list of entities considered historically accurate by the merlin fandom:
- halter dresses
- a bastet
- giant baby rats
- a lamia
list of entities considered historically inaccurate by the merlin fandom:
- a living and breathing black woman
I am not in the least bit racist. There are no shortage of examples when I have stepped up to speak out on behalf of women of color in a multitude of contexts, so don’t make assumptions about me.
Among other examples, I have frequently applauded and encouraged the inclusion of women of color in many different fictional contexts. In this one, however? The legend is full of white people due to the region and time period in which it takes place. That’s just the way it is, if we’re going with historical accuracy. And although I have no complaints about the writers changing that up on the Merlin BBC show, it is simply artistic license. There’s no historical or canonical precedent for it whatsoever, so it’s difficult for me to see how this marginalizes black people if an author chooses to borrow various elements from the original legends in order to tell the story from her own perspective.
If someone took a character who ha historically been of color and cast a white actress to play her, then I’d totally agree that that is an outrage. Similarly, if people of color are left out of stories that take place in settings where they exist/existed in real life, I’m right there with you, just as I am with purely fictional worlds where the ideal in my mind is that people of all races should be included.
But if your story is taking place in a historical setting where basically the entire population was comprised of Normans, Anglos, and Saxons, I don’t think it’s wrong to consider writing a character in a way that reflects that. I don’t think it’s wrong that the writers of the show chose to change up the rules either. I just don’t think either side deserves to be criticized for two different interpretations that are equally valid in their own ways.
It’s an issue of all women for me (rather than women of color), because I actually thought Angel Coulby was well cast and did a brilliant job with the material she was given. My only objection was that the material was lacking – I wanted more for her character in terms of development, and I was extremely disappointed that the repertoire she was given was so limited outside of being Arthur’s love interest, especially in the later seasons. That’s me identifying with the desire for ANY female character, of color or otherwise, to be developed with the depth and nuance that is routinely afforded to male characters.
I hope this clarifies things. If not, I do apologize for causing offense, but I stand by everything I said.
I don’t think it’s wrong that the writers of the show chose to change up the rules either.
CHANGE UP THE RULES!
I love how this defense of ‘let’s write a white Gwen for Merlin fanfics’ is it’s okay to whitewash this character as long as you write the character well. Or even better, the reverse racism argument where Gwen stans apparently hate all previous, and presumably, all future versions of Gwen because they were white, so yeah go ahead and whitewash that.
I hate everything about this fandom.
And I’m trying to decide how to portray Gwen.
Should she be black and dark featured like in the show…
Or blonde and light featured like she’s traditionally portrayed…
What do you guys think?
Message me which you would prefer! =)
well op aren’t you a piece of shit
this is a legimate question
someone is asking this?
I’m being punk’d, right?
I’m being punk’d
I think it would all depend on the personality and character that you are going to give her. If she is more like the Gwen on the show, then you probably could make her like her, otherwise you probably could use the blond haired blue eyed version if she fits your fiction. Honestly it all depends on which version fits your writing. Good luck deciding
Um no. if they’re writing about merlin, then it doesn’t depend on which version fits their writing. Erasing a character of color and making them white, when there are so few characters of color in the first place is racist end of. Merlin’s gwen is a mixed race women end of. If she wants her writing to reflect racism, then she can go right ahead and erase her, but let’s not kid ourselves here; it’s fucked up.
People can characterize gwen however they want without erasing her freaking skin color, which is not just another minor detail, it’s actual freaking important.
THE. WORST. FANDOM. EVER.
Merlin & Hands
guys, the one time i would’ve reblogged a post with Bradley…this was it…you let me down op
To people who followed me for one specific fandom, I am so so sorry
This speech still pisses me off. Arthur did so little in his kingship to combat tyranny, greed and spite. He spent all of S5 chasing after Morgana to exact revenge. Why did you ruin my king, Julian Murphy????
I’ll refute your arguments in two ways. The first will be a better explanation of why this speech doesn’t work using some of your examples and the then I’ll response directly to your counter argument and explain why your examples doesn’t bolster your claim.
First, the speech doesn’t work because it doesn’t make any sense. The use of the word tyranny in the context of the speech suggests that neither the writer nor Arthur understands the definition of tyranny. Arthur is the king and Morgana is not, therefore Arthur is the only one who can be the tyrant because he makes the rules. Greed? What greed? I didn’t see anything about greed all through S5? Again, Arthur’s the king, so the lion share of the kingdom’s worth ends up at his table, so again greed??? I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Spite. Okay, yeah, Morgana was being spiteful you could argue, but so what? You fight a war against spite??? That seems trivial. So the speech is poorly written just as it’s written because it doesn’t make any bloody sense.
Now for the second part. Your examples, if nothing else, suggest that Arthur is selfish and a hypocrite. Arthur as king can use and justify his use of magic for his own benefit, while outlawing it in his kingdom and a) depriving others of its benefits and b) causing others to die by forbidding it.
tyrant I know that one time he happened upon an old woman who almost burned on the pyre and he saved her, but what about the others that weren’t lucky enough to die in the path of one of his hunting trips?
As for your Morgana arguments. My criticism of the speech was related to Arthur and his actions, not Morgana. Morgana fought for what she believed in and in the end I understood her character and her motivations better than Arthur. Arthur, to this day, I don’t know what he believed in. This Arthur welcomed devious people into his castle so he could learn the secret to defeating Morgana which nearly got him killed as a result of it. This Arthur used Mithian’s circumstances so he could fight Morgana. Gwen even questions it. (Personally, I didn’t disagree with this tactic because I thought it was rather smart, but there’s no need to romanticize an opportunistic motive and call it valiant.) This Arthur made the right decision to take Kara’s life, but couldn’t convince his faithful knight Mordred why he had to make that choice. This Arthur seemed weak and unworthy of a great legend and reincarnation.
This Arthur was poorly written and this speech encapsulated why. It’s a product of lazy writing. A good rule of writing is: Show Not Tell. Merlin and it’s characters suffered because the writers did more telling than showing, instead relying on the audience’s willingness to believe. It didn’t work for me because I was still waiting to be convinced that this Arthur was that great king. I suppose if you already believed that he was a good king then you didn’t need much convincing.
When people call Gwen useless and a damsel in distress then say ‘if only Merlin had saved Morgana from going evil’ ‘they could’ve had it all!!!!’