New York Barnes and Noble store’s curious diversity covers

Post Reply New Topic

^ Turns out people don’t like being treated as a token afterthought.
Luckily their response adds an extra layer of publicity-generating controversy.

Why?!



See this I'm fine with, although I'm more comfortable with seeing a white Jesus just because that was the image I was raised with, and was told about at my church school. But it's more historically accurate that he would look Middle Eastern, which maybe should be reflected. But why change English (and French etc.) culture's classic stories based on their people? We wouldn't make Aladdin English, would we? That would ruin the mysteriousness about it, because we associate it with that time period and culture. It's what gives it its character.

Being honest, though, I really like some of those new covers that were cancelled. They overdid it a bit though.

Last edited by smudge on 06 Feb 2020, 6:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If you noticed, I am a person who doesn't desire "diversity for diversity's sake."

I believe the Three Musketeers SHOULD have been French, should have been of European descent. Because that was the reality in those days. The Frenchmen wouldn't have taken an Englishman, or an African, into their group. The Three Musketeers took place in the 17th century.

Obviously, it would have been absurd to make Aladdin a northern European......

I heard on the radio that B&N is nixing the "blackface covers". Apparently an illustration turning a character black or brown is being viewed as basically the same as a person wearing blackface.

I'd say it's not fair to the author.

SPOILER WARING

There was a problem with main character Roland in The Gunslinger movie being played by a black actor, since in the books Roland was basically Stephen King's doppelganger. That was a major plot point.

That's interesting! I didn't know that. But that's kind of where I was going with this.

Seeing George Babbitt, for example, as a black man would be bizarre. He was made to exemplify WASP culture of a Midwestern city during the early 1920s. It's hilarious that way but if he were done as a black man it would go directly against the text and only lead to a book with some funky cover art.

hmm .. I wonder if this is "blackface" …

Nah, Roland is described as looking pretty much exactly like Clint Eastwoods Man with No Name. The fact that he's white is a major plot point in Drawing of the Three, where they encounter one of the main characters to be; a black woman witha split personality whose other self really isn't keen on white people.

Also, they later encounter King himself in a later book.

Hollywood have been distorting historic classics for the last 80 years....let's revist shall we...

Blue eyed Cleopatra


Blonde Achilles


Nordic Jesus

Cleopatra was ethnically Macedonian, so while not in majority I do think blue eyes occour in that population?




Achilles was the son of a water nymph, maybe those are blonde?




Yeah, this one is dumb.

Yes there's some diversity projects that probably shouldn't be attempted

black achilles

Alexander the Great was Macedonian and had blond hair. I don't know about his eye color.

Probably does not refer to actual black people.

It is fleshed out more in the Wolves of the Calla iirc. Roland and King were supposed to be twinners I believe. Roland was developing a lot of pain in his hip which was in realtion to the impending accident when King got struck by a minivan while walking down a road irl.