Consider the Planeteers for a moment. It’s a multi-racial group
of kids serving the greater good; each has a power ring giving them
control over an elemental force that when combined creates a guardian
of the planet. There were three boys, two girls, with an Asian, a
native South American, a black African, and two Caucasians; a more
heterogeneous group you are unlikely to find. However, they do raise
an interesting question: Is there a reason to include every gender
and race in your story just for the sake of inclusiveness?
The problem is that too many people worry about political correctness. There is a fear among far too many writers that by excluding a particular group the writer seems to be racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever. The obvious reaction to this is to create a character that has the appropriate qualities and is likely to relieve the fear of being exclusive. The problem, however, is that having a character just for the sake of providing a character with the given qualities is likely to ensure that you will not really care for the character and it's likely to show in your writing.
This means that you have a character that is there for no real purpose beyond making someone else happy, and that is something you should never has as a writer. Every character should fulfill a purpose in the story, be it to drive the story, to serve a symbolic purpose, or even as the expository focus. A character that is there just for color may as well be little more than the background, and eventually you will be treating that character precisely as that. Worse, he will drag the story downand the fans will notice. Worse, those that were drawn to the comic because of that character will get tired of the comic, and will soon start spreading a negative word about the comic, nailing you for precisely the reason that they should.
Now, if you use the character so that the character serves a purpose, go for it. Do not feel as if you need to use the character a particular way, such as having the black person inject some level of urban cred into the comic. Kwame, the black kid of the Planeteers, was pretty much a waste because he served no real purpose in the group; it's almost as if they tried him in every position and it just didn't fit. Compare to Wheeler being the leader of the group, Linka being the voice of reason, Gi was the brains, and Ma-Ti was the passionate one. Kwame tried to be the leader but he was virtually ignored in that role and Wheeler ended up taking over the role. As such he came off as a token character in a multi-cultural group; he should have focused more on being the equipment guy as that niche needed filling.
The bottom line is that only include a character is you have an internal reason to have that character around; otherwise cut the waste off before it becomes waste. At the same time, if you do include a character for the purposes of multi-cultural consideration, do not feel obligated to use that character in a stereotypical fashion; feel free to have a black character who is a doctor rather than an ex-street thug. They are your characters; feel free to have some fun with them and use them as they best serve the story, not some idiotic sense of racial guilt that almost always ends up messing things up. Your characters should be guilt free for maximum effect, not minimized to serve some stupid token use.
The problem is that too many people worry about political correctness. There is a fear among far too many writers that by excluding a particular group the writer seems to be racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever. The obvious reaction to this is to create a character that has the appropriate qualities and is likely to relieve the fear of being exclusive. The problem, however, is that having a character just for the sake of providing a character with the given qualities is likely to ensure that you will not really care for the character and it's likely to show in your writing.
This means that you have a character that is there for no real purpose beyond making someone else happy, and that is something you should never has as a writer. Every character should fulfill a purpose in the story, be it to drive the story, to serve a symbolic purpose, or even as the expository focus. A character that is there just for color may as well be little more than the background, and eventually you will be treating that character precisely as that. Worse, he will drag the story downand the fans will notice. Worse, those that were drawn to the comic because of that character will get tired of the comic, and will soon start spreading a negative word about the comic, nailing you for precisely the reason that they should.
Now, if you use the character so that the character serves a purpose, go for it. Do not feel as if you need to use the character a particular way, such as having the black person inject some level of urban cred into the comic. Kwame, the black kid of the Planeteers, was pretty much a waste because he served no real purpose in the group; it's almost as if they tried him in every position and it just didn't fit. Compare to Wheeler being the leader of the group, Linka being the voice of reason, Gi was the brains, and Ma-Ti was the passionate one. Kwame tried to be the leader but he was virtually ignored in that role and Wheeler ended up taking over the role. As such he came off as a token character in a multi-cultural group; he should have focused more on being the equipment guy as that niche needed filling.
The bottom line is that only include a character is you have an internal reason to have that character around; otherwise cut the waste off before it becomes waste. At the same time, if you do include a character for the purposes of multi-cultural consideration, do not feel obligated to use that character in a stereotypical fashion; feel free to have a black character who is a doctor rather than an ex-street thug. They are your characters; feel free to have some fun with them and use them as they best serve the story, not some idiotic sense of racial guilt that almost always ends up messing things up. Your characters should be guilt free for maximum effect, not minimized to serve some stupid token use.
No comments:
Post a Comment