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honorh
2012-03-09 07:41 pm UTC (link)

I'm kind of "meh" on the subject of Katniss's racial background. I mean, olive skin can cover a pretty wide range, as can gray eyes. And her mother's blonde, so it actually came as a surprise to me when there was a bit of a dustup. Which probably shows my own prejudices. But Rue? She's clearly described as having dark skin. Even if she wasn't, I wouldn't understand the bile in some of the comments.

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hydriotaphia
2012-03-10 12:26 am UTC (link)

Yeah, I took it as not white because of how different Katniss and Prue appeared in the book. I always figured Collins meant that Katniss' family was interracial (I hate this term but I can't think of another), plus evoked historical recollections of colonialism etc. to highlight just how surprising it was that the white woman left to marry the not-white miner. Power of love and all that.

But, yeah, 'olive skin' wasn't the greatest word choice.

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	mneiai 2012-03-10 01:50 am UTC (link)
	My mother has grey eyes and olive skin and it's probably from her French or German background, and when I lived in Italy I ran into lots of white, European people who fit Katniss' general description, so I don't think it has anything to do with prejudice. It probably has to do with exposure more than anything else. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hadisia 2012-03-15 11:14 am UTC (link)
	Except Katniss is from an area where olive skin is much more likely to mean mixed race black and/or Native instead of Mediterranean. There's also the strong context clues of "darker oppressed coal miners, lighter merchant class". Also, you know, her casting call specified white girls only. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	isaiddietpepsi 2012-03-15 04:36 pm UTC (link)
	Considering the area she's from, I like the theory that Katniss is based on the Melungeons, but then again Collins has said that she didn't "particularly intend" for Katniss to be biracial (which of course does not make her white, either). (Reply to this)(Parent)

rosehiptea
2012-03-10 05:24 am UTC (link)

I have to admit I didn't take any of it as meaning Katniss wasn't white either, though I'll certainly admit that was my own prejudices too. Also just reading quickly and not aborbing things, maybe.

But Rue, that's just ridiculous. Just because they don't have the same terms for race in the Hunger Games universe doesn't mean that Rue was white; that doesn't even make any damn sense. The book is really clear on Rue and her family.

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	full_metal_ox 2012-03-10 09:08 pm UTC (link)
	For what it might be worth, KosaginoLegion, upon reading this post, decided to consult an authoritative expert: her thirteen-year-old son, who's an industrial-strength Hunger Games fan (and a member of the presumed target audience demographic.) Roaring Tiger's $0.02: he envisions Rue as "African-American" and Thresh as a "big black bearded biker dude." So there. (Reply to this)(Parent)

isaiddietpepsi
2012-03-13 04:17 pm UTC (link)

The casting process was still fucked up, though, because at the very least Katniss is meant to be racially ambiguous (and yet I've come across so many idiots insisting that, yes, she's explicitly white in the books....no, no she's not). Even Suzanne Collins has said as much. And yet the casting call only asked for white girls. So it wasn't a definite case of whitewashing, but it was still gross. Collins defended/handwaved the whole thing, but that was just her showing her ass as a clueless white woman.

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	kita0610 2012-03-23 03:57 am UTC (link)
	Wait...calling for only white girls is pretty much the definition of whitewashing, isn't it? What'd I miss?? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	isaiddietpepsi 2012-03-24 01:33 am UTC (link)
	Whitewashing to me is when you take a character who is POC and turn them white. It's never clearly established that Katniss is POC - her race is left ambiguous and one can make arguments either way - so this doesn't technically fall under the whitewashing banner IMO. It's still majorly fucked up, though, don't get me wrong. (Reply to this)(Parent)

isaiddietpepsi
2012-03-24 01:39 am UTC (link)

Of course, I think that even if Katniss had been POC, the studio would have tried to whitewash her anyway. So it's mainly just semantics. I don't like using the whitewashing label here because then you get idiots trying to derail by saying it isn't whitewashing because Katniss isn't POC (which is technically true, but they act like that means there isn't a problem at all). So consider it a preemptive strike!

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