*g* I think the key to the first post is not that there isn't racism in Britain or Ireland, but just that it is configured rather differently than it is in the States. So there are many people (chiefly people who in the States would be called Hispanic) who in Britain would be percieved as being white.
(Queue my confused conversation with someone over whether Groves from PotC was white or not, because yes, he has a sort of olive-skinned Roman/Spanish look to him, and to me Spanish = European = white but tanned, but the person discussing him with me felt he had been deliberately cast because he looked non-white.)
I agree that in the case of Ronon, even in Britain I don't think he would be seen as not Black. However, Ronon looks, to me, more Maori than African-American, which comes with yet a different historical set-up. Not better, of course, but different. And Teyla... I don't know about her. If I saw her walking down the street I *wouldn't* automatically think she was black. I would probably think she was mixed, which is again a different set of issues.
So yes, sometimes there are genuine cases of culture clash going on when you're talking to fans of different cultures. But, having said that, this whole debate has made me realize that I don't tend to write CoC, and think I should do something about that.
As a PotC fan, I've always avoided writing the pirates, because I don't like pirates, but I think I'm going to have to make an exception for Anamaria (who is, in any case, a far better character all around than Elizabeth.) And I'll finally get round to writing that Mike/Vaughan fic I've been wanting to do for ages in 'Ultraviolet.'
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-08 11:21 am (UTC)(Queue my confused conversation with someone over whether Groves from PotC was white or not, because yes, he has a sort of olive-skinned Roman/Spanish look to him, and to me Spanish = European = white but tanned, but the person discussing him with me felt he had been deliberately cast because he looked non-white.)
I agree that in the case of Ronon, even in Britain I don't think he would be seen as not Black. However, Ronon looks, to me, more Maori than African-American, which comes with yet a different historical set-up. Not better, of course, but different. And Teyla... I don't know about her. If I saw her walking down the street I *wouldn't* automatically think she was black. I would probably think she was mixed, which is again a different set of issues.
So yes, sometimes there are genuine cases of culture clash going on when you're talking to fans of different cultures. But, having said that, this whole debate has made me realize that I don't tend to write CoC, and think I should do something about that.
As a PotC fan, I've always avoided writing the pirates, because I don't like pirates, but I think I'm going to have to make an exception for Anamaria (who is, in any case, a far better character all around than Elizabeth.) And I'll finally get round to writing that Mike/Vaughan fic I've been wanting to do for ages in 'Ultraviolet.'