Question...

[concertigrossi]

I could bore you with the details of my trials and travails of the last three months, but I can't stomach the rehash. I can't even make the oft-broken promise that I'll post more often. Let's just say it's been a growth opportunity and leave it at that.

But I've got a question:

What are some good literary examples of a three-dimensional racist/sexist/homophobic/anti-semitic character?

Because that's quite a trick, these days, right? I just read "The Help," and the main antagonist is an almost cartoonish caricature. All she lacks is a Snidely Whiplash mustache. But, while there certainly are Snidely Whiplashes in the world, they couldn't have driven the Holocaust or the Jim Crow laws without the support of the majority of ordinary people.

How do you accurately portray the banality of evil?

Comments

[stasia]

Dolores Umbridge. Banal and yet incredibly evil.

I don't know that she's exactly three-dimensional, but she's a very chilling example of the Banal Evil. Admittedly, we aren't supposed to sympathise with her, but I hear her language, her narrow-minded beliefs from people currently running for office.

Stasia

[concertigrossi.livejournal.com]

That's the thing - I don't want anyone to sympathize with the character. Lately, on his blog, Ta-Nehisi Coates has had some very good discussions about racism and how it's portrayed, particularly how the racist characters tend to be wholly and totally evil. And that's a definite improvement - the mass culture has decided that Racism is Bad, and I have no argument there.

The problem is that people are then able to compartmentalize. Racists are trashy people like Bull Connor, so the viewer/reader can say, "Well, I'm not like THAT, so I'm not a racist." If they're not out lynching people or campaigning for segregation, then they're ok, no matter what else they believe. And then trying to get them to examine their beliefs hits a brick wall, because OMG YOU JUST ACCUSED THEM OF CROSS BURNING.

[soubie.livejournal.com]

The problem is that people are then able to compartmentalize. Racists are trashy people like Bull Connor, so the viewer/reader can say, "Well, I'm not like THAT, so I'm not a racist." If they're not out lynching people or campaigning for segregation, then they're ok, no matter what else they believe. And then trying to get them to examine their beliefs hits a brick wall, because OMG YOU JUST ACCUSED THEM OF CROSS BURNING.


My god, yes. The number of times I have heard someone go nuts about the suggestion that they were bullying or deriding someone on account of their race, where they took the attitude that, because their cruelty was supposedly colour-blind it was fine.... (that's not quite what you said but I think it logicially follows.)

My uncle also has a habit of claiming that whenever a non-white employee is dissatisfied then they instantly pull the 'race card'- the last time he said this he mimed showing a card, just in case we didn't get what he meant.