Non-Humans R Us Newsletters

Stereotypes

If you’re a fan of Johnny Depp, and a fan of Western movies, or was a fan of the original The Lone Ranger radio or TV series, odds are that you might have seen the recent 2013 movie, The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp as Tonto, and Armie Hammer as John Reid (the titular Lone Ranger). Now, we could argue for days as to whether or not the movie was a success, about whether or not Johnny Depp should have gotten the role of Tonto, or any of that stuff. However, if you’ve ever seen the Original series, you’d notice that Tonto’s always going along with what the Lone Ranger says, saying “Yes, Kemo Sabe.” In the 2013 movie, Tonto’s like “Hell no, Kemo Sabe,” and is always arguing with the Lone Ranger. As it is, the phrase is different- in the original the phrase meant “Great Scout” and in the 2013 movie in meant “Wrong Brother”- very different approaches.

Now, if you’ve seen the way Johnny Depp acts, in the character of Captain Jack Sparrow, you’d notice that he behaves much like a Fool, just a slightly different outfit. Depp seems to have used some of this comedic behavior with his interpretation of Tonto, but gave him a slightly more serious side. In the film, Tonto criticizes virtually every one of the Lone Ranger’s plans, at least up until Reid realizes that “when the law is corrupt, you’re better off being an outlaw”. The original Tonto of course, tended to go along with all of the Lone Ranger’s ideas, and rarely said a word against them.

What this newsletter will deal with is stereotypes. I’ll be talking about those images that are forever stuck in our heads, and can give us false ideas about a group of people.

For instance, in many Westerns, Native Americans are either portrayed as “wild” savages or “tame” loyal servants, and are rarely shown to be smarter than a child. You never see a clumsy white man falling out of the saddle, unable to get up, with a whole bunch of Indians looking at him and one of them saying, “You do realize that only an idiot rides like that,” and most of the others laughing at him, as the Native Americans always portray that chiseled stone face, with no emotion, not even a twinkle in their eyes, or even struggling to keep themselves from laughing. Sure, part of it might have to do with their upbringing, and they can control their emotions as a result, but everyone laughs at some point.

Then there are the stereotypes about the size of a race’s maleness- those of African ancestry are said to be larger than those of European ancestry, with the Asians being on the small side. I’ll be honest with you; I tried to find out for myself by asking my one co-worker, who is of the darker complication, if there was any truth to the story- told him that someone had betted a $100 dollars that wouldn’t get a response. I’ll be honest with you, I’m glad that he was in a good mood, because he just smiled, and laughed at it, and my face was so red with embarrassment, that a Native American would have said, “Him be of Blushing Tribe.” Of course, he was taller than me by a few inches, so you can probably guess a couple of things. Of course, I never did find out the truth of the matter, and I don’t plan on asking about it again- safer to be the guy who can’t tell a good joke, as opposed to the guy who offends everyone with racial stuff.

Similar stereotypes exist within Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror. After all, some creatures bring out that fear response, while others seem to be just too cute to be evil. For instance, we all assume that zombies are evil creatures, and that unicorns are good ones. What if it was the other way around? What if the zombies were the good guys trying to stop those unicorns from taking over the world?

Now, let’s take a look at Ogres. Most as looked at as big, dumb, lumbering brutes, who only speak simple phrases, like “Me smash!” Well, what if the creatures had an intelligence that equaled, if not exceeded, that of Einstein, or Hawking, or some other such person? What if they thought things out at a million miles an hour, and spoke so fast, that the human ears could only catch bits and pieces of it. For instance, while we might have heard the ogre say, “Me smash!” in reality, the ogre might have said, “Given the armor that you are wearing, it would be best for me to hit you in the chest. This will smash in that armor, breaking the ribs beneath it. One of these broken ribs will pierce your lungs, causing you to die.” Of course, another possibility is that they dumb-down what they are saying, so that humans can understand them. For instance, a human and an ogre might be trying to escape some place, only to be stopped by a locked door. The human might be yelling and yammering, while the ogre studies the door, coming to the conclusion that an appropriate amount of force would take care of the hinges, and thus grabs a sledgehammer, and smashes the door down. Ogre then looks at the human and says, “Me smash.”

There are even the origins of the creatures to consider. Maybe they are really aliens stranded on Earth, and have been so for hundreds of years- Gordon R. Dickson used that in his book Gremlins, Go Home! Or, maybe they are descended from humans who were exposed to one form of radiation or another- Terry Brooks used that in his Shannara series, about a future Earth devastated by nuclear war, some of the survivors being mutated into dwarf, troll, and goblin-like creatures, with some humans having magic powers- coincidentally, elves show up (actual elves, not mutants), and they have to do battle with these dark forces that try to take over the planet. Then there’s Anne McCaffrey’s “Dragonriders of Pern” series- her dragons, and other similar creatures, were created by a genetic biologist for the purpose of fighting Thread, a deadly space-borne organism.

As it is, dragons have their own stereotypes. For a long time Western/European dragons were seen as harbingers of doom, death, and destruction. Even in current movies and stories, you have a number of dragons that cause death and destruction. However, there are stories about helpful dragons, especially those of the Eastern/Oriental variety. Of course, such stories have become more popular in recent years. Most of the time, the stories are Fantasy in style, set in a Medieval-type of word. Others though, are clearly not.

Now, let’s look at the Setting. Most Fantasy items are set someplace that’s out of the 1300’s. However, there are those that are set in more Recent settings, like Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon series, featuring a British Royal Navy captain, who has to leave the command of his ship, when a dragon egg captured in battle hatches, and the dragon responds to him, thus joining Great Britain’s Air Corps, which is filled with those who ride dragons, and use them for fighting. Then there’s Robert Asprin’s Dragons Wild and Dragons Luck, which are set in the French Quarter of Modern-Day New Orleans, and follows the adventures of a gambler named Griffen McCandles, who is really a dragon in human form, and his various friends, some of whom have their own abilities.

As you can see, there are so many stereotypes, it’s hard to discuss them under one heading. You have the creatures themselves, their origins, not to mention the setting. However, if we can break free of these stereotypes, that’s when we can create something truly great.