I’m very conflicted about ACOTAR.
I suppose I like the plot and premise more than anything. I like the characters as well, all of them, despite the rampant toxicity that are the ships that define their character.
However, every time I find myself interacting with ACOTAR it leaves such a horrid taste in my mouth. Keep into account that I am a woman of color, black, to be specific and though I wish so hard to see past it, I can’t.
The sheer negligence of POC in SJM’s books cannot be ignored!
Though, its so easy to because her some of fans go off the rails and fly into the absolute chaos every time you try to talk about their “Lord and Savior SJM”.
Now, this isn’t saying I don’t like ACOTAR content, I do, especially the fanfictions and what people create. But it seems like the community picks up what Sarah drops behind and they make it their own and apparently, it becomes the new canon.
For example, so many characters are described as golden-brown, The Bat Boys, Emerie, Vassa, Thesan, Lucien.
Yet, when we turn around, you can see the fandom characterizing them with cultures and races that would ACTUALLY apply to them. Doing this, however, doesn’t mean that SJM is writing POC and if she was, they aren’t good. It means that you’re simply applying your headcanons to the text and making it canon.
But, let’s get into the nitty gritty of it.
These seemingly POC characters are treated like pedestals to uplift the white fmcs or even the love interests of the fmcs. This is a narrative that’s been done plenty of times in media in general, where a poc will be killed, discarded, taken advantage of, or simply be used as a placeholder, all for the sake of the white main character.
Helion is a good example of this actually. Though he isn’t used in any of those cases I mentioned, he’s one of the characters that’s specifically stated as being darker than the others. Yet, he’s also treated as an over-sexualized, promiscuous man—oh, sorry MALE—who just so happens to be in love with a white woman, the Lady of Autumn.
Tarquin was abandoned for the sake of the plot as well. Feyre had to get him to trust her and when he did, she took half of the Book of Breathings and completely abandoned him. Though, that’s not the problem, the problem is the narrative abandoned him too. He was cast aside of having any potential real plot. That’s sloppy writing overall.
Also, quick side note. Cresseida is also only seen as lustful and annoying. She’s lusts after Rhysand only for us to constantly be told that “she’s no competition against Feyre”. Both Tarquin AND Cresseida are threatened for caring about their court and wanting to keep it safe because, mind you, Feyre is supposed to be Tamlin’s wife or, at least lover. They’re worried about the safety of their Court but, when they get threatened, its “badass”. Oh, okay, whatever.
Next, the Bat Boys and the Illyrians in general.
It doesn’t surprise me that SJM made her male love interests “golden-brown”, it’s a theme with her, and it’s also a fetish. Some authors, white women to be specifically, will make their characters an ambiguous skintone and have them be a tan without giving them any hint of culture or at times, even personality.
It’s like taking the color out of People of Color and slapping it on white dry-wall. Tada, you have your perfect male main character who isn’t entirely a person of color but isn’t entirely white and oh, don’t forget, they’re completely depressed until the white female character comes in and becomes the center of their whole world!
Wow, I just love consuming the same slop over and over.
Anyway, the Bat Boys are simply tools for the white woman’s fetish. Rhysand is the seductive, charming male who would do anything for the white female main character. Cassian is the brute who has an inferiority complex but would also do anything for the white female main character. And Azriel is the blank canvas where all the qualities we want in our men go to but REMEMBER—he would also do anything for the white female main character.
There’s also another pattern! They all seemingly hate their Illyrian heritage and our disconnected from it. The Illyrians are seen as brutes in this story, which is harmful in general. They’re nothing but tools of war when they need to be used and when they’re not, they’re either victims or abusers. How do you take a culture, make them ALL poc, then make them brutes, or submissive, or evil.
The Bat Boys, however, are different. They don’t have the same qualities as those other nasty brutes. No, they’re not dreamers (cue the angel’s choir). Yes, dreamers! Their mothers were hurt, or killed, or abused and so they figured hey, that’s wrong! But if all women of the CoN and the Illyrian culture, in general, are abused, then wouldn’t that mean there’s a lot more dreamers. No, there couldn’t be!
The only dreamers are the Bat Boys, love interests of white fmc, Morrigan, friend of white fmc, also Amren, another friend. And, of course, Gwyn and Emerie.
The scapegoat to tell the audience, “hey, it’s okay, Rhysand isn’t a shitty High Lord and the people down there can’t change because they sorta like it!”. That’s her purpose. Outside of being Nesta’s friend, THAT is Emerie’s purpose. I mourn her character, a lot, because she has such good potential. Yet, she’s a woman of color so she cannot be devastatingly beautiful or world-shockingly powerful. She cannot have the same story as Feyre, though she would probably sport it better BECAUSE she’s an Illyrian woman.
Without making this a long-lengthy discussion, I think we all see the signs, the hints. Remember, these characters are not real! They are conduits for a writer’s mind and what the writer wants to say. If you see some oddly prejudice or bias in this series, it’s not a flux or a product of fiction.
It’s Sarah J Mass’ mind pouring from her fingers and into her work.
It is her thought process and bias, so please remember, read diversely. Put down the ACOTAR for a moment and see how vastly different other characters of color are treated in comparison.
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