Discussion What’s the most racist thing you’ve seen in a novel?

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by OldManGu, Apr 27, 2021.

  1. dreamdaisy

    dreamdaisy Well-Known Member

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    I totally agree with you. It's revealing the low IQ of the author.
     
  2. Bright_Lucky_Star

    Bright_Lucky_Star [Previously Known as OrdinaryUser] The Blessed One

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    Time to remove novels in this thread from my reading list
     
  3. Nao Otosaka

    Nao Otosaka Well-Known Member

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    Maybe, calling out to the dark-skinned or coloured population? I can't remember/pinpoint the names but I did notice ones(novels on NU, not sure about anime/manga since I used to watch them as a kid and don't have clear memory regarding those stuff) who have categorised the 'mixed race' as slaves/tribes and the cruel torture methods/their inhuman behaviour, etc. I won't name this game(well, with the clues it might be easy to guess) but it does have a bit of 'racist' stuff, like making tribal people as the targets to be attacked/killed and in some 'voice-over' dialogues calling out to dark-skinned characters/undermining their values. Being from a population who is relatively dark-skinned/wheat coloured skin, it really doesn't board well. So, really do hope that 'racism' doesn't get continuously mentioned in these works, be it intentional or not.
     
  4. aShinyVaporeon

    aShinyVaporeon Well-Known Member

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    To be fair, I'm pretty sure author was just lazy with the worldbuilding so she went the nationalism route for the other "countries". For one, I only remember two other countries other than the MC's basically future China - Twilight (Japan) and Caesar (European? Not too sure but I think they are Caucasian). Anyway, author was really lazy with making the political structure - language is magically the same and somehow there aren't any other big federations. She basically needed opposing countries, so she just made them do bad stuff look dumb, and then the MC would exact vengeance.
    Nationalism, sure, but I don't think it's racism since there aren't really any places where the MC discriminates people due to their race or descent. It seems all foreigners she meets are all directly opposing her already due to being on different sides. Author just uses them as convenient punching bags. And, anyway, the MC actually shows little blatant patriotism -- she doesn't laud the Huaxia Federation, and that actually makes some sense considering the cutthroat and unfair politics shown in their military and leadership.
    Maybe I missed some instances of racism though, it's been a while since I read this novel.

    And, ah yes, the strange case of discrimination during the apocalypse when everyone ought to be trying to cooperate.


    Lets see, I've seen some lowkey racism against black people in Chinese media, mostly depicting random antagonist's goons number 1, 2, and three as random black people, but I dunno if that's even considered racism? Maybe the goons look tougher if they're black? I don't remember reading any Korean or Japanese novel with a black person in it.
    In terms of racism against Japanese people, I'd say it's more common in Korean novels. I've never read one where there's a sympathetic Japanese character. But maybe that's because I don't often read Chinese novels where characters interact with Japanese people. Could also be that otaku culture is slowly infiltrating China and making them less resistant to Japan or something.
     
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  5. kkgoh

    kkgoh Well-Known Member

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    Nationalism and racism tend to have a lot of overlap.
    Especially for countries where one race forms a sizable majority of the population (e.g. China, Japan, Korea).

    Nationalism is identifying with and supporting your own nation, at the detriment of other nations.
    Racism is when you're prejudiced and discriminatory against other races, based on any perceived differences in appearance/culture.

    The racism flag is really kinda obvious ... when a different race enters MC's country, and they are automatically biased/discriminated/villainized, regardless of their country of origin. I don't have to tell whether they are English/French/German.
    e.g. EVERY non-Chinese celebrity that enters China MUST be out to con poor, gullible, hardworking Chinese (Korean oppas, white Hollywood actors, etc).
    EVERY Japanese female celebrity that enters China MUST be a porn star.
    EVERY white person entering Korea (regardless of which country) must be out to screw KR women.
    EVERY black/white person (usually American) entering Japan must be taking away JP women.

    If I got a penny for the number of times the above tropes happened, I would have ... a lot of pennies.

    To be fair, a lot of Asian countries had a colonial history, so I can understand why there's a lot of anti-Western prejudice baked into novels. A lot of Asian countries had previous conflict with one another too, and that sentiment shows up a lot.
    I don't think all is good on the other side of the world either. The English/UK still don't like the French. The Americans (white) don't like all Hispanics coming across the border.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2021
  6. Daitengu

    Daitengu Well-Known Member

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    Mate, that reminds me of the raw deal black people get in hentai doujins. Always drugs or NTR is involved.
     
  7. Sutad Aatma

    Sutad Aatma Well-Known Member

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    You'd be rich if you had a penny for every time something like this happened. It is unsurprisingly extremely common, I wish authors were bit more creative and formed a more sensible way of collecting aggro.
     
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  8. SAimNE

    SAimNE Well-Known Member

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    The guy beat the "strongest" hunter into a bloody pulp while using his own forte and not using any powers. It's not racism, is "mc super strong power fantasy porn".

    EVERYONE is weak as fuck whenever the mc is doing something to show he's super strong. UNLESS they are acquaintances or have their own mumen rider style arc on the background.

    Also there is some slight race bigotry, but it's not particularly aimed at any particular other target. It is nationalistic. Korea, and thus koreans, always looks slightly better. Though the "traitors" who left korea to take better jobs are going to get clapped. So it's obviously not solely race related, but more strongly tied to the nation. However that's like complaining that america is usually part of the good guys in marvel comics.

    Think it might have to do with their primary audience BEING that culture. When dude started writing this, having a bunch of nuffians reading along and holding discussions over his story, probably wasn't exactly a primary consideration.
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2021
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  9. Sutad Aatma

    Sutad Aatma Well-Known Member

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    An unrelated example that I just found, in Kill the Hero, author uses nationalism, and actually justifies why the Japanese are portrayed in bad light. He has managed to show the imperialism of Japanese without using them as cannon fodders. They are whetting stone no doubt. But they are more of minor boss instead of just ey xyz-san came and hurled some slurs. he stupid af. the characters are shown as calculating but they are heroes in the wrong novel, which leads to their defeat.
    It also shows how perspective can easily switch opinions. It is a good example of how the authors could make use of the bad points of another country without stereotyping the entire populace.
     
  10. Joospinch

    Joospinch Don't click my avatar!!!

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    Hmm, i remember a cn that compared a black person to an orangutan. Oh boy
     
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  11. KhayDesu

    KhayDesu ❀Rᴇᴀᴅιɴԍ Eɴтнusιᴀsт❀ | ★ᴅᴇsu~★ | ✿Loquᴀcιous✿『☕』

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    I've read a Jp series that got its novel in hiatus status because of racist stuff like the Mc killing 5000+ chinese people using a Katana and talking explicit crap about Korea and China

    PS that novel Actually released 3 novels before someone pointed it out like wth man
     
  12. Nightow1

    Nightow1 Well-Known Member

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    Congratulations, you have just discovered the 3 countries that hate each other the most lol. It affects the writing. After all, it's rare to see them hating on Indonesia or Singapore for example, just specifically the 3 same old culprits in a mutual hate relationship.
     
  13. reagents 11

    reagents 11 disaster personified

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    Man you really dig too deep to find such trashy writing. That wasn't even racist that's just outright wishful crapola delusions of extremely immature minds.
     
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  14. Kutaifa

    Kutaifa Pokémon trainer

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    There was this korean story where a white european leader calls a black hunter the n-word. Like with the hard r. And apparently that was okay because she knew him and didnt mean anything bad.

    I instantly dropped that shitty ass story. I vividly remember the comment section going off and the TL writing a in text note that the usage of the slur was disturbing or something.
     
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  15. Thraximus

    Thraximus Active Member

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    Nationalism is just liking your own country, and there is absolutely nothing bad with that, what you are describing is closer to chauvinism.
    Other than that everything you said is spot on.
    I'd also add to the tropes, that its not just about individuals. In Korean novels for instance, the Japanese government is always trying to shaft the Korean government, and the Chinese government is often incompetent and needs to be saved by Korea(while also scheming behind their backs.). I mean the vast majority of Korean novels I've read, that focus on the real world, always have the same order of things. Shit happens and the world is in a crisis > people who can stop the crisis start appearing > Korea is looked down upon > WOW the strongest person in the world is actually Korean > Japan and / or China try to kick Korea down, for usually no apparent reason other than ,they are bad guys > MC single handedly stops them > everyone recognizes Korea as the most powerful nation in the world and begs at their feet for salvation > MC proceeds to save a handful of countries while letting untold millions die(its ok when they die if he is unable to save them, but most times he just doesn't even if he is able to) > MC saves the world.

    Though in all fairness some of the best novels I've read are Korean as well, as long as they aren't set in the real world they are usually very good.
     
  16. Saorihirai

    Saorihirai Well-Known Member

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    not the worst, but I hate when darker skinned people are referred to as "Blackie". Not that I didn't already know their disgusting colorist tendencies but it's so disturbing:blobconfused:
     
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  17. LollipoPReapeR

    LollipoPReapeR Frequent visitor of the Yellow Springs Resort

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    Black people/Africans are often treated as subhumans in Chinese books.

    I mean it’s a common saying that if you’re black, you’re unlucky.

    If this was Qidian, I wonder if the author would get a commendation...?
     
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  18. Saorihirai

    Saorihirai Well-Known Member

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    And they extend to literally anyone who has a darker complexion. like I've seen them plain call anyone who is not pale, even other chinese characters ugly, unlucky, or just evil because they aren't pale. Not surprising every dark african person is made the evil guy. Like I remember seeing this video one time of a chinese commercial which was advertising a glow up of sorts. And the before guy was a black guy and the after guy was a pale chinese person. A lot of the people said that was racist and they shouldn't have done that but instead, they should have put a darker skinned chinese person and a pale chinese person as the comparison.

    Lol they are so messed up in every way.
     
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  19. Chrono Vlad

    Chrono Vlad 『Banned From Drinking』

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    As someone living in SEA it's common knowledge that we SEAs hate fellow SEAs on way or the other.

    I think it was because that author posted some racist comments on Twitter someone dug up his past posts.
     
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  20. kajess

    kajess Member

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    I haven't read the novel but I read that this certain novel (forgot the title) said something about buying 200 Filipinos as slaves.
     
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