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Even if on the surface the in-universe beings are from another species, that isn't necessarily a get out of jail free card. People can and will read between the
by chucksmash 12y ago
Even if on the surface the in-universe beings are from another species, that isn't necessarily a get out of jail free card. People can and will read between the lines.
This happened in the context of sci-fi when The Phantom Menace came out. I remember reading criticisms of both the Gungans[1] and the Trade Federation aliens as weakly veiled racial stereotypes.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jar_Jar_Binks#Allegations_of_racial_caricature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jar_Jar_Binks#Allegations_of_ra...
- TillE 12y agoBut the Phantom Menace stuff is terrible because it's very similar to real-world racial stereotypes. Except for the orc problem (ie, sentient beings we are free to kill), I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with having fantasy races with very broad physical and social similarities. Humans are distinctly weird in a lot of ways if you step back and think about it.