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Musings: The Dark Fantastic: Race and Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

The Dark Fantastic: Race and Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

NYU Press, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1479800650

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

 

In today’s networked world, much of children’s and young adult literature isn’t limited to one reader’s immersion in the pages of a book. Authors’ worlds are reimagined in other media formats, and re-enacted, discusses, and reinvented in communities of fans of the stories. Yet, even within these imagined worlds, not everyone can find a mirror that reflects their experiences, and characters of color are often stereotyped and marginalized instead of centered. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas calls this the “imagination gap” and suggests that this may be one reason children of color may choose not to read.  In The Dark Fantastic, Thomas takes an intersectional approach, using”critical race counterstorytelling” to center four girls of color from television and movies based on children’s and young adult fiction that have developed fandoms: Rue, from The Hunger Games, Bonnie, from The Vampire Diaries; Gwen, from Merlin; and Angelina Johnson, from Harry Potter. Thoma uses an autoethnographic approach to explore her perspectives on these as an academic, a participant in fan communities, a reader, a watcher, and a person of color, at a variety of ages.

Thomas explains that the role of darkness in speculative fiction, or the “fantastic” is to disturb and unsettle. Even if initially there was a different reason why darkness represented a frightening or monstrous unknown Other, it’s now inextricably bound up with our thinking about race.  She defines the cycle of the “dark fantastic”, which can always be found in fantastic and horror fiction: spectacle, hesitation, violence, haunting, and, finally, emancipation. It is rare to see a dark-skinned hero, or emancipated character, meaning readers of color looking to identify with characters like themselves get the message, at least on some level, that they are the monster. Centering characters that are the “dark other” in the fantastic and placing them in unexpected roles leads to readers and fans challenging or rejecting the representations, especially once the story has been been reimagined on the screen where everyone can see what before was just in one person’s imagination.

Thomas chose to center her narratives on characters that are not centered in the texts they appear in . She explored the representations of these characters onscreen and in the texts the screen versions were based on, and the reactions of fan communities, like the outrage at the casting of mixed-race actress Amandla Sternberg as Rue in The Hunger Games, despite author Suzanne Collins indicating in the text that Rue had dark skin, or at the casting of mixed-race actress Angel Coulby as Guinivere in Merlin, since according to many, she didn’t have the “legendary beauty” expected of Arthur’s queen.  The “imagination gap” here is pretty clear. Too many people simply weren’t prepared to accept these mixed-race actresses as innocent or beautiful, and missed out on the essential meaning of these characters or enjoyment of the story.  The exploration of the treatment of Bonnie Bennett of The Vampire Diaries is interesting, because in the books, the character is named Bonnie McCullough and is a redheaded Irish witch from a line of druids who has a relationship with a major love interest.  On the television show, her background was completely revised and she ended up as a much less sympathetic character, taking a much smaller role. Even in horror, with vampires as major characters, a girl of color still ended up as the “dark other”.

Thomas argues in favor of consciously intervening to change culture. Publishers, reviewers, booksellers, librarians, educators, and marketers need to recognize the parts they do play and can play in bringing new stories and diverse talents to readers and audiences in order to close the “imagination gap” and open up what Thomas calls “infinite storyworlds”.

The way Thomas linked literature to other media and both individual and networked fandom has given me a new way to think about fantastic literature and media adaptations, and the way fans and fan creators connect with them– or don’t (This essay by Laurie Penny, which I just discovered, gives additional context and dimensionality to Thomas’ ideas). It also provides lot of food for thought as regards centering characters that are usually on the margins, and the way the construction of darkness in fiction may be affecting reading motivation.  As Thomas notes, things in the world of children’s and young adult transmedia are changing faster than they were, in part due to the spread of technology that allows more input from collective audiences and fandoms, and diversity is increasing. I look forward to the time when we will start to see the imagination gap lessen, and more minds open to opportunities for storytelling that reflect multiple representations.

This is essential reading for scholars of children’s and young adult literature and media, but Thomas’ cycle of the dark fantastic applies across all fantastic literature and media, and if you are interested in how race, technology, and imagination are intersecting and playing out in our culture, this does a very good job of providing a framework for understanding.  While she didn’t read it cover-to-cover, my 11 year old daughter is still talking about ideas she encountered in this book, which says a lot about its relevance, originality, and accessibility. Highly recommended.

 

Posted on August 29, 2019 by , Reply

Book List: The Dangers of Reality Television

People have been fearmongering about the dangers of television for decades. Before television became common in every household, they warned of the effects of comic books and rock and roll. More recently, criticism has been aimed at violent video games, heavy metal, and the Internet. But always there in the middle, media critics have had something to say about television, and usually it’s not good.

But as a culture, we got used to television. Then the same old thing, year after year, got kind of boring, and the question for the networks and the cable channels became “what do we do now?” Because we could record the shows and skip past commercials, television shows had to be edgy, to provide something different that would catch our attention enough to really grab us for long enough to get us to sit through an entire show, every week. And what’s more interesting than peeking into someone else’s life?

Actual reality isn’t all that interesting to watch, and it’s also got some really disgusting moments. Who wants to stare at people watching TV, or clipping their toenails? No, it’s the drama of taking people out of their own reality and making them interact in a completely unreal, compressed, environment that is so fascinating. A show like Survivor is kind of like a nonlethal re-enactment of Lord of the Flies— you watch it knowing every episode will mean the end for one of the characters. Watching The Osbournes gives the viewer a window into a world that’s totally bizarre to the rest of us, but normal for the participants. You know it’s all edited to create a storyline that will fit into a half hour or an hour of television, but it gives you a thrill.  And it gives viewers a window that not only allows them see what’s going on, but to separate from it. It’s kind of like watching the gladiators in the ring at the Coliseum, from the stands. It’s a game, but it’s not.  And that’s what makes reality television the perfect setting for a horror story. Here are seven novels that take advantage of the worst aspects of reality television to create nightmares for their characters. As always, not every book on this list will be appropriate or appreciated by every person, so know your reader!

 

 A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (pre-order)

This book messed with my head. It holds a funhouse mirror up to the creepiness of media manipulation. At the center of the story is Merry. As a child, she witnessed unexplainable and disturbing behaviors from her older sister that became the center of a reality television show, and resulted in family tragedy. The novel itself approaches the story from many angles. Merry as as a young adult, years later; Merry as a child living through the events that changed her life; and a mystery blogger dissecting the show in minute detail all get their say. This was sent to us for review, and is not even out yet, but it falls in the category of “unforgettable” for me.  For the purposes of this list, though,  it succeeds tremendously as a mind-bender that indicts the media, and especially reality television, for altering events, and lives, to fit a predetermined narrative.

 

 The Running Man by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)

The Running Man takes place in a dystopian future where the gap between the haves and the have-nots is so tremendous that the desperate are willing to put themselves in lethal, televised ‘games’ for others’ entertainment. It’s a fast-paced, gripping, terrifying, science fiction thriller. When Stephen King wrote The Running Man in 1982, I am sure he had no idea how prescient the book would be.  At that time 2025 must have seemed endlessly far into the future, and the first reality television show was years away from being created. And yet, as we approach that time, much of what he predicted has become reality– affordable health care still hasn’t made the scene, income inequality has become more and more severe, and people are still bloodthirsty, greedy, and selfish. King created a horrifying world that has become even more so as time marches us forward to his future, set in the year 2025. As a reader’s advisory note, there is also a movie, with Arnold Schwarznegger, and a great media tie-in to one of the lesser-known works of Stephen King.

 

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

A gritty, desolate atmosphere pervades Broken Monsters. While it’s framed as a serial killer novel, it is bizarre from the very beginning, with the discovery of the first body. As you might expect with either a serial killer novel or a horror novel, there’s a fair amount of gore, but it doesn’t overwhelm the story. The plot follows the detective on the case, her daughter, a homeless man, an Internet journalist trying to get his YouTube videos to go viral, and the serial killer. This is a memorable book for me not just because of the storytelling, character development, originality, and atmosphere of the story but also because of the effect the Internet journalist and his videos have on the events of the story. While Beukes is taking a larger look at how social media affects our reality, it’s the journalist’s actions during the climax of events that really struck home with me.

 

 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

For those who have never heard of The Hunger Games, it’s a YA dystopian novel in which a totalitarian government randomly chooses two candidates from each of its districts to participate in a televised competition in which the participants all attempt to kill each other in order to be the last one standing.   The wealthy can slant the competition by providing favorite competitors with gifts. This is media used as not just an opiate, but as a weapon. It’s gripping, suspenseful, and manages to effectively integrate both friendship and love into a very hostile and dangerous situation that most people really do see as a game. It is the first in a series that also includes Catching Fire and Mockingjay. All of the books have been made into movies. In a move that is painfully ironic, the CW is making a reality show based on the book.

 

 Kitty’s House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn

This paranormal novel is the seventh title in the Kitty Norville series. Talk show radio host and werewolf Kitty Norville agrees to participate in an all-supernatural  reality television show, expecting it to be a typical reality show with a focus on the drama that emerges from forced interpersonal relationships. Anyone who has read Agatha Christie can probably guess what starts happening once the participants arrive in the remote mountain lodge where the show will be filmed. Fans of Kim Harrison may enjoy this one.
 Fragment by Warren Fahy

Scientists on a ship in the South Pacific who are participating in an “educational” reality television show, SeaLife, land on a remote island, only to be attacked by bizarre predators, with the cameras rolling. Is the footage real, or is it a hoax? The U.S.  government doesn’t wait to find out– it blockades the island to prevent the creatures from escaping, Botanist Nell Duckworth, one of the participants on the show, is on the team of scientists that is sent to investigate the giant, ferocious, arthropods that populate the island. Grounded in science, this frightening, fast-paced thriller has been compared to Jurassic Park.

Castaways by Brian Keene

Trigger warning for graphic rape, gore, and violence. There are a lot of horror readers who enjoy having these ratcheted up– and this novel does that. This is Keene’s tribute to the work of Richard Laymon. According to reviews I’ve read, it’s not Keene’s most original work, either in style or content, although it’s well-paced and reasonably suspenseful, so if you are looking for a good introduction to Keene’s work, you might want to try a different book. However, the plot certainly fits our theme: contestants on a Survivor-style reality show, Castaways, are trapped on the island by a storm. The island, originally thought to be deserted, is in fact populated with monstrous cannibals with horrifying plans for the women trapped on the island.

 

 

 

Posted on April 22, 2015 by , Reply

Banned Books Week: America’s Top Ten Countdown

 

Hey, it’s Banned Books Week!  The news is out now from ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom– the top ten banned and challenged titles for the year! And we’re counting them down here, just like Casey Kasem!

Thank you, Casey Kasem, for counting them down with us!

At number 10, Beloved by Toni Morrison took the place of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Both titles are often challenged, and have appeared on and off the top ten list over the last several years.

At number 9, newcomer The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls took the place of The Gossip Girls series by Cecily von Ziegesar, a series that has been in and out of the top 10 over the last ten years.

At number 8, Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a favorite here that’s no stranger to challenges (last seen on the top ten list in 2008), jumped back into the top ten, displacing What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones, which also made the top ten in 2010 and 2011.

At number 7, newcomer Looking for Alaska by John Green displaced Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley. Brave New World had been in the top ten since 2010.

At number 6, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which also made the list in 2008, took the place of the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor,  which has made the list three times in the past ten years.

At number 5,  the heartwarming story of a penguin family, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, moved The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie… but we haven’t seen the end of that, so stay with me! As a side note, And Tango Makes Three has been number one four times and number 2 once in the past ten years already. Those penguins are alarming folk, apparently.

At number 4, the controversial erotica title Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, overshadowed My Mom’s Having a Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy by Dori Hillestand Butler.

At number 3, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher displaced… The Hunger Games trilogy. Yes, really. With all the media attention directed to The Hunger Games, I’m kind of surprised those books didn’t make the top ten.

At number 2, guess what shows up? The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie actually moved UP the list, displacing The Color of Earth, a Korean manga series, entirely.

And… the number one banned or challenged book in the United States this past year is….. drumroll, please….

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!  

Now, I’m not a fan of potty humor, but really? What does this say about us as a society that the books most objected to in the country are challenged because of poop jokes?  Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series knocked the series ttyn; ttyl; l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle out of first place. Both series have had frequent appearances, in the top ten, though. That means her books will probably be back.

Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to have a list like this every year? It’s great to hear how we should all promote literacy and do our best to put books into kids’ hands, to give them ownership. But look at the books in our top ten countdown here. Every one of them is a book a teen or child might read. Some might only read them in school, but some of them are absolutely written for and intended to be set in the hands of the people we want to be growing readers and thinking individuals. So a book makes a few people uneasy. How can we dare to take it away from everyone?

And that’s the Monster Librarian, counting them down. America’s Top Ten Banned Books. Now go find a copy of one and read it! And find a second one, and give it to a teen or child who otherwise might miss out on some really good reads. Or at least some quality potty humor.

 

 

 

 

Posted on September 23, 2013 by , Reply