07.01.07
Writing Superheroes: Ninth Post (The Stories Children Tell)
I’m impressed with the sophistication of the children’s stories, but not particularly surprised. They are telling stories that reflect the world around them, of which they are very aware. Why shouldn’t those stories be complex? The world is complex and they know it. The fact that it is largely the middle-class white girls who have an issue with race, especially when it comes to romantic encounters, is not a surprise either. They almost certainly don’t encounter mixed-race couples in their everyday lives as often as the other kids who have a higher chance of living in or next to a family containing at one (or more). It just means that we need to work on those perceptions, broaden the field of what seems ‘normal’. It’s kind of sad, in it’s way, though.