Serious About Syria?

In today's age, people in this country assume the people from the Iraq/Iran/Syria area are all Muslim terrorists. There is a great controversy on if the United States should take in the refugees from Syria. These are people that are running from the backlash of violence after the fall of their government. These are people that are trying to protect their children and the future generations of their family. 

These are people

. 

Americans view the Syrian refugees as a threat to the security of our country, yet they don't seem to remember that this country was built by refugees running from religious prosecution. The group that America is truly afraid of are the radicals in Syria. Unfortunately, Americans cannot grasp that these radicals are the equivalent of the KKK in Christianity. Not every Syrian is a part of ISIS, contrary to most American beliefs.

 

The Syrian people could be easily compared to the Jewish people during the medieval era. No one wanted to welcome the Jewish people to their country in fear that they would over turn the government. That is one of the main concerns that many countries around the world today have about the refugees of Syria. First world citizens believed and still believe today that the people would steal their jobs and take the resources that citizens already need. The world sees the refugees as lazy potatoes looking for an easy hand out, when in reality, the refugees are going through hell and back trying to find a stable environment for themselves and their families. One heartbreaking quote I found while researching this topic was, "No one puts their children on a boat unless the water is safer than the land." Unfortunately many of the children make it to their destination still alive. The photo above is a tribute to a young boy who lost his life after his family's boat sunk. 

It is a wonder that the refugees ever get to a safe place. The world seems to have it out for the refugees even though these people have lost their loved ones and a place to call home. The people of the world today need to get serious about helping the people of Syria, as one day we, the people of the world, may need help in return. 

To Boob or Not to Boob?

We have all seen the supermodels toting the hashtag #Freethenipple on their social media accounts and gradually society is accepting our womanly bits more and more, but here is the real question… how much boob is too much boob and does the color of said boob matter? Game of Thrones is definitely not known for it’s conservatism regarding sexual conduct. Someone is whipping out something every few minutes and this sometimes proves to be the reason why so many viewers return to this show every season, they “stay for the heaping helpings of violent deaths and steamy sex scenes” (Source 1).

But the nudity (mostly women) seems to fall into a hierarchical system, there is the top of the sexual pyramid; Daenerys and Cersei, the middle area; peasants and the prostitutes in Baelish’s brothel, and then at the bottom are the Dothraki dancers who always seem to be sashaying around topless for some reason. All these women when naked are presented differently, the top is seen as regal and beautiful while the Dothraki women are shown as animalistic and slave-like. White women nudity is painted in a more positive light than colored women nudity and this comes from our society’s deep rooted racism. The Game of Thrones writers are only catering to what they think will attract and keep viewers, and sadly that is white nude ladies. Now do not take away from this that I do not approve of naked white women because that is not what I am trying to say at all, but rather that the nudity of certain colored women in Game of Thrones should not show favoritism over other women.

Personally I would not mind if the nudity was toned down a bit but that is something one can only wish. These issues will not stop me from watching and enjoying the show but lead me to hope that maybe one day we can live in a world where a hit TV show can appreciate a naked ethnic woman as much as a naked white woman. 

P.S. I was not even able to find a photo of the topless Dothraki dancers but rather hundreds of photos of Daenerys and Cersei. (Naked white favoritism) 

Source One: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/male-nudity-game-of-thrones-hodor_55ccd89fe4b0898c4886cd94

A Wicked Twist On the Lump Child

With diving into stories like The King Of Tars, race and religion are two distinctly important topics that are brought up. In The King of Tars, a formless child is born to a couple of different race and different religion. The mother is a white Christian, while the father is a colored Muslim. When this story was written, race and religion were so closely associated with each other that it was believed you had to be white in order to be a true Christian. Marrying someone of a different faith is sinful, and because of that sin, any resulting child could not be completely healthy or normal. Of course, today we know that this reasoning is complete nonsense, but people believed it was true for a long time. Since this crazy logic appears several times in medieval stories and texts, the sins of the family, along with mixed race and culture, bringing a curse on the child is also employed into modern day storytelling.

The story is a bit too close to fan fiction, but it does have great music!

The best example I could think of, other than Game of Thrones, is Stephen Schwartz’s musical Wicked, which is based off the book by Gregory Maguire. The story is basically a retelling of The Wizard of Oz; however, the protagonist is the Wicked Witch, named Elphaba, and it shows her descent into wickedness amongst other elements of her life. Elphaba, unknown to her but known to the audience, is born out of wedlock. Her mother committed adultery with a man from Kansas who arrived to Oz by balloon (three guesses who that is), and, as a result, Elphaba was born - with green skin and other abnormalities. Similar to The King of Tars, the parents of Elphaba are both from different cultures, her mother being native to Oz and the wizard being native to our world. Seeing that Elphaba’s mother is married, their union is also adulterous and considered sinful. Throughout the rest of her life, Elphaba causes commotion by simply being present. She is the only character in the story that can perform magic properly, she has crazy ideas about protecting animals, and, of course, everyone freaks out over her green skin tone. No matter what her good intentions are, everything she does backfires and makes her appear villainous. Elphaba carries the weight and the consequences of the sins committed by her mother and father. She is the definition of abnormal; therefore, she ends up isolating herself and losing everything.

Not exactly a lump child, but it does the trick. This story of mixed culture combined with sinful nature producing unnatural results is still used today, and in a smash hit musical for families no less. However, whatever progress we have made as a society definitely shows through. In Wicked, there is no battle of whose religion is the right one and no one’s skin tone changes based on the chosen religion. Ultimately, the wizard is seen as the fraud he is and goes to prison, and Elphaba’s mother dies after giving birth to another daughter. Neither one really wins in the end.

Why is the mixing of race and religion such a bad thing during the Medieval times?

   We saw our first form of mixing race and religion in the King of Tars when the white princess marries the Sultan, who is said to be a darker race. This marriage was of two different religions also. This happened to become an issue when the princess became pregnant and birthed a lump child. This was because she had not fully converted to the Sultan's religion because she did not want to so instead he converted to hers to try and fix their baby.

   Another time we see someone convert was in the Arabian Nights where the women converted to Muslim because that was her husband's religion and they end up having white children. In this story, there is no understanding of the Christian Faith which could have been one of the reasons it was easier to convert for the women in this story then for the princess in the King of Tars. 

  One of the biggest mixes of race and religion was in the Game of Thrones. You have Daenerys who is white and part of the House of Targaryen. Daenerys is given away by her brother to marry Kahl Drogo who is of darker skin color and is a part of the Dothraki. They end up getting married and Daenerys has supposedly converted to the Dothraki in ways, but she still holds on to a lot of her own race. She then becomes pregnant with Drogo's son who ends up dying when Daenerys has a lady perform black magic on him to keep him alive. After they burn Drogo, Daenerys goes into the  fire with the dragon eggs and does not burn up, but instead is found with the dragon's nursing off of her. She then takes both forms of the races and claims herself to be the mother of dragons. So why is interracial or religion marriages so bad? If people believed any of these stories of why mixing two different things together our culture would not be the way it has transformed into over the years.

White Feminism, Mass Media, and the Dothraki Language

Why do so many people honestly care about the Dothraki language? Of course, this question could have a simple answer.

"Obviously it's because the creators of The Game of Thrones spent so much time developing the language! How many shows can say they did that?!"

While this answer holds some merit, it still doesn't acknowledge the fact that there are numerous languages in TV shows, movies, video games, books, and even toys that have a completely fictional language. What about Klingon or Elvish? Krpytonese? Na'vi language? For the love of the Great Stallion, there's even a semi-developed language for Furbys. Why am I suppose to be amazed by this development of language? There are literally operas performed in Klingon. Tolkien created at least seven Elvish scripts: Tengwar of Rumil/Sarati, Gondolinic Runes, Valmaric, Andyogena, Qenyatic, Tengwar of Feanor, and The Cirth of Daeron. So this isn't something new to pop culture at all. Languages are created all the time for fictional universes. Why is Dothraki so damn popular?

Unfortunately, the Dothraki language, like the rest of the culture, was captured by the ever-prevalent white imperialistic feminism surrounding the show. Who was the first character to learn the language in the show?

It simply couldn't be.

Daenerys involvement in the language is why it's so popular among viewers. If she hadn't learned it or taken interest in it or pushed it aside, there wouldn't be a following. The Dothraki speaking the language wasn't enough for the giant frenzy accompanying the development of the language. Sure, Daenerys also speaks High Valyrian and the Common Tongue, but she didn't learn them from assimilating into a culture, and the progression of those languages wasn't followed as well. Daenerys uses the language with force and to primarily get what she wants from the Dothraki people instead of using it just to communicate with the people and to learn from the culture.

Okay, so maybe the feminist argument didn't convince you. How about the bizarre news hype about the language? Go Google "Dothraki language", click on the news, and look at all the news outlets that pops up: the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, The Guardian, Slate Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, CBS News, and NBC News. This is just to name a few. The media has gone nuts with the series, especially the language.

And absolutely everything published by the media is fact.

It's for a good reason. Most of these news outlets aren't related at all to each other like CBS News and NBC news. Some are related to HBO though, like Entertainment Weekly through Time Warner. EW would want HBO to succeed with the Game of Thrones and would do anything to make sure that the series expands and makes as much money as possible obviously. What about the other media outlets though? Wouldn't the riveting success of one company mean that the others would suffer? Well, they're all pretty comfortable with their assets, so if one succeeds, like Time Warner with Game of Thrones, all can succeed. All can report on the Dothraki language and how amazing it is and how it's becoming a trend to learn it. More people will read the articles because it references Game of Thrones, the catalyst for the media buzz. Every company earns profits because of Game of Thrones. Everyone prospers on the exploitation of a culture!

Khal Drogo the Barbarian

Mongol General: Conan, what is best in life?
Conan: Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

I will take my khalasar west to where the world ends, and ride the wooden horses across the black salt water as no khal has done before. I will kill the men in the iron suits and tear down their stone houses. I will rape their women, take their children as slaves, and bring their broken gods back to Vaes Dothrak to bow down beneath the Mother of Mountains. This I vow, I, Drogo son of Bharbo.

A Game of Thrones (pg 594)

Khal Drogo is a power fantasy wrapped up in a million “barbarian” clichés. I will never stop being disappointed that he doesn’t get to speak more or have more of a personality in A Game of Thrones before he dies in order to provoke Dany’s character growth, because like most other characters who play the “game,” he’s a complicated and morally ambiguous figure. Also, he’s a badass.

His physical appearance, which is most of what we get to know about him, mixes images of strength and virility with images of strangeness and foreignness. When Dany first meets him, he describes him as a head taller than the tallest men around him. He spends the entire show bare-chested to show off his muscles. What’s interesting is how Dany’s perception of his physical size shifts: at first, she is almost more afraid of Drogo than of Viserys (which is impressive), but over time her reaction shifts from “that’s scary” to “that’s sexy.” There’s an uncomfortable way in which his physical strength and his capacity for violence may be tied to his race, like the sultan in The King of Tars is implicitly compared to a huge black hound attacking the princess, but although Martin shows us Dany’s fear, he spends more time showing Khal Drogo as a more heroic figure.

The braid that Khal Drogo wears is perhaps the most perfect mix of strength and foreignness he has. The symbolism of the braid recalls a variety of different cultures, but isn’t particularly Western. During the rule of the Qing dynasty in China, all men were required to wear their hair in a long queue, or braided tail. The penalty for refusing was death, and it is sometimes said that if a man emigrated away from China, he could not return if he had cut his queue off. American Indian children who were forced to go to government-run boarding schools to be “acculturated” had their long hair forcibly cut. Certain religious traditions, including Sikh traditions, require their adherents to grow their hair naturally and not cut it. A man’s hair is also important to his masculinity in a variety of cultures, just as a woman’s hair is important to her femininity. Samson, a character in the Old Testament, famously lost his divine power when his hair was cut. More bizarrely, the Dothraki custom of taking another khal’s bells when you defeat him recalls the giant Arthur fought in HKB who wore a “fur clock [made] from the beards of the kings whom he had slain” (240).

Previously in this class, we’ve discussed the idea of giants as over-sexed, representing some sort of monstrous, uncontrollable sexuality. Unfortunately, Khal Drogo seems to resemble a giant in this respect, too. All the Dothraki men, in fact, are characterized by excessive sexuality. In some ways, Martin portrays this as an exaggerated stereotype: it’s not actually true, from what we see, that they sleep with their horses, and men in Westeros rape captured women as much as Dothraki men do. But the Dothraki are constantly having sex in public, including during Dany’s wedding; Khal Drogo has sex with Dany pretty much every time they’re in the same space; and a lot of their rhetoric blends violence together with sex, as when Dany’s child is described as the “stallion who mounts the world.” The portrayal of all this public sex, both in the book and the show, I argue, always has a tinge of the exotic and the barbaric. At worst, it’s used to portray the Dothraki as a dangerous and animalistic people, driven by their worst instincts and devoid of civilization or restraint. At best, it’s an excuse for Martin and the show writers to titillate the reader/viewer with more women’s breasts and more sex scenes. The fact that these people are darker-skinned apparently means you don’t even have to bother with giving some context for the sex or showing the woman’s face. This goes back to the idea of Drogo as a power fantasy. Partly, he's a fantasy just in that he gets to have a ton of sex. In addition, his strength and manliness are inherently intertwined with virility--there's some sort of evolutionarily-programmed feeling of, "this guy can kill people really well, if we had kids he'd be able to protect our kids really well." 

Is White actually right?

Is White actually right?

So throughout the course readings this semester, an overarching theme that keeps coming back around is that being white is better than anything else in the world. This notion is seen through the constant white washing of characters in book-to-tv adaptations, animation to live action adaptations and most importantly throughout the writings of the medieval time, such as King of Tars, where the sultan becomes White after converting to Christianity as well as the miraculous healing of the incomplete lump child, who takes after his mother and is the perfect, healthy, and whole white baby.

This set up of thinking leads you to believe that white is right and to be considered as good or worthy, you have to be white. Which, in case you were wondering, is a terrible mindset to have.

But the silver lining is that now there are examples of white being wrong…like outrageously wrong. One of my favorites takes the form of Viserys Targaryen, our beloved “true king.” I know there already are examples of this happening but somehow it is romanticized to be the right thing and somehow it makes you sympathize with said whiteness and then afterwards you feel…tainted because you were tricked into having the feels for the wrong person. Or maybe that’s just me…which is cool.

So Viserys is attempting to take back the Iron throne which was stolen from his family by the Usurper a.k.a Robert Baratheon. So he tries to buy an army by selling his younger sister, Danerys to the Khal of the Dothraki, Drogo. One, I have an issue with this because even if you some deep rooted hatred for her because she may have possibly killed your mother during her birth, doesn’t mean you sell her. But that is beside the point. The real issue is that Viserys was attempting to exploit a whole race of people just to get a crown and what is “rightfully” his. Which I will say is a valid reason for doing something but there are ways you go about it and trying to bend a whole peoples to your will and what you want is going to backfire, but fire can’t hurt the dragon, right?       

        

If Viserys would have gone about this in a different way, he probably would have lived a smidge longer than he did… but in his tragically beautiful ending, Dany steps up and takes his place and makes it better in her very white way. But can we blame her? Sadly no. The only person that was a constant in her life was big brother Viserys and his skewed view of the world, so it makes sense for her to make feeble attempts to free the slaves, the oppressed, and the women that were raped, only to keep them under her rule. She claims that they are now free people and yet she doesn’t give them the resources to properly be free. So she is subtly doing the exact same thing her brother was except she is nicer about it and makes you feel good because she is basically Moses with boobs…and everyone loved Moses except for the crazy oppressive Egyptians a.k.a. the slavers/Dothraki men…

Coming back to the question, is White actually right? I don’t think I can say. There are times when yes it is and no it isn’t. In the case of the Targaryen clan being right, you are not right…

Where to attack me

Why do we have to make women characters so inconveniently dressed for war? It seems now that in most articles or ads that we see, the women characters are in some way or fashion always covered except for their breast. Like how in the History of Kings of Britain, any of the female characters that would go out for battle always have their breast exposed kind of saying “here is my weak spot please attack me here, I will not die if you do.” Also in certain ads that they have up for Game of War, which is a game that you can play on your phone or tablet, where they have Kate Upton in the ad and she is the queen telling people to help build up the castle to protect the inside people from outside attacks. In doing so though she is dressed in armor that is covering everything besides her breasts.

Recently, Mariah Carrie has been in a current ad where she is full covered in armor and again her breast, like Kate Upton are not cover seemingly like she her breasts are made of armor and will not all off if cut or something haha. Anyways why do the writers not think that a simple sword there will not injure or kill the women characters when their breasts are not covered properly from head to toe. Mariah is also shown as white washed in the ad to show that she is on the “good” side rather than being dark and seen to be on the bad side of the game. Another reason I believe they white washed Mariah was to kinda keep the look of Kate Upton in a way when she had left and giving the role to Mariah who is a darker skin clomplexity then Kate was.

The Racial Thoughts of Medieval Europe

Race has always been a big problem of many conflicts. The segregation of Jews and Muslims were an important topic in medieval Europe. Christian had certain stereotypes given to the Muslims and the Jews. Jewish people were portrayed as filthy and vile. Jews were perceived to be uncontrollable, greedy, filthy, horrid heathens that went around terrorizing the English Christian's. Also they were portrayed to have a fascination for wealth. Jews were known to be merchants and to practice some sort of witch craft and known for their tricky ways of getting what they want from others. These points are prominent in our reading of the Hobbit comparing the dwarves to Jews. Anti- Islamic was also an important topic in medieval Europe. Muslims were seen as lustful, unwholesome, warlike people. They have a stereotype of hating everyone who is not a Muslim and being and being extreme. This example is found in the King of Tars when then Muslim king declared war on the Christians because they would not hand over the princess over. This is extreme because the king killed many of his own men and the Christian men, just so he could get what he wanted. You can also see in the King of Tars that Medieval Muslims are portrayed as being lustful. The Muslim king started a war just to get the Christian princess. Apparently during this time period nothing good could come from a Muslim. Even when the Muslim king and the Christian princess had a child, the child was born a lump, literally a lump of flesh and when the lump was baptized it turned into a beautiful pale baby boy. The medieval Jews and Medieval Muslims were depicted as considerable heinous and impure by the medieval Christians.  

Zara Robinson

Is it really that bad being Short?

Is it Really That Bad Being Short?

Dwarves in medieval fantasy literature and media have a variety of portrayals. Many can be related back to actual medieval races or stereotypes. For instance many dwarves, like those in Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, have been called a direct representation of the Jews. The comparison can be seen in direct references to the bible, the dwarves are forced to wonder after losing their home like ancient Hebrew people in the Old Testament, and in racial stereotypes of Jews. The stereotype that is most prevalent in The Hobbit is the desire for money, which is represented in the dwarves’ lust for gold. Some even develop a mental illness towards gold. The idea of dwarves being affected by illness is not uncommon in fantasy literature and media. In the video game, Dragon Age, Dwarves live underground in a place called the deep roads. At one point these dwarves controlled a mighty underground kingdom, much like the dwarves in Tolkien’s novel, but the kingdom became overrun with darkspawn, which are creatures that spread a dieses that is transferred by blood. This disease turns the victim into a horrible monster. Only two Dwarven cities survived this plague. So just like the dwarves in The Hobbit, the dwarves in Dragon Age also lose their homes. The relationship to living near, or being associated with a plague also fits a standard for a medieval Jewish stereotype. The Jewish slums in the middle ages where often dirty, and disease ridden. Also, when the Black Death came to Europe many people of the time blamed the Jews for this. While the dwarves in Dragon Age are not ever blamed for the outbreak they do live near it, and their cities are typically avoided by travelers.

                Dwarves are not always presented as Jewish in medieval literature and media. In the novel The Dwarves by Markus Heitz, Dwarves are presented as the protectors of Girdligard. They guard the gateway into Girdligard from all sorts of monsters. In this way these dwarves do not seem to represent Jews, but are more akin to a hero in medieval literature. This is interesting because it presents a race that is usually associated with Jews as heroes of a world where every other race respects and trusts them. In conclusion dwarves in medieval fantasy are presented in several different ways, but most of them represent a Medieval race or stereotype in one way or the other.

Heil Elrond!

Elves, at least the ones from high fantasy, display a very interesting mix of stereotypes. Excluding the commercial cookie making Keebler elves and the unpaid laborers that Santa employs, Elves are usually tall, pale and fair haired, as well as blue eyed. They are also almost always the oldest race in any world that they happen to be in, and usually hold this fact over the other races that they interact with. In Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Elves keep to themselves and find the other races tiresome. And, despite the fact that the two most powerful elves in middle Earth are of mixed decent, Elrond and Galadriel, there remains a huge stigma within the Elven community of mixing with or even entertaining the idea of interracial relationships. This emphasis on racial purity, along with their claims of ancient decent and their physical appearance, one could certainly make the connection with Fantastical Elves and the not so fantastic Nazis.

This comparison becomes even more accurate when we look at the elves from the video game Skyrim, especially the high Elves. In the game, the world is locked in a standstill, caught in the aftermath of a race war that threatened all of humanity, led by the High Elves, or Aldmeri Dominion. They see themselves as the superior race, and as such should hold dominion over all the other inferior races. Either that, or simply kill all those races seen as ‘beneath.’ In the game, your interactions and relations with the Aldmeri Dominion are colored by the race that you play as, either they like you because you chose to be a high elf, or they hate you because you are literally anything else.

This is, however, not the only stereotype applied to Elves. They are also seen as being intensely close to nature, and somewhat technologically behind the times. They also have a tendency to be hated by all of the other races. In The Witcher, the Elves are somewhat like the Native Americans, they have lost their homeland and live on reservations, and can fight back only using guerrilla hit and run tactics.

There is a pretty big difference between Nazis and Native Americans, I think that’s universally known. But, the difference, as it turns out is made up by Elves. 

Why Do We Whitewash?

Pictured: a medieval Sultan, looking pretty damned white.

The King of Tars features a literal white-washing, in which the Sultan of Damascus is baptized and his dark skin turns white due to his new “holiness,” or “piety,” or something of that sort. Increasingly in modern media, however, a more subtle white-washing has occurred between the adaptation from book to screen--characters coded as people of color are suddenly white, or are perceived by some to be wrongfully casted as non-white. But this is not, as in the King of Tars, explicitly to rid these characters of sin, because in today’s society calling dark skin a “sin” is openly acknowledged as racist. And yet whitewashing still occurs--mostly, because white viewers cannot handle seeing good, decent protagonists who are people of color.

The vast majority of characters from M. Night Shyamalan’s (atrocious) film The Last Airbender, an adaptation of the wonderful Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, were made white rather than remaining based upon Inuit, Tibetan, and Chinese cultures; however, the villainous Fire Nation, originally based primarily on Japan, were cast entirely from desi actors and actresses. Suddenly the previously-Inuit protagonists were white, fighting off the mighty horde of brown invaders, an exact swap from the series and the majority of real-life conquests. Fan outcry was overwhelmingly against this choice, and the film was summarily panned, for good reason.

Ugggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm so sorry Dev Patel

An opposing scenario, however, took place in the Hunger Games movie--Katniss, who was implied in the book to be of Native American ancestry due to her “olive” skin and dark braided hair, was cast as white. There was a considerable amount of back-and-forth between supporters and opponents of the casting, but at the end of the day, as with The Last Airbender, the casting was set in stone.

So why do we whitewash? In both cases, this can be pinned on the sheer fact that white people have held power in this country for centuries; this is why we have racism, and this is why we whitewash. White people in this country do not like people of color to have power--or even to be seen as human.

The entire cast of Avatar: the Last Airbender were all of fictionalized cultures based upon real-life Asian and Native ones, and were extremely well-written. They were heroes, villains, one-off jokes--everything. They were greatly humanized and given extensive backstory. And quite a few of them were dark-skinned. But the minute their story is put to screen and this egalitarian view of non-whiteness is about to be shown off, that kind of humanity can only belong to white people. The villains, therefore, have to be non-white--it’s the only way we can root against them.

(And yes, a couple villains eventually become good guys, but holy shit this movie is so bad it basically doesn’t count.)

Look at that cinematography, and also that single rock in the middle of the shot. Glorious.

The reason for the resulting outcry was that the fans of the show were accepting of this Asian-inspired environment: they read the cultural under-and-overtones accurately, and were tolerant of them, and even enthralled by them. When this was taken away, they noticed--especially fans who were themselves people of color. Their representation had been ripped out from under them, and they would fight tooth and nail to get it back.

In the case of Katniss, her situation is more ambiguous; she is never explicitly described as Native American, but what little we are told of her physical features subtly suggests that she shares some stereotypically Native features with her father. This subtlety is what ultimately resulted in her casting as white--if she was not explicitly declared non-white, the casting directors are given full license to make the sympathetic protagonist white without fear of repercussion. And indeed, there is very little outcry against Katniss’s casting outside of social justice communities on sites like Tumblr--it’s just not as noticed as the Last Airbender casting because it’s not as explicitly racist.

And in a bizarre twist, here is Katniss actually photoshopped to look darker rather than whiter. Because they know JLaw is by no means "olive-skinned."

So, even though the characters in both situations are not literally dunked in water and rid of their non-whiteness, the fact that their goodness and person-ness as well-developed characters is taken from them purely because they are not white and therefore threaten white power structure--if white people see people of color being good and doing good things then they might--gasp--treat them like people!

Jackie Robinson Would Be Proud: Attributing Everything to Race

So as we learned in class a few days ago, the imagery surrounding the princess and the sultan in The King of Tars has absolutely nothing to do with race and only has to do with religion. However, the religious differences between the princess and the sultan do manifest themselves in physical form, both in the Lump Child that is born between them and in the sultan’s miraculous turning white. In the second example, it just so happens that the sultan’s transformation looks kinda like he changed races. This is not, however, the only time that human beings have been confused about the difference between traits that are cultural (such as one’s religion) and traits that are genetic (such as skin color). People frequently try to explain differences between individuals with biology they don’t actually understand—like trying to say that someone got a better grade than you because their brain is literally bigger--and when it comes to individuals of different races, these differences get attributed to racial differences.

There may be a lot of reasons why a large majority of athletes in certain sports, such as basketball and football, are black. An athlete’s body is the biggest part of his/her success, so probably an individual’s height or length of arms or legs—something that is partly determined by DNA—could contribute. But it’s probably not true that African Americans are better athletes because their ancestors spent a lot of time “running from lions” on the savannah. There are probably cultural and societal reasons why black kids in the U.S. are more likely to be encouraged in sports while white (or Asian?) kids are more likely to be encouraged to academic pursuits. And while it may sound complementary to talk about black success in athletics, it smacks of racism (or jealously?) to downplay the role that hard work plays in an athlete’s career. “Why do Blacks dominate sports then?” one Internet user asks. “Because they just work harder? Nothing to do with them being taller, leaner, more muscle mass, longer limbs? It's all been proven SCIENTIFICALLY.” Also, how can we attribute it to centuries of selective breeding if the Onion is correct in saying that “African-Americans Go From Being No Good At Sports To Only Good At Sports”?

So there are a couple uncomfortable things going on here at once. First, a desirable ability—in this case, athleticism—is assumed to be based in racial differences, emphasizing a belief that people of other races are inherently “not like us” on a level that goes down to blood and bones. Second, this racial explanation of success is used to say that African Americans (in this case) are not successful because of their own hard work or gumption but because of some unfair advantage over whites.

Also, can we talk about the myth that Jewish people use their yarmulkes/their hair to hide the horns on their head? That’s messed up.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080315214538AAwxWpK

http://www.theonion.com/article/african-americans-go-from-being-no-good-at-sports--7018

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unreasonablefaith/2009/06/the-depths-of-ignorance/

White is Right: Equating Whiteness and Goodness In Literature

            Many of the tales of chivalry and royalty of the Medieval era center around legends of knights, kings, princesses and villains.  The role of princess depends heavily on purity, duty, piety and all around moral goodness.  Frequently, these traits are best symbolized through heavy-handed imagery detailing said princess’ whiteness.  Unfortunately, this trope did not die with the dragons.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?” This now infamous quote is uttered by the Evil Queen in Disney’s first full-length animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.  As the titular character’s name indicates, pearly skin is a critical defining feature.  Snow White is pure, demure, and completely and utterly sure that her prince will save her.  People either want her or want her dead and it keeps coming back to the tone of her skin.  The princess’ fair complexion shapes her as heroic and laudable even if she essentially only cooks and sleeps.  This trope of “whiteness as goodness” as attributed to princesses certainly emerges strongly in medieval literature.  Interestingly enough, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves emerged during a time of high racial and cultural tension, further pressing the idea that whiteness equals goodness.

            To return to a popular topic of discussion of mine, this medieval dualism between “white as good” and “dark as evil” is strong in many literary works of the 19^th century, namely in America.  In The Last Mohicans, one of the primary racial dualisms lies in the relationship between sisters Cora and Alice.  Alice and all her whiteness lives happily to the end of the book.  Cora’s “downfall” rests on her role as what critics call a “tragic mulatto.”  Cora dies along with her archetype and even if she is a noble protagonist, the racial binaries and difficulties complicate matters.  Alice is constantly praised for her purity and Cora for her strength, emphasizing the notion that Alice’s complexion is somehow indicative of her purity.  While Cora is not a villain, she acts as a foil to Alice and almost a way to emphasize Alice’s whiteness and goodness.  Like the Princess of Tars, her characterization is driven by race.

            Once again returning to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, one of the most infamous racial dualisms lies in the relationship between the angelic daughter of a plantation master Little Eva and rambunctious house slave Topsy.  Topsy is today one of the most vicious caricatures, but she constantly is juxtaposed to Little Eva, and with good reason.  Little Eva is basically a miniature pious angel.  She’s not quite a medieval princess but she serves a similar purpose.  She is dutiful to Christ, delicate, demure, and, above all, white.  Because Little Eva is both white and Christian, even pushing Tom’s conversion, she is rewarded.  Unlike the Princess of Tars, that reward is not a magically white husband and a baby miraculously transformed from amorphous ball of flesh to beautiful child.  It’s Heaven.  A little girl is literally rewarded because she’s way more eloquent than she has any right to be and she is a white Christian.  While written several hundred years after The Princess of Tars, during a time of war and turmoil, Stowe’s characterization of Little Eva perpetuates the medieval archetype that whiteness and duty demand reward.

            While I did not specifically explore these medieval tales themselves, I chose to explore the implications and the aftermath.  Equating whiteness with goodness in literature is a dangerous path to go down and one that, regrettably, seems unending.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Last of the Mohicans, James Fennimore Cooper