Animorphs and Discrimination

[blue_rampion]

Before we get into the minor character discussions, there is a topic I've been wanting to bring up here - discrimination and how they are dealt with and portrayed in the books. We see examples of racism, speciesism, sexism, and discrimination against the disabled, but they're all examined to different degrees and in different ways.

With racism, we see that most prominently with Cassie ("I can turn white" indeed). Marco gets all of one line about being followed by mall security, but they're both characters that would have both dealt with racism in their lives. But overall, while it's brought up on occasion we don't really go too heavily into this issue.

Now, speciesism - that we see a ton of, and I'd argue that a lot of the issues that usually come up in a discussion of racism are in fact explored through speciesism. All of the various aliens have opinions and stereotypes of the other aliens - the Andalites are 'arrogant', the humans are just meat to the Yeerks, the Yeerks are all 'evil', and Hork-Bajir and all nice and sweet and stupid. They've all got preconceived notions of each other, some of them good but a lot of them not good.

Sexism isn't gone into too much, but the series touches on it every now and then - Rachel's got some strong feminist leanings, and we have the Axis of Awesome assuming that the Governor is a man.

And as for discrimination against the disabled...well, we definitely go into that, and this is definitely one of the major failings of Andalite culture.

There's probably also other forms of discrimination in the books that I can't think of, but my questions to you are: Do you think the series do a good job of depicting these issues? Could it (and should it) have gone into more detail on any of them?

Comments

[sunshinenorcas.livejournal.com]

I'll respond more when I actually feel intelligent, but I did notice less emphasis on gender and race- Cassie's skintone is very rarely mentioned, to the point where when I was a kid I didn't even /realize/ she was african american for a long time. Marco's is even less implied, I think at one point he mentions knowing a little Spanish from his mother, but you would think it'd be a more of a point? And if even if his dad rejected all things Spanish for a long time to cope with Eva being gone... I'd expect Marco to at least have hints of it, like sneaking tacos when Dad's not around or something. Maybe KA was afraid of parents coming down on her? It sounds ridiculous when you look at all the violence in the novels, but America/people are so silly about being PC that I could see parents getting upset over someone being racist to Cassie or Marco being 'overtly Mexican' and not you know, limbs being cut off and grown back and evil little brain slugs.

[blue_rampion]

The Spanish thing comes from Marco's grandmother, who is stated to speak only Spanish. And Eva's stated to be an immigrant - though overall, I get the impression that Marco doesn't connect much with his hispanic heritage.

But, considering that he's stated to look like Eva, he probably at least looks Hispanic, and thus would have had to deal with the assumptions other people have because of that.

And I could be remembering wrong, but mostly Cassie's race seems to come up the most in books like the Megamorphs, where they're...not actually in modern American society.

[lisacharly.livejournal.com]

Actually, I find Marco's being a white-boy hispanic (Little Debbie?) kind of refreshing, as a white-girl Asian (banana/Twinkie?) myself. It's pretty common for the children of immigrants (of which Eva is one) to assimilate and whitify themselves, especially if the parents made it a point not to raise them bilingual.

[lisacharly.livejournal.com]

For a series that put a lot of emphasis on discrimination, it sure seems to relegate racism to the past. The racism we see either happens in MM3, or is so subtle that child readers wouldn't even pick up on it (the racial profiling thing in #30). Cassie mentions in MM3 that it's a word she's been called before, though, but it really is a non-issue in the modern-time series. Kind of upsettingly so. At least KA addressed it (or tried to, in the latter case) in Everworld and Remnants.

I HAVE MORE ON THIS POST THAT ISNT ABOUT MARCO WHEN I'M NOT MULTITASKING, I PROMISE.

[blue_rampion]

I got that impression too - reading it as a kid, it did kinda reinforce that notion that "racism is in the past!". Though, with Animorphs you can argue that racism is explored more through speciesism instead.

[jeffsampson.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna come at this from a writer's POV. I think there's a general sense when you're writing adventure stories for kids that you generally don't dwell on things like racism/sexism because we try to present the world how we think it *should* be. If we have stories for kids where children of all races are as capable as one another and get along, and where girls are just as good as boys, it sort of works the idea into the heads of our young readers that racism/sexism is a dated and stupid concept. It's not *realistic*, no, but generally when you're writing genre books you focus more on the plot than on if it's realistic that the cast of characters looks like a Benneton ad.

Everworld and Remnants took a darker, more realistic view and had racism and sexism as an inherent part of their plots. I wonder if that's partially why they didn't do nearly as well as Animorphs -- do kid genre readers prefer the fantasy world where everyone gets along despite their differences? Where they are judged as people rather than by superficialities?

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

I think sexism is dealt with a little bit in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles and maybe #38--I mean, we're doing racism through the fake alien filter, so let's handle gender the same way.

idk, I've always been kind of fascinated with how gender works through the whole morphing conceit, like just the fact that Aldrea had to acquire Alloran to get clearance to the Quantum Virus. Less the fact that she had to change from a woman to a man, but more the fact that with morphing, those distinctions seem entirely obsolete--without the permanence of inherent *masculinity* and *femininity*, is the playing field leveled at all? Or do those traits become even more precious and more integral to self-identity? Idk, it's an idea I've been toying around with so DON'T MIND ME.

There's also a couple of weird things I guess I'll mention here--when I took my *very long Animorphs sabbatical* there were a couple of things from the books that stuck with me the whole time--all of the filler from #15, for some reason (the parrots in the beginning, riding the roller coaster as seagulls, even the stupid underwater plexiglass tube thing), the whole of the Andalite Chronicles, etc.

What surprised me the most, though, was the stuff that stuck with me that wasn't even in the books.

I was sure, that in #4, Rachel winks to Cassie and mouths "he's cute" when they first encounter Ax. I was also sure that Cassie and co. weren't sure what "brother" meant when Ax called Elfangor that, because he'd already used the term "prince" and that didn't mean what they thought it was. And, finally, I was SURE it was implied more than a little bit that Aldrea was hardcore FLIRTING with Alloran when she acquired him.

None of that is actually in the books, and one of the most disturbing questions I have is why I thought it was.

[blue_rampion]

You can see some interesting stuff with the Yeerks in regards to gender as well - they don't appear to have one, biologically, but they often seem to acquire a gender from their hosts (or at the very least, other people refer to them as having a gender)

...maybe "Animorphs and the performance of gender" should be another topic dear god why did I not get back into this series until after I finished studying English and Literature IT IS A GOLDMINE DAMMIT

And memory's a funny thing - there are studies that show how people can remember stuff that never actually happened. Why not with fiction?

[cxrdevil.livejournal.com]

I remember Rachel talking about how cute Ax is too. That sounds really familiar. Now I don't know what to believe.

A discussion devoted entirely to gender would be interesting. Especially with Yeerks. And you make a good point with the Andalite culture VS Andalite morphing ability. Maybe that's why more females are in their military as Ax says it (especially because they're apparently, in general, better morphers, but the fact that anyone can be a male or female if they choose to is intriguing.)

Not just gender but identity in general. Tobias was trapped as a hawk, he felt safer as a hawk, he self-identifies as a hawk-boy or hawk and not a boy hawk or a boy stuck in a hawk's body. It's his body. He has a very instinctive reaction to morphing Andalite even if he doesn't know the culture. Yeerks seem to adopt the gender of their hosts for the most part.

If, for example, Cassie morphed a male wolf and became a nothlit, would she, in time, want to mate with females rather than males, assuming she's heterosexual now, and lose her interest in Jake? If she got her morphing ability back like Tobias, would she begin to feel uncomfortable and alien in a human body like he did? Or would she also feel uncomfortable being female and start the process of identifying as male to people, acquiring a male human morph to use instead of her own body, that sort of thing?

Maybe definitive studies could be made on whether sexuality is primarily social, physical, or genetic. Maybe gender roles and stereotypes would fade into disuse, because knowing that anyone could change their appearance by application after age 21, 25, whatever, a generation would be raised by people who were able to create their own identity by choice and have a completely different societal upbringing.

If you're a straight boy and you morph a lesbian girl, are you attracted to women because of your body or because of your self? I think we've talked about this in the comm before but yeah it's so thought provoking.

If the morphing technology were real, could there be a system for people to donate themselves - transgenders acquiring combined DNA from a few volunteers so they could permanently morph a man/woman and be themselves in a unique body?

[sylverlining.livejournal.com]

Yeah, man - during my re-read of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, I was kind of struck by not only the "omg Aldrea morphed Alloran", because I didn't remember that part the first time around, but also how... nothing was really mentioned of it. Ever. It was just like:

'Okay, i'm a girl... and now I'm a guy with all the appropriate equipment - la-dee-dah, this is a totally normal thing I'm doing specifically for this goal of accessing the virus, there is nothing strange about this whatsoever.'

So... either Andalites have a really laid-back approach to gender (which we know isn't true, ha) or KA just didn't want to get into it AT ALL for fear of censors or parental backlash or something or thought the question of gender identity was too complex -

Oh ha, yeah, just realizing how stupid that last supposition sounds. xD This is Animorphs. Disregard that, I fail rather hard.

But yeah. I'd have LOVED to see that issue raised a little more, specifically when Aldrea and the Anis morph people of different genders.

[almighty-patsy.livejournal.com]

Consider your false memory validated, because the wink and "he's cute" thing did, at least, happen.

(And the 'brother' confusion maybe comes from the fact that at the very beginning, Ax constantly talks about his "cousins" and "uncles"... which he stopped doing, sadly. I thought that was an adorable detail.)

[cxrdevil.livejournal.com]

I would've been interested to see more gay stuff, too. I think KAA mentioned that in an interview.

It was a little strange that race wasn't talked about and the issue wasn't addressed as much, but then, it was a non-issue among the Animorphs and the only scene Cassie's got about it is while time-traveling in the distant past. Not sure if that's the right message to send but the books were aimed at a young demographic; maybe they just weren't allowed to talk too openly about racism because it was and is a touchy issue and hoped that by not treating Marco and Cassie as different types of characters because they weren't white that it'd impart a lesson of not turning people into others, "We're not different inside", etc. Given that it's an intense series otherwise with the war theme, though, I don't think that that's quite the best they could've done. And yeah, lots of kids grow up more assimilated/"white" so maybe Marco really didn't have much of a connection to a generation-removed culture, but I think considering Cassie's parents and her personality that she probably did have a solid knowledge of her background, of cultural stuff, of what society was like before with racial divides and how far it still has to go. We could've at some point been shown how important her black identity is to her, whether she brings it up often or not - just mentioning reading a Rosa Parks picture book aloud when she's little, you know. I think Cassie, being kind of a mad liberal treehugging peace activist girl, would really respect and identify with stuff that she'd know from childhood like most kids - black rights movements and MLK's speeches and know Thurgood Marshall, that sort of thing, even if she doesn't focus on just one aspect of the history of peace and is focused more on the animals and environment than social reform.

Especially considering the recurring disability thing - Andalites kick them out of society, and all the Animorphs have a knee-jerk reaction to this, but when it comes down to it they seek out people who are disabled to use as soliders, sacrifice them, and accept as the lieutenant one who is healed. I don't know what to take from that.

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

eesh, that is kind of a nasty detail about james. Good point, I never thought of it that way before.

[iapetusneume.livejournal.com]

As it often is for me with Science Fiction and Fantasy, I see other species as being an analogy for how us humans see race.

I don't remember what book it was, but Rachel and Tobias were talking about their frustration with their relationship, and Rachel makes a comment around the lines of: "this isn't like how Jake's white and Cassie's black. Only idiots care about that." This one line was super powerful to me to show how much K.A. considered (human) race a non-issue. I think she also sees sexism in a similar way, but she does touch on the issue a little bit more. I believe she encourages the reader to judge the characters based on the content of their, well, character, this way.

By taking out "race" and moving on to species, we the reader get the chance to see how stupid an idea of racism is. We see this as we slowly see the broader views of each species explored. The best example of this is the Andalites, I think, because in the beginning they are painted as the saviors. It isn't long before we start seeing cracks in this facade, but how much more crushing is it to the Animorphs when these are the people they were putting their hope in? Elfangor gave them the power to buy them time, not to win the war. While he believed that kids could have a profound impact, the odds were overwhelming.

I guess, for me, one of the biggest messages of the books was how damaging speciesism (and within that analogy, racism) is, how stereotypes hinder understanding, and how if you're going to solve a problem you're going to need to keep an open mind.

[blue_rampion]

I did very much get the impression that while all of the characters had all these notions about the different species and what sets them apart...when you look at the actual members of each species, and their actions and thoughts, they aren't actually that different from each other. People often talk about how really all humans are the same, and yet in a way the message is in fact the same - all sentient creatures are, at core, the same. Some are good, some are bad, most of them are in that grey bit in the middle, and all of them think and feel and hurt.

[natural-blue-26.livejournal.com]

(oh God I wish I wasn't at work!)

[cxrdevil.livejournal.com]

♥ we'll still be here lol

[jedifreac.livejournal.com]

I think in some of the Q&As KAA mentioned concerns about the interracial relationship with Jake and Cassie and whether or not there would be blow back from it, and they were pleasantly surprised when there wasn't.

[taira602.livejournal.com]

She also mentioned in some interview or another that it was a nod to the interracial relationship of Uhura and uhhh.... Kirk or Spock I can't remember *facepalm* and how that had been groundbreaking back in the day.

[taira602.livejournal.com]

Well while we're on the subject, LET'S DISCUSS. Did it annoy anyone else how much the singular 'he' was used all throughout the books? Like even used by Rachel in a general sense but when she was basically talking about herself? This bugged the crap out of me when I reading the books as a kid, and still bugs me. Like, no one does that! (at least in my experience.) Everyone uses the singular 'they.' /rant. Anyway.

lolol I have SO much more I could say considering how open-ended the OP is... but I'll start with this. :P

[lisacharly.livejournal.com]

How do you mean/do you have an example?

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

I kind of think KA tackled the issues of racism through "specism" as sort of analog since she couldn't directly address the issues of racism among humans.
I'm still so hoping she'll follow up with a more adult version where the kids books left off and tackles some of these more complex issues mentioned in the comments. I could see inklings of it in her writing and that was back when I was 14! I'm 26 now and I'm ready to return to that world more grown up and tackle some of those issues that I know she wanted to bring int her writing, but was restricted through her Scholastic contract.

[blue_rampion]

...this just makes me imagine and "adults only" Animorphs and wonder what the hell that would be like :P

[tobiahawk.livejournal.com]

I was surprised by how much genocide were discussed in these books--the Quantum virus in the Hork Bajir Chronicles, the plots of use similar viruses against humans, the Leeran homeworld and the bomb, the Kettran, etc., etc., and than what was brought up in MM3 re: the Holocaust. What makes it particularly interesting is that the killing is not done, at least not primarily, for the reason of supposed "superiority" in KA's examples but rather for reasons of the "benefits" of mass killing seemingly to outweigh the costs (e.g., "If we kill all the humans/Hork Bajir, then it will hurt the Yeerks" or "The Kettran/Yeerks are obviously a violent, dangerous species, so it would be safer to kill them en masse."). Then KA flips it around by showing us the "them" individually, making us see Toolin, or Aftran, or Dak Hamee, or any of the Animorphs as individuals, thus changing how the "cost" of such actions is viewed and also showing how the broad-based generalizations can be misguided, wrong, or at the very least, overdrawn. She does a similar thing with the Howlers, a species that seems utterly irredeemable but are revealed to be just "children" in the end.

I think it was designed to show the problem of "othering" people and thus desensitizing yourself to them as individuals. OTOH, the Animorphs did engage in mass killing at times, though it was always shown as being particularly haunting and conflicting to them.

Was anyone else a bit bothered by the implication in the Hork Bajir Chronicles that the presence of Hork Bajir of "normal" intelligence was a big reason why the species was worth saving (with the reserve implication of the matter of their mass slater being a lot less pressing if they had all been of the same "below average" intelligence)?

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

I have a way different reading of the Hork-Bajir Chronicles, so no.

Somewhat related...

[tobiahawk.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who remembers thinking Gafalinan (sp?) and Mertil were explicitly revealed as being gay/in a relationship/in love? Not just subtext--I remember reading it and being sort of amazed KAA "went there" with the relationship. Re-reading, I see that it wasn't explicitly stated, but for some reason, I distinctly remember thinking it was.

Re: Somewhat related...

[blue_rampion]

As a kid, I don't remember picking up on it. But reading it as an adult, I definitely choose to interpret it as a gay relationship, even if it's not stated explicitly.

[pachilove.livejournal.com]

I feel the need to comment and say I love how much this comm gets into super deep discussion about issues in this series.
Cuz like, holy shit I never thought about any of this when I read the books.
AND NOW MY MIND'S A WHIRRIN!

[blue_rampion]

well some of us need to use those English and Literature degrees for something

It is awesome fun, isn't it? :P

[natural-blue-26.livejournal.com]

Shhhhhhhhg save your excellent points for Taylor Discussion Week because I want us to be alllllll over this then! ;)

[tobiahawk.livejournal.com]

Do you all think there's anything to Ax getting his human morph from the male AND female Animorphs, especially given how sexist Andalite society was shown to be at times?

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

no. even andalites understand basic genetics, which is pretty clear that a male and female are required to make both male and females.

it would have been something if he'd chosen on a female morph over a male morph for some random ax reason, though.

Along these lines...

[joking.livejournal.com]

What I find interesting is that all three (I think it's three?) offhand mentions of homophobia or of gay people in general are from Tobias. I don't think that necessarily implies that he's LGBT, because there's no evidence for it in the books at all, but I think it pins him as a straight ally in a way that none of the other characters are, and I do wonder why that is.

(I may or may not have an idea for a fic in which that nice neighbor lady we saw in a flashback in #33 is gay/bi/something along those lines.)

Re: Along these lines...

[natural-blue-26.livejournal.com]

What three moments? I'm not remembering that many, so maybe it's a Your Milage May Vary thing? Grant it, I was never even aware to look for that in this series at the age I originally started reading it so...

late to the party!

[almighty-patsy.livejournal.com]

Sort of related to the 'singular he' discussion above - are most female teachers referred to as 'Ms.' in America? Is this a normal thing? I always liked the detail that most women had the honorific 'Ms.' in the books (if any was used), but maybe it actually is very commonly used there and wasn't a conscious choice.
(Actually, in particular I think there are a few times when the kids give each other snarky nicknames on the spot - like "Mr. Punctuality" - and the female versions always seemed to use Ms.)

Re: late to the party!

[ghaweyriao.livejournal.com]

We mostly call our teachers 'Miz,' even when they call themselves 'Mrs.' It's just easier that way - you don't have to think about which word to use and 'Ms' is quicker to say than 'Missus'. This may be a side effect of Southern accents, I dunno.