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Little Valkyrie (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} waltraute) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} fandom_wank,@ 2007-05-05 17:47:00 |
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| Entry tags: | fandom: harry potter, fanfic, person: elfwreck, racism, snarry |
I SHALL SNARRY NO MORE FOREVER!
Over on snarry_games, it's Team Wartime vs. Team Postwar for who can post the best-rated stories involving student/teacher debauchery, etc., nothing new.
Naturally, this means that some racewank is going to explode.
First off, 
montanadan posts a story in which Snape is a gypsy. Apparently massive wank ensues in a locked post (but allusions are left in some other posts noted below), and the fic's headers are edited.
Wank tends to travel in pairs, and themostepotente posts a story featuring Snape and Harry going to hang out with some Native American tribe.. Wacky hijinks ensue thanks to the fact that Indians mate for life. Who knew that they were werewolves?
The fic is labeled "Humor/Angst", but, well...decide for yourself if it's funny.
"Welcome, Severus Snape," the chief greeted, spreading his hands in a warm and convivial gesture. "I am Chief Sitting Bullfrog. To the right is my spiritual advisor, Runs in Circles. To the left is our tribal medicine man, Says Much, Speaks Nothing."
Snape forced a smile in return, battling the impolite curiosity that threatened to spill from his lips. Such odd names, but Snape was certain they were just as fascinated with the origin of his own name.
"It's a pleasure to be here," Snape lied, thinking about the unpleasantness that was Potter. "I look forward to learning about your culture in addition to my assigned duties."
Sitting Bullfrog smiled. "You are a stranger here but once. Consider yourself both friend and ally to the Tahlewaketani tribe."
"I think it sounds like 'Tallywacker Tiny' when you sound it out," came a very familiar voice. Parting the crowd like Moses had parted the Red Sea was Potter, warpainted up like a cheap tart.
Snape flashed a dangerous look at Potter, casting rueful eyes on the chief. "My apologies, Sitting Bullfrog, but the boy hasn't manners enough to fill a thimble…" Snape sneered at Potter, "…half-way."
The chief and his advisor laughed, followed by the rest of the tribe. Apparently, these imbeciles found Potter's lack of manners endearing.
"Harry Potter speaks the truth," the chief laughed. "Your Boy Who Lived is much with the wit. Come, the both of you, I will show you to your tipi."
Snape arched a brow. "Beg pardon, Chief Sitting Bullfrog, but did you say our tipi? As in the one Potter and I will share?"
The chief nodded solemnly. "Our peoples share a great many cultural differences, Severus Snape. This is the time of Wahnatahlewake, when those of us who are unjoined mate for life. I could not risk putting you both into separate tipis.
Probably because of the inaccessible wank, TMP makes a post in her own journal about how she really didn't mean to offend anyone, and the mods are very supportive. (ETA: f-locked)
Most reactions to the story are positive, although elfwreck gives us something very, very special:
Bwaaahahahahaaa!
Could imagine the indians looking like the old Warner Brothers cartoon versions (the kind that are banned now 'cos they're all racist)--the kind where you get fat indians, skinny indians, tall & short indians all in a tribe of about 40 people.
I wanna know what tattoo he got!
So it's no surprise when someone else really doesn't find it funny:
Then, I read the following: "It was a fascinating look into a culture that I really don't know that much about." And your response was to thank the person, without noting in any way that IT WAS NOT A LOOK INTO ANY CULTURE!!!! So perhaps now you'd advise us all of just what culture you were laying out? That way, we could know just which tribe you were ridiculing. You mentioned the Sioux in one of your earlier posts. Does that mean your ridicule was aimed at the Lakota, Dakota or Nakota, or are you not distinguishing among any tribes and intend to ridicule them all? Pray, do tell us when we should know to ignore the author's comments that it's a parody and accept that you intended it to be an exploration into any part of any existing culture?
But best of all, it spawns meta! All quotes here were accessed before the post was f-locked, since it probably is by the time you're reading this.
Champion quote comes in the comments, where elfwreck keeps it coming:
I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of flames attached to the discussions. And I tried to stay away from them (except for a bit of ranting at themostepotente's journal) because my thoughts were much harsher than "Oh, stop being a PC wet blanket."
We have stories about rape. About torture. About coercive pedophilia (although I don't think any of those are in this round of the Games), about slavery, about oppression of people by birth type (Muggles) or past activity (Death Eaters) or sometimes by species or other feature (werewolves, house elves).... We deal with some harsh subjects. We slide up close to them, shake their hands, sometimes pull them into bed to find out just how rough they play.
And I don't see a flurry of posts every fic-fest saying, "How dare you have a story that glorifies rape! Don't you have any respect for the women who've been through that horror? How can you have someone fall in love with their rapist?"
The answer would come back, "Rape was in the warnings. Don't like rape stories? Don't read. Don't like it treated like a plot device instead of an atrocity? DON'T READ."
It's not so much, "is mockery of indians acceptable in stories?" One might need to read the story to decide it did, or did not, contain mockery. However, I am not understanding what universe a person could live in that thinks gentle mockery of indian tribes or accidental slighting of the Rom is less acceptable than murder, rape and torture.
It's not a matter of "PCness." It's about knowing that what we're doing in this fandom is edgeplay... that we are dredging up some of the darkest and most horrific themes the human mind can create, and twisting them into entertainment.florahart gets into the fray, too:
My own frustration with the situation was with the basic position stated by a couple of people that all stereotypes are inherently bad. I took the majority of that comment to my own LJ rather than inflict it on the mods because I didn't figure they much needed more comments/arguing. Of course trying to seriously write a culture/ethnic group/whatever you don't know requires either doing the research or knowing you might get nailed for getting it wrong; why do you think I was concerned about trying to give Snape a religion I ain't got? I'm aware religion, just like racial identity, is complicated. However, I also am very aware that so, so much of fiction is about using stereotypes/caricatures to drive the story, and the assertion that doing so at all in some circumstances is all bad, that bothers me, too, because it sort of implies that some classes of people are not eligible for the same treatment as others--people of certain classes need protecting. Basically, I don't think this is a very simple issue.
Anyway. Some of the later comments in the mods' post are really argumentative, and I felt bad for everyone trying to do the right thing(s) while people were capslocky and nasty.
Worth noting: the headers of both stories were changed to reflect, not just the one; and, the Native American one is really pretty dang funny. And I do think there is a maybe-kind-of-fine line between using the caricature sort of ...selfishly, I suppose, just for laughs, and using known types to fuel a story.
Thanks to all the memers who LINKED LINKS!
