[ SECRET POST #2795 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2795 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.
[Law & Order: Criminal Intent]


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03.
[Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers]


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04.
[Jeeves and Wooster]


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05.
[Yahtzee/Zero Punctuation]


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06.
[Markiplier]


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07.
[Jackie Chan Adventures]


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08.
[The Parent Trap]


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09.
[Alexander]


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10.
[Starsky and Hutch]











Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 012 secrets from Secret Submission Post #399.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Where is it indicated in the first chapter? I'm asking just for clarity, because I don't have a copy to hand, and I haven't read it in many, many years and don't remember how it's described either way.

[likeadeuce]

To be totally honest, I just re-read this book recently and I *still* didn't see the 'obvious' description. I am not suggesting that people who got that out of the text are wrong but I feel like I'm being kind of thick about this. I mean, Gaiman's prose is sort of dense and allusive, I don't think missing outon it is a very good social justice litmus test.

[peablossom]

A guard comments on his ethnicity in the first chapter and describes him with several racial slurs.

[(Anonymous)]

In my paperback copy, page 12 is the first hint that Shadow is maybe not white:

"I don't get you, Shadow," said Wilson, as they walked.
"What's not to get, sir?"
"You. You're too fucking quiet. Too polite. You wait like the old guys but you're what? Twenty-five? Twenty-eight?"
"Thirty-two, sir."
"And what are you? A spic? A gypsy?"
"Not that I know of, sir. Maybe."
"Maybe you got nigger blood in you. You got bigger blood in you, Shadow?"
"Could be, sir." Shadow stood tall and looked ahead, and concentrated on not allowing himself to be riled by this man.

It's not too in your face about it, but Gaiman's clearly trying to sneak in physical description of his main character via the interrogation with the prison guard.

[(Anonymous)]

So the first things he asks is: are you varying types of european-white? Then he asks, are you part black?

But the first thing he assumes is latin and people are surprised readers aren't going "I KNEW IT, HE'S BLACK"?

@_@

[(Anonymous)]

"Spic" is racist slang for Hispanic. While there are certainly very light skinned Hispanics and Latinos who might look white, chances are that this prison guard isn't referring to them since he goes on to ask if Shadow has "n------ blood" in him. Ditto "gypsy".

I take it to mean that Shadow has dark hair and darker skin tone, but is still ambiguous in terms of race but is definitely not white.

[(Anonymous)]

If you're not American (especially if English is not your first language) you likely won't catch "spic", and "gypsy" to a European doesn't imply anything about skin colour. The line about "nigger blood" is more obvious though.

[(Anonymous)]

how is spic meant to imply european white.

[(Anonymous)]

Is spic not used for hispanic people all over the world? Sorry, maybe I'm getting my definitions wrong. What exactly does it imply?

[(Anonymous)]

where i come from (the u.s.) it is a catchall term for dark skinned hispanics, exclusively latin@s

i have never heard a white hispanic/latin@ called a spic

[(Anonymous)]

There's a term for South Americans in general that is mostly used in Spain: Sudacas.

[(Anonymous)]

A "spic" is an offensive slang term that in no way refers to someone who's "european-white". While a "gypsy" can be, plenty of people expect all three of those groups the guard lists as having dark hair and swarthy/dark complexions. That's why the guard rattles them off as possibilities.

Think about it. Your interpretation makes no sense. It'd be like walking up to someone and saying, "Hey, what are you, Swedish? Irish? Chinese?" You wouldn't be likely to do that because one of those things is not like the other. So your idea that the guard is listing off two white groups and one mixed race one is incorrect.

[(Anonymous)]

Huh. I'm not white or hispanic and I legit thought white-skinned "spics" and "gypsies" existed, so probably that's where I got confused.

[(Anonymous)]

nayrt

They do exist... but those pejoratives generally do not get applied to them simply because they "look white".

[(Anonymous)]

I think that translators might be biased OR not knowledable in slurs OR not wanting to translate them in order to be politically correct.

I've read the Polish version and I remember Shadow's skin tone description somewhere in the end when he had been talking with Mr. Wednesday. In the beginning he only had been given black hair.

Though, no excuses for English version (neither the Polish one I've read as it's mentioned he's black).

[(Anonymous)]

As I said further down, I always assumed that this particular scene was yet another way to set up Shadow as a character that people have trouble grasping.