Scan barcode
A review by foreverinastory
The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
This was freaking phenomenal. I will definitely be rereading this in the future. Thomas talks about so much in the intro that I'm itching to annotate a physical copy and I almost never do that. I'd also be really interested to see this book expanded and updated.
The Dark Fantastic brings Critical Race Theory to YA Fantasy. This book uses the various lenses of CRT to look at how fictional BIPOC are treated in both the books and movies. It also analyzes colorism and misogynoir. I found this so incredibly fascinating and really enjoyed Thomas's takes on Merlin, The Hunger Games, Twilight, Vampire Diaries and Harry Potter.
I will say that the chapter about HP felt like the least explored one. Thomas discusses Hermione and Angela Johnson, but I feel like it missed out on pointing out several of the other flaws in Rowling's world like the naming of Cho Chang and how she made Jewish people into goblins. I also would love for someone to finally point out how excessively transphobic JKR. She showed her whole face in 2020 but the signs were there before then.
The Twilight and THG chapters were super interesting to me because I've read all the books and watched most of the movies (sorry Mockingjay). I loved how Thomas points out that Katniss is treated differently in the books because she is darker than her sister. There were just so many amazing analyses in this book. The Merlin and TVD was new to me since I haven't seen either of the shows and only read two or three of TVD books.
Overall, this was fantastic. I really enjoyed listening to this and I definitely will again.
CWs: Racism, misogyny, misogynoir, HP discussion/references. Minor: death, violence.
The Dark Fantastic brings Critical Race Theory to YA Fantasy. This book uses the various lenses of CRT to look at how fictional BIPOC are treated in both the books and movies. It also analyzes colorism and misogynoir. I found this so incredibly fascinating and really enjoyed Thomas's takes on Merlin, The Hunger Games, Twilight, Vampire Diaries and Harry Potter.
I will say that the chapter about HP felt like the least explored one. Thomas discusses Hermione and Angela Johnson, but I feel like it missed out on pointing out several of the other flaws in Rowling's world like the naming of Cho Chang and how she made Jewish people into goblins. I also would love for someone to finally point out how excessively transphobic JKR. She showed her whole face in 2020 but the signs were there before then.
The Twilight and THG chapters were super interesting to me because I've read all the books and watched most of the movies (sorry Mockingjay). I loved how Thomas points out that Katniss is treated differently in the books because she is darker than her sister. There were just so many amazing analyses in this book. The Merlin and TVD was new to me since I haven't seen either of the shows and only read two or three of TVD books.
Overall, this was fantastic. I really enjoyed listening to this and I definitely will again.
CWs: Racism, misogyny, misogynoir, HP discussion/references. Minor: death, violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Misogyny
Minor: Death and Violence