HEART OF SILVER - Excerpt 3
Studying the history of social justice movements--like American abolition--is such a weird time warp moment. If I were to use the word "negro" to describe black people today, I'd be cancelled in seconds. Yet that was very much the preferred term two hundred years ago, when Janine (born Jackson Clark) was human and learning that "hey, slavery is actually wrong."
Balancing historical accuracy with modern audience tastes and sensibilities is a hell of a tightrope sometimes.
Comments (2)
I think the phrasing here is really good, because it draws a distinction between anything that could be construed as the author's descriptions and the character's in-millieu statements.
Just to be a advocate, in this age of AI filters and automaticly flagged word bans, is this even worth tangling with? Can historical accuracy be delivered with enough cultural relativism to pass AI morality filters w/o blanching the past into overcooked porridge for the masses? Or, do writers need to press the issue in their manuscripts to educate the algorithms? I yield the floor.