Willingham, Bill - Fables: Homelands and Arabian Nights (and Days)

[oyceter]

For the record, Arabian Nights (and Days) is why I am not going to be reading Fables anymore.

I've previously had issues with politics and gender in Fables, and this one is the last straw. That said, it's one freaking huge straw.

Orientalist stereotypes for the win! (also, spoilers)

I was already very wary when they mentioned the introduction of the Arabian Fables as refugees. On the one hand, yay, non-white people and non-European cultures! On the other hand, wow, does Willingham screw it up.

First of all, the Arabian Fables all speak horrible English. I will say that Willingham at least shows them speaking fluent Arabic. On the other hand, I don't remember if Baba Yaga had English problems when she crossed over to Fabletown, and Red Riding Hood certainly isn't, so why the Arabian Fables? coffeeandink also pointed out that it's not like Arabian Nights hasn't been translated into English; Willingham certianly could have given them some fluency using that logic. Furthermore, they are made fun of for speaking unintelligible English.

(Yes, I know, they mock Beauty for not understanding that an Arabian Fable is saying that he will kill everyone or something, but NOT THE SAME.)

I was minorly annoyed by the fact that the Arabian Fables speak Arabic like this: "Sirrah, this kind of behavior from the infidels is not to be tolerated! Give me the word, master, and I will avenge this insult to you. I can slit a thousand throats this night without disturbing anyone's sleep" (emphasis in the original).

This wouldn't have annoyed me quite as much had the big issue been: OMG! The Arabian Fables keep slaves!

Even the completely amoral, good-for-nothing Prince Charming is shown balking at this, even though in the past, Fabletown has had a sheriff that used to be a murderer. I am not saying murder is worse than slavery or that slavery should ever be tolerated; I am saying that Willingham is using this as a lazy shorthand to create conflict between the backwards Arabian Fables and the enlightened Western Fables.

At least there is Sinbad, the ruler of the Arabian Fables, who is shown as reasonable and good.

Of course, he's shown as reasonable and good because he listens to the Western Fables and advocates westernization while his second-in-command (drawn with a hooked nose, pointy beard and curly mustache in the worst of caricatures) betrays him to gather power and criticizes Sinbad for being too western. (in picture: Yusuf on left, Sinbad on right)

Then there's the charming and pleasant plot in which our noble and brave Fables discover that the Arabian Fables have brought djinn with them, which, Willingham and the characters tell us, is the Fable equivalent of a nuclear weapon. I kid you not. All of the Arabian Fables are detained and jailed, and not as a commentary on anti-Muslim hysteria post-9/11. Instead, it's shown as a regrettable but understable act, given the information they have, and in no way shows any indication that this may potentially be problematic given the political climate today. After being imprisoned for no reason he can discern, Sinbad says that he brought it in to keep it from the Adversary, trusting in his people to not touch it.

Cole replies: "I'm afraid that's not good enough, Sinbad." (Cole has been shown to be the rational intermediary throughout the volume and looks somewhat sorrowful but also stern.)

This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Sinbad shows them that they still have access to Baghdad in the Homelands and therefore have power there, but the very next page has Beauty attempting to understand another Arabian Fable (in full turban and regalia, of course) who is telling her that he is the master of poisons and strangling.

To top it all off, the back cover copy jokingly notes: "But the arrival in Fabletown of a delegation from the Arabian Homelands shows just how tricky this kind of coalition-building can be -- especially when one side is concealing Weapons of Magical Destruction!"

The only reason why I finished reading that arc was so I could blog about it knowing that Willingham didn't suddenly retract something. After that, I threw the book in disgust at the floor. Quite honestly, if it hadn't been a library book, I probably would have thrown it against the wall repeatedly, as just once doesn't even begin to encompass how disgusted I am with it.

ETA: all anonymous comments on this post now screened, thanks to the appearance of trolls!

Comments

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

Ew.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I have more to say!

It's not like there isn't a tradition, (epitomised in Disney's Aladdin) of having the 'reasonable' Westernised foreigners not only thinking but looking like White people in comparison to the hook-nosed, thick-lipped, slant-eyed caricatures that the 'evil' foreigners are presented as.

And then it's not as though medieval Europe was a haven of freedom that even the thought of slavery didn't enter into.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I think this has pretty much killed my curiosity about the Fables series.

[oyceter]

Yeah. Like I said, I had some issues with it before (namely, the cool female character accidentally getting pregnant with not one kid, but 6 or 7, and then going off to raise them), but this really just beats them all.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

My jaw just dropped at that art. If I ever, EVER do anything even remotely like that, please hit me over the head with a skillet, will you? That is just unbelievably offensive. I don't think I've seen anything that blatant since the Black Sambo books. And the description and story, too, but I saw the art first.

[oyceter]

I know!! And, of course, the goodness of Sinbad is indicated by his donning a western suit. And, of course, there are hordes of scantily clad harem girls, none of whom ever gets to say or do much.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

WTFingF.

I stopped being very interested in Fables with the boring Bigby/Snow romance and the infuriating script, but now I am actively UNinterested. Willingham always sounded like a jerk in interviews, but I was all right reading his stuff as long as it wasn't coming through -- now it totally is. Ugh.

[oyceter]

Bleeech. I was so pissed off at what happened to Snow that I basically didn't even bother putting the next issues on hold and just read them if I happened to see them.

But this, ugh!

[seajules]

...Wow. No more Fables for me. That's just sickening.

[oyceter]

I know! Bleeech.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Damn. My friends and I had started reading Fables. I was upset with what happened with Snow. We had a feeling that issue of the comic was going to be bad, so now i know not to even bother with it. But how can they complain about Djinn when Snow has the Vorpal Blade?

[oyceter]

Sigh. I know! And I was pretty mad about Snow too!

[shati.livejournal.com]

...

That's so many flavors of bad.

I stopped reading Fables a while ago, and now I'm very glad I did.

[oyceter]

I now wish I had stopped a while back! It probably would have been better for my blood pressure.

[chomiji]

Has this guy been living at the bottom of the ocean, or what? The drawing is appalling ... .

I wonder if this guy has ever heard of the interesting fact that Jews under Muslim rule in Spain from the 8th to the 12th centuries were treated much more equitably there than anywhere in Christendom during the Middle Ages ... perhaps that's not relevant, but it's something I thought of almost immediately. No one culture has the corner on inhuman behavior, nor on virtue.

[oyceter]

I just... I know! *sputters*

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

Ugh, Fables. I gave up after Snow gave birth to her litter. The politics were bad enough, but the entire series seemed to devolve into being Bigby, He's So Super-Cool! Also Willingham sounds like a real ass and has apparently made some astoundingly offensive comments in interviews.

[oyceter]

Ugh, yes. I was already pretty pissed off about the Snow/Bigby thing. I guess I'm glad that Bigby hasn't showed up lately, but.... this really isn't an improvement!

[coniraya.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was actually a semi-fan of Fables until I read that arc.

[oyceter]

Blech yeah! Now I am actively not recommending it to people.

[minim_calibre]

Hey! More reasons to avoid his work! Yay! Also, grr, and this is me, beating my head against my desk.

[oyceter]

Hee! Glad to help.

Um, except that whole head bruise thing ;)/

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Although Bill Willingham definitely deserves to have the boot put into him for many reasons including this arc, it shouldn't be overlooked that the art in question was drawn by Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and Andrew Pepoy.

[oyceter]

Yes, definitely. I don't hold him quite to task for the art (though he could have commented on it, I am sure), but the storyline itself was awful!

[keilexandra]

Yuck. (On the other hand, I do love your icon. Reminds me of yhlee's infamous spork. Hee.)

[oyceter]

Hee! It's actually a real fork; I found it at a fair somewhere and fell in love.

[lea-hazel.livejournal.com]

I feel much the same as you do, and I thank you for articulating this so eloquently and completely, dwelling on details that I probably would not have made it into any post I made on the subject and addressing things that completely passed me by. I'm honestly not certain why I still follow Fables but, believe me, it gets even worse. If I get around to it, I will do a post on Arabian Fables during IBARW, one that I've been putting off endlessly for months.

[oyceter]

It gets worse? Ouch! Also, I'd love to see a post on the Arabian Fables, especially now that I've quit the series and don't care about being spoiled for it.

[banjocatbanjo.livejournal.com]

(Here by way of kphoebe's recent post!)

I remember being so excited when I heard about Fables, because it looked prepped to hit all my geeky buttons. Fairy tales! Comics! A potentially strong female lead!

Then the issues starting coming out, and it was a lot less than what I'd expected. I found myself buying the issues for the gorgeous covers and the tiny niggling hope that Willingham would wake up and suddenly realize his story's potential--but it wasn't too long before I gave up in disgust. I've probably got a small pile of the single issues shoved in the corner of my closet somewhere.

Reading your great write-up makes me want to go kick Willingham, really hard. What the hell, Willingham? HE TOOK THAT GOLDMINE AND SHAT IN IT. I could have done better, and that's saying something.

Thank you for the great read and the mind-hurt! :D

[oyceter]

Yeah... I am so sad as well! Because fairy tale retellings are my favorite thing ever!

But there is no way I am going to read on after something like this. Sigh.

(frozen) Clearly...

[(Anonymous)]

...you are someone who can't bear to read others' opinions. The moment somoene posts something you disagree with, you label them a race-baiter and ban them from posting. You're a freakin' hypocrite, and I have to wonder why you even created a blog in the first place if you only want people who agree with you to post their comments. I see nothing in the previous post that is race-baiting -- I see only an opinion expressed and a person banned for it.

(frozen) Re: Clearly...

[oyceter]

Hi troll! I have no respect for people leaving anonymous comments in my LJ that follow White Liberal Bingo and How to Suppress.

Any further anonymous comments will be screened, so don't bother coming by or getting your sockpuppets to comment either.

[sabonasi.livejournal.com]

Ick. I've seen Fables recommended a lot [by liberal white guys] but when I picked the Arabian Nights issue and flipped through it, warning bells started going off in my head. Thanks for this post; now I know for sure that I was right not to bother.

And major ick at the picture of Sinbad and Yusuf.

[oyceter]

Yeeaaaaaaahhhhh....

Icky race stuff and icky gender stuff, blech.

[miffyvampirebat.livejournal.com]

FFS! It's a /graphic novel/ about /fables/.

It's not supposed to be realistic, let alone some sort of racist propaganda machine or a true to life portrayal saying "yes, this is what all arabic people are like and they all control magical djin!". There's no mention of the fact that they do actually get along and work together at the end of the thing!

As for those people who are not bothering to read it simply because of this article, why don't you actually read it for yourself and... you know... form your own opinion?

[oyceter]

It's not supposed to be realistic, let alone some sort of racist propaganda machine or a true to life portrayal saying "yes, this is what all arabic people are like and they all control magical djin!".

Yes, but that still doesn't stop stereotypes from having real consequences. And things can be racist propaganda without people intending for them to be.

Did you see Mogwli in Fables?

[410-gone.livejournal.com]

Now, he's a character that is not stereotypical.