(no subject)

[beccaelizabeth]

I started reading a thing about how fantasy needs to face up to its racism
and I was nodding some
but then it said all Tolkien's heroes were white.

Hobbits are nut brown.
I thought I remembered reading.
But then going looking for sources on that found ever so many comment thread arguments on the theme of He Meant Sun Tans, but, that is silly, have you see a chestnut?
What it didnt do is get me a specific place to look up and check if I'm remembering a book or an internet argument.

So now I am entirely distracted and tempted to go reread... many long book.



Fantasy has had a racism problem. But there's more than one setting even for D&D so you can't just say what orcs are in fantasy. Trying to makes a really shallow splash of a newsish bit.

And it talks about Tolkien and Conan and imitators as if that's it? I mean, half a century slow or what?

It also highlights replacing Race in DnD with Ancestry and Culture.
But there's more than one gaming system already. I mean they're right, it's an improvement, but it's not universal in the genre in the first place.


Titles shouldnt say 'fantasy fiction and role playing games' when they mean specific interpretations of Tolkien and one setting of the world's oldest rpg.

I mean
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tabletop_role-playing_games
do they all have the same race mechanics?
pretty sure no.




So. Topic racism in fantasy fiction and rpgs is a potentially good topic
but it takes more close reading of a wider range of texts to even start.

Comments

[jesuswasbatman]

I am completely unimpressed by "hobbits are PoC" arguments because of how often "nut brown" is used in British writing of Tolkien's time and earlier to clearly refer, in context, to tanned or darker-complexioned white people. Do a search on "nut brown maid" or "nut brown lass", for example. And Frodo is explicitly described as having a fairer complexion than Sam, with implications that this is because he is middle-class whereas Sam is a labourer who spends more time outdoors.

[beccaelizabeth]

I did search and there are a Lot so that is valid.

And I can see the class based reasons.

Context matters.



But it's much more interesting the other way.

No help with the racism if it wasn't intended, just more interesting to run with now.

[crabby_lioness]

Unfortunately, there's a lot of prejudice against even trying to address the topic. RWBY has tried to address racism in a fantasy setting, and they got jumped on hard for even attempting it. The charge was made that "White folks shouldn't write about racism!", in spite of the fact that the show's three creators were Asian, Latino, and White. Thankfully, all they've done is expand the writer's room. They still have the same deep characters, intricate plots, Broadway-worthy music, and the best animated fight scenes ever made.