Yes, exactly. I don't think JKR is necessarily trying to get brownie points for representation, and I do love that she tweeted in support of the casting and to call out the ridiculous people getting upset about it. But I think I'd be happier if she tweeted that, and then tweeted something like "That being said I I think myself and all authors could work harder to include more meaningful representation in our work." Or you know, something that both shows her support of alternate Hermione's, while also admitting her own culpability in not actually writing a racially diverse main cast.
By saying "Hermione is never explicitly stated to be white" she is implying a purposeful thoughtfulness to that omission that I believe speaks less to legitimate representation on her part, and more to the idea of "white unless stated otherwise" that seems evident in the series. Again, I don't think she's saying "I wrote Black Hermione" but there is an implication behind the tweet that I find uncomfortable, which I think comes down to, why can't JKR just admit that? Though of course, there are all sorts of other issues that could arise if she did, as people are ridiculous, and would likely take that as "Black Hermione is terrible and not canon". But as much as I think JKR is a huge supporter of equality, it would be nice if she could come out and admit the times where her explicit representation was faulty, instead of using obscure examples of subtle/implied/possible representation (Goldstein, Dumbledore, etc) as a defense. Admitting you didn't do as well as you could have isn't a weakness. It's only a bad thing if you make no effort to improve yourself. And it's sort of like, admitting you have a problem is the first step. How can we expect her to have better racial/sexual/religious representation in future works, when she doesn't see that her main characters are very white/straight/Christian, because she never "said so"?
Which is another reason why I love Maggie. Because she admits that the Raven Cycle isn't a good example of racial representation (though sexuality is there and awesome!(, and even though she's never explicitly stated that any of the main characters are white, she can admit that was the non-explicit assumption, and while supportive of POC headcanons, acknowledges that "The fandom has some energetic POC headcanons which are often taken as canon by those who have not read the books yet, but it would be grotesquely misplaced of me to take credit for POC representation where there is not." Because like you said. It's more than just changing skin color.
Yeah, I'm kind of in love with Maggie, I'm not going to lie. She just has a very intelligent and clear voice and she's incredibly talented. I would 100% recommend the Raven Cycle, as it was one of my favorite things that I read last year. And the final book in the series is coming out in March! Fulling planning on rereading all the books right before that. :) But let me know if you decide to give it a go, because I would def be down to chat about it! :D
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Date: 2015-12-22 04:31 pm (UTC)By saying "Hermione is never explicitly stated to be white" she is implying a purposeful thoughtfulness to that omission that I believe speaks less to legitimate representation on her part, and more to the idea of "white unless stated otherwise" that seems evident in the series. Again, I don't think she's saying "I wrote Black Hermione" but there is an implication behind the tweet that I find uncomfortable, which I think comes down to, why can't JKR just admit that? Though of course, there are all sorts of other issues that could arise if she did, as people are ridiculous, and would likely take that as "Black Hermione is terrible and not canon". But as much as I think JKR is a huge supporter of equality, it would be nice if she could come out and admit the times where her explicit representation was faulty, instead of using obscure examples of subtle/implied/possible representation (Goldstein, Dumbledore, etc) as a defense. Admitting you didn't do as well as you could have isn't a weakness. It's only a bad thing if you make no effort to improve yourself. And it's sort of like, admitting you have a problem is the first step. How can we expect her to have better racial/sexual/religious representation in future works, when she doesn't see that her main characters are very white/straight/Christian, because she never "said so"?
Which is another reason why I love Maggie. Because she admits that the Raven Cycle isn't a good example of racial representation (though sexuality is there and awesome!(, and even though she's never explicitly stated that any of the main characters are white, she can admit that was the non-explicit assumption, and while supportive of POC headcanons, acknowledges that "The fandom has some energetic POC headcanons which are often taken as canon by those who have not read the books yet, but it would be grotesquely misplaced of me to take credit for POC representation where there is not." Because like you said. It's more than just changing skin color.
Yeah, I'm kind of in love with Maggie, I'm not going to lie. She just has a very intelligent and clear voice and she's incredibly talented. I would 100% recommend the Raven Cycle, as it was one of my favorite things that I read last year. And the final book in the series is coming out in March! Fulling planning on rereading all the books right before that. :) But let me know if you decide to give it a go, because I would def be down to chat about it! :D