Yeah that’s the enigma of it.
I was thinking recently that if you don’t have a black person in your game, it’s labelled as racist.
If you have them in, their position is hyper-analysed for any racial commentary. Oh, they’re a knight? Why aren’t they king?
And then the king turns out to be evil
Why are they working for the evil guy?
And you can’t have no black people on the side of the king otherwise it’s ultra racial commentary about whites against blacks
Maybe I’m alone here- but I’ve known actual people who were basically walking talking stereotypes- that if you put them in a work of fiction- a lot of folks would probably get mad. That said- there is some ambiguity to what is treated as pandering, or exclusion and why. But- traditionally, EVERY black character was portrayed a certain way. Certain roles and traits- and while narrative cliche isn’t a legal crime- one way to help avoid the pitfall is to do something different. But really, a large part of the issue comes from the fact that often there just isn’t any authenticity to the characterization. The person who made the green text for example- I don’t know that if entrust them to the task.
What I mean is- when a man writes a female character- he is writing a woman’s point of view- but from his own male perspective. When we do things like this, we are really showing what our perception of others internal minds or them is. It’s like doing an impression- and if you’ve never had someone impersonate you- impressions can be flattering, or insulting- it all depends. There isn’t a check list to follow in order to write diverse characters well. Even black writers get heat for their work with black characters. They’ll be criticized for this or that perception others have or how they feel the portrayal impacts their community or others perceptions of them.
But some of the biggest complains when an “other” writes for a group tend to include:
- tired and clinch stereotypes and rigid roles that are repeated through many works.
- a clear lack of understanding or familiarity with the group being written about, their motivations and personalities
- a lack of understanding of “meta” real world issues that group faces and the feeding of or playing off those issues through the caricature.
- a lack of care, showing that any research or sensitive was not done and that this character was thrown in as a “token” or to fit a specific racial agenda as opposed to their race and character being organic constructs.
The problem is perhaps less with the writing and more again- meta, with the reality. To write a compelling character you have to know and understand the character, who they are, where they come from. You must be familiar with a group- much like when Hollywood writes a film about some sub culture, be it racing or computer hacking or whatever hobby- the “internet geek” and so on- it clearly shows that these people do not know these cultures. They probably don’t actually know anyone who is part of them; and if they DO... what you see on screen is what they think of those people. Who they think they are.
Well... longer post above so I’ll skip the complexities of the subject- but make a “female ghost busters” or make “Captain Marvel” or a Black Tony Stark and see the folks on the other side of the coin lose their shit because you are “pandering” or this or that. So it isn’t just those pushing for inclusion who cause these problems. America is overwhelmingly asking for representation- respectful, thoughtful, positive representation that isn’t the same handful of “roles” and “stereotypes” we’ve seen for decades plus. Yes- people really DO act and looks and talk like many of these stereotypes. But we’ve seen those characters. We want to see all the OTHER types of people of various groups get a chance to be shown.
I was thinking recently that if you don’t have a black person in your game, it’s labelled as racist.
If you have them in, their position is hyper-analysed for any racial commentary. Oh, they’re a knight? Why aren’t they king?
And then the king turns out to be evil
Why are they working for the evil guy?
And you can’t have no black people on the side of the king otherwise it’s ultra racial commentary about whites against blacks
- tired and clinch stereotypes and rigid roles that are repeated through many works.
- a clear lack of understanding or familiarity with the group being written about, their motivations and personalities
- a lack of understanding of “meta” real world issues that group faces and the feeding of or playing off those issues through the caricature.
- a lack of care, showing that any research or sensitive was not done and that this character was thrown in as a “token” or to fit a specific racial agenda as opposed to their race and character being organic constructs.