Exoticism and Sexualization

[lodessa]

So I caught up to date on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and got through book 4 of the Temeraire series.

I continue to be pleased with the prior but have hit a roadblock with the latter. Basically the increasingly negative and stereotypical exoticism as the books go on in really getting the way of my escapist fantasy enjoyment. The first book it's a non issue, the second has some classic orientalism but at least there are some things that are better about the Chinese than the British and at worst they are presented as foreign not inferior or evil, by the third I started getting tingles of an issue with the depiction of the Ottoman empire, but only in vague ways, but then we get to Africa in book 4 and I keep expecting things to get better but they get terribly worse. Given how aware the author seems to be of issues like slavery, racism, sexism, classism, etc. in other ways, I am pretty disappointed and surprised to see her fail so wholly here. I may write more about it at a later date, but for now I just wanted to jot it down and see if anyone else had thoughts on the matter.

The only TV I am behind on is one episode of BSG (we had company over and then I was out of town and there was only time for T:SCC and Dollhouse before Jeremy passed out last night).

And of course I have to say a little something about Dollhouse. Basically, it's too soon to tell, I think we will all be happier just thinking about this as the Eliza Dushku show than considering it as a Joss show... because so far I see a lot of highlighting of the prior but not much trace of the latter. But hey, so far I have no complaint of a show about Eliza Dushku being hot and awesome in every possible way, with extremely creepy undertones and a cross gender primary relationship that is more child/parent than romantic. So we will see. Maybe it will turn awesome, maybe it will continue to be alright, or maybe it will soon horrify us.

ps. Helo is still heart.

Comments

[caitiedidit.livejournal.com]

I still haven't progressed past Volume II or maybe III of Book 2, but I thought... oh, who is the main character... Laurence? Lawrence? Anyway, I thought his impressions of the Chinese made sense because they are from his point of view. If the books weren't from his extremely British and somewhat (understandably, since they want to separate him from Temeraire) resentful perspective, I think the portrayal might have bothered me. But as it is, and as he seems to be getting more accepting, and as Temeraire is drawn to certain aspects of their culture that are more progressive/enlightened than British cultures, I haven't been bothered by anything. I mean, you're obviously further on than I am, but I haven't had a problem with the way Novik has portrayed the Chinese so far.

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

Anyway, I thought his impressions of the Chinese made sense because they are from his point of view. If the books weren't from his extremely British and somewhat (understandably, since they want to separate him from Temeraire) resentful perspective, I think the portrayal might have bothered me.

I very much agree with this. Really, I mentioned the borderline sort of situation to emphasize the emerging trend, not because I felt it was really out of line at the time. It's really the African Tribespeople that get the unacceptable portrayal in book 4.

[hamsterwoman]

Basically the increasingly negative and stereotypical exoticism as the books go on in really getting the way of my escapist fantasy enjoyment.

Mmm... I can't say this *bothered* me, but I definitely don't think the non-European cultural settings are a strong point of this series. That is, the bits of action that take place outside of Europe are my least favorite parts. I think (for me, anyway) it may be that the worldbuilding is just a lot less strong there. (I did like the dragon-ancestor concept in EoI, I'll say).

The good news, I guess, is that book 5 is back in Europe full time, and I enjoyed it the better for it.

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

I guess the problem is that it just such a big part of the middle three books. And she'd have interesting concepts like the ancestor thing, and then go an make them brutal and impossible to reason with savages in the end. It disappointed me mainly in context of the things that were handled more skillfully. She clearly set out to have the exotic locales and people as a mainstay of the series, so it bothers me that in large part it was done like that.

[hamsterwoman]

In fairness, a lot of the Europeans are brutal and impossible to reason with savages, too, kinda, but I definitely see your point and agree. There was a whole of a lot less subtlety and variety and gradations in the non-European characters, which is a pity (especially since I think she's shown she can do shades-of-gray even with episodic characters).

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's really the issue, especially since we know she can do better.