Black Identity Absence in Fables
The
novel I’m highlighting is Bill Willingham’s Fables
Book one. I know that I’m late to
this particular party but it’s been on my radar since its debut. However, back then I didn’t read comics or
graphic novels, so don’t be too hard on me for my late arrival. I like fairy tales and the premise of this
novel series seemed like a great spin on the classic characters.
This is a fantastic take on the fairy tale. The mystery that begins the story in volume 1, Legends in Exile, is basic like many mystery novels but the novel introduces a world full of narrative possibilities. I especially enjoyed the last five pages of text that is in traditional narrative form that gives the read requisite background information about the main characters. As I started to think about Book one, which contains the titles Legends in Exile and Animal Farm, in depth and about what I wanted to discuss, I was stumped. While it’s amusing that the characters we’ve read about for so long are resettled into a modern setting; there really wasn’t anything other than a gimmick that propelled the story. It’s fun to guess which character is which based on their new renderings but beyond that what are we left. I do realize that there are a multitude more stories told that I haven’t read yet, so take my critique with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, once the initial glow of the read faded, I started to look at the book more critically. The first thing that struck me was WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE!!!.
Fabletown is smack dab in the middle of New York City. However, there are no Black people. This started me to think about the fact that fairytales have been and continue to be Eurocentric. Most cultures have “fairytales”. Nevertheless, the European ones get top billing. It is necessary to interrogate this white/euro dominance in fiction most especially in fiction targeted for children. The absence of images and stories about oneself can leave an individual questioning their place in the world. One of the best things about fiction is its ability to allow the reader to imagine himself or herself in the book. If characters do not represent you then you become a casual observer, an alien looking down on the happenings but not able to fully participate. I think this is what stood out to me the most in Fables. I am an observer of these stories. This is not a shared experience for me as a Black woman. I am an alien. I may as well be on the farm where they send the fairytale characters that can’t pass for humans or “mundies” as they call them. The “Farm” is the place where you see brown characters. Except these brown characters are pigs and panthers. In fact, the farm can be the Fables equivalent to a plantation. The administrator of the place is a white man, not one of the animals. He oversees the running of the Farm and reports to the regular folks. This dynamic is a central plot point in the volume titled Animal Farm. The title serves two purposes, one as a literary link to the novel Animal Farm by Orwell and two, to reinforce the non-human aspect of the characters that live there. The animals living at the Farm cannot leave it. They are free to live as they choose, but within strict parameters. This sounds a lot like Jim Crow south, or anywhere in the U.S. before the civil rights movement for Black people.
The central theme of Orwell’s Animal Farm is the animal characters discontent with their treatment and their need for agency. Orwell was speaking more specifically about fascism and its rise, but Willingham is addressing another kind of oppression. The oppression of non-human sentient characters by their human-like counterparts. The citizens of Fabletown include the residents of the farm, except the Farm dwellers are restricted to one location. The introduction to the text alludes to the fact that all of the fairy tale characters are equal citizens but the reader realizes later that this isn’t necessarily so. So where does the identity markers for Black people occur. It lays squarely at the Farm. As I said before, the only characters of color appear at the Farm.
While, Willingham wants to highlight the injustice in the animals place in Fabletown society, he continues the alienation of people of color from his text by making the humanlike characters white. Volume 2 emphasizes the broad conversation about oppression, the characterizations and artist design reinforces the oppressive hegemony of Eurocentrism. It still centers whiteness. The Giants in the story are white even though many cultures have giants featured in their folklore. The absence of characters of color in New York and the presentation of these dark colored figures at the Farm defeats the author’s intention of highlighting the inherent oppression of separation of citizens. By taking a light approach to the topic, it oppresses in its attempt to disrupt oppressive thoughts. Orwell and Willingham both want the reader to focus on the oppressive nature of classism. Yet, the artistic depictions strengthen white hegemony.
This is a fantastic take on the fairy tale. The mystery that begins the story in volume 1, Legends in Exile, is basic like many mystery novels but the novel introduces a world full of narrative possibilities. I especially enjoyed the last five pages of text that is in traditional narrative form that gives the read requisite background information about the main characters. As I started to think about Book one, which contains the titles Legends in Exile and Animal Farm, in depth and about what I wanted to discuss, I was stumped. While it’s amusing that the characters we’ve read about for so long are resettled into a modern setting; there really wasn’t anything other than a gimmick that propelled the story. It’s fun to guess which character is which based on their new renderings but beyond that what are we left. I do realize that there are a multitude more stories told that I haven’t read yet, so take my critique with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, once the initial glow of the read faded, I started to look at the book more critically. The first thing that struck me was WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE!!!.
Fabletown is smack dab in the middle of New York City. However, there are no Black people. This started me to think about the fact that fairytales have been and continue to be Eurocentric. Most cultures have “fairytales”. Nevertheless, the European ones get top billing. It is necessary to interrogate this white/euro dominance in fiction most especially in fiction targeted for children. The absence of images and stories about oneself can leave an individual questioning their place in the world. One of the best things about fiction is its ability to allow the reader to imagine himself or herself in the book. If characters do not represent you then you become a casual observer, an alien looking down on the happenings but not able to fully participate. I think this is what stood out to me the most in Fables. I am an observer of these stories. This is not a shared experience for me as a Black woman. I am an alien. I may as well be on the farm where they send the fairytale characters that can’t pass for humans or “mundies” as they call them. The “Farm” is the place where you see brown characters. Except these brown characters are pigs and panthers. In fact, the farm can be the Fables equivalent to a plantation. The administrator of the place is a white man, not one of the animals. He oversees the running of the Farm and reports to the regular folks. This dynamic is a central plot point in the volume titled Animal Farm. The title serves two purposes, one as a literary link to the novel Animal Farm by Orwell and two, to reinforce the non-human aspect of the characters that live there. The animals living at the Farm cannot leave it. They are free to live as they choose, but within strict parameters. This sounds a lot like Jim Crow south, or anywhere in the U.S. before the civil rights movement for Black people.
The central theme of Orwell’s Animal Farm is the animal characters discontent with their treatment and their need for agency. Orwell was speaking more specifically about fascism and its rise, but Willingham is addressing another kind of oppression. The oppression of non-human sentient characters by their human-like counterparts. The citizens of Fabletown include the residents of the farm, except the Farm dwellers are restricted to one location. The introduction to the text alludes to the fact that all of the fairy tale characters are equal citizens but the reader realizes later that this isn’t necessarily so. So where does the identity markers for Black people occur. It lays squarely at the Farm. As I said before, the only characters of color appear at the Farm.
While, Willingham wants to highlight the injustice in the animals place in Fabletown society, he continues the alienation of people of color from his text by making the humanlike characters white. Volume 2 emphasizes the broad conversation about oppression, the characterizations and artist design reinforces the oppressive hegemony of Eurocentrism. It still centers whiteness. The Giants in the story are white even though many cultures have giants featured in their folklore. The absence of characters of color in New York and the presentation of these dark colored figures at the Farm defeats the author’s intention of highlighting the inherent oppression of separation of citizens. By taking a light approach to the topic, it oppresses in its attempt to disrupt oppressive thoughts. Orwell and Willingham both want the reader to focus on the oppressive nature of classism. Yet, the artistic depictions strengthen white hegemony.
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