Representation is definitely a complex topic. I remember an old episode of Oprah's Bookclub. All the women around the table were expressing how shocked, baffled, and excited, they were that the pregnant MC was so believable. Several were mothers. They were shocked and baffled because the author was a man.
Oprah's reviewers were excited because they discovered that a man who could never physically experience what they had, was able to understand them through the power of imagination (and possibly parenthood?).
I'm not sure personal experience is the criteria. I believe it comes down to whether the author is able to imagine themselves in someone else's shoes, or body.
If we create strict rules whereby the author must have experienced the same events or emotions as their characters, then we can kiss goodbye to the powers of imagination. There is no empathy without imagination. We have to venture outside our own experience to understand other people.
(This is a vast topic. Maybe I'll start a thread in the Wattpad forums).
Interesting, Marcus. And I agree, wholeheartedly, that experience shouldn't be a strict criteria. But I'm not sure the author's assumption of empathy is enough. There are plenty of people who feel quite righteous in their surprisingly superficial understanding of another race or culture's experience. The Oprah Book Club pick of "American Dirt" comes to mind. No matter what the author's stated intent and assertion that she'd done enough research to write that book (the story of undocumented immigrants from Mexico trying to cross the border,) some of the things she did for the sake of publicity alone point to an alarming lack of empathy that make her whole "this story was too important not to be told, so I had to tell it" retort ring hollow.
But there is definitely difficult territory we need to traverse, given that, as you said so much of our creative endeavors are based on the ability for us to put ourselves in the shoes of characters with lives very different from our own.
Perhaps the criteria should be that the creator honestly ask themselves if they're ready to take on the **responsibility** of that representation (which would also include hearing from those who are being represented) and be willing to step away if that community feels that the representation rings false? I think that might help alleviate at least some of the feeling of appropriation. It's definitely something that authors called out in cases like this don't do enough. As long as it doesn't fuel more "cancel culture." That, to me, has gotten way out of hand.
Starting a thread in the forums would be cool (share the link if you do!) Just be warned, controversial topics can spiral quickly out of control there and drown out the more reasoned discussions and debates. It's always so hit or miss over there.
In any event, thank you for your thoughts and your perspective! You've given me more to chew over! :-)
Hey Paula,
Representation is definitely a complex topic. I remember an old episode of Oprah's Bookclub. All the women around the table were expressing how shocked, baffled, and excited, they were that the pregnant MC was so believable. Several were mothers. They were shocked and baffled because the author was a man.
Oprah's reviewers were excited because they discovered that a man who could never physically experience what they had, was able to understand them through the power of imagination (and possibly parenthood?).
I'm not sure personal experience is the criteria. I believe it comes down to whether the author is able to imagine themselves in someone else's shoes, or body.
If we create strict rules whereby the author must have experienced the same events or emotions as their characters, then we can kiss goodbye to the powers of imagination. There is no empathy without imagination. We have to venture outside our own experience to understand other people.
(This is a vast topic. Maybe I'll start a thread in the Wattpad forums).
Interesting, Marcus. And I agree, wholeheartedly, that experience shouldn't be a strict criteria. But I'm not sure the author's assumption of empathy is enough. There are plenty of people who feel quite righteous in their surprisingly superficial understanding of another race or culture's experience. The Oprah Book Club pick of "American Dirt" comes to mind. No matter what the author's stated intent and assertion that she'd done enough research to write that book (the story of undocumented immigrants from Mexico trying to cross the border,) some of the things she did for the sake of publicity alone point to an alarming lack of empathy that make her whole "this story was too important not to be told, so I had to tell it" retort ring hollow.
But there is definitely difficult territory we need to traverse, given that, as you said so much of our creative endeavors are based on the ability for us to put ourselves in the shoes of characters with lives very different from our own.
Perhaps the criteria should be that the creator honestly ask themselves if they're ready to take on the **responsibility** of that representation (which would also include hearing from those who are being represented) and be willing to step away if that community feels that the representation rings false? I think that might help alleviate at least some of the feeling of appropriation. It's definitely something that authors called out in cases like this don't do enough. As long as it doesn't fuel more "cancel culture." That, to me, has gotten way out of hand.
Starting a thread in the forums would be cool (share the link if you do!) Just be warned, controversial topics can spiral quickly out of control there and drown out the more reasoned discussions and debates. It's always so hit or miss over there.
In any event, thank you for your thoughts and your perspective! You've given me more to chew over! :-)