Drive-by comment - I came here via destina's journal.
The story was written from Watson's POV, and expressed sentiments typical of 19th-century attitudes to "natives" - which were racist.
I saw no essential racism in the actions of the only Balinese in the story: yes, he turns out to be an assassin loyal to his rulers rather than to his white employers, but... it's a detective story! There will be unsuspected murderers in it. Does it make it racist to have the unsuspected murderer be a Balinese? No.
It isn't a story that a modern-day writer would normally choose to write. Because it's told from the point of view of Watson, with Holmes, you cannot stay in character and have them express anti-racist sentiments except on the most sentimental grounds (as in "The Yellow Face"). You cannot even write them in character as neutral: they would naturally side with the Dutch colonials for political purposes, as they do your story, and in doing so, would express what come across to our ears as horrifically racist comments. I don't think that I would have chosen to write the story under those circumstances - it's not the kind of Holmes story that appeals to me - but I disagree with buggery in characterising the story itself as racist.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2004-01-04 02:37 am (UTC)The story was written from Watson's POV, and expressed sentiments typical of 19th-century attitudes to "natives" - which were racist.
I saw no essential racism in the actions of the only Balinese in the story: yes, he turns out to be an assassin loyal to his rulers rather than to his white employers, but... it's a detective story! There will be unsuspected murderers in it. Does it make it racist to have the unsuspected murderer be a Balinese? No.
It isn't a story that a modern-day writer would normally choose to write. Because it's told from the point of view of Watson, with Holmes, you cannot stay in character and have them express anti-racist sentiments except on the most sentimental grounds (as in "The Yellow Face"). You cannot even write them in character as neutral: they would naturally side with the Dutch colonials for political purposes, as they do your story, and in doing so, would express what come across to our ears as horrifically racist comments. I don't think that I would have chosen to write the story under those circumstances - it's not the kind of Holmes story that appeals to me - but I disagree with