Decolonizing: Racebending Pros & Cons.

Warnings: Discussions of racism, incest (Russingon// Maedhros x Fingon), homophobia

Below is the edited transcript for my podcast episode: Decolonizing: Racebending Pros & Cons. Keep in mind that it was written to be a podcast, and while I have edited, I've also kept much of the same ‘podcasty’ verbiage in it.

Good morning, day, or night to all who’re tuning in! I want to thank you all for stopping by and taking the time to join in and read this article. Today we’re going to be discussing race bending, what it is, why it’s good, and why it’s not so good.

To begin, what is race-bending? And why is it important?

Race-bending is the act of taking a character that belongs to one race (usually white), and reinterpreting them as another race.

This has been done in both fandom and in actual canon.

For instance, if you’re a fan of NBC’s Hannibal, then you’re familiar with Jack Crawford who is played by Laurence Fishburne. However, it’s important to note that the original Jack Crawford from Silence of the Lambs was not portrayed as such, and was insteast cast by a white actor. Similar to this is Aquaman, who was originally drawn to be a caucasian superhero, but is now played by Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa. Lastly, Elementary, a CBS modern day rendition of Sherlock, casts Lucy Liu, an Asian American actress, as Dr. Watson, whose role has traditionally been given to Caucasion men.

It’s important to note that the role being changed to that of a woman is also incredibly important and progressive as well.

There are endless other examples of race bending in canon, but these are some of the examples that stick out to me the most.

This is also done in fandom.

If you’re familiar with The Silmarillion, the prequel to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, then you’re familiar with Fingon. Fingon is a character in The Silmarillion who is often portrayed by the fandom as a black elf with box braids. If you’re not familiar with Fingon, know that canonical he has never been described as dark skinned, and paralleled with the rest of his Noldo-kin,we don’t have reason to believe that he is actually dark skinned.

Non-Tolkien fandoms do this as well, taking characters of different races/ethnicities and portraying them as different races. For instance we have fans headcanons Barris and Luminara, the first racebent as South Asian and the second race-bent as black (they are from the popular series Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Aziraphale and Crowley, from Amazon’s Good Omens have also been race bent as North African and South Asian, and even characters from Naruto and Dragon Ball Z have been racebend as black.

Lastly, fans have also envisioned Lúthien and other Tolkien characters as East Asian and South East Asian.

At surface level, this is a good thing. Especially in the case of Fingon. It’s a great thing. Tolkien’s universe is notoriously white, and the Noldor elves are notoriously colonists. Portraying and accepting a headcanon of a black elf is amazing, especially when fantasy has been very adamant about keeping people of darker complexions out. And for fandom to actually accept such a headcanon, to the point where it is canonized into fanfictions is even better.

For all of the trouble Black!Fingon may cause (which we will get to later), it is an incredibly progressive headcanon, as it not only portrays one of the ‘better’ Noldor as black, it makes it easier for black fans to feel accepted. For black fans such as myself, interacting with Tolkien has always been like walking on eggshells. Especially when he has done so much to cast us as villains, or orcs, or side characters. Therefore, seeing a character--an elf--that looks like us, in a fandom that is incredibly Eurocentric, is inviting and validating.

It can work as a way to encourage a more diverse Tolkien fandom. Black!Fingon was a huge reason I felt comfortable in the Silmarillion fandom.

That said, Black!Fingon, as well as other racebends that follow this recipe are not always helpful. And we’ll discuss why. Notice that I mentioned that Black!Fingon is good at a surface level. And keep in mind, surface level is in no way bad. I already discussed how important this surface level is. But that’s just it...a surface level. Tolkien’s work itself is heavily, heavily drenched in colonialist undertones--some of these “undertones” quite overt. And fandom is very hesitant and outright hostile when discussing just how deeply these undertones operate. Acknowledging that racism and colonialism have infected every inch of our loveable characters does not bode well with fandom.

Not only are we not allowed to go in depth about just how racist the text is, but the fandom maintains this racism by gatekeeping just how deeply we can discuss it, thus acting hostile to fans of color.

What does this have to do with black Fingon?

Keep in mind that using black characters is an excellent way to attract black fans and other fans of color, and with other fans of color comes discussions of racism, especially as their lived experiences are taken into account. This could be said of fans who identify as women as well. Without women involved in fandom, we would not be able to identify sexism within the fandom and in the text due to the importance of their lived experiences. This is why, despite Tolkien having so many strong characters who identify as women, we are allowed to have discussions of sexism because the text itself can be read as sexist due to the women who have read and contributed conversation.

But this all becomes an issue when fans of color are attracted due to how progressive it seems on the outside, only to be met with hostility.

We have a fandom that seems accepting of people of color due to race bends, only for racism to be taboo, or to be controlled by a white gaze. And suddenly race bending becomes less of a way to make a fandom more progressive, and more of a way to get clout or fame, to get followers, and to attract likes. Racebending is now nothing more than slapping a bandaid on a knife wound, and expecting things to be okay.

While race bending opens conversation for a fandom to be a more progressive place for people of color, if fans are only willing to race bend and not deal with the work of further decolonizing that comes with it, then we’ve done a great disservice to people of color wanting to insert themselves in spaces that have been historically barred from them.

This was kinda the case with Finn, a character portrayed by actor John Boyega in the recent Star Wars trilogy.

While Storm Troopers don’t have a single race, the majority have been white. Thus casting a black man as a stormtrooper and presenting him as a possible force sensitive character was incredibly huge. We believed he would be a Jedi.

Of course this didn’t happen, and Finn was treated badly, as were the other characters of color.

After we had all seen The Force Awakens and met up with each other, my cousin said one thing to me that I will never forget in regards to Finn. “The joke was on us.”

On one hand having characters of color attracted a lot of fans of color. On the other, we were met with racism and a fandom that was not willing to discuss just how deep that racism went.

But it doesn’t have to be like this! Race bending can indeed be used to its full extent, fandom just has to take certain steps to ensure it’s used accurately. So what are these short steps?

1. Listen to discussions of racism--even when it makes you uncomfortable. This may be the biggest one, but many people are reluctant to discuss topics such as racism and sexism because it makes them uncomfortable. But without getting through these sour feelings, we won’t get anywhere.

1. Boost the voices of people of color who discuss these topics! You may not understand everything, but you can help and learn by engaging and boosting the voices of those who do talk about racism. Chances are, if you’re a famous fandom artist, you have a large platform. And even if you don’t, if you use racebends, consider this. Use it to help folks get the message out, especially since creators of color/fans of color may not get that much exposure.

1. Lastly, diversify your friend circle. Try to become friends with fans of color who actively discuss racism and social justice (if your friends of color are giving you a slap on the wrist for being racist, then maybe they’re not the ones you need to be around), and sit in their discussions of racism. Boost them, not just regarding racism, but general fandom. Normalize discussions of racism just as we have begun to do discussions of sexism.

On another note, it’s also important to look at the context that we’re racebending, and learn to be committed to decolonize it further. Because while Fingon is black, he is still a colonialist. And at the same time, it’s important to address how many fans will portray characters who identify as men as black, while characters who identify as women are usually white or fair skinned, thus contributing to the idea that blackness equals masculinity and whiteness equals femininity. Because for as many black Fingons as I see, I don’t see that many black Aredhels. Or Galadriels, or Lúthiens, or Arwens.

And lastly, how are we portraying black Fingon? As a sort of mammy to Maedhros? On occasions, yes. At least when I interacted with the fandom as a younger fan.

Russingon, a popular ship between the two cousins often has Fingon personally caring for Maedhros, who is typically portrayed as white, during his recovery from being hanged off the side of Thangorodrim.

This becomes uncomfortable as a black fan, because black Fingon has unfortunately been reduced to Maedhros’s mammy in a way. And I will emphasize that it has been sometime since I have interacted with the fandom, but at the time I did, this was normal.

This is unfortunately an issue with most black characters and white characters, in which the only purpose of black characters are to act as emotional, physical, and sexual support for their white love-interest or counterparts.

Fandom reduces Fingon’s entire purpose to caring and developing Maedhros’s storyline.

It’s also important to discuss just what decolonizing a colonalist text, such as Tolkien’s works, may look like.

There’s also much to be said about how this same thing happens with queer rep. Fandoms who seem open to queer ships are often the same that fetishize gay men. Most fanfiction with mxm characters are rated M, have sexually explicit content in them, are porn, and are often written by folks who are not gay men. And that becomes even more of an issue when race comes into play, as has been the case with black Fingon, and east asian characters.

In general, there’s a lot to unpack, and the aforementioned will be discussed in a sequel to this video.