Earthsea, Diversity and Me

Welcome to the podcast where I invite you on a journey to explore meaning vulnerability and purpose through the lens of a life lived in geekdom I'm David Monteith and I am the Naked Geek.

Welcome back to the boudoir. Episode five, and today I just want to talk about a tipple that I really love. And once again, I'm probably loving it more for the can and the name of the beer than the beer itself. Don't get me wrong. You know what, let me start the beginning. Now. I mentioned brew York as a brewery before, they're the one that did the Battlestar Galactica tribute. And they've also got one it's called time-traveling taxi and it's got a picture of a taxi on the front with the door coming up, you

[00:01:00] know, like the DeLorean in back to the future kind of, um, sideways door opening thing. So, it does that. And I mean, in my mind, this is a, it's got a New York taxi on it, but it's got to be a tribute to 5th Element.

Oh, I dunno. It might not be, but I like to think so. So yeah, it's a great, can I love the fact it's called time-traveling taxi, and this is, this is what the website says.

“Anyone experiencing the time jumping taxi that arrives a minute after the map indicated it to be 10 minutes away, usually after ordering a beer, or maybe you recall the time distorting taxi that started two minutes away. It doesn't arrive for 20 minutes. Maybe it was better when our taxis were always just around the corner. “

What …., that doesn't even give you a clue what the beer is going to be like, but I mean, do you care? Do you care? I, I just love it. It's 5.7%. It's a pale ale and it's got a lot of texture to it, mainly because it's got a lot [00:02:00] of oats involved in it.

It's got a very hoppy flavour. If you like that kind of thing and a bit fruity and malty all together, it's got real substance to it without being too heavy. Um, I enjoy it. I just love it. The fact that's called the time-traveling taxi and I've just discovered the fact that brew York actually has one called a time-traveling tractor and I no longer know what to think about anyone, anything so enough.

What are we talking about today?

[02:31]

Today? I wanted to delve into one of those things that really influenced me when I was younger, uh, you know, the stuff that really left an imprint on me. And I've chosen a book. And the book I've chosen is the Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin. Um, I can't remember how old I was when I first read this, but I was pretty ensconced in the fantasy scene, you know, sword and sorcery and all of that was my jam. Now, from the first page of this [00:03:00] book, it just felt different to everything else. The world building seemed slightly out of phase with the other books at the time. The atmosphere was thoughtful and had some real hidden depths. Uh, there was more to process around motivation and character mindset than I was used to. Now as per a lot of fantasy novels, it follows Sparrow Hawk, a young boy who discovers he has great talent for magic.

I mean, you know, we've heard this story time after time, but in this one, his mentor gives him his true name. And I love the lore that allows us to be renamed as our true nature becomes apparent. I think what a great sort of naming process that is. It allows us not to be tied down to our parents, naming reasons, whatever they may be, but to be named according to ourselves.

Anyway, Sparrowhawk is eventually sent to study magic at wizard school, sounds familiar? He's cocky and arrogant and makes a terrible mistake that changes [00:04:00] him and haunts him for a large portion of his life and requires him to face his own dark side. His own nature. There is a lot of learning to be had in his story. It's is sedate, uh, which is interesting for a young man looking for action and battles and stuff. Um, you know, this is a much more sedate story, and yet it's somehow manages to be exciting. The Guardian once described it as

“the most thrilling wise and beautiful children's novel ever.”

And personally, I have to agree

Now to understand what I'm about to tell you. It's important to understand Ursula LeGuin. She was born in 1929 and was first published in 1959. And her literary career spanned nearly 60 years. She produced 120 novels and over a hundred short stories in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. I mean…….

Now, right from the start. [00:05:00] she was playing with concepts of gender, race, sexuality, political structure, and coming of age stories. Now this particular book was published in 1968. And if memory serves me right, is about a month older than me. So, when about halfway through book two, something hit me. It blew up in my face and blew my mind and I was truly astounded.

It slowly occurred to me that no, or at least very few people were white. Now this was huge. And you've got to understand, let me, let me help you understand. See when I was a teen, I was intensely aware of my colour and the larger context of that, but I wasn't politicised by it in any way. I was just subconsciously aware of a gap. And there it was being filled. A non-white, non-medieval, non-European or Nordic sourced, mythology, protagonists that looked like me. It was like the time that you [00:06:00] suddenly realised there was one black character in the Star Wars universe, but oh, how cool was he? AND he didn't die. I mean, this was new territory.

I mean, I don't come from that the age where black people made it to the end of the movie. So, this was exciting. It was weird, but oh, my, it was welcome. I felt seen by my favourite genre, I felt like I had a place in a way I hadn't realised was missing. Ursula LeGuin had taken her time building this world. She had deliberately crafted it this way so that you accepted the characters and then began to realize they probably didn't look the way you thought they did. It's something I call stealth diversity and I love it. When production companies have everything from books to movies, to comics, to TV series, go out their way to show they are championing a cause it gives opportunity for the bigots to come out of the woodwork.

You've basically held up a placard going let's argue about something, which is a complete distraction. Now [00:07:00] my philosophy is just do it. Just produce your work and let it speak for yourself. It will nail your colours to the wall without you having to signal to everyone, just how good a diversity champion you are. I was watching, um, Fort Salem and, uh, it was only halfway through my wife said to me, have you noticed that over 90% of the cast are female? And I'm like, oh, oh yeah, it is, and I hadn't even consciously noticed, but by that time I was just enjoying the show and the fact that women were leading the narrative had just happily buried itself in my mind.

And if I was a sort of person that wanted to object to these things, it was too late because I was enjoying the show. I'd accepted the status quo, presented almost without realising that's what it was.

Now LeGuin was quite interested to see what people would make of this though. And the problems came with book covers that routinely portrayed the main characters as white. The worst though, was when she sold the rights to the [00:08:00] Syfy channel who made a two-part TV series about Earthsea. Now they assured her, they would be respecting the essence of her work and her philosophy, and then proceeded to make a really bad whitewashed version of it. And her response was, harsh

“Then they sent me several versions of the script and told me that shooting had already begun. I had been cut out of the process and just as quickly race, which had been a crucial element, had been cut out of my stories. In the mini-series. Danny Glover is the only man of colour among the main characters. Although there are a few others among the spear carriers. A far cry from the Earthsea I envisioned. When I looked over the script, I realized the producers had no understanding of what the books are about and no interest in finding out. All they intended was to use the name Earthsea and some of the scenes from the books in a generic McMagic movie with a meaningless plot based on sex and violence."

So yeah, LeGuin really wasn't one to mince her words. Now I was [00:09:00] properly excited to hear they were producing a 50th anniversary edition of all her Earthsea stories with some new writing, from LeGuin and decided I needed to own it for my 50th birthday. So, it was with great sadness. I learned of her death in January 2018, nine months before the books release.

This book changed so much for me. I believe it made a lot of people think again and above all of that, it was a bloody good story that has stood the test of time. You can do a lot worse than giving that a go you'll find links in the show notes.

Until next time, I've got one favour to ask you, go join the Facebook group and let me know what book stood out for you when you were growing up, made a huge difference. I would just love to know.

Anyway, thanks for spending time with me and it's time to go and I'll see you next time. When it's time to join me in my boudoir. I’m David Monteith, The Naked Geek.