Now let me defend some of these books by saying that I love to read the struggle of what a young Korean immigrant is going through or a story reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet with Zulema, a young Muslim girl who falls in love with Jassiel, a first generation Colombian American where race,culture and values are probably going to make up a big part of the stories plot. But sometimes this is why i'll choose a fantasy themed book over standard fiction, because I don't want to read a racially charged book all the time. I want to read a story where the culture of the person is acknowledged but isn't the center piece of the plot. When i read a book with non POC, it always reads as an "everyday"story. Is it so much to ask for the same with stories with POC?
Like the other day I was watching some movie about a African American girl who lived in the urban area who befriended a Caucasian girl from the suburbs who bonded over their love for the game Lacrosse. But of course it just had to be a "race" film. Never in my life have I ever had issues with befriending people with different backgrounds than my own, I mean yea you get some bigoted people but I've never let someone's upbringing determine what we'll have in common. I've lived in urban areas almost my whole life and my interests are all over the place. For example I'm a huge fan of kpop and jpop, I'm somewhat of an avid video game player and I love musicals. You can't really tell what someone is like and what their interests are by how they grew up and what they look like, so it bugs me that movies and books that feature diversity tend to shed more light on how we're different as opposed to how we're the same.
With Fantasy(of all genres) and Science Fiction, I believe the opportunities are endless to write a POC as the lead or strong supportive character because most likely it's some made up world or some alternate version of our own world. I just hope i get opportunity to be introduced to more and more books that feature POC or any diverse character for that matter, that read just like an other "everyday"read.
On a lighter note, I just got approved for Openly straight by Bill Konigsberg. It features a gay teen as the lead character.Seems like an interesting read. I can't wait to dive in.
I swear it took them like a month to approve me so I'm so happy XD
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!
Interesting point. It does seem that many books that feature POC are highlighting the racial issues. And, like you say, it's not like we're all going through every day of our lives trying to figure out how to relate to people of other cultures or races. It's great to have these themes explored occasionally, but not in every book.
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Interesting post! I like it! And totally agree with you. The thing is movies Always want to over dramatize the subject, which leads exactly what you described.. Anyways if you want to read a POC fantasy book you should check out Soul Sisters by Janiera Eldridge, the MC's are african american twins!
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