Monday, January 30, 2006
Black sf writers and white sf
My friend Pam Noles has written an wonderful essay for The Infinite Matrix about the way that black people have been left out of science fiction. Science fiction characters -- and writers -- are overwhelmingly white (this is likely self-reinforcing; white writers write white characters and attract white readers, some of whom grow up to be white writers, and it begins anew), and to make matters worse, the occasional black cast of characters, like those in LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea books, are magically changed into white people when they're adapted for the big screen.
Pam's a talented science fiction writer in her own right, and her discussion of her journey from being a black kid watching an all-white science fiction universe on her TV, to discovering Earthsea, to her career as a writer, to the betrayal she felt at the adaptation of Earthsea is moving and eloquent.
Usually it would be just me in the basement sprawled on the floor surrounded by snacks, Legos and books to read during the commercials. If he was off shift, sometimes Dad would come down and join me in his leather recliner by the stairs. Every once in a while Mom called down from the kitchen Are you letting her watch those weird things? And we'd lie in unison, No. If she came down to check for herself, Dad would get in trouble.Pam and I went to Clarion together, and the issue of race and voice came up in our critiquing sessions more than once. Some of my other Clarion classmates, like Nathan Ballingrud and Becky Maines have weighed in on this as well, as has my friend Nalo Hopkinson, a brilliant Caribbean-born Canadian sf writer whose work often treats with racism and race politics. LinkDad had his own names for the movies.
What's this? 'Escape to a White Planet?
It's called 'When Worlds Collide.' I'm sure I sounded indignant.
'Mars Kills the White People.' I love this one.
Daaaaad. It says it right there. 'War of the Worlds'. I know I sighed heavily, but was careful to turn back to the tv before rolling my eyes.
Once he asked me which was more real, the movie or the skits between. I didn't get it, and told him that they were both stories, so they were both fake. He didn't bring it up again until a skit came on. I can't remember if it was a 'Soulman' skit or one of the caveman gags (the cavemen were multicultural — basic white, Polish, Italian, and black). But I remember Dad saying, how come you never see anybody like that in the stories you like? And I remember answering, maybe they didn't have black people back then. He said there's always been black people. I said but black people can't be wizards and space people and they can't fight evil, so they can't be in the story. When he didn't say anything back I turned around. He was in full recline mode in his chair and he was very still, looking at me. He didn't say anything else.
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