White Characters Dominating Fantasy Worlds

Anyway, nobody seemed to be arguing that there were no minorities in fiction (thankfully). It's been "I feel as ifs" the whole time. "I feel as if there aren't enough." or "I feel as if there are too many white people."

It doesn't matter what you feel. It matters why.

 

Interesting. All you've heard is that the primary characters are female, and it's bad. But when the primary characters are male, as far as I can tell, that's not an issue for you.

You saw that definition of "self important", yes?

 

Because the women are so much more important than the men?

I thought you didn't care one way or the other.

 

Hey, I already totally said that the men could show up for a minute or two to fertilize stuff

 

No, the characters are flat, and are used as plot devices.

 

Because they're women? That tells you that they're flat?

 

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpE6xMoPRVI/VrQqJHNWORI/AAAAAAAAAEk/wFu26OdSN0U/s1600/StrawMan2.jpg

 

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpE6xMoPRVI/VrQqJHNWORI/AAAAAAAAAEk/wFu26OdSN0U/s1600/StrawMan2.jpg

 

This wasn't a really coherent argument even when you were able to get the picture to show up.

 

Your "argument" wasn't really coherent either. Guess that explains it. Like a bad game of telephone.

 

Erm. We don't need to use an example to discuss the nature of your question.

Let's just stick to this. You're clearly implying that women are being removed from fiction in the real world. Defend your assertion.

 

Yeah, I think you're just really uncomfortable with the argument.

There's a reason for the phrase "supporting character". Some characters are there to drive the plot. Some characters are there to support that character's plot. That's how it works.

Arthur supports Batman. Pepper Potts supports Iron Man. All those women support James Bond. Everybody supports Harry Potter.

Usually, men drive the plot and women (and other men) are supporting characters.

In Orphan Black, women drive the plot and men are supporting characters.

You seem far, far more uncomfortable with the second scenario than the first.

 

If I do so again, will you pay attention this time?

 

No, I find the proportions argument utterly inane, but you brought it up in the first place a page or two ago. Women (and racial minorities, though many of those are only in minorities in the Western world) have historically been sidelined (removed, if you will) from central roles in many genres. Especially fantasy, where you had a lot of female characters who were nothing more than love interests or prizes in the early days of the genre. A lot of racial minority characters were sidekicks at best, savage villains at worst. With that in mind, I see no problem with people wanting to see more characters of said groups, especially in positive roles.

 

No, not really. It just really sounds like a shitty show lol. Boring. But that's just from the way you described it, which might have something to do with it. Never watched it.

Anyway, I like stories with female protagonists / leads, so I don't get what your point is.

 

Political correctness and art should not mix. But it seems this is the trend today. If there are no non-white characters in my novel, this is probably due to the fact I'm white and from Europe, and a place where there are not many non-white people around, but even more because there is no need for in the story. But, if for example, one is writing about a far away southern land in his fantasy novel, it would be pretty realistic for characters to be black. Inserting characters with different racial background with no apparent rationale for it in the story seems ludicrous.

I think that the domination of white characters in fantasy worlds is connected to the fact most of these are based on medieval Europe. I'm sure that Chinese fantasy world inspired by, say, ancient China, would be dominated by Chinese characters.

 

It's interesting that you got that impression when, really, the only thing that I described was the fact that it's mostly about women.

Or maybe you don't believe in the phenomenon of supporting characters? Would you argue that every character, from Batman to the bus driver, should be equally important? So the problem with Orphan Black is that it has supporting characters?

But then you would dislike pretty much all fiction, so I don't think that's it.

 

I'm the wrong person to get an attitude with, dude. I just got here.

 

No, just the way you described it was pretty terrible. Pornos have more interesting character arcs than that. Pizza delivery guy gets an unexpected tip; office lady wins over her true love.

 

Yeah, I didn't actually describe any character arcs at all. But do try again.

 

Right. Exactly. Lame.

Stories need character arcs.

 

You're getting desperate. It may be time for you to let this one go.

 

Not at all. I'm still waiting for my answers. Looks like I'll have to check back in at a later date when somebody comes up with a reason that isn't "I feel like there's too many white people."

I'd be saying the same thing on a Japanese forum if there was a thread about too many Asians in Japanese literature, and they were complaining about not "enough" white people.

 

Why? What you conjure up for yourself clearly dominates your attention to a far greater degree than anything that anyone else tells you. Why waste time reading posts when you can just tell yourself what we said without any risk whatsoever of being influenced by our actual words?

 

Nobody is complaining about "too many white people".

Are you able to allow yourself to see the distinction between "too many white people" and "too few nonwhite people?" Will your internal censor allow that understanding to form?