[ SECRET POST #2937 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2937 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 056 secrets from Secret Submission Post #420.
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

[fscom]

10. http://i.imgur.com/8yDZPbp.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

So... like Anne Rice's vampires?

[(Anonymous)]

Actually wouldn't Anne Rice's vampires be super vulnerable to sunburns

Since they're, you know. vampires. who are killed by sunlight.

[cushlamochree]

Whatever anyone else says, I can completely understand the appeal of a fantasy about never getting sunburn.

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds creepy to me. But I guess Tolkien's elves are supposed to be a bit creepy...

[(Anonymous)]

"Just fyi, pale skin isn't exclusive to the so-called "white race"."

Jesus fucking Christ, this.

It's one of the things that bugs me about the Tamora Pierce fandom, honestly. Her books aren't perfect, I know that! But soooo many people act like there are literally no POC's in her books, and then refuse to acknowledge that Thayet is not described as white, but as having "pale skin" and "black hair".

But no, even if you read Thayet as Asian, there aren't any "POC's" in her books. Because Asian women don't count, or something, IDK.

Again, her books aren't perfect, but if you're specifically looking for more Black representation, say so, don't couch it in terms of wanting more "POC" representation, and then make the assumption that everyone is white.

[(Anonymous)]

Wait, what the fuck? Where are people getting the idea that Tamora Pierce has no POC characters? In the Circle of Magic series several characters are explicitly described as having dark skin, for fuck's sake. Here's a pic of one of the main characters:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Pierce_ColdFire.jpg

As you can see, she is very clearly black. No POC characters my ass!

[(Anonymous)]

+1

I go to an urban school mostly populated by Latinos. I have lost track of how many times someone has tried to shut down my opinion because my skin is milky white and oppression isn't even a concept to me.

I'm fucking Eastern European Jewish. You want oppression? Let's go, bitches. I've got at least 2000 years behind me that goes right up to my parents in the USSR. Not to mention the childhood where every middle eastern event meant my private Hebrew school had to hire Israeli security to make sure no one went after us in retribution. For that matter, we had some of the strictest warnings and fear put into us I have ever heard of. Don't walk anywhere alone in your uniform, no matter what age you are. Don't take the same way to the synagogue and school every time. If someone swears at you ignore but get away and indoors immediately. This was in the US, and the advice was damn relevant.

I almost never feel comfortable in a group of "white people". Their experiences are so different to mine that I don't know where to start. In school my best friends were POCs with immigrant backgrounds like me. That was an easier level to relate on.

[(Anonymous)]

Ha, this.

Pale skin is a "beauty" trait in a lot of cultures that have nothing to do with white people. In most of Asia it's because pale skin meant you were rich or noble and got to stay indoors while the peasants and farmers working in the sun got tanned. Characters being described as having flawless white pale skin meant delicate and ethereal and wealthy, not caucasian. It has nothing to do with white people. But white people love to think everyone wants to be them.

[(Anonymous)]

You like what you like. Someone that pale would be ethereal. The not sunburning would be a bonus.

Also, elves. How you feel about mythical creatures should have nothing to do with real people. People who think it does are projecting their own baggage.

[(Anonymous)]

Not actually related but I've just finished watching Fellowship of the Ring and goddamn I love Legolas.

[elaminator]

I do too! Legolas was always one of my favorites in the books, and I love the ridiculous faces Orlando Bloom makes in the background of these films.

[lunabee34]

High five, Nonnie!

We just watched Fellowship tonight, and it was even more glorious than I had remembered.

[dancing_serpent]

*g* Same for me. So many gorgeous Legolas scenes in both LotR and the Hobbit movies.

[(Anonymous)]

OP, I hate to say it but I agree. I imagine elves as very very fair, and ethereally beautiful. Like Tolkien elves, as the ones in the LOTR movies at least.

It's not that I'm opposed to darker skinned elves at all, but I guess if my image is skewed toward a European look (and I wouldn't even necessarily say that, I don't like elves looking too "human", I like them looking fey and beyond human), I suppose it's because I like reading Norse sagas and mythology, who I think invented elves in the first place?

[(Anonymous)]

This.

Elves are pale because they are fey, meaning from beyond the veil. Fey also has connotations of death.

Transcript

[(Anonymous)]

Image: promo pic of Arwen

Text: In my imagination, Tolkien-style Elves are not only fair-skinned, but superhumanly so. They never ever get even the slightest tan, but (here’s the kicker:) they never sunburn either.

“You’re fetishizing paleness! Have you thought about the implications?” Yes, I have, that’ s why this is a secret. Just fyi, pale skin isn’t exclusive to the so-called “white race”.

[(Anonymous)]

Tolkien fetishises pale skin himself. How many times does he describe the elves as fair? Not that they're necessarily white. They're non-human so it doesn't apply in the same way.

What I'm saying is that OP you're not getting this from nowhere. It's part of the European fairy tale background of the stories to value pale skin.

[lb_lee]

Not gonna lie, I'd LOVE to read about sunburned elves. It happened in ElfQuest and I really appreciated it.

But then again, my favorite kinds of fantasy are when fantastical beings have to deal with things like constipation and sunburns like everyone else.

[(Anonymous)]

At the moment, if I'm reading something where the author keeps talking about a character's pale/milky/white skin, 90% of the time I will read that character as being Asian. I think it's because there was a period where I was reading a lot of Japanese light novels etc. where people constantly go on about super pale skin.
Basically characters described as having pale skin will nearly always read to me as not white, which is kind of weird now I think about it.

[(Anonymous)]

This is just tangentially related to your last statement, but boy, am I tired of people complaining about pale South American or Spanish characters. There are plenty of pale people born in those places, internet. Seriously.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree. I view them as pale. The same with a lot of European creatures (fairies, elves, etc.). Any time I see stories with Tolkien Elves who are not pale, it usually feels like it's about representation only. I don't feel like Elves (or Dwarves or Ents) should be viewed as humans, meaning that the usual diversity is not necessary. The monolith race doesn't bother me with fairy creatures.

I do think drows (is that the name?) are interesting, though I've never been in a fandom that had them.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for mentioning that non-Europeans can be fair. :)

[mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com]

I personally don't see a problem with this idea, though I would add the idea that if a half-elf (like Arwen) will stop being that way if they make the decision to be human. Maybe it takes a while for it to set in, as their more ethereal nature fades away.

Then again, the numbers of half-elves in Tolkien are always very low, so serious study of this is impossible in Middle Earth.

[(Anonymous)]

Idk why, but I think I've always imagined elves blending into their enviroment. So like forest elves having skin that matched the bark of the trees.