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Untitled (Patreon)

Published:
2015-03-30 18:51:52
Imported:
2022-01

Content

Also open question to the Percy Jackson readers.... Did the constant references to how great "the west" is in the books make you feel uncomfortable at all? I didn't think much of it the first few ti...

Comments

Anonymous

You know what, I'll admit that I missed that. But I also missed Card's obsession with having children in the Ender's Game sequels--as soon as you pointed that out it blew my mind! I haven't read the books for awhile, but my vague impression from what I can remember is...well, let me put it this way. Greek mythology and Greek culture and society and democracy and all that jazz is popularly perceived as the basis for "Western Culture" (regardless of the fact that Greece itself is/was a liminal Mediterranean culture that sat at the crossroads of the ancient world, east and west alike, but I digress). The democracy connection is particularly important, especially for Americans. We don't have a very long history, you'll recall, so we like to sort of "borrow" other people's in order to legitimize our current power, policies, etc, to give ourselves the sense of being as fully established and deserving of respect as much more long-lived states. One of the ways we do that is with this democracy-from-the-Greeks thing--in some corners, the Founding Fathers can be seen as "reviving" this ancient, awesome practice for the modern world, and that positive connection leads to some pretty positive feelings about other aspects of ancient Greece, such as the mythology that the Percy Jackson books deliberately co-opt into an almost painfully American sphere. Are you seeing where I'm going with this? When "the West" refers equally well to Greek culture/mythology (the "foundation of Western Culture") and to America (the "most powerful Western nation"), then you have made a really powerful connection in the minds of your (target audience: American) readers who you're trying to get invested in your fantasy novels about Greek mythology.

Anonymous

Read the book nine years ago so my memory is a bit fuzzy, however I honesty don't remember picking up on it. I was ten though and looking back on it now it wouldn't surprise me that a book written in the early 2000's would have been a bit obsessive in its patriotism. I don't think it was intentionally anti Middle East because one of the messages throughout the entire series ( without spoiling) is that people who are different should not be excluded, looked down upon, hated, ect.

DomSmith
>>419890

I see.... that makes allot of sense. I wasn't seeing it from a american perspective. Its a big relief to think its a positive message rather than a xenophobic one. Thanks ^_^

DomSmith

I kinda feel bad for assuming the worst about the author now. Card has given me low expectations...

Anonymous
>>419947

Well, all authors have their biases, and those are going to show up in their works. I think that talking about this author's pro-American/pro-Western bias wouldn't be a bad thing, but I don't think that he's anywhere near approaching the level of semi-propaganda that Card preaches. (Then again, in fairness to Card, I do wonder how much that obsession with reproduction was just an inevitable by-product of such a fanatical worldview. I wonder how quickly it happens that we lose track of our own biases and just see them as common sense or clear to everyone.)