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/lit/ - Literature

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4173892 No.4173892[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

On fanfiction (now hear me out) I've seen a lot of "characters of color" or "chromatic characters" tags.
Now, I don't think "racist" is the right word, but I can't help thinking it's weird drawing that much attention to something that has literally no effect on the story.

Thoughts?

Because it's really bothering me. Are there people who only read stories with black people in it? The black people in these stories aren't even "black people" y'know? Their behavior differs none from any other non-black character and without visual clues, people without the context would have no idea otherwise.

Is it kind of social justice thing? Because I think it's kind of not... that.

>> No.4175706

>>4173892
Self hating white teenage girls fresh out of highschool.

>> No.4175762

Gayle Wald is an interesting critic who offers the idea that race is PURELY performative. If a person has black skin but, as you say, acts the same as any white character, that person is white. If they self-identity as black, they are merely passing as black.

This issue is especially interesting with mixed-race characters.

America tends to follow the "one-drop" rule.
if you have even one drop of black blood, you are black.

As far as whether or not tagging the stories is "racist", I'd say so. In the same way that Tyler Perry only makes comedy for black people. It strives to be exclusive to black people.

If those tags are meant to draw a specific reader, that means it aims to exclude another (most likely white) reader.

>> No.4175831

>>4173892
>Why have black people in stuff if they don't act black?
I lolled

>> No.4175834

>>4175762
when will white people ever stop twisting everything into "hurr durr we are sooooo persecuted"? It's not about you, would you get over it.

>> No.4175843

>>4175831
It's more like, "why bother telling everybody somebody is black if he's a functioning member of society."

>> No.4175848

>>4175843
Because everyone still assumes that a character is white if their race isn't mentioned.
Breaking this cultural shinaniganry takes time.

>> No.4175850

>>4175848
Aren't we all humans, and all that jazz?
The only time I can really imagine it being directly pertinent to a story would be if it's actually about racism, or porn.

>> No.4175861

>>4175762

How can you 'act black' without resorting to racist stereotypes?

Do black characters have to mumble "muhfuggen bix nood" every other sentence to avoid being an uncle tom or something?

>> No.4175862

>>4175848

>Because everyone still assumes that a character is white if their race isn't mentioned

So what? And I'm pretty sure that that's the reader's responsibility and not the authors.

>> No.4175871
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4175871

>>4175862
but if the author wants to take the reader by the hand and point things out to him, that's his/her own choice.

>> No.4175942

>>4175762

Have you ever actually seen a Tyler Perry movie? Honest question

>> No.4175948

>>4173892
>Now, I don't think "racist" is the right word
It's just so stupid progressives can feel happy and shit.

Liberal stupidity at it's finest.

>> No.4175953
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4175953

>>4173892
>The black people in these stories aren't even "black people" y'know?
Yeah, it's stupid. If you're going to write a spook ACTUALLY write a spook. Those labels are just for black power dweebs and liberals with a hard on for racial contrition.

>> No.4175987

>>4175953
>>4175948

Samefag harder

>> No.4176431

>>4175953
COLEMAN SILK IS BLACK

>> No.4176469

Well, on this subject, I am black, and I have been thinking of writing sci-fi book later on. But I want the main character to be black, because I am black, and because I don't feel like there are really any black people in books unless it's some type of alleyway fight or "muh negro" type of situation. When I write as a white character I feel detached, I just can't mold the character around me. I also think it would be kind of interesting to make a situation where their is some type of maximum security alien jail filled with other aliens, and my character encounters possibly a white supremacist in the jail and they help each other escape and do all kinds of crazy shit, this is implying racism will e around in the "future." I don't know, I think adding other races adds volume, and a overwhelming amount of books have predominantly white characters. And again if I looked for a book with a black character which I can connect to, I would stumble upon some sort of hymnal with negro spirituals in it.

>> No.4176502

>>4173892

Bigoted is the term you're looking for. And yes, it is.

The entire notion of dividing people or characters by skin color (i.e. x is a person of color, y is not, z is, etc) is in and of itself a kind of bigotry, because part of the underlying logic (which is often expressed overtly anyways) is that there is some disconnect between persons of different color and persons of not-color. It suggests either that, in essence, that if you have one skin color and I have another that we are incapable of empathizing or "understanding" one another.

See: Juanot Diaz. Enormously racist, bigoted, sexist individual. Perfect example: someone who uses the idea of a "person of color" to create arbitrary divisions between people and then insist that they are incapable of understanding each other on any meaningful level without some sort of learning aid.

Of course, the whole concept is fucking absurd; people are capable of the same fears, feelings, and thoughts regardless of skin color and you don't need to take a seminar in order to understand your fellow man just because of a difference in melatonin.

It really serves no purpose other than giving people another means of tearing one another down or an excuse to be divisive and bigoted towards each other. Anyone who gives two fucks about being a halfway decent human being isn't going to divide people by the color of their skin and then demand that the arbitrary groupings are incapable of empathy. The idea's completely absurd.

>> No.4176542

>>4175942
yeah I've seen 2. a romcom and some slapstick thing.

>> No.4176546

>>4176469
oh yeah u big fuckin stud why dont u come on over here and fuck my tight asshole with your mr. studley
mhm black black stallion

>> No.4177014

>>4175942
Tyler Perry movies are shit. I can't believe anybody thinks that's funny, let alone black people.
Also, what I hate, is that when the main character is black, then EVERYBODY has to be black. What the fuck is that?

>> No.4177045

Wizard of earthsea is a fun example of this. There are very brief references in the text to the main character having dark skin- reddish I think. But the first publishers put a white dude on, and according to Le Guin most white readers seem to assume he's white. I know I did.

>> No.4177072

whats wrong with declaring skin colour of a character?

>> No.4177097

>>4176502
What do you think of - if you have read it - Jan's introduction in Childhood's end ?

>> No.4177101

>>4177072
Nothing, but a tag is a defining trait of the story. Like "deathfic" or "fuck or die" or something. What color a character is shouldn't be defining trait of a story

>> No.4177124

>>4173892
>fanfiction

You fucked up at the very start. Why would you even want to read this?

Second, who do you think is writing fanfiction to begin with? Some english teacher, or some self hating suburban white teenage girl/boy who feels the need to worship black dick?

OP you really found something stupid to complain about, good for you bud.

>> No.4177127

>>4177124
I try.