Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Multiculturalism in SF

This essay talks about reasons for writing multicultural science fiction.  It's not bad.  But really?  If you need an article like this in the first place, it's probably not going to help much.  The really good futurists  have no trouble looking at a diverse world and envisioning a diverse future, or peeling off slivers that are something other than the currently fashionable powerbase.  Consider Firefly, for instance.  That's one of the most chromatically plausible futures I've seen, despite the fact that my crisis litany ends with "... and thank the gods we don't live in a universe scripted by Joss Whedon."
Tags: ethnic studies, networking, reading, science fiction, writing
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  • 18 comments
cat_sanctuary

OK, I read it...

cat_sanctuary

April 14 2012, 17:15:52 UTC 9 years ago

Now I have a quibble. I think Caitlin Matthews translated a poem that shows how medieval British audiences would have seen a Black princess. Briefly: Ragnell, yes; Guinevere, probably not.

So, if I'd been casting, would I have insisted on casting someone with pale skin (much admired in this period) as Guinevere? Of course not. That's what makeup is for!
ideealisme

Re: OK, I read it...

ideealisme

April 14 2012, 18:50:59 UTC 9 years ago

Also she makes a great deal about Ciaran Hinds coming from "the one island in Europe Rome could never conquer".

If she is referring to my wretched homeland, the Romans didn't conquer it because it had no strategic value and they couldn't be bothered. From the name they gave it - literally, "land of winter", sounds like they didn't fancy the weather either.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: OK, I read it...

ysabetwordsmith

April 14 2012, 21:43:33 UTC 9 years ago

I think if I were casting, my default would be "mixed" unless I had a specific reason not to -- like matching a particular historic culture. Then I'd look for people of that ethnic group or something like it, and I'd probably check to see what the mix at the time would have been, if known. But doing any single culture would make me want to do something different for the next piece.

It would be an interesting way to get to know most of the non-white actors fairly quickly -- there aren't enough roles written for characters of color, and many casters favor white folks for extras. So I suspect that any halfway-decent company that was consistently diverse about casting would be passed around rather fast.