I did the breakdown of my stories to address how my writing stats come out within the larger context of how race/gender are presented and used in fiction and visual media. I agree with you that the source material we write fanfic for is widely varied and not all COCs/POCs = minorities within their shows or movies or books.
But as a response to the equation of white = mainstream in both media and fandom, I was looking at a bigger question. I really didn't care if I was writing enough minority characters who actually think of themselves as minorities. What I cared about was, "How many minorities appear in my writing at all?" and how does that reflect on the context of me being a person of color writing in America in the year 2007? And so, yes, conflating characters and actors into one category "of color" was necessary to that analysis, because outside of their particular fictional universes -- in the real world -- there are other assumptions and preferences and reactions at play
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Hi, over via a link from Hesychasm. Interesting thoughts and questions. I tend to look at the stats as a way of fostering reflection and acting as data points rather than being an end point…like, I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to answer the meme or even to frame it, but it made a good way for me to glance over my own stories and say, "Hmm. Am I comfortable writing characters of color? Am I comfortable writing characters played by actors of color only if they’re removed from a present-day context or made alien?"
aha! thanks for the link. i read it a while ago and only hazily remembered it. i hope witchqueen won't be offended. i certainly wasn't terribly bothered by her post, and i read it with great interest!
i totally agree with you. i wasn't taking issue with the whole idea of the census, but merely with the categories. for me, something more specific would be better and perhaps more interesting. some people undoubtedly don't need that extra specificity.
I saw some of the memes taking in account older characters and characters with disabilities. I also saw the counting of women.
I do think that for a large part, the actor's race matters. For example, in Stargate, both Teyla and Teal'c are aliens and their cultures are not (to my knowledge) presented as having divides based on skin color. However, I do think that they get written less in fandom because they are POC.
I do think that some shows are going to be more bias toward white men because that's all they have on the show. However, I think it's a great thing to bring to the average fan's attention who probably doesn't actively realize this. *cough*Supernatural*cough*
So, I think there are different ways of looking at this.
There's the "is this character experiencing life as a member of an oppressed class?" and then there's the "is how we-the-fans relate to this character affected by the actor's membership in an oppressed class?" A character can be No on 1 and Yes on 2 -- so the character, in the world of the story, is not affected by race the same way House's Foreman is, but we-the-fans, in OUR world, where we are all impacted by racism, can easily relate to them differently. Does Teyla, in her world, think of herself as a member of an oppressed class? Probably not. Do we-real-people, to some extent, see her as "black"? Probably.
And I think that the former consideration is very important in characterization, but the latter is very important in thinking about us, about what-we-do, about how-we-see.
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But as a response to the equation of white = mainstream in both media and fandom, I was looking at a bigger question. I really didn't care if I was writing enough minority characters who actually think of themselves as minorities. What I cared about was, "How many minorities appear in my writing at all?" and how does that reflect on the context of me being a person of color writing in America in the year 2007? And so, yes, conflating characters and actors into one category "of color" was necessary to that analysis, because outside of their particular fictional universes -- in the real world -- there are other assumptions and preferences and reactions at play ( ... )
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http://hesychasm.livejournal.com/246894.html
Need to get lunch and study now. sigh.
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The essay you’re thinking of is witchqueen’s and is . By the way, she specifically disclaimed the idea that people should watch source material they don’t enjoy out of some sense of obligation. Also, if I am interpreting her correctly, she isn’t saying "search out fandoms with CoC" but look at what you are already and go from there. To quote ( ... )
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i totally agree with you. i wasn't taking issue with the whole idea of the census, but merely with the categories. for me, something more specific would be better and perhaps more interesting. some people undoubtedly don't need that extra specificity.
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I do think that for a large part, the actor's race matters. For example, in Stargate, both Teyla and Teal'c are aliens and their cultures are not (to my knowledge) presented as having divides based on skin color. However, I do think that they get written less in fandom because they are POC.
I do think that some shows are going to be more bias toward white men because that's all they have on the show. However, I think it's a great thing to bring to the average fan's attention who probably doesn't actively realize this. *cough*Supernatural*cough*
Reply
There's the "is this character experiencing life as a member of an oppressed class?" and then there's the "is how we-the-fans relate to this character affected by the actor's membership in an oppressed class?" A character can be No on 1 and Yes on 2 -- so the character, in the world of the story, is not affected by race the same way House's Foreman is, but we-the-fans, in OUR world, where we are all impacted by racism, can easily relate to them differently. Does Teyla, in her world, think of herself as a member of an oppressed class? Probably not. Do we-real-people, to some extent, see her as "black"? Probably.
And I think that the former consideration is very important in characterization, but the latter is very important in thinking about us, about what-we-do, about how-we-see.
Does that make sense?
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