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Horowitz warned from creating fictional black character

Infinite Chaos

Infinite Chaos

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Author Anthony Horowitz says he was "warned off" including a black character in his new book because it was "inappropriate" for a white writer.The creator of the Alex Rider teenage spy novels says an editor told him it could be considered "patronising".
Horowitz wanted a white and black protagonist in his new children's books but says he is now reconsidering.

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Horowitz ~ said there was a "chain of thought" in America that it was "inappropriate" for white writers to try to create black characters, something which he described as "dangerous territory". Link.
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Haven't read any of the Alex Rider novels and never will but thankfully Horowitz is based in London and will be free to create black villains / heroes for his novels. Can't believe anyone thought a white writer shouldn't create black protagonists in literature.

For the criticism to come from the US is surprising, Denzil Washington for example played the villain brilliantly in "Training Day."
 
While some stress authenticity by way of an actual black voice, others may say that forcing white writers to contemplate the black experience may help. This sort of dialogue happens back and forth within minority communities. I see it all the time within the disability community.

I, on the other hand, look at these arguments as less than the top of my priorities.
 
I'm getting so tired of this country's fixation on race and cultural identity.

Being an American, and putting the Constitution first, is supposed to supersede this crap!
 
Infinite Chaos said:
Haven't read any of the Alex Rider novels and never will but thankfully Horowitz is based in London and will be free to create black villains / heroes for his novels. Can't believe anyone thought a white writer shouldn't create black protagonists in literature.
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I've no time for this kind of nonsense, and I don't believe in 'cultural appropriation' either. We're heading down a slippery slope if we start to tell artists what they can and can't express from their imagination. They have to tell their own truths and we can express our reactions to that art, not censor them before they even set pen to paper, brush to canvas or chisel to marble.

In the case of Horowitz though, I do wonder whether the remark made to him was informed by his past record of making slightly dodgy, racially-tinged comments about Idris Elba.
 
Stan Lee is white as white can be, and he's been writing prominent black characters since the 60s and 70s.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
Haven't read any of the Alex Rider novels and never will but thankfully Horowitz is based in London and will be free to create black villains / heroes for his novels. Can't believe anyone thought a white writer shouldn't create black protagonists in literature.

For the criticism to come from the US is surprising, Denzil Washington for example played the villain brilliantly in "Training Day."
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Somebody, somewhere said something vague? Sounds like somebody has a publicist shilling a book for them.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
Haven't read any of the Alex Rider novels and never will but thankfully Horowitz is based in London and will be free to create black villains / heroes for his novels. Can't believe anyone thought a white writer shouldn't create black protagonists in literature.

For the criticism to come from the US is surprising, Denzil Washington for example played the villain brilliantly in "Training Day."
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It's ridiculous that a "white" writer is being told not to create a black character. I've written 35 novels. I've created black characters, hispanic characters, native american characters, female characters and male characters. Based on what this author is being told, authors can only create characters of their own race... does that also apply to gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs? As a fiction writer myself, I find this notion offensive and repulsive.
 
Bet it was the publisher in key markets that made this "warning". Unless I missed it, the article does not mention who the publishers are... Philomel Books in the US, and Walker Books in the UK. I suspect it is Philomel that is the problem. Its parent company is the UK based Penguin Books.

You see this kind of bs all the time in entertainment, where networks, publishers and so on, basically dictate that only so many black, asian and so on actors are allowed.
 
Chomsky said:
I'm getting so tired of this country's fixation on race and cultural identity.

Being an American, and putting the Constitution first, is supposed to supersede this crap!
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The problem is that historically speaking minorities have been denied their constitutional rights because they are minorities. That tends to cause people to emphasis their cultural background rather than their nationality.
 
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