A review by n_asyikin_
The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

An informative book that introduced frameworks for critical analyses of media contents. Even for an Asian reader like myself, I felt that Thomas provided a voice for my experience, especially relating to the pervasiveness & preference of the White Western's views in media. The consequences can be seen even in the South East Asian society where I came from. There are the integration of Western's frameworks & prejudices into our norms, disseminated through the spread & popularity of Western media, i.e., cultural & mental colonization. As such, we failed to account for the source of such views & norms, hence, perpetuating injustices originated from the powerful White Global Northerners (i.e., our former & current colonizers). Unfortunately, the lack of foresight led to failure in identifying how it effects & shapes the racialized, gendered, & abled inequality within our own community.

Thomas provided a great foundation for readers like me who've sensed but was unable to put into words, what has been missing from our experience with primarily Western media consumption. Importantly, she argued for the need to be aware of the undertones that exist in such media, the sociohistorical significance of its structure & its contribution in shaping real-life.

The Dark Fantastic has been an eye-opener.
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