Archetyping without Stereotyping
Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 7:37 am
In real life our jobs are part of what we do and there's varying degrees to which they define the 'who'. Yet, in fiction I see certain tropes concerning attachments and expectations associated with person's job. A front line warrior is meant to be extroverted. A healer is meant to be sensitive and caring. I guess it's understandable, in fantasy names, jobs, and personalities all seem to be in line. However, what if you hated your job? What if the name you got, wasn't the one you would ever want?
I guess I'm invested in this dynamic in more ways than one. I'm trying to build characters that are more than their first impressions and aesthetics while working with audience expectations.
For example, Leaf Wind is character I'm developing. Her temperament is opposite to her katana's grace and her role in battle as a 'fragile speedster' or 'glass cannon' archetype. People will expect a certain amount of 'eastern-ness' to what her aesthetics would invoke. While I've included tidbits of her cultural upbringing, I feel a great pressure by pre-readers to cater to their biases.
Ziara hails from Zebrika (an all to obvious allusion to Africa). The real Africa comprises of such disparate ethnic and cultural diversity, I feel it would be an insult to leave the specifics of hers unexplored. I was startled by the unintentional racists comments by one reader. Simply identifying her as 'african', unaddressed would force upon default cultural connotations.
Idk, I do know that we wouldn't expect a person with dwarfism in real life to possess a battle axe or inclination for hard drinking. However, in fiction it seems almost mandatory that some of these stereotypes are invoked. All and all I feel it strips a degree of person-hood from the characters we hope to humanize. Yet I feel as a shorthand and tool in fiction it is irrevocably intrinsic to the craft if only to deconstruct.
I guess I'm invested in this dynamic in more ways than one. I'm trying to build characters that are more than their first impressions and aesthetics while working with audience expectations.
For example, Leaf Wind is character I'm developing. Her temperament is opposite to her katana's grace and her role in battle as a 'fragile speedster' or 'glass cannon' archetype. People will expect a certain amount of 'eastern-ness' to what her aesthetics would invoke. While I've included tidbits of her cultural upbringing, I feel a great pressure by pre-readers to cater to their biases.
Ziara hails from Zebrika (an all to obvious allusion to Africa). The real Africa comprises of such disparate ethnic and cultural diversity, I feel it would be an insult to leave the specifics of hers unexplored. I was startled by the unintentional racists comments by one reader. Simply identifying her as 'african', unaddressed would force upon default cultural connotations.
Idk, I do know that we wouldn't expect a person with dwarfism in real life to possess a battle axe or inclination for hard drinking. However, in fiction it seems almost mandatory that some of these stereotypes are invoked. All and all I feel it strips a degree of person-hood from the characters we hope to humanize. Yet I feel as a shorthand and tool in fiction it is irrevocably intrinsic to the craft if only to deconstruct.