Well, for starting, in Italy don’t live just Italians so having just Italians in the story would be strange.
Also, there are italians that are not white because they are adopted, or they are children of mixed couples, because they are children/grandchildren of immigrants and so on…
That is normal, but these characters need their representation made in the right way.
Also, the MC is the co-owner of a fashion brand that wants to make the fashion inclusive, so having muslim models, plus size models, trans models and so on… diversity is one of the main themes of the story.
That’s one of the main reasons why I want all the characters being well represented and I can’t do that without knowing the specific ethnicity.
I am and immigrant myself, I live in germany and it would be strange for me to read a story set in germany where the main character is italian and is represented the same way as any other german even if this doesn’t have to do with what we are talking about and there is no way to distinguish a german to an italian,
but it would be the same for example if in a story set in japan I would customize my character white and then in the story anything about that would ever be mentioned, I wouldn’t make much sense
Yes. I am aware that there are mixed race people and people that are originally from other countries that have immigrated. I just wasn’t certain if you were speaking to that or not. Or if you were legitimately trying to include that in part of your story per say. It wasn’t quite clear.
Aaahhh… okay. Now that sounds awesome. Well… from that perspective… everything makes perfect sense then. In terms on customization… again… for the MC… you can keep her as you see fit or provide limited CC and the integrity of the MC’s story will rang true. So I really don’t see any problem with having no/limited customization at all.
If you are able to tackle the different types of trials and tribulations that the other characters endure… it will shed a light on an awesome perspective.
I wish you the best of luck in whatever choice you make in dealing with CC/No CC. Whatever you choose will work for your story I believe. Just make sure that it feel right for you. And everything else will fall into place.
What I’m trying to say is that you can’t possibly write a character that could be of any cultural and ethnic background. The only case where that could work (other than fantasy and purposely non-realistic stories) is if they’re irrelevant bg characters. Even the mere language and jargons are influenced by culture and social status. The problem isn’t how the character looks, but what their appearance is linked to. A POC in Africa is the norm, the same POC in Italy isn’t.
I mean, what you’re saying here
is that writing about a native Albanian and an Asian one is exactly the same thing. They come home from a day in school and they’d only speak Albanian with their parents, for example. It’s like erasing the fact that that Asian Albanian family belongs to another culture as well.
Which is very true. I’m native Italian, I can’t pretend that every young adult that lives and breathes in Italy leads their life exactly how I do. My Filipino friends used to go home from school and speak Filipino to their parents, they had their customs at home, they ate food that my parents didn’t even know where to begin to cook.
At that point it just becomes pure fiction, as if the story is set in a utopia. Which is fine I guess if it’s intentional. But if it’s set in the real world, when you create a character you have to include their appearance along as part of their identity in the story
I don’t think this is racist. The character is from Italy, so of course they would look a certain way. If you’re worried about this, just explain in the story that the CC is limited because of the character’s heritage. That way people can be aware and won’t question it too much.
Imo it could be racist if u do this bc it contributes to black/asian italian erasure. Like even if ur MC is italian and live in italy, the fact that she could be also black asian etc isnt gonna affect the story, and even so, i think its up to the reader.
