Presenter Information

Megan Abrahamson
Maria K. Alberto

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Location

Albuquerque, NM

Document Type

Paper

Event Website

https://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-52.htm

Start Date

29-7-2022 2:00 PM

End Date

29-7-2022 2:50 PM

Description

Tolkien fandom has often pointed to “diversity” in Middle-earth, but this term has long been limited to dwarves and elves and hobbits coexisting. The vast majority of fan art produced of Tolkien’s works in the past 75 years has featured fictional races all with fair skin and white features. That seemed to change on Tumblr in 2013, when fans created fan art and edits that cast Black model Cykeem White as the “face claim” for Fingon the Valiant, the Elven prince who becomes High King of the Noldor in Beleriand. The selection became relatively popular on the platform, picking up thousands of notes in a fairly small fandom and continuing to circulate and inspire other fanworks through to the present day. Between Fingon’s single physical description in The Shibboleth of Fëanor, where it is said that he “wore his long dark hair in great plaits braided with gold,” and the relative visibility of some early fan-creators, Fingon has become one of the Silmarillion characters most often and extensively portrayed as Black. the impetuses perpetuating this “fanon” (an interpretation widely held by fans but with little or no basis in the canon) are worth situating in the context of other popular fantasy racebends such as Black Hermione, and within the wider Tolkien fandom as a new axis of “diverse” representations. In an update from the version of this paper Megan shared at Mythcon 51, our study has surveyed fan artists to explore the reasons why transformative fans have latched onto the representation of Fingon as Black at much higher rates than any other Silmarillion character: showcasing this data will be the bulk of this presentation. We also look at some of the limitations and issues that come with this practice. The Silmarillion elides even the barest visual descriptions of characters while also quickly covering thousands of years’ worth of histories that regularly feature imperialism, colonialism, and even genocide without ever going into much detail about their perpetrators, victims, and aftermaths in ways that further complicate any racebending. This chapter will work to situate Black Fingon in his fannish contexts as expressed on Tumblr, and also to explore some of the criticism this depiction has faced, both from those who claim that all elves are or should be white and also from those who note that a single headcanon of Blackness is not enough to address racism endemic in certain spaces and genres—and fandoms.

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Paper: Megan Abrahamson,'Long Dark Hair in Great Plaits Braided with Gold': Black Fingon and Racebending in Transformative Tolkien Fanworks" A/V requested

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Jul 29th, 2:00 PM Jul 29th, 2:50 PM

'Long Dark Hair in Great Plaits Braided with Gold': Black Fingon and Racebending in Transformative Tolkien Fanworks

Albuquerque, NM

Tolkien fandom has often pointed to “diversity” in Middle-earth, but this term has long been limited to dwarves and elves and hobbits coexisting. The vast majority of fan art produced of Tolkien’s works in the past 75 years has featured fictional races all with fair skin and white features. That seemed to change on Tumblr in 2013, when fans created fan art and edits that cast Black model Cykeem White as the “face claim” for Fingon the Valiant, the Elven prince who becomes High King of the Noldor in Beleriand. The selection became relatively popular on the platform, picking up thousands of notes in a fairly small fandom and continuing to circulate and inspire other fanworks through to the present day. Between Fingon’s single physical description in The Shibboleth of Fëanor, where it is said that he “wore his long dark hair in great plaits braided with gold,” and the relative visibility of some early fan-creators, Fingon has become one of the Silmarillion characters most often and extensively portrayed as Black. the impetuses perpetuating this “fanon” (an interpretation widely held by fans but with little or no basis in the canon) are worth situating in the context of other popular fantasy racebends such as Black Hermione, and within the wider Tolkien fandom as a new axis of “diverse” representations. In an update from the version of this paper Megan shared at Mythcon 51, our study has surveyed fan artists to explore the reasons why transformative fans have latched onto the representation of Fingon as Black at much higher rates than any other Silmarillion character: showcasing this data will be the bulk of this presentation. We also look at some of the limitations and issues that come with this practice. The Silmarillion elides even the barest visual descriptions of characters while also quickly covering thousands of years’ worth of histories that regularly feature imperialism, colonialism, and even genocide without ever going into much detail about their perpetrators, victims, and aftermaths in ways that further complicate any racebending. This chapter will work to situate Black Fingon in his fannish contexts as expressed on Tumblr, and also to explore some of the criticism this depiction has faced, both from those who claim that all elves are or should be white and also from those who note that a single headcanon of Blackness is not enough to address racism endemic in certain spaces and genres—and fandoms.

https://dc.swosu.edu/mythcon/mc52/schedule/2

 

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