Here's why fantasy struggles to include black girls

[BUtterfield 8 38,245]

Creators may believe a man can leap tall buildings, but having a black girl who can fly is usually a dream too far.

Black girls have little opportunity to see themselves in fun, exciting, imaginative pop culture story worlds. That may be part of the reason that the average 12th grade black student still placed only in the 22nd percentile for reading achievement, according to a 2016 analysis by EducationNext.

But even though this was true to Collins' vision, many fans were shocked and angry. "“Why is Rue a little black girl?” one typical tweeter asked in confusion. "Call me racist but when I found out Rue was black her death wasn’t as sad," another admitted.

However, both creators and fans had difficulties with a black Bonnie. The white Bonnie in the novels was a major character and had numerous romantic plotlines. On the show, though, Bonnie was relegated to a secondary role, and was never allowed to be a romantic rival to the white protagonists. "She just became sort of the bitchy black best friend," Thomas says. "A noble intent ended up creating a stereotypical, flat and problematic character."

Perhaps partially as a result of greater visibility, we've begun to see more black women in fantastic narratives. "Black Panther’s” Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and Shuri (Letitia Wright) are perhaps the most high-profile examples. But Thomas also points to Iris West (Candice Patton) on The CW show "The Flash," "She is subverting a lot of the usual black girl-in-a-teen-television-show tropes because she is the central character," Thomas says.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/harry-potter-hunger-games-here-s-why-fantasy-struggles-include-ncna1020196?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma

[Miel 15,009]

F A C T S

[Reginald 13,660]

@ Me

when I was a kid so excited to see Dean Thomas, Lee Jordan, Blaise Zabini, Angela Johnson, and pretty much *any* of the black characters in the Harry Potter  series  onscreen.

They got almost 0 screen time over the entire film series,  even though they were fully fleshed out and developed characters in the books

[Pacify Him 9,073]

Oh.. oh wow. While that may be true now, I find that fantasy, SciFi, anything with futuristic elements, and even extraterrestial lifeforms, are easier to write POC characters in, seeing as how society is going on about that representation lately.

[imnotyourbabe10 5,995]

Thanks for the post!

Sidebar: Does anyone have any good fantasy/sci-fi books to start reading? It is a genre I've never ventured into.  (Also, a week or so ago, another member and I discussed a GGD Book Club...any takers?).

[Seeka 12,372]

1 hour ago, imnotyourbabe10 said:

Thanks for the post!

Sidebar: Does anyone have any good fantasy/sci-fi books to start reading? It is a genre I've never ventured into.  (Also, a week or so ago, another member and I discussed a GGD Book Club...any takers?).

I love Proxy by Alex London. It's very cyberpunk. It's a little fast paced though. It has sequel called Guardian. 

My bestie's fav book is Caravel by Stephanie Garber, which is a circus fantasy. But it's awesome if you like to imagine wonderland esque circus things. It's very visual. 

Also the Bobby Dollar series by Tad Williams and the Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger are super awesome. Also lotsa gay. 

[bloody g 31,729]

I'm sorry but nowadays not having a diverse cast is just laughable. In the society we live in, we all have POC in friends and family. If I don't see POC in a movie, it just feels so fake to me.

[ltlmnstr 2,771]

Good article!