Does a white character fit the role more? If so, why? If you think not, why?
And if so, how different would the story be if a black, or lationo (for example) person was be the lead role?
Please write down your thoughts.
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I'm actually writing a book right now about a teenage latino girl.
ReplyDeleteBut I think its because of the basic stereotype of each culture. Plus, its really hard to write something that isn't from your point of view or, your not to used too. Really, there aren't that many minority writers out there. Maybe, its because they don't have a passion for it, or nobody gives them the chance.
My suggestion if you want to read more stories that are fantasy and romance is go to lulu.com. I recently found as I was looking for a way to publish my writings. They have pretty much everything, and its all self published so its coming from all types of people. You'll never know what you'll find.
Sincerely,
Cheyenne
Basically, I think that because of what our culture has gotten used to, they see main characters of books as white people. When the story is about like, poverty, or people who don't live as well, its like always Hispanic or black people, people who are stereotypically poor.
ReplyDeleteMaybe publishing companies aren't accepting black (etc) authors, or not enough black (etc) people are stepping up to the plate to become authors. Somehow, society hasn't choosen them to be as well known.
Since I read the first post I keep thinking of Small Steps. The lead character is an African American teenage boy who is trying to 'turn his life around.' He makes friends with a superstar teenaged girl singer. The first time I read it I skipped over the line mentioning that she is also black; his race is part of the plot, but hers really isn't (maybe someone who isn't white would disagree with me there.) A lot of the bad things that happen to him are because of racism. I actually really like the book; I think it deals relatively honestly with a lot of the crap that happens to people of color. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI guess it simply depends on who/what/when/where/how. If it took place in... I dunno.. 17 hundreds London, I don't know if a black/latin/hispanic/etc. is going to fit the role simply because of the setting. Now if it were set in a fantasy novel in a hot desert like area then yes it would fit. . . . And to be honest sometimes the writers themselves are kinda stupid because I've read a book (the name slips me at the moment) about a fantasy desert world that had a white chick as the heroine. It didn't make much sense....
ReplyDeleteThen why, dear Elsie, do you think that authors often choose to jst have the story where the white character fits, and not a different setting where a different race fits?
ReplyDeleteStepping outside of the literary realm for a minute, I remember a TV drama back in the 80's (yeah, I'm old), in which the main character's (a doctor) race had not been specified prior to casting. A black actor got the role. I was thinking it was Louis Gossett Jr, but looking at his profile on iMDb doesn't show a show like what I recall within the timeframe I was thinking of. Anyway, I remember an article at that time pointing out the unprecedented nature of that casting choice.
ReplyDeleteI will try to take more notice of current casting choices, with respect to how frequently non-whites are cast in roles that are not race-specific.
I don't think that there is any person of any race that fits the main role any more than another one. I think that it all just depends on the author. If the author is white, then odds are, they are going to write about a white character. And its exactly the other way around for other writers. If the writer is black or latino, they are probably going to write about a black or latino person. It's just how a person's mind works. I think that the problem is that there aren't as many black, latino, native american, etc. writers/authors in America as there are white writers. So I think when it comes down to it, it's not so much about the characters in the book, but the authors themselves. There's just not enough black, latino, etc. writers out there compared to the white population of writers.
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