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.

[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.

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

lol what is it about calling racial hybridism snack foods? I've heard the terms oreo and twinkie used the same way, lol why is that a pattern?

[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.

[lisacharly.livejournal.com]

I think it started with Oreos and then the other minority communities jumped on the bandwagon. _____ on the outside, white on the inside, and totally fattening!

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

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

[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?

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

omg I could write a BOOK about Yeerk gender I love that whole issue.

And I guess my point was more, why did I IMPOSE those memories on the series when it was usually pretty uncharged and ungendered? and why were the women always objectifying the men? lol idk

[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.

[blue_rampion]

You know if you cobbled together all of the discussions on this community, we probably WOULD have a book :P

Who knows, maybe you felt that women had been objectified so much that the men deserved some as well? XD But speaking seriously, notions about gender and how people should act are pretty ingrained into us. Even when we are aware of them, it's hard to step out of that viewpoint.

[cxrdevil.livejournal.com]

yeah also kind of eeh that they knew he wasn't born that way, he had an injury - like all the auxiliaries had already chosen him as leader but the car-crash factor would definitely add a level of "he has a higher chance of being able to walk someday"/dances with wolves that sort of thing. idk idk it's just so weird what was applegrant really thinking of the matter in their outlines if he couldn't be leader, morph, and still have to go back to a wheelchair like the others...or that the animorphs wouldn't respect him enough if he weren't like them...or that ax wouldn't get over his culture shock enough to work with him, everything just seems strange the way james played out

[sylverlining.livejournal.com]

Would Native Americans be Apples?

Now I feel bad.

[sylverlining.livejournal.com]

Oh hell yeah, speciesism is nothing if not a metaphor for racism. It's not even a metaphor really, it just IS. I think it's pretty clear what KA's feelings on the subject are.

[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]

... Though it's also a pretty big cop-out.
I'm gonna go with the theory that they just weren't allowed to talk really openly about racism/other kinds of discrimination in childrens' lit.

[blue_rampion]

It's kinda of a shame really, that the books don't touch on what the characters think of morphing the opposite gender much. I mean, with morphing animals (Marco initial complains about not getting to be the male wolf aside), they appear to not care at all about gender. And that could be because it's just temporary, or because being a different gender as an animal isn't like being a different gender as a human.

But we do have both Tobias and Marco morphing the opposite gender, and the most we get in terms of their thoughts on it is Tobias ruminating about the apparent power his hot girl body has over boys. Are they just so used to being in different bodies that being a different gender isn't that big a deal? Or would they have actually felt uncomfortable about it, and the text just didn't mention it?

[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.

[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]

That's entirely possible. I remember reading somewhere about KA saying that Jake and Cassie were actually one of the first interracial couples in...idk, kids fiction or something? I have no idea how accurate that statement is, but it does suggest that there are Issues surrounding publishing fiction that deals with race.

[sylverlining.livejournal.com]

"Are they just so used to being in different bodies that being a different gender isn't that big a deal? Or would they have actually felt uncomfortable about it, and the text just didn't mention it?"


Those are the two biggest possibilities I see about the lack of any real gender discussion in the books. Or just one really - I figure that the potential was ABSOLUTELY there, that it should have been there, and Applegrant knew damn well that not having any reaction or thought on the question of gender was just ridiculous, but didn't want to incur the wrath of parents or censors... and so they played it off as "oh the characters just wouldn't think about it anymore."

Bullshit. Sure, they're changeling kids used to being in lots of different bodies... but they are also TEENAGERS. A teenage boy or girl is not going to be in the body of the opposite sex without having A LITTLE BIT OF A REACTION.

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

I mean, not only that, there's so little psychological fallout from her becoming a Hork-Bajir accidentally--you'd think she'd have a little identity crisis from that, but the only detail I remember is that for that second when Visser Three infested her, she was thinking about running on the Andalite Homeworld.

idk. Part of me is "GUH THIS IS SO INTERESTING WHY DIDN'T THIS HAPPEN" and the other part of me loves the restraint, because all the unwritten, implicit angst is like twice as powerful as a couple hundred extra pages of whining and analysis.

[sylverlining.livejournal.com]

Really? Wow, I did not know that - although now it makes a hell of a lot of sense. Issues indeed. (And I say that in my head as "Iss-syews", using the douchebag pronunciation for emphasis.)

I mean, we've only had interracial couples on TV and in movies for a relatively very short time in human history or even film history. It makes sense that major, large-publication books - particularly childrens' books - would have the same hangups.