The thing with telling “cliche” stories, but with representation, is… these stories aren’t cliche for us.
Picture this. The people at the table next to you have been getting chocolate cake as a dessert for YEARS. After every meal, they get a chocolate cake. Now, it’s been years, and the people at that table can barely stand chocolate anymore. They want maybe a cheesecake. Or lemon mousse.
But your table? Has NEVER had chocolate cake. Mousse is also good, but you are SO hungry for that chocolate cake, cause you never had it before, and it’s brand new for you, and you’ve been watching the other table eat it for YEARS.
That’s what’s like getting a “cliche” story that’s representative. Has it been done a million times before? Yes. Has it ever been done for US? Well… no. Maybe it’s the 500th chocolate cake in existence, but all the other chocolate cakes weren’t meant for us (girls/PoC/queer folk/disabled folk/etc)
So it being cliche is not a bad thing. You may not want chocolate cake anymore. But we want our slice too.
This post got a bit of traction! FYI, my original point was about The Dragon Prince!
I don’t care how many times Elves, Dragons and Medieval Europe have been done before. Now it’s Elves, Dragons, and Medieval Europe — only people of color exist, women constitute half of the population, and disabled people are living their best lives. THAT hasn’t been done to death before. THAT isn’t cliche for us.
It’s maybe the FIRST TIME many of us get to enjoy “Elves, Dragons and Medieval Europe”. This is our first chocolate cake. I don’t want it to be smart and substitute chocolate for strawberry. I JUST WANT MY DAMN CHOCOLATE CAKE. I’VE WAITED FOR IT GODDAMNIT.
Incidentally, the same point can be made about Eragon. Whine all you want it’s Tolken-fanboy-plagiarism. I can’t hear you over the sound of WOMEN FUCKING EXISTING.
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bullshit central 