OUAT Racebending Fictional French-Origin Characters is being "Politically Correct"

[weber_dubois22]

notesonascandal:

amethystlavenderphthaloblue:

fuckyeaharthuriana:

pumpkinmeloncholy:

djjarak:

Before I say a word, know that I’m not a racist. I simply think that changing the ethnicity of classic characters just to prove how not racist you are is a cheap thing for production companies to do. I mean, Lancelot was not an African. Not in one story or piece of art was he depicted as anything but an English born white man. Do you have any idea how rare Africans were in England in those days? Only just recently has the first skeletal remains of a black man been found and from the condition of them, he was most likely a slave and not treated very well. I know Lancelot isn’t real. Unlike Mulan, he really is from a fairy tale… but c’mon. I know I may sound like I’m taking this stuff too seriously, but why bother getting into a TV series if you’re not going to let yourself really get into it.

Isn’t it hilarious when you think about the fact that Lancelot didn’t exist? You know who else didn’t exist? Basically every character in this series! Do you know what else didn’t exist? Magic…magic totally didn’t exist. And people couldn’t turn into dragons. And there are no such things as wraiths. There’s a lot about this show that could be complaining about, but you’ve chosen to complain about the fact that Lancelot isn’t white. 

Dear self-proclaimed non-racist, if in a fantasy series, with magic and dragons and entire universes existing through portals in hats, you find it more unrealistic/unbelievable that Lancelot is played by a person of colour, what do you think that makes you? 

I don’t see as many complaints when history’s completely white-washed and characters who should be people of colour aren’t played by people of colour. I don’t see anyone complaining because Jesus is usually depicted by a blonde-haired blue-eyed white dude even though there was no way in hell he was white. Just because Lancelot’s always been depicted as someone white doesn’t mean it should stay that way, (especially when you consider the fact that people of colour are severely underrepresented in entertainment). The story of King Arthur is a legend that has been interpreted many different ways through many different lenses and in fact, there are a few black characters who do appear in the legends. There are even artistic depictions of at least one knight as a black man: 

[Art by Pavel Tatarnikov]

There might not have been very many Africans in England and Wales, but contrary to popular belief, black people didn’t suddenly appear on earth as downtrodden slaves. There were significant numbers of black Africans who went to Europe during the 15 century onward. Also, ever heard of Moors? They ruled parts of the Iberian Peninsula for 700 years (from 8th-15th centuries). North Africa was very prosperous and advanced in comparison to England during the middle ages. There are plenty of depictions and mentions of wealthy blacks in actual European history. There are also depictions of people of colour in popular stories (Shakespeare’s Othello for instance).

Simply because there was a skeleton of one black man found in England that indicates that he was likely poor, doesn’t mean every black person in England (during whatever time period you’re invoking to support your ill-formed ideas) was poor. There is historical evidence of wealthy people of colour from various time periods in England and even though European history tends to be depicted as completely white in general—it wasn’t. That sort of thinking doesn’t even make any sense when you consider that there were Africans in ancient Rome. It doesn’t make any sense when you consider that there was plenty of trade happening between European countries and African countries for centuries—honestly, these continents are not that far apart at all (Strait of Gibraltar).  

In addition, slavery as we think of it did not exist until the trans atlantic slave trade, and though there were systems of slavery in various parts of the world—including England, they weren’t race-based. 

Next time you launch a complaint like this, perhaps you should spend a little time actually googling for historical reference? I mean, not that it matters since as we’ve established, Lancelot didn’t exist and there are people who turn into wolves and dragons on this show. I’m sure your delicate sensibilities will be just fine. 

Thank you for this commentary. (And Palamedes, Safir and Segwarides were PoC in arthurian legends).

Bloop bloop bloop!

“Before I say a word, know that I am not racist…” and the like are ALWAYS the prelude to some racist shit. ALWAYS. 

There must be some handbook or script or something for this fuck shit cuz they all say the same shit all the time. 

Apparently this guy complained to Tumblr support, and they decided that his post “wasn’t malicious” so they’re going to delete all the reblogs. 

He also said essentially that he stands by what he said and that all he was saying was that “changing classic stories suit support political correctness should be considered unethical.” It really pisses me off that every time a black character is written/cast, it’s suddenly some unethical attempt at political correctness. Has it never occurred to people that sometimes black people are just good actors? Or that screenwriters, directors, etc enjoy changing aspects of the story (which is the case in pretty much every retelling of a story, when was the last time a movie or TV show stuck to all the original details?) Why does the mere existence of black people in entertainment automatically make it a political issue? Like, you can change any aspect of the plot and people will say “creative license” is a good enough reason, but make a character black and suddenly it’s part of some political agenda and there couldn’t possibly be any other reason for doing it.

Comments

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

I saw the version with the detailed response on my tumblr & immediately reblogged it. Bless the people that aren't blithering idiots about race. Even better - Once has given me a fairly easy cosplay character.

[jaeliyah.livejournal.com]

*sigh* People make me sad. Also, isn't Lancelot Hispanic in BBC's Merlin, which just started its fifth season? That's one story or piece of art.

[weber_dubois22]

The actor, Santiago Cabrera, is Chilean, so yeah, that's another non-white Lancelot actor for the books.

[chacusha]

I'm generally confused why people are so disturbed by seeing POC interpretations of European fairy tale/legend characters...

But I'm even MORE confused why people are complaining about POC characters in OUAT. From the very first episode, there have been people in fairy tale land in European garb that are Asian, black, etc. Sure, there haven't been any major, more visible characters played by minorities (well, hardly any) but the makers have already established FTL as a racially diverse place. So... why the shock? I DON'T GET IT.