The politics of color, wizard-style
Westernization is so ubiquitous it is not only contained in this dimension of time and space; it has spilled over to the realm of high fantasy as well. The general assumption in fantasy is that the heroes and main characters are white, basically Western. If someone is dark and less-than-good-looking (curious how these two traits seem to always go together), he is undoubtedly a member of the big baddie's legion of doom and would go on to be decapitated in the battlefield.
Until the Earthsea Cycle. Ursula Le Guin dares to challenge the norms of Westernized fantasy: why shouldn't the hero be dark-skinned? (Or more importantly, why shouldn't the hero be dark-skinned AND good-looking?) Why shouldn't the morally upright people of power look like sun-baked natives? Why shouldn't society resemble anything other than Europe in the Middle Ages?
Earthsea is a vast archipelago with a temperate climate, populated for the most part by brown-skinned people whose ways of life revolve around the sea. (Hmm, sounds like a country I know.) Magic in Earthsea is governed by Equilibrium, by Balance. I like how the use of magic has certain consequences -- whereas Harry Potter and his friends can cast spells here and there, the boy Ged was deaf and mute and blind for days after weaving a difficult spell. A Taoist theme is evident in that magic is supposed to be in harmony with the world: it should let things be as they are and must only be used to restore balance. So although a great mage can conjure up a comfy bed and whisk away rainclouds so easily, he goes to sleep on the ground under the pouring rain, much to the chagrin of his weary prentice.
What is also remarkable about the Earthsea Cycle is that there is no big baddie. There's no Sauron building up his grand army to fight the batttle to end all battles. There are even no battles -- at least not ones so hackneyed as good guys and bad guys hacking away in an open field. The conflicts are among and within the people and their beliefs and their understanding of the world they live in, which I've found to be more compelling than the archaic good versus evil storyline. The entire series is very philosophical and existential. It goes beyond the mere entertainment value of typical high fantasy to actually make you think. And while there are allusions to good versus evil, it throws you for a spin by asking, is what you've always believed to be good in fact truly good?
In this era of cardboard-cutout fantasy books fashioned to be as sellable as possible, the Earthsea Cycle is in a class of its own. I just hope and pray that Ursula Le Guin is the kind of writer I think she is and that she'd never allow Earthsea to be butchered by the biggest baddie of all -- Hollywood.
Until the Earthsea Cycle. Ursula Le Guin dares to challenge the norms of Westernized fantasy: why shouldn't the hero be dark-skinned? (Or more importantly, why shouldn't the hero be dark-skinned AND good-looking?) Why shouldn't the morally upright people of power look like sun-baked natives? Why shouldn't society resemble anything other than Europe in the Middle Ages?
Earthsea is a vast archipelago with a temperate climate, populated for the most part by brown-skinned people whose ways of life revolve around the sea. (Hmm, sounds like a country I know.) Magic in Earthsea is governed by Equilibrium, by Balance. I like how the use of magic has certain consequences -- whereas Harry Potter and his friends can cast spells here and there, the boy Ged was deaf and mute and blind for days after weaving a difficult spell. A Taoist theme is evident in that magic is supposed to be in harmony with the world: it should let things be as they are and must only be used to restore balance. So although a great mage can conjure up a comfy bed and whisk away rainclouds so easily, he goes to sleep on the ground under the pouring rain, much to the chagrin of his weary prentice.
What is also remarkable about the Earthsea Cycle is that there is no big baddie. There's no Sauron building up his grand army to fight the batttle to end all battles. There are even no battles -- at least not ones so hackneyed as good guys and bad guys hacking away in an open field. The conflicts are among and within the people and their beliefs and their understanding of the world they live in, which I've found to be more compelling than the archaic good versus evil storyline. The entire series is very philosophical and existential. It goes beyond the mere entertainment value of typical high fantasy to actually make you think. And while there are allusions to good versus evil, it throws you for a spin by asking, is what you've always believed to be good in fact truly good?In this era of cardboard-cutout fantasy books fashioned to be as sellable as possible, the Earthsea Cycle is in a class of its own. I just hope and pray that Ursula Le Guin is the kind of writer I think she is and that she'd never allow Earthsea to be butchered by the biggest baddie of all -- Hollywood.
posted by loffy at
12:10 PM
