A Brief Thought on How Sci-Fi/Fantasy deal with Prejudice in Writing

By Link the Writer · Feb 10, 2018 · 844 · 2
  1. TW: Bigotry and Prejudice

    http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-cringe-worthy-way-sci-fi-fantasy-deal-with-prejudice/

    This gave me some thought. When attempting to address prejudice and bigotry...is creating a clearly non-human race to stand in for a human minority/creating a group of people with clearly dangerous natural powers really such a smart move for authors of sci-fi and fantasy? I don’t think so, simply because by making the alien/fantastical race stand in for a real-world minority, or giving them natural powers (like the mutants from X-Men), the message of “look, we’re all human! So stop with the bigotry!” is kind of...flawed?

    I mean, the basic definition of bigotry/prejudice is when you hate members of your own species (in our case, fellow human beings) just because they’re different from you in one way or anothe (i.e., race, sexual orientation, religion, etc.) To combat this, a story where humans oppress elves on a regular basis wouldn’t work because well... **the elves are clearly not humans**, which defeats the entire purpose of the message of “We’re all humans/elves/whatever species we call ourselves, so stop with the bigotry!” Sure, be nice to the elves, but I don’t think Legolas considers himself a human. If you asked him if he were a human or an elf, he’d say he was an elf.

    Now, if, say, Rivendell had a schism where one group of elves persecuted another over religious differences, that could work. Because, again, it’d be elves persecuting other fellow elves, treating them like they were subpar, inferior. The message of tolerance and compassion for your fellow kin would work.
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    TL;DR: A story where a fictional race is a stand-in for a real-world minority group is cringy and doesn’t work for two reasons:

    • Said fictional race is living alongside *actual humans*

    • The message isn’t “Don’t be a shitlord to your fellow man” like the writer intended. Rather it’s “Don’t be a shitlord to this fictional race.” This does nothing to combat any belief of real-world bigots because the problem is that they see OTHER FELLOW HUMANS as inferior.

    That was my two cents after reading this article. What are yours?

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  1. halisme


    Inspired by the same point, that being Bright. However, it tackles the idea of racial coding.

    Otherwise, I'd argue that the message of fantasy is not "Don’t be a shitlord to this fictional race", mostly due to the fact there should be enough coding that these people do serve as a stand-in. Doesn't take a genius to understand a metaphor. Even then, the message could be seen as "don't be a shitlord to those different to you".
    halisme, Feb 10, 2018
      Link the Writer likes this.
  2. Oscar Leigh
    I'd argue them being a fictional race works because they're obviously different. It highlights them as prejudice sees them, the scarier the better like an orc, and then forces you to see them as human-like, sapient and worthy of rights by showing you that side. Prejudiced people don't think they're prejudiced. They think they're justified. People who say, don't like gays as an example, see it as an immoral behaviour and comparing it to people with yellow eyes killing people with purple will obviously seeem much more objectionable because they have no sense of distaste or alienation from such traits. The notion of "you're not human but you're a developed race just like us" is an analogy for the fact that predjudice instrinsically seperates its victims. You have to start with something that makes sort of makes sense to be separated so you can tear down that separation. The greatest analogy for prejudice in sci-fi and fantasy is one that works with in humans as you suggest, but utilizes sci-fi to create a compelling difference that can be feared, the mutants in marvel comics have always been a great analogy for real civil rights issues.
    Oscar Leigh, Feb 10, 2018
      Link the Writer likes this.
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