See, afaict there are two sorts of critical analysis: One sort is figuring out what the author was really saying (on purpose or by accident) in the context they were writing in, which is where you can complain about racist stereotypes etc, but you have to consider the time it was written etc very carefully. The other sort is just about "constructing a reading", says the author is dead, and makes no claim to objectivity, and afaict people doing that sort of reading don't complain about sexism etc in the text.
BUT whenever I've said this to people who've done english degrees etc they get a very pained expression, so I may be missing the point. But that's how I see it, and in this sort of context am doing the first sort of criticism :)
Certainly I don't see analysing subtext as being the be all and end all of anti-racism or what-have-you. It is, as you say, diagnosing a symptom. On the other hand, in my opinion racist messages in the media help perpetuate racism, so by complaining about them we can hopefully cut down the prevalence and change people's attitudes. And hey, the way I got into anti-racism was via a conversation about the racist subtext in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", so it has had a positive effect on at least one person :)
Yes, the fact that orcs are light grey does make the whole thing ping as much less racist to me. And I still love the books and movies even if they are a bit racist and rather sexist. Heck, I love plenty of stuff which is quite blatantly sexist/racist etc, doesn't mean I can't criticise it, same way as I complain about bad acting or whatever.
no subject
BUT whenever I've said this to people who've done english degrees etc they get a very pained expression, so I may be missing the point. But that's how I see it, and in this sort of context am doing the first sort of criticism :)
Certainly I don't see analysing subtext as being the be all and end all of anti-racism or what-have-you. It is, as you say, diagnosing a symptom. On the other hand, in my opinion racist messages in the media help perpetuate racism, so by complaining about them we can hopefully cut down the prevalence and change people's attitudes. And hey, the way I got into anti-racism was via a conversation about the racist subtext in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", so it has had a positive effect on at least one person :)
Yes, the fact that orcs are light grey does make the whole thing ping as much less racist to me. And I still love the books and movies even if they are a bit racist and rather sexist. Heck, I love plenty of stuff which is quite blatantly sexist/racist etc, doesn't mean I can't criticise it, same way as I complain about bad acting or whatever.