calling something science fiction somehow gets more people to read that book or watch that program, fine. It's more important to me that they are exposed to the ideas than what those ideas are labelled as.
Race of Characters Does Matter
This one is pretty much because of the whole Heimdall controversy. Some people think he shouldn't be black, everyone else calls those people racists, the Internet gets tied up in conversations about white privilege. First off, objecting to the casting of Idris Elba doesn't automatically make you racist, why you're objecting is what makes you a racist. Plenty of people are objecting to the lack of accuracy to the source material, which unfortunately doesn't get them very far when the original myths also say Thor should have red hair and he clearly doesn't in the comics or movie. And I'm sure there's a whole laundry list of other things that are different, it's a losing battle to try and argue this one point. It's not really meant to be an accurate portrayal of Norse mythology; it's primarily a superhero movie.
But sometimes the race of characters does matter. Like it or not, your race impacts your upbringing, shaping your world view and how other people see you. The same is true of fictional characters as well. As much as I believe in colorblind casting, there are times when a character has to be a certain race because it will affect either a) what they know or b) how the other characters treat them. Like Indiana Jones has to be a white character, because of the historical and cultural milieu that he exists in. I actually think that race matters less in science fiction and fantasy since the author has more control over how the world developed, including their racial attitudes. The characters in both Star Wars and Star Trek could all be different races than they are (mostly white), since any kind of bigotry they do display has been switched to aliens (it's actually kind of dismaying). But when you're basing your story in anything resembling the real world, a little more consideration has to be taken.
And in case anyone was wondering, I did not appreciate the changing of the race of the characters in either The Last Airbender or Earthsea. Not only because of the disenfranchising of the non-white audience and actors, but also because those were two fantasy properties where race did kind of factor into the source material. I vaguely remember the book specifically pointing out how different Tenar and her people looked from Ged and everyone else. As for Avatar, the creators took a lot of care into designing each of the four nations and making them different from one another. And the live-action movie just threw that all away... along with all the other things that made the series great.
(It actually bothers me that the fact that the members of the Water Tribe had brown skin never factored in the show at all. I suppose people in other nations could have brown skin and thus no one would think anything of it when Katara and Sokka walked by in disguise; but then there's the episode where they pretend to be Aang's parents, and then it really stretches credibility... he looks nothing like them! Maybe the teachers just assumed he was adopted?)
(For that matter, it bugs me that kid shows will address sexism a lot more than racism. People worry about offending someone when they talk about race, but not so much with gender.)
It Doesn't Matter If You Call It Science Fiction
I've seen a number of complaints about things that are obviously science fiction not calling themselves science fiction, or even refusing to call themselves science fiction. Culprits have included Lost, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and everything Margaret Atwood does. And by complaints, I mean "people getting their panties up in a bunch on the Internet."
As a science fiction fan I suppose it's only natural to feel slighted when someone does this, as it seems like a rejection of the things you love, of the lifestyle you've embraced. But when you really get down to it, all we're really talking about is genre, a subjective categorization of ideas. Ideas don't have feelings; they don't care what they're called. The concepts are going to be the same regardless of whether you call Lost a character study or a mystery show or adventure drama or yes, science fiction. And if not calling something science fiction somehow gets more people to read that book or watch that program, fine. It's more important to me that they are exposed to the ideas than what those ideas are labelled as.
Race of Characters Does Matter
This one is pretty much because of the whole Heimdall controversy. Some people think he shouldn't be black, everyone else calls those people racists, the Internet gets tied up in conversations about white privilege. First off, objecting to the casting of Idris Elba doesn't automatically make you racist, why you're objecting is what makes you a racist. Plenty of people are objecting to the lack of accuracy to the source material, which unfortunately doesn't get them very far when the original myths also say Thor should have red hair and he clearly doesn't in the comics or movie. And I'm sure there's a whole laundry list of other things that are different, it's a losing battle to try and argue this one point. It's not really meant to be an accurate portrayal of Norse mythology; it's primarily a superhero movie.
But sometimes the race of characters does matter. Like it or not, your race impacts your upbringing, shaping your world view and how other people see you. The same is true of fictional characters as well. As much as I believe in colorblind casting, there are times when a character has to be a certain race because it will affect either a) what they know or b) how the other characters treat them. Like Indiana Jones has to be a white character, because of the historical and cultural milieu that he exists in. I actually think that race matters less in science fiction and fantasy since the author has more control over how the world developed, including their racial attitudes. The characters in both Star Wars and Star Trek could all be different races than they are (mostly white), since any kind of bigotry they do display has been switched to aliens (it's actually kind of dismaying). But when you're basing your story in anything resembling the real world, a little more consideration has to be taken.
And in case anyone was wondering, I did not appreciate the changing of the race of the characters in either The Last Airbender or Earthsea. Not only because of the disenfranchising of the non-white audience and actors, but also because those were two fantasy properties where race did kind of factor into the source material. I vaguely remember the book specifically pointing out how different Tenar and her people looked from Ged and everyone else. As for Avatar, the creators took a lot of care into designing each of the four nations and making them different from one another. And the live-action movie just threw that all away... along with all the other things that made the series great.
(It actually bothers me that the fact that the members of the Water Tribe had brown skin never factored in the show at all. I suppose people in other nations could have brown skin and thus no one would think anything of it when Katara and Sokka walked by in disguise; but then there's the episode where they pretend to be Aang's parents, and then it really stretches credibility... he looks nothing like them! Maybe the teachers just assumed he was adopted?)
(For that matter, it bugs me that kid shows will address sexism a lot more than racism. People worry about offending someone when they talk about race, but not so much with gender.)