A review by spacestationtrustfund
Fantasy's Othering Fetish by P. Djèlí Clark
2.0
Before reading this essay (which is really three essays compiled in one volume), I told one of my friends:
First essay
The first paragraph links to a Tumblr blog, an article hosted by the Daily Mail, and the results of a Google search. Not a great start. This essay goes on to provide a handful of examples of fantasy stories in which non-white actors were underrepresented, such as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film series or G.R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. Also mentioned are Pixar's Brave (which I'd argue is meant to be depicting Scottish people, to be fair) and Disney's Frozen (I won't defend this one; I hate Disney). Note that these are all from "white" Western countries... except New Zealand, which is hardly Western by geographical standards.
Then P. Djèlí Clark links to a Tumblr blog called MedievalPOC, which has been called out repeatedly for editing art to look like there are non-white people where there aren't. The blog's owner is a white woman who has in turn faked being Indigenous American, African-American, and half Mexican, if I remember correctly. The blog also perpetuates incorrect and harmful conspiracies such as the "broken noses" conspiracy, an Afrocentric idea that archaeologists purposefully damaged ancient Egyptian statues to "hide" Egyptians' African ethnicity. Needless to say, this did not happen. Citing this blog as a legitimate source made me incredibly uncomfortable with Djèlí Clark's credibility.
The essay then gives an overview of how fantasy fetishises and exoticises non-white characters, referencing Edward Said and noting that:
Second essay
"In modern fantasy, with its fascination with medieval Europe," Djèlí Clark says, "it seemed almost fated that acts of 'othering' would take root." What interested me about this particular claim is the casual assumption that all "modern" fantasy authors are based in the West. Indeed, the overall scope of these essays felt very limited—to be fair, they were published in 2015, and the landscape of "modern fantasy" has changed significantly in the intervening nearly seven years, but the lack of any real mention of non-white and/or non-Western fantasy authors seems egregious. So far, the examples given are mostly Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, a handful of mediaeval European literature (which I agree is horrendously offensive), and... Frank Miller's 300 (and its film adaptation). I'm not a big fan of Western fantasy myself, so I can't really comment much on the minutiae of those worlds, although I do completely agree with the positioning of Daenerys (from GoT) as a white saviour figure shouldering the White Man's (or Woman's) Burden. Thanks, Kipling, and go fuck yourself!
I also agree with his criticism of 300, a bad comic that got turned into a bad movie. I was only just reading a book which discussed how relatively contemporary ancient Greek depictions of the Persians portrayed them not only as "barbarians" but also as humans, capable and worthy of emotion in the same way the Greeks, their enemies, were—despite or even because of their differences. (I also find it amusing how we've decided retroactively that ancient Greeks were "white.") This last is only a minor detail, but I find it interesting that discrimination against those of African or African-American descent is racism but discrimination against Muslims and/or Arabs is xenophobia... interesting.
Third essay
This essay is by FAR the best, in my opinion. Djèlí Clark brings up Charles Saunders's Imaro series, and quotes Saunders: "I had a choice: I could either stop reading SF and fantasy, or try to do something about my dissatisfaction with it by writing my own stories and trying to get them published. I chose the latter course." I liked that, because my opinion is that positive action is always going to be more powerful than negative actions, i.e., supporting the stories you want to see is always going to be more powerful than tearing down the ones you don't. (Not that there's anything inherently wrong with complaining—I love complaining, personally.)
There's a wealth of fantasy—and all other genres, honestly—written by authors who are neither white nor Western. Supporting those authors and their writing is the solution to the "othering" and fetishisation of non-white non-Western characters and cultures.
I feel like I'm going to disagree with a lot of the phrasing in this, while agreeing for the most part with the overall thesis. I also predict a lot of it is going to feel like 21st-century Edward Said. But those are just guesses.Well, I was right on the money.
First essay
The first paragraph links to a Tumblr blog, an article hosted by the Daily Mail, and the results of a Google search. Not a great start. This essay goes on to provide a handful of examples of fantasy stories in which non-white actors were underrepresented, such as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film series or G.R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. Also mentioned are Pixar's Brave (which I'd argue is meant to be depicting Scottish people, to be fair) and Disney's Frozen (I won't defend this one; I hate Disney). Note that these are all from "white" Western countries... except New Zealand, which is hardly Western by geographical standards.
Then P. Djèlí Clark links to a Tumblr blog called MedievalPOC, which has been called out repeatedly for editing art to look like there are non-white people where there aren't. The blog's owner is a white woman who has in turn faked being Indigenous American, African-American, and half Mexican, if I remember correctly. The blog also perpetuates incorrect and harmful conspiracies such as the "broken noses" conspiracy, an Afrocentric idea that archaeologists purposefully damaged ancient Egyptian statues to "hide" Egyptians' African ethnicity. Needless to say, this did not happen. Citing this blog as a legitimate source made me incredibly uncomfortable with Djèlí Clark's credibility.
The essay then gives an overview of how fantasy fetishises and exoticises non-white characters, referencing Edward Said and noting that:
Said’s thesis has been argued and counter-argued for decades, with some criticizing his views of Western explorations of the East as overly simplistic....which is true; it was simplistic, because Said's intention was only ever to identify and label a phenomenon, not to provide a detailed treatise of every single racist perception of the fictionalised "East." (At this point I made a note: "this feels very American?") One detail that bothered me is Djèlí Clark's assertion that Said wrote about "the act of 'othering' of non-Western (more aptly put, non-white) peoples": I'd swap those, since Said's focus was more on the imagined "East" in contrast with the imagined "West," not necessarily based on skin colour (as evidenced in the variety of different countries, most of them decidedly not Eastern in geographical position, included in the definition of Said's "East").
Second essay
"In modern fantasy, with its fascination with medieval Europe," Djèlí Clark says, "it seemed almost fated that acts of 'othering' would take root." What interested me about this particular claim is the casual assumption that all "modern" fantasy authors are based in the West. Indeed, the overall scope of these essays felt very limited—to be fair, they were published in 2015, and the landscape of "modern fantasy" has changed significantly in the intervening nearly seven years, but the lack of any real mention of non-white and/or non-Western fantasy authors seems egregious. So far, the examples given are mostly Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, a handful of mediaeval European literature (which I agree is horrendously offensive), and... Frank Miller's 300 (and its film adaptation). I'm not a big fan of Western fantasy myself, so I can't really comment much on the minutiae of those worlds, although I do completely agree with the positioning of Daenerys (from GoT) as a white saviour figure shouldering the White Man's (or Woman's) Burden. Thanks, Kipling, and go fuck yourself!
I also agree with his criticism of 300, a bad comic that got turned into a bad movie. I was only just reading a book which discussed how relatively contemporary ancient Greek depictions of the Persians portrayed them not only as "barbarians" but also as humans, capable and worthy of emotion in the same way the Greeks, their enemies, were—despite or even because of their differences. (I also find it amusing how we've decided retroactively that ancient Greeks were "white.") This last is only a minor detail, but I find it interesting that discrimination against those of African or African-American descent is racism but discrimination against Muslims and/or Arabs is xenophobia... interesting.
Third essay
This essay is by FAR the best, in my opinion. Djèlí Clark brings up Charles Saunders's Imaro series, and quotes Saunders: "I had a choice: I could either stop reading SF and fantasy, or try to do something about my dissatisfaction with it by writing my own stories and trying to get them published. I chose the latter course." I liked that, because my opinion is that positive action is always going to be more powerful than negative actions, i.e., supporting the stories you want to see is always going to be more powerful than tearing down the ones you don't. (Not that there's anything inherently wrong with complaining—I love complaining, personally.)
This is about the part where someone asks, “So are you saying that Westerners and whites can’t or shouldn’t write about non-Western/non-white cultures or people in fantasy?” And the answer is one big eye rolling, of course not. Don’t be dense. Writers and creators should explore the full breadth of human diversity in fantasy, if simply to break the Eurocentric norm. Does this come with risks? Yes. You may go out and create more diversity in your fantasy with the best of intentions, and find yourself being criticized for such things as “othering.”(You had me right up until you mentioned David Anthony Durham.) "That all these writers are also persons of color certainly helps," Djèlí Clark continues, "but that shouldn’t limit anyone—of any background—from trying to do better. I do not subscribe to the school of thought that it is solely up to PoC to write diverse stories."
Making your fantasy world more diverse doesn’t have to mean adding in PoC and distant cultures as monstrous “baddies.” They don’t have to be noble savages, become hyper-sexualized or fulfill all your exotic fantasies. They don’t have to have white heroes or heroines give us a Marco Polo type travel narrative, or play the part of civilizer and savior. Writers like Saladin Ahmed, Cindy Pon and the aforementioned Joyce Chng show that non-Western worlds can be fantastic, magical and unique, without resorting to common exoticizing tropes. Others like David Anthony Durham and NK Jemisin have given us wholly new fantastic worlds rich in diversity.
In the meantime, there’s no escaping the “othering” fetish that permeates mainstream popular fantasy. All the new literary creations in the world aren’t going to make [the extant problems] go away–not any time soon. [...] All the rest of us can do is make certain to point out, address and deconstruct these troubling tropes when we see them. And strive to create countering visions.Overall I liked the third essay the best. I wasn't impressed with the source-citing (nor many of the sources themselves). The overall message was good, although I don't think anything was said in these essays that hasn't been said (no pun intended) before. I don't like the term "person of colour," and I don't use it, but that's a terminology issue, not a disagreement with the central thesis. If you have never heard of racism and fetishisation before, maybe these essays would be helpful, but they really did not tell me anything I didn't already know.
There's a wealth of fantasy—and all other genres, honestly—written by authors who are neither white nor Western. Supporting those authors and their writing is the solution to the "othering" and fetishisation of non-white non-Western characters and cultures.