on representation

[harborshore]

I was going to write a long and thoughtful entry on representation in fiction and how Gail Simone, for instance, gets it right, and I will still write that entry, but I hit a point where I'm a little too angry to write it.

The thing is, representation is an important issue in more ways than in fiction, and tonight on Swedish television in a segment on Hassa Helal, the Saudi poet, there was a blatant example of Doing It Wrong. Very unfortunate: it was on a talk show I quite like (it's about literature). Even more unfortunate: it's not like this is an isolated uniquely Swedish issue.

Standard disclaimers apply: I'm very capable of being wrong, and please tell me if you think I am.



Tonight I watched the Swedish television show Babel. It's normally a very good show, often thoughtful and funny and they feature authors like Sarah Waters. Smart people talking about good literature on TV! I am fond.

However.

Tonight they had a segment on Hassa Helal, a Saudi Woman who finished third in an enormous (and lucrative) poetry competition in Abu Dhabi and how the poem she wrote and read on live TV criticizing the fatwa has meant she is now living under death threats. I have tried to track down video of her reading her poems, but they're so far not turning up. The linked article has a partial translation.

At any rate, it was a decent program segment, apart from one (fairly important) factor: they never showed an entire reading of the poem from beginning to end, or even more than three stanzas at a time. This is pretty ridiculous: one can assume that watchers of a show about books can read subtitles without becoming bored.

In this case it also had the very unfortunate effect of silencing Helal--the segment was on how her poem had earned her death threats from the clergy, but we never got to hear the whole poem. And to make matters worse, the following discussion consisted of trying to take this issue to some sort of abstract level of talking about poetry in general--it was bizarre and infuriating. Political/protest poetry (as this must be categorized) is a very particular genre, and it comes off as positively stupid to talk about an author living under death threats as if she is working under conditions that resemble those a Swedish author work under. I just--I'm too angry to be coherent. It was awful.

To make matters even more problematic: the authors taking part in the discussion were all white. Which, when they were so naive and weird about what she was doing (missing the point entirely, you might say), was really hard to watch. I left the room halfway through when one of them said something like, "I just don't think poets care that much about political issues." Right. You've never had to.

And all of it just--look, we only allow certain voices authority, so of course all the people participating in the Discussion of Informed Commentary were white. Of course Helal wasn't allowed to read her whole poem, because--I can't even come up with the rationale for that one. I can't--yeah, coherency is escaping me.

I'm going to rewrite this into some sort of coherent non-emotional academic-sounding Swedish and email the program creators, yes I am.

But while I'm discussing representation, can we all agree to think about it more? In the realm of fiction as well as real life. Keep an eye on who is speaking, on who gets to be the avatar of the human experience in a work of literature or film, on who is given authority, who gets to explain, on who is cast as good (and many-layered), who is the funny helper, who is the villain. In your own writing and in the things you see and read.

Ours is not a world where voices are allowed equal weight, and quite frankly I'm beyond tired of having to walk around in a world where white straight dudes get to speak for me but I somehow get to speak for Kitty, because my white trumps her black even when we're both more or less queer women. None of it makes any sense; none of it is fair.

Watch the representation in your own creations (see if you can have a random doctor be a woman and a professor be a POC, and if you find yourself writing a story where the villain is the only POC character, perhaps think on it a bit), watch for it on the news, yell about it when you get the chance. And if someone can find a video of Hassa Helal reading her poem, please let me know, because I want to repost it here and email it around. She deserves to be heard again and again and again.

Comments

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

"I just don't think poets care that much about political issues."

Oh, no no no no no.

What you're saying about voices and representation is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. Thank you for posting about this.

[desfinado.livejournal.com]

This is unfortunate to hear, and I couldn't agree with you more. Thanks for sharing it. You should definitely write that letter!

My job right now is working with aboriginal people and, as a white girl, I am always trying so hard to listen and learn and respect, to be soooo mindful of my privilege. But just yesterday I got all excited about taking a workshop on native plants and asked my supervisor if they could pay my registration fee. All he asked was: "is the native plant workshop taught by native people?" and right, of course, it WASN'T because I didn't think of it -- I don't have to think of it because of my privilege. I was definitely humbled... it's a learning process!

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Right? Right. She said it more eloquently than my paraphrasing conveys (she happens to be quite a good poet) but seriously. They were all so--I can't come up with a better adjective than naive, and it's not strong enough.

You're most welcome! I've noticed you thinking about it in little asides in your journal, writing entries or no. It's something I'm concerned with a lot--that's not saying I don't fail at it too, but I'm trying. Changing blond hair into braided dark hair, that sort of thing.

When I do write my longer and hopefully more articulate post, I'm going to talk more about the virtue of Random. ETA: because sometimes minor characters make a lot of difference too, in creating a world that is peopled by many voices. Defying expectations.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

I will absolutely write that letter. Ugh, they should know better.

Oh man, it definitely is a learning process. Like discovering you've written about a blond girl again (original stories, not fanfic) and having to smack yourself in the forehead and change the hair to braids and fix it. Because Not Every Character Symbolizing Joy Should Be White, which should not be this hard. I felt really stupid. It's a learning process and a work in progress but the most important thing is that we do work on it, right, that we do catch ourselves doing it.

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

It's something I'm concerned with a lot--that's not saying I don't fail at it too, but I'm trying. Changing blond hair into braided dark hair, that sort of thing.

*nods*

I know what you mean. I find that being conscious of the choices I make in writing helps me make better choices and pay more attention to what I'm doing wrong. For me, it's been a process of turning off defaults I never thought much about and making the choice of which characters are speaking and whose story is being told an active decision. Sometimes it's very significant things and sometimes it's small things, but I've found that the act of taking control of those decisions - of not letting subconscious conditioning decide whose story is most important - makes me more able to try and try and try to get things right.

We can't change anything if we're not conscious of what we're contributing - good or bad or both - and when it comes to the very personal act of writing, paying attention is easy. There's no excuse not to. (My patience with writers who clearly never look beyond the perspective of white men has dwindled to essentially nothing lately. I don't feel bad about this.)

[redbrickrose.livejournal.com]

This is really a great post. Thank you.

[kyasuriin.livejournal.com]

the representation thing in fiction is tricky. I think there's a fine line between representation and tokenism. I read a really good article on it not too long ago and I wish I remembered where I read it - either a literature blog or magazine, but as if I can remember which one - where they talked about both and questions to ask while reading/writing. (it was sort of like this but less point-formy).
I've been sort of playing around with an original fic idea where the protagonists best friend is Indian. She just sort of jumped into my head fully formed that way (possibly because my best guy friend is Indian but who knows) and it wasn't a deliberate 'insert POC here' thing but the article made me think about it more, made me wonder if that was how it would be seen.

IDK. I tend to be sort of naive about the world that way :\ (but at least I recognize I am and am trying to get into different thought patterns)

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

Your post makes good points. I'm looking forward to reading the longer one you mentioned. I like your point on representation and it reminds how easy it easy to over look problematic representation in fiction when I'm really getting into the plot.

I found a partial translation of Hassa Helal's poem at the bottom of the page but it doesn't seem to give a link to the full poem. The article did mention that Hassa Helal is also known as Rimeyyah but I wasn't clear if that is the name she write under.

Out of curiosity have you seen the latest issue of Simmon's Bird of Prey?

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

Ps. The one thing I wonder is if maybe the show was worried about negative reactions if they aired the entire poem>

Anyway, is a video of her reading the whole poem with English subtitles.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

For me, it's been a process of turning off defaults I never thought much about and making the choice of which characters are speaking and whose story is being told an active decision. Yes, that. Because it IS a decision. Most of the time we don't make it consciously, because the world defaults to white (ostensibly straight) dudes and their manly angst, and so it's easy to fall into the same patterns. But I think it's important to be aware of what we're doing here--and honestly, also, it's getting boring to read the same stories over and over and it's not an accurate representation of the world. Seriously.

I always think of Ocean's 11 when I start thinking about representation. Because seriously, I love that movie (I'm very fond of charming conmen plots)--except that it makes me sad. How easy would it have been to make the crew more diverse (and have even ONE WOMAN)? SO EASY.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

It's pretty--I'm not happy with the writing, but I'm happy with what it says.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

And I think that's totally important! To not have the one character of color for the sake of having a character of color while the rest of the cast is white. That's not really what I'm after here though--it's the general worldview where white dudes are the most important voice, always, and they're usually given most of the authority in RL and on the page/screen. I know it's a basic post and I don't get into the nuances (there were many posts during racefail that did), but the TV segment just hit me over the head with the blatantness of who is allowed the authority to speak. So that's what I mean when I say 'random,' you know? Make the authority figures in fiction something other than white men. It matters.

Also, if you want to write that story, write that story. I think it sounds like a good idea.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

That's a good point! In this case, though, they showed enough of it from all the bits and pieces that they'd be getting negative reactions either way. :(

THANK YOU. SO MUCH. ♥!

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

It really is! Also because we're so used to seeing the world from one perspective only, you know? Sometimes it's staggering, the way white straight dudes make up most of many fictional universes. It's just not like the real world, you know?

You are so awesome for finding that video. Seriously.

I have indeed! I wanted it to be longer--it was very much a set-up issue, but I liked it! And I'm really excited to see where she goes with it. It's great to read her comics--there are so many women there.

[x_dark_siren_x]

and it comes off as positively stupid to talk about an author living under death threats as if she is working under conditions that resemble those a Swedish author work under

Okay, I admit I was maybe a tad confused on - not what you were saying, but how to contextualise it in my mind. I think it's a combination of not having seen the show and just waking up. But then you said that, and there was this horrible clunk in my head were everything just sort of fell into place.

"I just don't think poets care that much about political issues." No. No no, no no no. Do they even read poetry outside their own little bubble? I'm not a big, big poetry fan (though that is slowly changing, mostly thanks to you) but even I know how much fail is in that sentence. It practically screams privileged.

Ours is not a world where voices are allowed equal weight, and quite frankly I'm beyond tired of having to walk around in a world where white straight dudes get to speak for me but I somehow get to speak for Kitty, because my white trumps her black even when we're both more or less queer women. None of it makes any sense; none of it is fair. ♥ Quite simply, yes. I'm noticing it more and more - whether because I'm older, paying more attention or just, circumstances and people around me have changed - but yes. Everything you said there.

If you do find a reading of it, let me know?

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

*points up* T'is in the comments (and in my most recent entry). I wish the translation given in the subtitles was less awkward, but you do get the gist of what she's saying, which, ow. She did this on TV in front of millions of viewers. Millions. It's not the original video from the show--I imagine they're not allowed to repost that, but it's her doing a full reading.

I'm kind of an enormous poetry fan (surprise surprise) and it drives me crazy when writers don't realize that the ability to not relate their work to the world is a luxury. I'm not saying they should write differently, but I'm saying I want them to see how lucky they are.

[mrsquizzical.livejournal.com]

thanks so much for this post. much food for thought here.

[kyasuriin.livejournal.com]

yeah, sorry, I got distracted by the bit at the end and forgot to comment on the actual post. I do know what you mean. It's so frustrating. RAWR!

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Hey, I thought you were being totally relevant--it IS true that it's easy to make a couple of background (stereotypical) characters POC, or in the RL equivalent, give a job to a woman who is not perceived as a threat.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's just really important to me, this.

[modillian.livejournal.com]

Yes, I get what you're saying. It's very disempowering that the hosts were so inept at relating to her and not getting the meat of her work. It's not just good enough that a diverse group of people can talk, but that they also can have a medium/audience that is responsive to them and welcoming to their communication so they can be understood fully. Bits and pieces incoherent do not make a whole. :\