I was checking out video reviews on YouTube for fourth wing and I came across a short where the person said she doesn’t often read heterosexual books anymore because she’s gay but that she read fourth wing it was so good and said nobody is talking about the amazing disability rep. Which made this question pop into my head and this is not directly aimed at the woman who made the video because I don’t know whether this represents her or not as I’m not her. So it’s just more of a general question. When were giving a review for a book and there’s representation in it that does not relate to us because we are not experiencing what is being represented. Are we allowed to say/decide whether it’s good rep or not? Or should only the people it is representing be allowed to decide this?
by yolouat
6 Comments
Yes, you can and should vocalize when you think a marginalized group is represented well in media, even if you aren’t part of the group. It’s important information, and even if you end up being challenged or decide you were wrong later on, at least you’re thinking critically about the media you consume, and you’ll do better next time.
As for how to know if the representation is good, it’s not a science but mostly you just want to look for whether it’s a realistic portrayal and it reflects on the history of their oppression instead of playing into stereotypes or “tokenizing” them. A lot of men don’t know how to write women for example and will just have them think about their husbands or their children 100% of the time (ignorant/one-dimensional stereotypes), or their sole purpose will be to help/motivate the male protagonist (tokenize).
You are allowed to have, and voice, opinions on any topic you choose
Well, people belonging to the group in question tend to be most informed about it as well as most likely to notice the problems in bad portrayals. So I’d definitely give the most weight to their opinions—particularly when the opinions of group members contradict those of non-members.
Which I’ve seen go both ways. Fans of a work often praise the representation in it even when it’s not actually good *and* they don’t belong to the group just because they like the work. Conversely, meddling virtue-signalers have been known to attack portrayals that group members themselves thought were quite good.
Of course everyone can have their opinions, and groups tend not to be homogeneous. Some members may like a character others hate. But it’s important not to drown out group members on stuff they know best.
my go-to is to say “well, I liked it” if I did, and then keep myself fully open to hearing from other voices. same thing when I didn’t, I guess.
I mean…..I’m part of a particular ethnic group and I don’t feel I have any idea really if a particular character is great rep because I’m just ONE person. What does great rep even mean? I mean people are people.
For eg, I saw a criticism of something in a book where a character chooses a certain food. Someone said oh no way, that would never happen, it’s not realistic.
I mean for real? People don’t walk around as a monolith. If you read about my ethnicity and you think it’s bad ‘rep’, go for it, say it. I don’t really care, a character is just a character and is only representative of that character unless the book IS actually trying to represent an entire race with one person.
People aren’t reps for their race. People who think they are need to get a personality beyond an accidental, random thing that you had no say in. Congrats, your parents of the same ethnicity had sex. Woo.
I mean, I’m more likely to believe it’s good representation if people who are part of the group being represented say it’s good rep. For Fourth Wing, I haven’t read it myself, but I’ve heard several people who have the MC’s condition say they thought the disability rep was bad.
I think it’s important to recognize the representation in your review regardless, and you’re allowed to say if you thought it was good or bad, obviously, ideally with an explanation of your reasoning. If I’m interested in how good the rep is, I’ll seek out reviewers who mention being part of the represented group. They tend to be more knowledgeable about the nuance of their identity and how it’s represented.