callistotoni (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
callistotoni) wrote2007-03-06 01:36 pm
callistotoni) wrote2007-03-06 01:36 pm
On Non-European Personas
I just posted this over on the SCA West list, in response to the current curfluffle regarding Japanese personas.
Inspired by Cynswith, I too, will share my 2 cents and step back.
I love that the SCA is the Big Tent of historical re-creation groups. I love that we have the freedom to explore the broad swath of time and place that falls under the SCA charter -- something for everyone. ;-)
But the price, as it were, of this freedom and consequent variety is that events always feel like SCA events, rather than being transported back in history. For example, in order for me to feel truely "historical" I'd need to be in a consistant environment/a particular time and place. This is what the hardcore re-enactors do -- everybody is, say, from the War of the Roses, or from Anglo Saxon England, and everyone's kit is appropriate to that time and place. They want to recreate a historical environment.
But in the SCA we are all mixed up. Vikings and Courtiers stroll around together; 15th C Italians hug 12th C tunic-wearing spouses. Even if everyone were as historically correct for thier period of choice it would still not feel like being back in time. There is, of course, room in the SCA for pockets of consistancy (which are lovely, IMHO), but the SCA will always be the fun mixed up tribe that it is.
I, therefore, do not ever experiance this Medieval/Rennaissance Vibe of which people speak. I get the SCA vibe, which is lovely. I'm trying to carve out a pocket of 16th C goodness but I don't expect to change the SCA. This being the case, I'm totally good with seeing non-European cultures represented, especially if there was *some* sort of contact with the Europeans. I think this is a difficult path to take, because it's uniqueness requires it to be done well, which is harder than just hanging out in what everybody else wears. I enjoy seeing Jehanne in her Japanese stuff, and I support her right (and anyone elses') to take that path. I'd support historically researched Persian or Ottoman personas as well. Native American Indians I'd find strange, but I'd have to make room in my head for them according to my logic. Given the emphasis of the SCA on European Middle Age and Rennaissance culture I'm not worried that non-European cultures will "take over and ruin my game", so I'm happy to let them exist and to possibly learn from them.
Where I *do* draw the line is on dates. Pre-17th C Culture, bounded on the early end by the Middle Ages. Periclean-age Greeks and 17th C Cavaliers need to find/form their own groups. The SCA is already a big tent, it should not be stretched to breaking or we devolve into a completey Romantic Fantasy group.
Like I said, my 2 cents.
Genevieve
And, jeese, my Crazy Cousin just can be *such* a, um, words fail me...
Inspired by Cynswith, I too, will share my 2 cents and step back.
I love that the SCA is the Big Tent of historical re-creation groups. I love that we have the freedom to explore the broad swath of time and place that falls under the SCA charter -- something for everyone. ;-)
But the price, as it were, of this freedom and consequent variety is that events always feel like SCA events, rather than being transported back in history. For example, in order for me to feel truely "historical" I'd need to be in a consistant environment/a particular time and place. This is what the hardcore re-enactors do -- everybody is, say, from the War of the Roses, or from Anglo Saxon England, and everyone's kit is appropriate to that time and place. They want to recreate a historical environment.
But in the SCA we are all mixed up. Vikings and Courtiers stroll around together; 15th C Italians hug 12th C tunic-wearing spouses. Even if everyone were as historically correct for thier period of choice it would still not feel like being back in time. There is, of course, room in the SCA for pockets of consistancy (which are lovely, IMHO), but the SCA will always be the fun mixed up tribe that it is.
I, therefore, do not ever experiance this Medieval/Rennaissance Vibe of which people speak. I get the SCA vibe, which is lovely. I'm trying to carve out a pocket of 16th C goodness but I don't expect to change the SCA. This being the case, I'm totally good with seeing non-European cultures represented, especially if there was *some* sort of contact with the Europeans. I think this is a difficult path to take, because it's uniqueness requires it to be done well, which is harder than just hanging out in what everybody else wears. I enjoy seeing Jehanne in her Japanese stuff, and I support her right (and anyone elses') to take that path. I'd support historically researched Persian or Ottoman personas as well. Native American Indians I'd find strange, but I'd have to make room in my head for them according to my logic. Given the emphasis of the SCA on European Middle Age and Rennaissance culture I'm not worried that non-European cultures will "take over and ruin my game", so I'm happy to let them exist and to possibly learn from them.
Where I *do* draw the line is on dates. Pre-17th C Culture, bounded on the early end by the Middle Ages. Periclean-age Greeks and 17th C Cavaliers need to find/form their own groups. The SCA is already a big tent, it should not be stretched to breaking or we devolve into a completey Romantic Fantasy group.
Like I said, my 2 cents.
Genevieve
And, jeese, my Crazy Cousin just can be *such* a, um, words fail me...