How do I respectfully write black characters in a 1930s Arizona setting?
I'm writing a cartoon script aimed at a children/young-adult audience (similar to the audience of Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and Over the Garden Wall).
It deals with the daughter of a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like couple who has to find her parents after they go missing (she later goes on to realize that they were more manipulative and evil than she could possibly imagine). She enlists the help of a Latino cop to help her crack the case. They'll meet interesting people on their adventures through North Texas and Arizona.
Many of these characters will be criminals (for example: a pickpocket, a highwayman, the perpetrators of the kidnapping). Others will be in more poor, passive roles such as gas station attendants and general store owners.
At first I thought I could easily include black characters but now I am not so sure.
Should they be happy regulars at the risk of resurrecting the "Happy Darky" myth, prevalent in older stories like Gone with the Wind?
Or should they be pissed off at the situation like the hilariously woke and sarcastic Burma Jones from Confederacy of Dunces?
The 1930s was one of the worst eras for black people, with segregation, rise of the KKK, indentured servitude, lack of opportunities, etc.
Even though there are multiple murders involved in the plot, none are shown so candidly. I don't feel qualified to deal with such high-stakes racial themes in a children's cartoon - when there are so many great black animators out there.
Sidenote: the 1930s were a time of antisemetism as well. However, I am avoiding writing about Jewish themes, even though I'm Jewish. I just don't feel comfortable working that into the plot.
It would also be wrong to avoid black characters altogether: that's a cop-out, and plus I genuinely want black people to relate to my story.
But I don't know what role they should have in this story and in this time period.
What do you guys think?
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First, thank you for asking this question. All too often, I encounter things in the media where I desperately wish people had asked questions like this beforehand. It can be especially painful in the kids' sector (which has made less progress in the last 30 years since I was a child than I might have hoped). With all that said, this is a real genuine challenge. Here are what I see as the options:
To hell with historical accuracy, just present 30's Arizona as a colorblind society. For me as a viewer of color, this is far from ideal, but better than either being excluded entirely, and/or only showing up in menial roles, both of which are pretty noxious. It's basically the colorblind casting concept. Not perfect, but the easiest option that's at least making an effort. A variation on this would be resetting your concept in a 1930s themed alternate reality, science-fiction or fantasy setting that doesn't imply any historical accuracy.
Get a consultant of color. It really does make a difference. I can always tell when watching a movie or a television show who actually has writers of color on the staff, and who doesn't. I'm assuming this is low or maybe zero budget, but maybe you have a friend who would enjoy having impact on the creative process.
Put the time and research in, and do it right. If you look hard enough, you might be able to find a historically accurate character and/or community that doesn't fall into the stereotypes. For instance, towns of the time were generally segregated. So, on the black side of town, you would have an entire second community --with its own doctors, lawyers, store owners, and so forth. You could set a storyline or two in one of those communities. When everyone is black, you don't have to worry as much about stereotypes, because one character doesn't have to represent a whole race. I have to admit, even one or two episodes like this would make this a much more interesting show to me (personally) because it would be showing something new (to the viewer). You could do a similar episode in a Jewish community, which would allow you to sidestep the antisemitism issue.
It sucks that there are no good options that are also easy. But the truth is that you can't avoid politics. Even things that seem neutral are often just quietly propping up the status quo. Sometimes the most innocuous seeming entertainment is really the most noxious if you look a little deeper. With that in mind, let me challenge you a little: Why are you doing this particular story --one that doesn't connect at all to your own identity? That's something I've been wrestling with in my own work. On the one hand I don't want to be forced into only writing about people of color. But when I don't focus on people of color, I ended up producing work that I wouldn't be personally excited about if I was a reader. There's plenty of other people out there who can write the mainstream-oriented stories.
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Don't avoid entire groups of people because you don't know how to write them. Learn how to write them. It's part of becoming a writer. You must learn how to get inside the heads of people who aren't like you.
Do this by getting to know people who are different from you (in a million different ways). Spend time in places you might not ordinarily go. Pay more attention in places you are regularly in. Join groups in real life and online. Read. Read some more. Read blogs and novels and essays and articles. Grab some theme-based anthologies from the library and see how a couple dozen people from the same target group approach a similar theme in a couple dozen ways.
For every character, create a backstory. Don't use it directly in the work, but use it to inform your writing of this character. Even if they are there for just a moment. The backstory need not be elaborate, or even written down. Just something to make the person unique.
Think about your evoking the awful stereotype of "happy darkies"...think about the human beings in one of those settings. Even Gone with the Wind if you know it well enough. Don't try to remember actual characters, just the people that might have been there.
Okay, they're all black and living in X year and Y place...but how are they different? Not just age, gender, marital status, parental status, and so on. Not just job, social class, educational level, etc. But their hopes and dreams. Their hobbies. The chores they hate the most and why. Who their friends are. Which family members don't they speak to?
I'm not suggesting you engage in hours of research to come up with full backgrounds for 20 characters when you're just planning to have a 2 minute scene where 3 people have a single line each. But this sort of thinking is what's going to get you past the stereotypes and infuse your writing with the reality of American life (international life can come later).
Black people in 1930's Arizona will...exist. Some will be ***holes. Some will be lovely. Some will be college professors and some will be janitors. Just like anyone else. There will be some cultural shared experiences and that's what you need to learn about. It's not enough to say "write them like normal people" or something. You need to know the place and time you're dealing with. So research that and work your characterization around and through it.
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This is fiction, and a cartoon for kids, no less. And the point is to meet interesting people, I don't think what is "interesting" has to be about racism, oppression, or any social aspect of their lives. What is interesting should not have anything to do with the color of their skin. Perhaps it is how they are farming, or hunting, or the art they are doing. In any case, even if they are criminals, I would make sure that has nothing to do with the color of their skin, either.
My instincts would be to first, meet them in isolation; not in a mixed setting where the oppressed characters are actually in the process of being oppressed.
Second, write about, as MLK would say, the content of their character, not the package that character is wrapped in.
If I couldn't do that, I just wouldn't write it. I find plenty of stories without having to deal with real-life racism on top of it. I see plenty of stories on TV and in movies that are just implicitly post-racial and I don't see anything wrong with that. Just write your way around the racial confrontations; let your main characters be non-discriminatory.
Personally, I hate "dealing with racism" in fiction, it always comes off as phony to me. There is no easy solution, other than simple time and exposure and mixing will eventually fade it all away, hopefully. You can have people of many races in your fiction, and just exercise your right as an author to put racism aside and talk about other things.
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