Because I've had a number of people ask about and for beta-reading in the last four months (I put my name down for a beta-reading program at ff.net - yes, I know), and I think I should set some things straight:
( betas )
( betas )
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September 24th, 2008
Is Allison Blake 'coded white'?
I mean, she's educated, intelligent, professional, business-stylish, savvy, and doesn't speak like she just sprang from "da hood" (I hope that's not an offensive way of phrasing it).
While the above list of traits are certainly not exclusively white, if you're not white, educated white people take you more seriously when you behave like an educated white person. That's not just an idea put forward in someone else's meta, BTW, that's my own experience, too.
I'm not saying that Allison Blake is a bad character; I enjoy Salli Richardson's portrayal of her and YAY for a main CoC who's a woman with a scientific background and permitted to show her experience in leadership in the show. But the character of Allison Blake could just as easily be played by a white woman without changing one iota of her dialogue or apparent cultural/racial experience.
I guess that prompts the question on the flip side; does a character/person of obvious non-white descent need to have some kind of connection to the diaspora of her descent in order to be 'a valid portrayal' of her racial type? (In particular, I'd like to know how people of non-white descent feel about this.)
*sigh* And now I have a headache from trying to phrase this post as inoffensively as possible. If I've failed on the inoffensive front, I apologise. I'd appreciate it if you would provide me with a notification of the offence, a brief explanation, and an alternative means of explaining the concepts.
ETA: I now consider this topic an example of how good people can say stupid things and be called on it, and how pervasive our perceptions of colour and the depiction of them can be - even to POC.
I mean, she's educated, intelligent, professional, business-stylish, savvy, and doesn't speak like she just sprang from "da hood" (I hope that's not an offensive way of phrasing it).
While the above list of traits are certainly not exclusively white, if you're not white, educated white people take you more seriously when you behave like an educated white person. That's not just an idea put forward in someone else's meta, BTW, that's my own experience, too.
I'm not saying that Allison Blake is a bad character; I enjoy Salli Richardson's portrayal of her and YAY for a main CoC who's a woman with a scientific background and permitted to show her experience in leadership in the show. But the character of Allison Blake could just as easily be played by a white woman without changing one iota of her dialogue or apparent cultural/racial experience.
I guess that prompts the question on the flip side; does a character/person of obvious non-white descent need to have some kind of connection to the diaspora of her descent in order to be 'a valid portrayal' of her racial type? (In particular, I'd like to know how people of non-white descent feel about this.)
*sigh* And now I have a headache from trying to phrase this post as inoffensively as possible. If I've failed on the inoffensive front, I apologise. I'd appreciate it if you would provide me with a notification of the offence, a brief explanation, and an alternative means of explaining the concepts.
ETA: I now consider this topic an example of how good people can say stupid things and be called on it, and how pervasive our perceptions of colour and the depiction of them can be - even to POC.
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