I did miss your point, but not willfully. Sorry to tell you, but you made a leap from one idea to the next as if that was what I was proposing, rather than stating this was your extension into speculative fiction. A dramaturg might be able to help you state yourself more clearly - you might want to hire a consultant before you publish your next post (tongue in cheek, of course).
I think most reasonable people are able to recognize the past and separate it from the present, but I also think that we can look back on many plays or novels and see how they didn't handle certain characters or communities with the delicacy or intelligence that they might have. And we can also look back at plays or novels and if we did some digging, we'd likely discover that those writers did work with people from these communities, in some fashion, in order to expand their knowledge. We're just talking about making that a more codified part of the process.
Do you object when someone writing about a Roman gladiator hires an expert on Roman history? Do you object if someone producing a Moliere play brings in someone with knowledge of French humor and etiquette in the 17th Century? I would guess not, and so I would challenge you to consider how this is fundamentally different. |
