First Nations Martial Arts

Discussion in 'Other Styles' started by Steel Accord, Jan 26, 2016.

  1. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    No, like I said you're being way too literal. Having your protagonists as educated East coasters or martial artists, or writers, and other characters based upon people you've met and situations you've experienced. Writing what you know is about using points of reference you're experienced with and telling your story.
     
  2. Steel Accord

    Steel Accord Valued Member

    I politely but strongly disagree, just because I'm not Brazilian that means I'm not allowed to have one of my protagonists be a fisherman who lives on the Amazon river?

    I went to Brazil and loved the people there. Went from Manaus to Rio down the Amazon river itself. I visited all manner of communities. One of my good friends I chat with all the time is even Brazilian.

    So again, if I wish to write a story set in the country because I like it and it's people, as long as I have an native advisor to keep my facts straight what's wrong with that?

    I'm not saying "I know these people better than they know themselves" I'm saying, "these people are awesome and I'd like to show my readers why they are."

    I mean, what should capcom not be allowed to have Street Fighter characters that are from any country outside Japan? Or Team Fortress 2 be restricted to only the Scout, Soldier, and Engineer?

    I mean just to turn this on myself, Sergio Leone made some of the best westerns in film history. He took a more deconstructive eye to the romanticized westerns that pre-dated him and the genre was changed forever, but they still were definitely westerns and still depicted a time in our nation's history with accuracy and frankness, but respect.
     
  3. Steel Accord

    Steel Accord Valued Member

    Agreed but "what you know" can't be all that your story is based on, we'd have no fantasy then. Take Rick Riordan for instance. He based his lead character's dyslexia and attention deficit disorder after his experience with his son having these complications, but should he then not be allowed to use the Olympians and related mythology because he's not Greek even though he demonstrates a masterful command of it's lore?
     
  4. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    You can use these characters as characters, in event or milieu stories, you can use them in character stories provided their character development is something related to the shared human experience. However once you start talking about the subjective psychosocial experience of those people you're being presumptive and paternalistic.
     
  5. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    Successful fantasy isn't about the fantasy, it's about using the extreme circumstances of the fantasy setting to explore abstract ideas about the human experience. Therefore if you're not writing what you know with fantasy it becomes a mess.
    You can do historical work too because you're framing the historical events with a modern perspective.
     
  6. Steel Accord

    Steel Accord Valued Member

    Are you presuming that I don't know that already? Just because I asked if we have any hard codified knowledge of first nation fighting techniques?

    (And my aforementioned Brazilian protagonist's conflict is about his brother dying and how he deals with that.)
     
  7. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    No, because you stated that existential angst about his heritage would be a key plot point.
     
  8. Steel Accord

    Steel Accord Valued Member

    Isn't dealing with one's heritage something many people can relate to? Whether it's something we've always considered a part of us, something we've never been connected to, if we prefer it to whatever culture we find ourselves in, if we see no conflict of identity and find resonance with the dominant culture and where one came from?

    I know a lot of people who are these or fall in between them, it's them I'm partially drawing that aspect of the character from.

    I'm not writing a biography either, I'm writing a story about two enemies who both take pride in their heritage and how both of them deal with it drives them into conflict with each other.
     
  9. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    To illustrate. I can write a crime thriller where the protagonist is a detective who happens to be gay. I know about working in teams, I know about working with the public, I know a lot about traumatic injury. I know several serving officers, specials and support staff, so I could get technical procedural detail. Because I'm a man who works in a female dominated environment I could probably make a fair stab at having scenes where he faces discrimination in the workplace.
    These are all writing what I know.
    What I can't write about is the subjective experience of being a gay man in a fairly macho profession and the existential conflicts that creates, and tbh I'd feel it would be crass of me to do so and any work I produced would be trope laden and insulting.
    See, even just discussing other people's subjective experience I end up being drawn into tropes. It's entirely possible that there are thousands of gay police officers who feel no tension at work and it's irrelevant to it, I just don't know.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2016
  10. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    However that was my initial point. If that is the story you need to tell then there are likely situations you are much more familiar with involving people you have much more in common with that you could use to tell it.
    Cultural and traditional tensions are NOT universal, they are culture specific, and are part of the subjective experience of being part of that society.
    The work would likely end up trope laden, unrealistic and likely offensive to the people it's supposed to portray, regardless of cultural appropriation.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2016

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