{"id":202,"date":"2014-11-10T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html"},"modified":"2015-02-26T23:04:55","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T05:04:55","slug":"in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html","title":{"rendered":"In today’s paper: “Why are fairy tales so white?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

That\u2019s the title of an article by Amina Luqman, in today\u2019s Trib but originally from the Washington Post<\/a>:\u00a0 \u201cWhy are fairy tales so white?\u201d asks the Trib article\u2019s headline, \u201cIn the land of make-believe, racial diversity is a fantasy,\u201d announces the headline at the Post.<\/p>\n

The author\u2019s complaint is that Harry Potter and a whole raft of characters in children\u2019s fantasy are white:\u00a0 namely, characters in Brave, How to Train Your Dragon, The Lord of the Rings, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and so on.\u00a0 Yes, Frozen was set in a vaguely-Nordic place, just as Brave was set in Scotland, but, she says,<\/p>\n

The beauty and ease of diversity in fantasy is that it requires no explanation. It\u2019s fantasy, after all. Just as you don\u2019t have to provide a metaphysical explanation for the existence of a talking snowman, neither would you need to explain why one sister in \u201cFrozen\u201d was Latina, the other white and their dead mother Asian. A fantasy world just is. The strength of the story is all that matters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is, of course, nonsense, and one of the commenters to the article, Brett at 11\/4 2:07 AM, says this pretty well:<\/p>\n

No, that\u2019s not true. Fantasy depends on the readers\/audience\u2019s willingness to suspend their disbelief in the fantastical elements, and that usually requires a degree of consistency and often some connection to how things \u201creally work\u201d (as in, \u201cpeople need food to live\u201d, \u201ctwo white parents will probably have white-looking biological children\u201d, and so forth). The farther you get away from that, the more you have to start explaining things \u2013 and every time you break that sense of consistency in the world, it\u2019s something else that you have to explain or your audience stops suspending disbelief and walks away.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0Most of the examples she cites are indeed set in specific historical and geographical contexts:\u00a0 England, an undefined Nordic region, Scotland, Scandinavia, and England.\u00a0 The exception, I suppose is that Middle Earth isn\u2019t identified as any specific part of the globe, and conceivably Hobbits could be of any skin-color.\u00a0 The same goes with any of the more purely fantasy middle-grade books my son reads \u2014 and if I think of it, I\u2019ll ask my son tonight whether the characters are identifiably \u201cwhite\u201d or \u201cblack,\u201d though in some cases, the answer is clearly \u201cneither,\u201d that they\u2019re some fantastical other race with magical powers, and our \u201cracial\u201d categories make no sense in the book.\u00a0 (I would further be surprised if the author indicates at any point the skin color of his characters.)\u00a0 But even here, one of his favorite series is the Inkspell series, where the main characters are European (in, I believe, a nondescript way \u2014 but the author is German, after all), and another is the Percy Jackson series, where the characters are all offspring of Greek gods (though in the movie, the satyr is cast as a black man).<\/p>\n

And in many cases, the race or skin color of the child is irrelevant and once you move past the point where books are illustrated, not even discernible unless you assume that an author is required to mention black skin color to establish their bona fides.<\/p>\n

The funny thing is that the movie-makers at Disney have made substantial efforts to de-white children\u2019s movies, with such offerings as Mulan and The Frog Prince and whatever that movie was with Princess Jasmine, and each time they\u2019re greeted with, \u201cthat\u2019s great, but you still don\u2019t have a movie with a [missing nationality] heroine.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more:\u00a0 go into any children\u2019s section at the library.\u00a0 Loads of picture books about African or Asian folktales, or stories about heroic slaves or the Civil Rights Movement or Japanese children interned in World War II, and, when it comes to ordinary stories, the bulk of them are now drawn with anthropomorphic animals rather than humans, in order to entirely sidestep the issue of what color the children are.<\/p>\n

But look a little further:\u00a0 I do have the impression, at least, from browsing while my kids are selecting their books, that kids with \u201cordinary\u201d experiences are generally white, and that, in books with nonwhite children, they are typically confronting some great social evil, such as racism.\u00a0 Sure, there are some classic books such as The Snowy Day, but I wonder if there\u2019s almost a Code, that says that a book about a black kid has to incorporate Black Culture, in some way, or racism, or the like, or it\u2019s not sufficiently, authentically Black.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

And in the end, she describes her son\u2019s initial rejection of the idea of dressing up as Harry Potter, and his later acceptance only when the author and her husband told him that \u201cHarry Potter is a made-up character, and he could be any color.\u201d\u00a0 Why she didn\u2019t just say, \u201cIn the story, Harry Potter was born to two English, non-immigrant parents, so he was white, but so what; Halloween is about pretending\u201d I don\u2019t know \u2014 after all, my sons have dressed up as a lion and a frog and a pumpkin (yes, while a baby, so this doesn\u2019t count) without complaint.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s the title of an article by Amina Luqman, in today\u2019s Trib but originally from the Washington Post:\u00a0 \u201cWhy are fairy tales so white?\u201d asks the Trib article\u2019s headline, \u201cIn the land of make-believe, racial diversity is a fantasy,\u201d announces the headline at the Post. The author\u2019s complaint is that Harry Potter and a whole […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[152,153,146],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fairy-tales","tag-fiction","tag-pc"],"yoast_head":"\nIn today's paper: "Why are fairy tales so white?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That's the title of an article by Amina Luqman, in today's Trib but originally from the Washington Post:  "Why are fairy tales so white?" asks the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In today's paper: "Why are fairy tales so white?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That's the title of an article by Amina Luqman, in today's Trib but originally from the Washington Post:  "Why are fairy tales so white?" asks the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-10T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-27T05:04:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html\",\"name\":\"In today's paper: \\\"Why are fairy tales so white?\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-10T15:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-27T05:04:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"That's the title of an article by Amina Luqman, in today's Trib but originally from the Washington Post:  \\\"Why are fairy tales so white?\\\" asks the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In today’s paper: “Why are fairy tales so white?”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In today's paper: \"Why are fairy tales so white?\"","description":"That's the title of an article by Amina Luqman, in today's Trib but originally from the Washington Post:  \"Why are fairy tales so white?\" asks the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In today's paper: \"Why are fairy tales so white?\"","og_description":"That's the title of an article by Amina Luqman, in today's Trib but originally from the Washington Post:  \"Why are fairy tales so white?\" asks the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2014-11-10T15:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-27T05:04:55+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html","name":"In today's paper: \"Why are fairy tales so white?\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-10T15:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-27T05:04:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"That's the title of an article by Amina Luqman, in today's Trib but originally from the Washington Post:  \"Why are fairy tales so white?\" asks the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/in-todays-paper-why-are-fairy-tales-so-white.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In today’s paper: “Why are fairy tales so white?”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}