Stereotyping

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 84906

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> >
> 
> Kneasy, I don't know about any of the other authors Laura mentioned,
> but a quick search of Google groups will show you that charges of
> racism and sexism are repeatedly being hurled at Tolkien for making
> Orcs innately evil and Dwarves (except Gimli) a little too interested
> in gold and jewels while Elves are (ostensibly) innately good. JKR is
> far from the only author who is subjected to this sort of criticism
> (in the ordinary sense of the word).


Kneasy:
OK, I admit that is happening on other sites, (motto - if I've told you
once, I've told you a million times, don't exaggerate) *but* I would 
expect that those who sniff out fashionable heresies would realise
that LotR is not all that modern. True, it was first published in the fifties,
but its genesis goes back to the thirties. Back then the term 'sexism' 
hadn't been thought of and stereotypes were generally accepted as a 
sort of convenient short-hand in popular fiction. 

As an aside, I  like his dwarves - staunch, brave, outspoken, violent,
just like a good prop-forward, but his elves make me cringe. Such
compassion and goodness needs to be severely punished IMO. 

Similarly, so do the *new* stereotypes so often found in current fiction.
To me, they are such 'right on', politically approved and immaculate 
reflections of the image many proslytising activists seem to want to 
promote that I wonder if a new and insidious form of censorship is 
being  imposed in the name of balance.

I wonder,  what would  the chattering classes say if books like Lord of
the Flies, Heart of Darkness, Great Expectations, etc. etc. were  to be 
published now. Lots of comments about lack of well-fleshed out
female characters? No strong positive female roles in Dickens latest
epic? Unacceptable because all the female  leads have negative
characteristics? 

You  may  think I'm  exaggerating again, but I have a niggling
memory that reminds me that 'bowdlerised' is a term with a long
history. Take the story lines you like and remove the unacceptable.
Bowdler did it with sex; is it now the turn of sexism? Certainly this
is starting to happen in film and TV adaptations of some older works. 
It worries me. 


> 
> In JKR's case, it's self-evident that she's opposed to racism and
> discrimination against people who are different in any way (with the
> possible exception of the giants, who do seem rather subhuman--Hagrid
> and Madame Maxime as half-giants not included). I for one think her
> politics are a little too transparent and that the House Elf business
> comes a bit too close to allegory (it seems too closely patterned on
> American pre-Civil War slavery just as Voldemort is patterned in part
> on Hitler, by JKR's own admission). In any case, we can refute the
> charges of stereotyping simply by looking at the House Elves. Dobby,
> Winky, and Kreacher may all speak like variations of Gollum, but they
> have distinctly different personalities. In fact, the only two
> characters who seem to me to be stereotyped are Crabbe and Goyle, who
> are virtually indistinguishable except for their heights and haircuts,
> and I confess that it would be hard to avoid stereotyping in their
> case. They're intended as "flat," "static" characters in any case, to
> borrow E.M. Forster's terms. Their sole purpose is to bolster Draco in
> his role as bully without having any real identity themselves.
> 

Hmm. I wonder if I'm reading you correctly. Or vice versa.
My original complaint was not with any supposed stereotypes perpetrated
by  JKR, (I made more or less the same point about the three elves), but
with the stereotypes that some of the posters want to impose on JKR in
order to make her  tale *better*. This I would consider a heinous crime.
It's her story, she'll write it her way and if you (the fans) don't like it, tough.
Accept it for what it is and if you think you can do better, go right ahead.
Complaints about the fate of imaginary beings, gender balance or poor
role models seem pointless, especially as the tale has some way to go
before the loose ends are tied and all is revealed.

It all  hinges on personal attitudes. I refuse to allow anyone to determine
what I think and what I should believe. Maybe I'm a freak, an anachronism.
But the current trend in society of imposed mental hygiene -  think this 
or you are to be shunned or castigated - makes me take a contrary view 
just to be bloody-minded.


> I hope this helps to cheer you up. That was my intention, anyway.
 
Thanks for the thought, but a couple of beers would be better.

Kneasy