Let's repost with the addition I remembered afterward. Originally posted March 30th and April 4th 2024.
A thing I keep noticing in stories about slavery that have been written by white people is that it can never just be "regular" oppression and slavery.
It always has to have some magical or scifi-tech componant to it that makes it work.
The Jaffa in Stargate are only enslaved because they're dependant upon the Goa'uld larva. As though it's impossible to oppress people without literally making them chemically dependant upon you.
Constructs (aka, anthroids) in The Murderbot Diaries are only enslaved because they have brain chips that will fry them if they disobey an order. As though it's impossible to force people to do things they don't want to unless you can literally kill them instantly if they don't.
These kinds of authors don't seem to fundamentally grasp that slavery is a real thing that happens in real life. Without any impossible outside help that only exists in fantasy or scifi. Real people are enslaved and they don't need to have killer brain chips in their heads to do it. They don't need to be surgically altered to rely on their slavers for their health.
It's the same with people who only write abusive relationships if there's some literal actual magical thing keeping the victim from leaving. As though real abusive tactics just don't exist.
It's just really fucking aggravating. I know I've seen tons more examples of this but I can't remember what they were from.
It's like these people just refuse to accept that real oppression exists without the aid of magical brain chips or parasitic aliens. You don't need to be able to literally fry someone's brain if they think bad thoughts about you if you physically or psychologically beat them down and enact real fucking control over their life.
I don't know. This kind of trope just seems like it's diminishing the affect of real slavery and abuse because it's pretty explicitly saying that "if XYZ magical control thing didn't exist, these people wouldn't be oppressed because they'd fight back".
As though real oppressed people don't fight back. As though the whole problem of being oppressed isn't that you lose every time because you lack the power that the people who oppress you use to keep you down.
I feel like it's because A)These people don't want to actually admit how horrible real life slavery and abuse is. B)they see themselves as the main character of the universe, so they think that if they were the one being enslaved, they'd instantly succeed at fighting back and winning, because they either can't, or refuse to aknowledge that when faced with systemic oppression, they'd be just as helpless as every other victim in history. They want to see themselves as all-powerful even in imaginary situations where they face oppression they've never actually dealt with, so they have to add some magical Impossible Barrier over top of the actual oppression to make it justified for why they haven't won already.
They think that if the roles were reversed and white people were systemically oppressed, they'd be the main character who magically leads the uprising with has no casualties. They think they'd magically never get hurt or watch their family or friends get hurt or be traumatized or actually opressed in any way.
It's definitely a form of victim blaming. It's definitely making light of real slavery and abuse. It's very fucking infuriating to have to keep reading in pretty much any scifi or fantasy series that deals with slavery that's written by white people.
so. Writing tip. How about learn how actual systemic oppression works instead of assuming the only way to enslave people is by literally being able to fry their brain?
Like. It's saying "these people have literal murder chips in their heads to enslave them, what's your excuse for not freeing yourself?"
Oh right I remembered one of the other examples.
The Books of the Raksura.
The Dakti and Kethel are enslaved because they literally get mind controlled.
The Arbora, on the other hand? No, they're definitely not enslaved, they just do all the work, including cooking, construction, clothesmaking, childrearing, hunting, metalworking, and cleaning while the Aeriat do nothing around the colony because uh *checks notes from a 1800's white person in the USA* they're naturally suited to it and they enjoy doing it and they'd be sad if you stopped them. Wow that sounds exactly like what people say to justify slavery!!!!
So. The Kethel and Dakti are enslaved because they're literally being mind controlled. A thing that does not and cannot happen in real life.
But the Arbora are not enslaved, because it's only systemic social inequality making them slaves, rather than literal brainwashing mind control
Sarcasm: Because you see, if the Arbora weren't happy with this arrangement where they literally do everything, they'd just stop doing it! Because that's definitely how slavery and oppression work. It's definitely just a matter of saying "no I don't want to do this" and then you don't have to do it anymore. End sarcasm.
Martha Wells is so depserate to tell us the Arbora aren't slaves that she has a villain lampshade this fact so that we'll laugh about the silly villain not knowing anything about their society.
Except. They literally are slaves. They are literally the fucking stereotype of the happy slaves. We are told they enjoy being forced to do everything around the color, so that makes it okay. Even though they will literally never get the opportunity to leave, and in most cases literally cannot even physically leave the colony without an Aeriat's help, because they all live in giant fantasy trees thousands of miles up in the air and they're the only fucking Raksura who don't have wings with which to fly away.
They're literally enslaved. But we're supposed to pretend they're not, because Martha Wells has written them as the literal racist caricature of The Happy Slaves. And the only people we're supposed to treat as being enslaved are the Kethel and Dakti, because they literally get mind controlled!
So, according to Martha Wells in The Books of the Raksura, the only way to be enslaved is to literally be mind controlled. If it's "just" systemic oppression, then that's not slavery, silly!! They just enjoy doing all the work for everyone!!!