OK, possibly taking my life in my hands here, and totally not commenting on Rusty, Torchwood, Doctor Who etc, because who needs the argument. Just a question or two or three so I can maybe join in the discussion at a later date:
(1) What is POC?
(2) Why is "POC in unrequited love with a white character" offensive?
(3) Um, why does the character being "female, ethnic AND Christian" mean she has to commit suicide? (I don't watch much television outside of LOM and Doctor Who - what am I missing here?)
ETA: Is it normal to specify what race characters should be?
2) Of itself, it isn't, necessarily...but when it's a MAJOR theme of your writing, then it starts to raise some questions. That theme has been rife in Torchwood/New Who: Mickey, Martha, and Tosh were all POC who had unrequited crushes on white characters that they were perceived as "less good than" (Mickey wasn't as good as the Doctor; Martha was "second best" to Rose, and Tosh wasn't as sexy and exciting as Diane).
3) RTD's stories are littered with the corpses of women and/or minority characters who nobly killed themselves because he couldn't think of a better way to resolve the plot. Also, Rusty has a tendency to make jabs at Christianity in his work; so I can't see him writing a Christian character with much or any real depth. Shorter answer: she wouldn't have to off herself every week in the hands of a more competent writer, but this being RTD
( ... )
Thanks for the education - OH is about to arrive home and the kids are cutting things down in the garden, so I'll have to come back to this later.
First thoughts, though: Mickey wasn't as exciting and adventurous as the Doctor, as indeed who could be. I don't remember it ever being implied that it was anything to do with his colour?
And I thought Naoko was Japanese? Or does "POC" include everything that's not White Anglo-Saxon, not just African origins? What about Mediterranean peoples, Inuit, whatever? (Sorry, not trying to be awkward, but when I googled POC this was not a definition which came up).
Re: Mickey - it's not that one single example that's offensive; it's the fact that the overall theme behind it keeps popping up in RTDs work. When someone writes several stories where a PoC is somehow "less than" a white character, then it kind of starts to form a pattern / send a message, you know?
You can only go, "oh, look, there's another PoC crushing on a white character who doesn't love them back" so many times before you start to wonder if maybe the writer is possibly harboring some subconscious ideas on the subject. And the fact that RTD has infected my favorite show / childhood hero with those unlovely ideas - among others - has really, really made him Not My Very Favorite Writer Ever. To say the least. :)
People of Color is usually the term used for people who identify as non-white or of non european background. It's a term that is mainly coined by those it refers to and not necessarily by any governmental/societal body (as far as I know, we did census here in the US recently and the world "people of color" is not used. as for how other countries recognize or refer to the races or ethnicities of their people I couldnt say)
First thoughts, though: Mickey wasn't as exciting and adventurous as the Doctor, as indeed who could be. I don't remember it ever being implied that it was anything to do with his colour? I think the conclusion people are afraid the audience will come to is "Mickey is less cool; Mickey is black; therefore being black is less cool". (Or alternatively "The Doctor isn't in love with Martha; therefore that's something wrong with Martha rather than something wrong with the Doctor; Martha is black; therefore being black is less cool
( ... )
I have seen casting calls many times before and race is usually mentioned either to specify the race or races the casting people will accept for the role or to make it clear that any race can have a crack at it. that's for the US though. I havent seen more than 1 for the UK.
(1) What is POC?
(2) Why is "POC in unrequited love with a white character" offensive?
(3) Um, why does the character being "female, ethnic AND Christian" mean she has to commit suicide? (I don't watch much television outside of LOM and Doctor Who - what am I missing here?)
ETA: Is it normal to specify what race characters should be?
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2) Of itself, it isn't, necessarily...but when it's a MAJOR theme of your writing, then it starts to raise some questions. That theme has been rife in Torchwood/New Who: Mickey, Martha, and Tosh were all POC who had unrequited crushes on white characters that they were perceived as "less good than" (Mickey wasn't as good as the Doctor; Martha was "second best" to Rose, and Tosh wasn't as sexy and exciting as Diane).
3) RTD's stories are littered with the corpses of women and/or minority characters who nobly killed themselves because he couldn't think of a better way to resolve the plot. Also, Rusty has a tendency to make jabs at Christianity in his work; so I can't see him writing a Christian character with much or any real depth. Shorter answer: she wouldn't have to off herself every week in the hands of a more competent writer, but this being RTD ( ... )
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First thoughts, though: Mickey wasn't as exciting and adventurous as the Doctor, as indeed who could be. I don't remember it ever being implied that it was anything to do with his colour?
And I thought Naoko was Japanese? Or does "POC" include everything that's not White Anglo-Saxon, not just African origins? What about Mediterranean peoples, Inuit, whatever? (Sorry, not trying to be awkward, but when I googled POC this was not a definition which came up).
Whoops, gotta go
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That's correct. Asian people, Native Americans, Latin@s, everything.
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Re: Mickey - it's not that one single example that's offensive; it's the fact that the overall theme behind it keeps popping up in RTDs work. When someone writes several stories where a PoC is somehow "less than" a white character, then it kind of starts to form a pattern / send a message, you know?
You can only go, "oh, look, there's another PoC crushing on a white character who doesn't love them back" so many times before you start to wonder if maybe the writer is possibly harboring some subconscious ideas on the subject. And the fact that RTD has infected my favorite show / childhood hero with those unlovely ideas - among others - has really, really made him Not My Very Favorite Writer Ever. To say the least. :)
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