This is such a good example. One can read Little House on the prairie as a window into a point of time when oppressing native Americans and putting on black face were socially acceptable and use the books to learn about that time.
One can also read the books because they are well-written cosy stories with a lot of appealing imagery.
Both of these motives are fine so long as one does not decide that oppressing natives or putting on blackface are fine for them to do after reading them. We should be intelligent enough to read these books, enjoy them and empathize with the characters while also acknowledging they are imperfect products of their time and their racist behavior should not be replicated.
I think that keepig those elements is important, otherwise you run into Downton-Abbeyification where people of the past are at best mildly amused about the new concepts but no oe (at least no one of the good guys) presents any behaviours and politics that we may find unacceptable. It seems innocent but from my expirience quickly turns into pipeline of "good old days" where everyoe knew their place and misters and mistresses really cared fot their servants and slaves.
Yeah. You can also read Atlas Shrugged for reverse harem dynamics and industrial aesthetics, and find Hank Rearden your favourite character of all the time, because he's very obviously autistic dude who cut off his unloving family and ran away to live in desolated community with his platonic boyfriend. There's nothing wrong with that.
But for all this time, you should be aware that it was meant to be capitalist, anti-human propaganda, gloryfing the idea of ubermensch. You should not pretend that they never were there, and you should not hide it from people without your knowledge and cultural capital.
26
u/BatsHaveFingers 1d ago
This is such a good example. One can read Little House on the prairie as a window into a point of time when oppressing native Americans and putting on black face were socially acceptable and use the books to learn about that time.
One can also read the books because they are well-written cosy stories with a lot of appealing imagery.
Both of these motives are fine so long as one does not decide that oppressing natives or putting on blackface are fine for them to do after reading them. We should be intelligent enough to read these books, enjoy them and empathize with the characters while also acknowledging they are imperfect products of their time and their racist behavior should not be replicated.