• androogee (they/she)@midwest.social
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    6 hours ago

    No. Fuckin stop it. Its unbearably stupid.

    Historical fiction has existed for a long time.

    Y’all ain’t out here throwing a pouty parade when someone adds technology or magic or monsters into historical fiction.

    But black people? Existing? If that’s where you draw the line, it’s really clear why. Make all the excuses you want.

    • Ibaudia@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Historical or alternate history fiction falls under pure fiction imo. That’s fine as long as it makes sense. If it’s meant to be some super grounded realistic historical slice-of-life then it would just make me think “when are they going to bring up the fact that there’s X type of person walking around here” for the whole story.

      Not exclusive to black people. If there were a story that took place in 12th century Mongolia and there was some Nordic guy walking around I would be like “huh, what’s his story” and then be confused when it was never mentioned. That’s how I feel about a lot of these creative choices.

      • androogee (they/she)@midwest.social
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        5 hours ago

        That’s literally just a longer way of saying that it’s okay if it’s magic but it’s not okay if it’s black people.

        & yeah, I’ll hold my breath for people getting equally upset about white people in fiction. Any day now. I’m sure.

        I can’t disapprove a hypothetical, I guess, but a hypothetical isn’t proof of anything either.

        • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          But magic doesn’t have any grounding or association with the world as we know it. Neither does aliens. We can only use the world as we know it as a frame of reference for a story.

          I’d argue in lbaudia’s example that it is confusing if in 12th century Mongolia, there was some Nordic guy walking around, I’d imagine there to be a backstory of some kind. If there wasn’t, then that would definitely be an example where I’d be annoyed at white people in fiction.

          I thought a great example of casting was the TV show “The Expanse”. To be able to cast someone as specific as Bobbie Draper so well - these studios have no excuse to whitewash as they do except laziness.

          • androogee (they/she)@midwest.social
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            3 hours ago

            People made these exact same arguments about the inclusion of a black samurai in an Assassin’s Creed game.

            A black samurai who was based on a real person who actually existed in history.

            The game they’re playing is very obvious to anyone who’s actually paying an ounce of attention, and it has nothing to do with caring about historical accuracy.

            It’s bullshit. It’s an excuse. It’s foolish. I do not suffer it gladly.

            • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              Yes, and I loved that they wrote the black samurai character into that game to tell that story! I don’t get your point?