Haven't seen the current ep, but
Oct. 24th, 2009 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lotesseI would be fascinated to see an analysis of historical race - as opposed to historiographic race - then-thoughts, not now-looking-back-at-then-thoughts - in Merlin. Using the non-genetic theories of skin pigmentation - anyone who lived in a hot place would look like that eventually! - and maybe even looking at Celtic Fringe stuff.
I'd even love to see a historiographic reading from someone in the UK re: the Celtic Fringe thing. How does the Irish Morgana look through contemporary UK pop culture? And what would her status as an oppressed person be, historically speaking, in relation to Gwen's?
(Obviously, I'm a white girl living in the US. Race here has a particularly, um, hardcore history here. And also obviously, a lot of the people in this fandom are both chromatic and white people living State-side, so our historiography of Gwen and Morgan sort of has to come from the viewpoint of our history. But I know enough about medieval European race theory to know that I don't know much, and I do think it would be cool to read the show through that lens, as well as the one drawn from our own contemporary culture/life experience.)
eta: if this is problematic wittering, feel free to tell me off. I'm pretty much pulling this out of nowhere, and that subconscious nowherespace does tend to be where the icky programming resides.
I'd even love to see a historiographic reading from someone in the UK re: the Celtic Fringe thing. How does the Irish Morgana look through contemporary UK pop culture? And what would her status as an oppressed person be, historically speaking, in relation to Gwen's?
(Obviously, I'm a white girl living in the US. Race here has a particularly, um, hardcore history here. And also obviously, a lot of the people in this fandom are both chromatic and white people living State-side, so our historiography of Gwen and Morgan sort of has to come from the viewpoint of our history. But I know enough about medieval European race theory to know that I don't know much, and I do think it would be cool to read the show through that lens, as well as the one drawn from our own contemporary culture/life experience.)
eta: if this is problematic wittering, feel free to tell me off. I'm pretty much pulling this out of nowhere, and that subconscious nowherespace does tend to be where the icky programming resides.
Re: almostinstinct: bottled history, may contain glaring errors!
Date: 2009-10-25 05:48 am (UTC)Throughout the 1800s, Gaels (Irish and Scottish) were seen as "subhuman" and "colored" undesirables, and treated accordingly.The Highland Clearances (1725-1850) were part of the effort to stamp out Gaelic culture, and the Potato Famine in Ireland pretty much finished the job over there. Entire villages were emptied out, by starvation or migration, and left to moulder in the highlands. Sheep overran the pastures and hills where Highlanders used to live.
Having rid themselves of those pesky Gaels, the English looked at the empty villages and the tragic, downtrodden survivors, and thought "Oh, how tragic! How Romantic! How primitive!" (These are the bastards who invented Heathcliff. Remember that.) The idea of a Celtic "fringe" of Noble Savages, clinging to the edges of the modern world, was very appealing. It had some basis in reality, but the label still came from the society that had stamped out the Celts in the first place. Out of that movement came the Celtic Revival in the '20s, which had an emphasis on languages- Gaelic, Old Irish, Welsh- and which was the beginning of modern Celtic studies, etc. The taint of Romanticism hasn't quite faded, and I doubt if it ever will, but there you have it.
Re: almostinstinct: bottled history, may contain glaring errors!
Date: 2009-10-25 05:51 am (UTC)Caveat: the sources for this are post-Clearance, I think. I'd have to check my notes. There's no reason a chieftan couldn't screw his clan over. ;p
Re: almostinstinct: bottled history, may contain glaring errors!
Date: 2009-10-25 05:06 pm (UTC)Re: almostinstinct: bottled history, may contain glaring errors!
Date: 2009-10-25 09:43 pm (UTC)