The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games

by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

Overview

Winner, 2022 Children's Literature Association Book Award, given by the Children's Literature Association

Winner, 2020 World Fantasy Awards

Winner, 2020 British Fantasy Awards, Nonfiction

Finalist, Creative Nonfiction IGNYTE Award, given by FIYACON for BIPOC+ in Speculative Fiction

Reveals the diversity crisis in children's and young adult media as not only a lack of representation, but a lack of imagination

Stories provide portals into other worlds, both real and imagined. The promise of escape draws people from all backgrounds to speculative fiction, but when people of color seek passageways into the fantastic, the doors are often barred. This problem lies not only with children’s publishing, but also with the television and film executives tasked with adapting these stories into a visual world. When characters of color do appear, they are often marginalized or subjected to violence, reinforcing for audiences that not all lives matter.

The Dark Fantastic is an engaging and provocative exploration of race in popular youth and young adult speculative fiction. Grounded in her experiences as YA novelist, fanfiction writer, and scholar of education, Thomas considers four black girl protagonists from some of the most popular stories of the early 21st century: Bonnie Bennett from the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, Rue from Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, Gwen from the BBC’s Merlin, and Angelina Johnson from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. Analyzing their narratives and audience reactions to them reveals how these characters mirror the violence against black and brown people in our own world.

In response, Thomas uncovers and builds upon a tradition of fantasy and radical imagination in Black feminism and Afrofuturism to reveal new possibilities. Through fanfiction and other modes of counter-storytelling, young people of color have reinvisioned fantastic worlds that reflect their own experiences, their own lives. As Thomas powerfully asserts, “we dark girls deserve more, because we are more.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479806072
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	09/22/2020
Series:	Postmillennial Pop , #13
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	661,761
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas is Associate Professor in the Literacy, Culture, and International Educational Division at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. A former Detroit Public Schools teacher and National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, she is an expert on diversity in children’s literature, youth media, and fan studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination Gap 1

1 Toward a Theory of the Dark Fantastic 15

2 Lamentations of a Mockingjay: The Hunger Games' Rue and Racial Innocence in the Dark Fantastic 35

3 A Queen out of Place: Dark Fantastic Dreaming and the Spacetime Politics of Gwen in BBC's Merlin 65

4 The Curious Case of Bonnie Bennett: The Vampire Diaries and the Monstrous Contradiction of the Dark Fantastic 107

5 Hermione Is Black: A Postscript to Harry Potter and the Crisis of Infinite Dark Fantastic Worlds 143

Acknowledgments 171

Notes 177

Bibliography 199

Index 213

About the Author 225

Editorial Reviews

"A compelling synthesis of speculative fiction, critical race theory, autobiography, and fantasy, The Dark Fantastic provides a powerful diagnosis of how racial difference shapes our imaginations. If you are looking for ways to repair the damage wrought by the lack of diversity in popular culture, there's no better place to begin."

Was the Cat in the Hat Black? - Philip Nel

"Timely and beautifully written book [...] Powerfully addresses the imagination gap in white writers’ use of Black characters as props to demonstrate aspects of white protagonists’ character development, often through violence wrecked upon Black bodies. This book should be in the library of any university teaching Children’s literature or Fantasy literature, and on the reading list of any courses in those two areas."

Fantastika Journal

"The Dark Fantastic is a wakeup call to all who research, teach, or create young adult speculative fiction ... Thomas issues a call to decolonize the speculative fiction genre and to ensure more texts, films, and television shows that include a Black female protagonist become the norm to influence a new generation of readers and writers. The Dark Fantastic is a must-read."

Booklist

"One of the most radiant and thought-provoking descriptions of the potentials of fantastic literature."

LA Review of Books

"If you care about thoughtfully engaging with race, Harry Potter, and fandom, you definitely need to check out The Dark Fantastic."

MuggleNet

"Thorough, creative, and revolutionary, The Dark Fantastic addresses the & imagination gap that plagues the majority of children's and YA media, which erases and mutes the stories and agency of black characters. From Harry Potter to The Hunger Games, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas sheds light on the dark fantastic to point scholars and fans toward a world where we can all experience and be liberated by the power of magic."

Ghost Summer: Stories - Tananarive Due

"The Dark Fantastic is a timely entree into the literature on speculative and fantastic fictions, and it does exactly what it sets out to do…As fantastical and speculative fictions become more popular, this text is sure to become a must read for scholars, teachers, and readers of the fantastical."

The Journal of African American History

"A compelling work of criticism, autoethnography, and counter-storytelling. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas reads within and across novels, film, television, fanfiction, the writers who create them, and online communities in order to explore the & role of race in the collective literary imagination. Thomas powerfully introduces the concept of the imagination gap and articulates its implications for the culture as a whole, recognizing the power and necessity of new stories capable of remaking the world."

In the Wake: On Blackness and Being - Christina Sharpe

"One of the most brilliant and woke explorations of race and speculative fiction I've ever read. Thomas breaks down the history of fantasy and imagination and shows us how far we have to go with such patience and clarity I felt like I was sitting beside her, growing smarter with each word."

Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson

"The form of this piece of scholarly activism is as fresh as its scholarly content; Thomas has a strong authorial voice and uses it eloquently, lightly, and without pretension, making this necessary book accessible to a much wider audience than children’s literature scholars. The Dark Fantastic is a transformative and democratising work in the public humanities, emancipated from stagnant academic notions."

International Research in Children’s Literature

"A creative blend of autoethnography, literary analysis, and counter-storytelling, this volume is intriguing, accessible, and raises important questions that will likely generate additional research on this topic... A must read, especially for current and future educators."

Choice

"The Dark Fantastic will entirely change the way you read science fiction, fantasy, [and] horror, and I can absolutely assure you it will be for the better."

BookRiot

"By bridging pop culture, personal experience, and academic study, The Dark Fantastic provides a crucial examination of race and storytelling in sci-fi fantasy media aimed at teens and young adults. Not only does Thomas discuss how Black characters are erased in an inescapable cycle, but she also provides a guide to breaking it."

Brain Mill Press Voices

"If you care about thoughtfully engaging with race, Harry Potter, and fandom, you definitely need to check out The Dark Fantastic. "

Mugglenet

" The Dark Fantastic is a wakeup call to all who research, teach, or create young adult speculative fiction ... Thomas issues a call to decolonize the speculative fiction genre and to ensure more texts, films, and television shows that include a Black female protagonist become the norm to influence a new generation of readers and writers. The Dark Fantastic is a must-read."

Booklist

"By bridging pop culture, personal experience, and academic study, The Dark Fantastic provides a crucial examination of race and storytelling in sci-fi fantasy media aimed at teens and young adults. Not only does Thomas discuss how Black characters are erased in an inescapable cycle, but she also provides a guide to breaking it."

Brian Mill Press Voices

★ 05/01/2019

Thomas (Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania) synthesizes theory from several disciplines to build her model of "the dark fantastic"—a cycle in which Black female characters are sidelined in mainstream fantasy narratives for young adults. Readers unfamiliar with cultural criticism or the four properties discussed—"Harry Potter," the book and film The Hunger Games, the BBC's Merlin, and the CW's The Vampire Diaries—are offered a clear way in to understanding the dark fantastic cycle and why breaking it matters. Thomas writes as an academic but also brings in the personal, quoting DeBarge lyrics when reflecting on the role of fantasy in her Detroit girlhood and sharing the story of her involvement with, and subsequent departure from, an early online "Harry Potter" community. The final chapter, "Hermione Is Black," focuses primarily on "restorying" accomplished by diverse and interactive fandoms. Kid lit professionals concerned that no newer texts are covered will find the case studies laced throughout with mentions of more current works and controversies. VERDICT Valuable for introducing readers to a range of concepts (critical race, reader response, postcolonial, and monster theory), this is an important work of criticism on an underexamined topic.–Miriam DesHarnais, Towson University, MD

School Library Journal