Plumbing the hivemind!

[oyceter]

1) So... does anyone have examples of sf/f books with third-culture kids, or anything resembling a third-culture kid?

A third-culture kid is basically someone who is born into one culture, raised in another, and then returns to the first culture or moves on to different cultures, thereby creating a "third culture" that is a mixture of the first two. Or something. The difference between a third-culture kid and an immigrant seems to be that last step of returning to the "original" culture and finding it foreign as well.

My one example so far is Temeraire, and that's a sort-of example.

2) Also, any examples of movies in which a white man goes into a non-white culture and saves it or somehow one-ups it? Or basically, movies set in non-white civilizations that still end up focusing on the white guy.

My current list:
- Last Samurai
- Dances with Wolves
- Kingdom of Heaven
- Glory
- Cry Freedom
- Blood Diamond
- Constant Gardener
- Geronimo
- The Last King of Scotland (critique + example of trope? Haven't seen it)
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (from current casting reports)
- Wind Talkers

Comments

movies Now With White People

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Seven Years in Tibet, from all reports (note: have not seen it myself).

Amistad. An unusually well-done and historically accurate one of those, but still one of those.

The whole set of works dealing with Anna and the King of Siam-- the original musical The King And I, the movie, the later Anna and the King.

The recent The Painted Veil, in which a nasty cholera academic is the Disturbing Backdrop to the white medicine-providing protagonists' marital problems.

The friend I am sitting with (thespooniest) said he feels the treatment of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi to be an extension of this syndrome, for lo, they cannot possibly do anything without Our Heroes and their purpose is to be cute/cuddly/exotic/helpful.

Re: movies Now With White People

[oyceter]

No way! They did it to Amistad too?!

I didn't go see The Painted Veil because I was afraid it would be exactly what you describe.

I also agree with thespooniest re: the Ewoks... they and their entire culture play second fiddle to Han and Leia.

Re: movies Now With White People

[littlebutfierce]

Just re-reading your post to see what replies you've gotten, & I'd like to add re: the Ewoks--yeah, that & they speak fucking Tagalog. Someone thought it would be funny to make the little brown people speak, well, the language of another little brown people. :P I forget exactly what they say, but apparently it's something about C3P0, like "what is that amazing golden thing?" or something. We talked about this in a Tagalog class I took once.

Re: movies Now With White People

[oyceter]

I'd like to add re: the Ewoks--yeah, that & they speak fucking Tagalog.

No way! WTF?! That's just... wow.

*headdesk*