years later and i’m slowly parsing out the many-layered racism in the merlin fandom towards guinevere as portrayed by angel coulby. of course there’s the usual overzealous slash shippers who resent any female character they see as “coming between” the not at all canonically gay (white) male faves they’re shipping. of course there’s the blandly racist “guinevere is supposed to be blonde and white and and and” haters who just can’t wrap their heads around a legendary female character being played by a black woman. but there’s also a more insidious kind of racism that stemmed from fans who never spouted hateful rhetoric but disguised their racism in comments like “her character is all over the place” and “she and arthur don’t have chemistry” and “i just can’t relate to her” when what they’re really struggling with is that guinevere was written as a character that’s normally exclusively the province of white femininity. she’s beautiful, but humble and unaware of the effect of her beauty and person on people around her. she’s dutiful and kind, but speaks up for what she believes in, even at great cost to herself. she’s feminine and graceful and poised, but she also feels desire and longing, and occasionally those feelings overcome her composure and she expresses them towards arthur. she falls in love with arthur but never asks him to risk his life or his kingdom for her, instead seeing and understanding the bigger picture of keeping camelot safe. and all of this is conveyed even through the precious little screentime she’s given, because angel coulby is a brilliant actress and portrays her character’s vibrant inner life effortlessly in just a few sentences.
but (white) viewers simply cannot wrap their brains around a black female character who’s disempowered within the fictional world she occupies, yet holds emotional power over a main character - especially a white male main. they just can’t understand a black woman who exceeds the tropes they’re used to (especially in genre media): Loyal Best Friend, Sassy Cheerleader, Righteous Champion for Justice, Hypersexual Lover Coming Between White Hero and his True White Love, or Asexual Voice of Reason. white fans just absolutely couldn’t fathom a black female character daring to have layers and humanity and desire and beauty and love and strength and softness in the complex way they imagine and develop white characters who have far less growth and nuance onscreen. the relationship between arthur and merlin literally never changes from sarcasm, throwing things, deception and ribald physical humor - and yet fandom imbues this dynamic with richness and layers and depth that they imagine it must have, because it’s between two white people.
and so because guinevere evaded the tropes that both showrunners and fandom use to trap and degrade women of color characters, and because the m*erthur fans were coddled and baited to the very end by showrunners (as large white fandoms always are) these fans interpret her within the framework of whatever racist trope they find easiest to claim. guinevere calls arthur out? she’s stepping out of place, and it’s not realistic. guinevere stays quiet for the sake of duty? she doesn’t really love arthur, it’s not consistent. guinevere impulsively kisses or expresses desire towards arthur in some way? whoa whoa, that’s way too slutty, and out of character. and and and. it continues. fandom cannot bear seeing black women as fully human, so they chop and screw the bits that suit their needs and insist their interpretation is right. it’s not racist you see, they’re just pointing out facts. the racism pre-empts interpretation, so that no matter how well the character is written and portrayed, people see what they want to and are used to seeing, over and over again.
jbbartram-illu
blakekathryn
baratheonpilled
stormborns
janainaart
annaxmalina
yousharknotpass
