TMD's Creatively Named Blog

The Legend of Korra comes to mind, where we see Aang and Katara's kids.  Tenzin adopts his dad's culture, Kya adopts her mom's culture, and Bumi ends up doing his own thing.

The Legend of Korra comes to mind, where we see Aang and Katara's kids.  Tenzin adopts his dad's culture, Kya adopts her mom's culture, and Bumi ends up doing his own thing.

True, but it's not really explored. Mako and Bolin may be better, since we actually see them visit their Earth Kingdom relatives and all that.

 

Nonetheless, *adds to list*.

"Once Were Warriors" is a 1994 film on Maori culture that covers the conflict of abandoning the old ways of the family's culture and living in the modern world. There are some graphic moments (R rated), but it is a it's a really powerful film discussing heritage. (The actor who plays Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones is one of the main characters) Definitely one to watch if you're looking for movies in race and identity. 

"Once Were Warriors" is a 1994 film on Maori culture that covers the conflict of abandoning the old ways of the family's culture and living in the modern world. There are some graphic moments (R rated), but it is a it's a really powerful film discussing heritage. (The actor who plays Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones is one of the main characters) Definitely one to watch if you're looking for movies in race and identity. 

Nah, not quite what I'm looking for. I mean stories about being racially mixed, not the weirdness of culture clash (though that's another fun thing). The characters in Warriors are all Maori living in a white world. I'm looking specifically for characters who are of two ethnicities/races and have to navigate that.

Hm... I've got a fairly decent library of assorted stories across all different forms of media and I'm having trouble thinking of anything. Closest I can think is maybe the Percy Jackson books. and that's probably pushing it. It's been quite a long time since I've read them, but all of the main characters are demigods and sort of don't fit iin with the human  world and can't live with the gods so maybe?

 

I dunno, probably pushing it.

For the Avatar - Last Airbender example... there were some comics that explored the Fire Nation territories in the Earth Natation after the war ended, in that the Earth Nation wanted them gone but the residents felt disconnected from the home-land fire nation and didn't want to leave... and eventually that's why Republic City was founded, as kind of a compromise. It does explore some of their issues with identity, although not necessarily by race.

 

I think I've also seen some anime that kind of touch on the topic... although the characters are usually part elf or part demon or something, so again not quite race. I didn't even think of the Balto one, but that's a pretty good example. Can't think of any other good western media examples.

 

I've been thinking about this more, and you could argue that some interpretations of Tarzan or the Jungle Book fit this. Although genetically human, Mowgli and Tarzan are raised in a world where they are considered outsiders to the animals and suffer a lot of prejudice because of it. When they eventually try living with the humans, they suffer predjudice there too. So they aren't really biracial, but you could certainly say they're bicultural.

If robots are a race, Robocop? But that's literally all I can come up with, and it's a joke, so.

Hm... I've got a fairly decent library of assorted stories across all different forms of media and I'm having trouble thinking of anything. Closest I can think is maybe the Percy Jackson books. and that's probably pushing it. It's been quite a long time since I've read them, but all of the main characters are demigods and sort of don't fit iin with the human  world and can't live with the gods so maybe?

 

I dunno, probably pushing it.

I can see that I suppose, but do the books explore it beyond the "you're special!" idea?

 

 

 

For the Avatar - Last Airbender example... there were some comics that explored the Fire Nation territories in the Earth Natation after the war ended, in that the Earth Nation wanted them gone but the residents felt disconnected from the home-land fire nation and didn't want to leave... and eventually that's why Republic City was founded, as kind of a compromise. It does explore some of their issues with identity, although not necessarily by race.

Got a name for that comic?

 

 

 

I've been thinking about this more, and you could argue that some interpretations of Tarzan or the Jungle Book fit this. Although genetically human, Mowgli and Tarzan are raised in a world where they are considered outsiders to the animals and suffer a lot of prejudice because of it. When they eventually try living with the humans, they suffer predjudice there too. So they aren't really biracial, but you could certainly say they're bicultural.

Hmm. I suppose. I can see it somewhat with Disney's Tarzan from forever ago. I suppose that straddles the line.

 

The big thing about the examples I mention is that they do it so well without doing it too much. Like in 2009's Trek, half of Spock's backstory is stuff I dealt with as a kid, and a lot of his arc is wrestling with his two sides – it's why he joins Starfleet.

 

Balto, I'd argue, is even better. Iirc, he gets ostracized for being half-wolf and always doubted. He doesn't belong where he is because of that. I'd have to rewatch it (it's been literally well over a decade), but it struck a heckuva chord with me when I was a kid.

 

Neither narrative has a chosen one twist to it, and neither present one identity as being more 'powerful' or 'superior' to the other. Rather, they're about navigating that inbetween. That's what I'm looking for.

 

(I suppose Tarzan and Mowgli both have those arcs in a way, but I'm wondering if it's a little too far removed)

The Warcraft movie had Garona, a half-human, half-orc woman. Her arc (which is a subplot, but still pretty important) is how both sides distrust her because of this, and how she tries to find where she belongs. Warcraft isn't an amazing movie, but it's not bad and pretty well made. 

 

(The only other example I can think of is Steven Universe, where Steven is half-human and half-gem, but I haven't watched enough of the series to know how much focus it gets)

The Promise

 

I can comment more on Steven Universe: While Steven never gets made fun of for being half-gem or being half-human, he is raised with a flawed understanding of both cultures. As such, he does kinda navigate that as he tries to learn about the gems and the humans around him. I'd say that socially it hasn't really come into play much yet, as most humans and most gems don't know that he is bi-species (as it were).

 

It does touch on it some, though. (And it's a fantastic show so)