they're just examples of bad writing that also happen to betray prejudiced views
I guess this is in some ways true (depending on your definition), but if most readers don't notice because they are also prejudiced then I think it's useful to distinguish that from "most people would recognise it as such" bad writing.
I didn't make this at all clear but: to those authors, getting angry for no reason, or being a cannibal, are inherent to being female/aboriginal. Thus they don't need to be explained, and any reader who shares their prejudices will agree and not notice any flaws. I come across this a LOT with the motivations of female characters in stories written by and for men.
For a real life example I've noticed(*): french characters in english novels written before about 1940. They can be quite nuanced and varied and seen as Real People, but there was a general attitude back then that french people were more passionate and irrational etc and this definitely shows in the characters. See, for example, Villette by Charlotte Bronte where pretty much all the characters (including the romantic lead) other than the protagonist are french, and (as I remember from having read it YEARS ago) have a lot of variety and feel 3D but are still all Very French.
(*)Not that anti-french sentiment is a major injustice right now, but it is an example of "Well motivated characters who are still irritatingly stereotyped due to misconceptions of the author"
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I guess this is in some ways true (depending on your definition), but if most readers don't notice because they are also prejudiced then I think it's useful to distinguish that from "most people would recognise it as such" bad writing.
I didn't make this at all clear but: to those authors, getting angry for no reason, or being a cannibal, are inherent to being female/aboriginal. Thus they don't need to be explained, and any reader who shares their prejudices will agree and not notice any flaws. I come across this a LOT with the motivations of female characters in stories written by and for men.
For a real life example I've noticed(*): french characters in english novels written before about 1940. They can be quite nuanced and varied and seen as Real People, but there was a general attitude back then that french people were more passionate and irrational etc and this definitely shows in the characters. See, for example, Villette by Charlotte Bronte where pretty much all the characters (including the romantic lead) other than the protagonist are french, and (as I remember from having read it YEARS ago) have a lot of variety and feel 3D but are still all Very French.
(*)Not that anti-french sentiment is a major injustice right now, but it is an example of "Well motivated characters who are still irritatingly stereotyped due to misconceptions of the author"