If White Characters Were Described Like People Of Color In Literature
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Saw this about a year ago and really loved the point it made... I know from limited experience (aspiring writer) that you have to go overboard at times to paint a scene but writers at times make minorities seem so alien.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/if-white-characters-were-described-like-people-of-color-in-l#.osaxDy7oo
http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/if-white-characters-were-described-like-people-of-color-in-l#.osaxDy7oo
1. He looked at her longingly, as he imagined her exotic, mashed potato skin laying gently against his.
2. She took off his shirt, his skin glistening in the sun like a glazed doughnut. The glaze part, not the doughnut part.
3. His eyes looked like eyes because they were eye-shaped, not almonds.
4. Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall-person, handsome features, and his crust of a Shepherd's pie complexion.
5. "What's your name?" he asked. "Mary," she replied as the strap of her dress slipped off her marzipan shoulder.
6. She didn't know it yet but the girl of her dreams had just walked in. Her eyes were radiant and her skin glowed with mozzarella undertones.
7. She was beautiful, elegant. Like a tall clear glass filled with raw pasta.
8. His body had the color and shape of raw ground beef.
9. He traced his fingers along her supple, cauliflower skin.
10. She stepped out of the car and and was delighted by the cool summer breeze that brushed against her legs. She had been sitting in the sun earlier and welcomed the relief of this fresh air on her mayonnaise legs.
11. She had brown, wiry hair and skin that can only be described as the color of the inside of an apple. The mushy ones not the cool, crisp ones.
12. She dove into the ocean, the blue waves enveloping her tapioca skin.
13. She was transfixed by the gleam of his uncooked chicken breast skin. So raw, so lumpy.
14. His bones were as brittle as a vanilla wafer.
15. Her beauty was indescribable, which means she's white.
One could quote endless examples of white skin being described as milky, chalky, ivorylike, etc, in everything from James Joyce to Stephanie Meyer. I even recall in Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet the mutual exotification of the Dutch and Japanese as the perspectives swapped.
Note: This isn't to justify orientalism, exoticism, etc, especially when it becomes apparent that poor metaphors are used to other non-white peoples. Instead, it's intended to show that, while literature might not produce examples as egregious as the patently absurd and comical quasi-quotations, it still has plenty of examples of metaphorical descriptions of white skin that draw attention to its physical qualities by way of comparison.
Note: This isn't to justify orientalism, exoticism, etc, especially when it becomes apparent that poor metaphors are used to other non-white peoples. Instead, it's intended to show that, while literature might not produce examples as egregious as the patently absurd and comical quasi-quotations, it still has plenty of examples of metaphorical descriptions of white skin that draw attention to its physical qualities by way of comparison.
By RedPanda Go To PostMashed potato skin? ...Because mayo skin would be kinda racist right?like chocolate coffee or ebony...
By flabber Go To PostOne could quote endless examples of white skin being described as milky, chalky, ivorylike, etc, in everything from James Joyce to Stephanie Meyer. I even recall in Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet the mutual exotification of the Dutch and Japanese as the perspectives swapped.
Note: This isn't to justify orientalism, exoticism, etc, especially when it becomes apparent that poor metaphors are used to other non-white peoples. Instead, it's intended to show that, while literature might not produce examples as egregious as the patently absurd and comical quasi-quotations, it still has plenty of examples of metaphorical descriptions of white skin that draw attention to its physical qualities by way of comparison.
Milky, Chalky and so on seem to be reserved for characters out of the norm or for character that have white skin (not Caucasian).... not saying it doesn't happen but just seems really dominate when discussing non-whites
I'd honestly like it if white and all other people in books were described that way. I want myself to be able to imagine the writers story and characters as vividly as possible and as close to how the writer has thought them up. Colours help more with creating a picture in my head.
Is it a pasty white person? Or a red one? Or is this white person back from vacation and tanned.
Telling me their skin looks like mashed tatoes helps me imagine what the character looks like.
I'm not racist I swear ask my neighbour
Edit
Unless I'm being stupid and this is about how and what words are used when describing people
Is it a pasty white person? Or a red one? Or is this white person back from vacation and tanned.
Telling me their skin looks like mashed tatoes helps me imagine what the character looks like.
I'm not racist I swear ask my neighbour
Edit
Unless I'm being stupid and this is about how and what words are used when describing people
By FootballFan Go To PostI'd honestly like it if white and all other people in books were described that way. I want myself to be able to imagine the writers story and characters as vividly as possible and as close to how the writer has thought them up. Colours help more with creating a picture in my head.
Is it a pasty white person? Or a red one? Or is this white person back from vacation and tanned.
Telling me their skin looks like mashed tatoes helps me imagine what the character looks like.
I'm not racist I swear ask my neighbour
I think the point of it wasn't to say writers shouldn't explain characters but rather the standard human shouldn't just be Caucasian (in English literature) and everything else is compared to that....
In The Hunger Games book there lots of characters described as having dark or tan skin and yet people were upset at the casting. So I guess some will still assume white as the default race even when stated otherwise?
By blackace Go To PostMilky, Chalky and so on seem to be reserved for characters out of the norm or for character that have white skin (not Caucasian).... not saying it doesn't happen but just seems really dominate when discussing non-whites
By blackace Go To PostI think the point of it wasn't to say writers shouldn't explain characters but rather the standard human shouldn't just be Caucasian (in English literature) and everything else is compared to that....I'm definitely not denying that it predominantly occurs for non-white characters, so I hope it didn't seem like I was trying to diminish the prevalence of the sorts of descriptions those quasi-quotations were satirizing. Let's be honest: most of it is just unimaginative and poor writing - easy clichés that also happen to perpetuate white norms. Which is to say, it's often doubly shit.
Of course, I don't think this is always implicitly racist. In fact, it can be used to precisely the opposite effect. Mitchell's aforementioned novel is one such instance. The Earthsea series is also exemplary: despite using language like (I'm paraphrasing, not directly quoting, because I don't have my books in front of me) 'skin the color of copper', Le Guin utilizes these descriptions for the estrangement effect of countering the standards of the fantasy genre (though, from what I understand, (I haven't seen any of them personally) all of her descriptions were conveniently ignored by the American TV show and the Ghibli film adaptations). Moreover, even non-white authors themselves have a tendency towards these sorts of descriptions - one example that immediately emerges in my mind is a line from Morrison's Beloved that contains the description "midnight skin." Is this the internalization of white norms, or a poetic description? I incline towards the latter, but that doesn't necessarily mean everyone would agree.
The question that I see emerging out of all this is: Should we expect every author to consciously challenge their assumptions with every story? Do we need Philip Roth to laboriously describe the color of every character's skin? Should we have expected Chinua Achebe to delineate every complexion of every character? It may sound unfair, but quite often the contextual setting of the story itself can imply a sort of general norm of appearance from which various characters would be physical outliers. Should we demand more than this?
By blackace Go To Postlike chocolate coffee or ebony...
What? No, I mean.. they should've just went there and said mayo skin... because it's funnier. I was being sarcastic previously.
By RedPanda Go To PostWhat? No, I mean.. they should've just went there and said mayo skin... because it's funnier.#10
By flabber Go To PostI'm definitely not denying that it predominantly occurs for non-white characters, so I hope it didn't seem like I was trying to diminish the prevalence of the sorts of descriptions those quasi-quotations were satirizing. Let's be honest: most of it is just unimaginative and poor writing - easy clichés that also happen to perpetuate white norms. Which is to say, it's often doubly shit.
Of course, I don't think this is always implicitly racist. In fact, it can be used to precisely the opposite effect. Mitchell's aforementioned novel is one such instance. The Earthsea series is also exemplary: despite using language like (I'm paraphrasing, not directly quoting, because I don't have my books in front of me) 'skin the color of copper', Le Guin utilizes these descriptions for the estrangement effect of countering the standards of the fantasy genre (though, from what I understand, (I haven't seen any of them personally) all of her descriptions were conveniently ignored by the American TV show and the Ghibli film adaptations). Moreover, even non-white authors themselves have a tendency towards these sorts of descriptions - one example that immediately emerges in my mind is a line from Morrison's Beloved that contains the description "midnight skin." Is this the internalization of white norms, or a poetic description? I incline towards the latter, but that doesn't necessarily mean everyone would agree.
The question that I see emerging out of all this is: Should we expect every author to consciously challenge their assumptions with every story? Do we need Philip Roth to laboriously describe the color of every character's skin? Should we have expected Chinua Achebe to delineate every complexion of every character? It may sound unfair, but quite often the contextual setting of the story itself can imply a sort of general norm of appearance from which various characters would be physical outliers. Should we demand more than this?
I don't think that you are down-playing anything and I am enjoying the discussion. I don't think there is anything wrong with using "color" language when it makes sense to and fully appreciate how hard it is to paint a complete picture when writing. But the tropes of writing non-white characters can be ridiculous. In many multi-character 3rd person stories the PoV is very important. So using white and black characters as an example.... if a white character has a moment where he notices someone is black or whatever that feels normal. But when it is a black character noticing he is black it is odd...
The questions you asked were great too... it's not unfair that contextual settings of the story imply the norm of characters again most of it is just the tropes of how to describe said minority, which is what that buzzfeed article addresses.
non-white authors can be just as guilty of this too as you pointed out... but I don't mind midnight, cooper, bronze and so on.. but for the love of god please stop using food.. lol
I don't really have an answer for it but I like how it does make you think when it is bluntly but in perspective like that article did..
