I was giving you a lot of credit for most of this discussion, but it's pretty clear at this point that you are *deliberately* missing the point.
The use of the same hairstyle on other ass-kicking dark skinned aliens in previous science fiction is NOT a valid defense of the Sci Fi Channel's actions with regard to Ronon. It is called a PATTERN. And I hate to break it to you, but it did not start with the Predator alien. Things like dark skin and dreadlocks have been used as shorthand for "other" or "alien" or "exotic" as long as science fiction has been around. Both Telesilla and Darkrosetiger do a pretty good job of explaining this down below. This thing with Ronon and his dreads is not a new thing. Not even within the Stargate franchise.
No one in the comment threads ever called you or the commenter who used the "non-human" term a racist. All they did was try to calmly point out that the trend, the trope, the lazy shorthand that science fiction writers and producers use (which is the direct cause of their decision to not allow Jason to cut off hair that causes him pain) is pretty fucked up.
Neither is anyone asking you to change this problem. We know it's a problem and has been for a very long time. We also know that writing a few letters to producers or advertisers or whathaveyou is not going to solve the problem. Because the thing is: as long as people continue to consciously or unconsciously think "dreadlocks=alien" or "dark=other" the PTBs will continue to use that as shorthand.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-18 04:40 pm (UTC)The use of the same hairstyle on other ass-kicking dark skinned aliens in previous science fiction is NOT a valid defense of the Sci Fi Channel's actions with regard to Ronon. It is called a PATTERN. And I hate to break it to you, but it did not start with the Predator alien. Things like dark skin and dreadlocks have been used as shorthand for "other" or "alien" or "exotic" as long as science fiction has been around. Both Telesilla and Darkrosetiger do a pretty good job of explaining this down below. This thing with Ronon and his dreads is not a new thing. Not even within the Stargate franchise.
No one in the comment threads ever called you or the commenter who used the "non-human" term a racist. All they did was try to calmly point out that the trend, the trope, the lazy shorthand that science fiction writers and producers use (which is the direct cause of their decision to not allow Jason to cut off hair that causes him pain) is pretty fucked up.
Neither is anyone asking you to change this problem. We know it's a problem and has been for a very long time. We also know that writing a few letters to producers or advertisers or whathaveyou is not going to solve the problem. Because the thing is: as long as people continue to consciously or unconsciously think "dreadlocks=alien" or "dark=other" the PTBs will continue to use that as shorthand.