ooops, help?

[valarltd]

Okay, so, I'm plotting on my NaNo novel.
And I just realized it's monochromatic.

The town I'm setting it in was monochrome in that era: Pale Whitey McWhiterson on Wonderbread with a side of rice pudding and Cool-Whip.

But there is no reason for the Carnival to be. Roustabouts, food crew, clowns, ride crews, etc. should be multi ethnic.

Where I'm hanging up is the Ten-in-One.

I'm thinking, the Phantasmagoria would capitalize on the "exotic other" thing in their billing. "Live from the jungles of India, half-woman, half snake: Nagina!" And Nagina is subcontinental Indian, and she is a naga, but her real name is Revati.

Or the Carolina Giant would be black, with an old-fashioned Biblical name: Hezekiah, Keniah or some such. "Nine feet tall, probably related to Goliath of Gath."

The wolf-boy is Austrian. Wolfgang is a classicly trained pianist and escape artist. He makes jokes and escapes and plays Mozart pieces in between.

The fortune teller is probably of actual gypsy extraction.


Is this exploitative? yes. Is it showmanship? yes.

Is it a problem making some of the freaks pocs?

Comments

[the-willow.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

I am the wrong person to respond to this because my first thoughts were: the huge strong strapping negro super buck slave, even the biblical name made me cringe and the stereotypical gypsy fortune teller. Unless Nagas somehow met with First Nation Peoples in the US who were of a supernatural snake leaning then I guess the Naga can't help but be South Asian / East Indian.

Hopefully you'll get some real advice.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

That would be what I needed to know. I don't want cringing...at least before Torturo the Pain King goes into his act.

So, maybe Marvelo the Magician and/or his wife/assistant the Bearded Lady might be a better choice?

(he Biblical name sticks to the giant, regardless of color, because that's what country people did in 1910)

Maybe the fortuneteller could be Greek, billed as a direct descendent of the Sibyl at Cumae?

Of the four major characters (Nick, Torturo, Alice & Dinah) we're still pretty much whitebread. I considered having Alice & Dinah be black instead of redheads, which would open up a bunch of cans of worms. (they're conjoined twins, and as part of their late-night stage act, they have some pretty bizarro sex with Torturo)

[the-willow.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

*sighs*

I wrote about what I was feeling in my journal in more depth, rather than dump it on you here in your journal and now I feel slightly stupid - because it felt wrong to tell you to change anything even though you were asking. And yet some things were making me cringe.

But you're being pretty open and understanding of the cringe factor.

And uhm yeah, the twins and the sex and blackness would just be...yeah I personally would not want to go there. Especially if it's all set in 1910.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I understand there is a cringe factor. I'm just not always sure where it is. (Like I said, my hometown=white like cool-whip. My college town=white, with large Asian minority)

The story is actually set in 1985. The Carolina Giant was born in 1910. The twins were born in 1880. (It's a plot point)

I didn't want to go racist by omission, but cringe by commission is even worse. There is enough casual racism expressed by minor characters as they go about their daily lives in that time and place: "Mama says the carnival hires negros. So you know it's not safe." I don't need to be inadvertantly adding more on the author's part.

[creatorschilde.livejournal.com]

Make your Naga South American. Argentina has some very unique "looks" without being an easy "race" to pin down.

Keep your giant "black" and biblical, but *please* do those of us who are senstive about it the favour of at least pinning down a nationality. If you are going with a biblical background I would highly recommend Ethiopia or Nigeria. Ethiopians tend to be more chocolate in colouring, with straighter hair. Nigerians tend to be very "black" with extremely high cheekbones and curlier hair. Figure out what look you are going for, and maybe research appropriately?

Just an aside... Remember that the typical "Amazon" female is not so much "black" as South American - but none of those races exactly grew tall *and* large. Most are of more delicate bone structure. If you want to go large, you would have better luck making them celtic/baltic/russian and choosing a different char to keep as Negroid decent.

And I know its my favorite line of all... but make your fortune teller Jewish. *laughs* Hell, call him /her "decedent from the line of Levitical priests, hearing directly from God" or some such thing. "tempt the Wrath of God" *giggles*

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

The Giant is from North Carolina, hence "The Carolina Giant."
He's just an ordinary man with giantism.

We're already tempting enough with Nick's messed-up gay Baptist routine. 8) And Torturo...

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

That's always such a hard call. I'm no good to talk to on the race issue, being one who stumbles around it a lot.

BTW, I found that book I mentioned. It's a pagan/new-age book that I used with Mystic a lot when she was small. It really was good with the visualization exercises and guided dreaming. If you want to email me an address where I could send it to you, you can reach me at corryn [at] gmail.com.