— This post contains detailed accounts about Mira from The Glittering Court series and information about Henry Cheng from The Raven Cycle. —
Whoa, first discussion post of 2018!! I've been meaning to write this post for ages, so I'm glad it's finally here. Just pretend that I did actually "recently" read Midnight Jewel :)
I recently read Midnight Jewel by Richelle Mead, which is told from the perspective of Mira Viana. She is Sirminican, a minority race in The Glittering Court series, and I love how Richelle Mead captures her personality without shying away from the discrimination she must've seen due to her race and gender.
I've seen many posts from readers who disapprove of how some races are represented in books, such as Henry Cheng, who is half Korean, half Chinese. His mother sells valuable artefacts on the black market. Many readers seem to see this as a racial stereotype.
A lot of people talk about representation, and misrepresentation. Is it better to have a misrepresented character rep, or no character rep? I think what matters is the author's intention. If their intention is to increase their popularity, that's a bad sign. But if they do research and make a solid attempt, why should they be hated on for doing so?
A character rep won't represent all people of that minority. Maybe it'll only represent a few people from that group, but just because it doesn't represent you doesn't mean the character doesn't represent someone else. As long as the rep doesn't encourage harmful stereotypes or is deliberately prejudiced, why hate on the author?
What do you think about character reps in books?
I really love how you said this: "just because it doesn't represent you doesn't mean the character doesn't represent someone else." BECAUSE YES! It frustrates me no end when people call out a book for "bad rep" but it's literally just not relatable to them?! Like not everyone in a minority is going to be the same. Some stereotypes ARE true. The trick is not to base a character 100% off them and to make them a deep and complex character as well.
ReplyDeleteI think most authors never never try to misrepresent, obviously it still happens and it's not good or an excuse, but I do wish we'd all slow down before accusing authors of bad rep. We literally have no idea what the author has done research wise either!
I totally agree with you! Some people just go to far with the accusations.
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