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Stereotyping the Horde

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the zug-zug-indeed dept.

Terra Nova is having a discussion today entitled Cultural Borrowing in WoW, looking at the cultural references made in relation to the Horde (Jamaicans for the Trolls, Native Americans for the Tauren) and what that means given the Horde's reputation as Evil. From the article: "I want to talk about how science fiction and fantasy often engage in this type of borrowing -- most 'new' things are just old things recoded. For instance, the Wikipedia entry on Klingons points to the Soviets, Mongolians, and Japanese Samurai. In most cases, I think this whole process of cultural encryption, mash-up, and recoding is fun -- perhaps what good art is all about. Looking particularly at WoW, though, I have to wonder sometimes..."

2 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. Uh by Ryvar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Speaking as a white male caucasian and die-hard fan, Star Trek is pretty fucking offensive in its borrowing of racial stereotypes.

    Klingons - black skin, brutish, unintelligent, hyper-aggressive, extremely athletic and possessed of a mystical earthy wisdom that's a direct rip of the "magic negro" phenomenon. They're a condensed version of every stereotype about Africans.

    Romulans - intelligent, devious, amoral, harsh semi-collectivist government, yellow skin, slanty features, related to 'emotionless' creatures. Condensed version of every stereotype about Asians.

    Ferengi - greed-obsessed swindlers of the lowest sort with bulbous ugly noses, comical ears, and they are constantly lusting for Federation (read: Caucasian) women.

    It's all there, plain as day. Obviously in the Klingon case there's been importation of 'good' cultural elements like an honor system, etc., but the basic stereotypes are glaring. Tolkein doesn't score much better, either. At least Dune, as the nerd classics go, has the decency to glorify a non-European race.

    --Ryvar

    1. Re:Uh by Rakarra · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Romulans - intelligent, devious, amoral, harsh semi-collectivist government, yellow skin, slanty features, related to 'emotionless' creatures. Condensed version of every stereotype about Asians.

      You're probably right about the Klingnons and maaaaybe the Ferengi, but I disagree with your trying to add Romulans to the racist stereotype list. Intelligent, devious, amoral? Sure, all those were true. Harsh semi-collectivist government? I don't remember the Romulan government, other than it was harsh, but I'll go along with that assessment. Yellow skin? Erm, no, the Romulan skin pigment was the same as that of their white-bread cousins, the Vulcans. Slanty features? Certainly not in the facial features and eyes. The closest you might come is they all have bowl haircuts and long, straight eyebrows. Hell, all the Federation needed to do was give Deanna Troi a bowl cut and long eyebrows and she fit in in appearance with the Romulan society. So no, I don't think the Romulans fit into many asian stereotypes.