In the seventeenth part of\u00c2\u00a0The Last Continent<\/i>, the wizards adjust to the beginning. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of racism and misogyny<\/b><\/p>\n
Honestly, I really wanted this section to have a Rincewind scene because I HAVE A NEED TO KNOW THINGS. But he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s completely absent here, and Pratchett instead focuses on the chaotic ramifications of the wizards landing on Fourecks at this specific time. The magic that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s swirling about the place \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which I believe is coming from the God of Evolution, right? \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00c2\u00a0is slowly adding more things to the continent. In that sense, it makes Mono Island like one giant testing ground, and Fourecks is the final product. At first, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing on the continent besides a few geographical features, and even\u00c2\u00a0those<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t too fancy.<\/p>\n
Then the Bursar accidentally invents surfing, which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 maybe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just reading too much into this, but I feel real weird about this book postulating that something invented by Polynesians was instead created on the Disc by\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How did he do that?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Ridcully. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I mean, the man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crazier than a ferret! Damn good Bursar, of course.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Possibly the lack of mental balance means there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothin to impede physical stability?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Ponder wearily.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ooooookkkkaaaaayyy. Granted: Ponder doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually believe this, and granted: I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Pratchett is saying a mentally ill wizard created surfing. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more of a personal thing, since my family on my father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side are Hawaiian, and I get defensive about cultural theft. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an\u00c2\u00a0odd<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0thing to include, given the time travel element. Inevitably, aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the things the wizards do here going to reappear in the present time? I know surfing\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0a thing in Australia, but as far as I can recall, it was brought there a little over a hundred years ago; it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just spring up naturally or by accident.<\/p>\n
All right, maybe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m nitpicking. I honestly feel like I\u00c2\u00a0have<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not much here for me to talk about aside from some not-so-great choices. At least there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something resembling forward motion in Rincewind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plot, but right now, the wizards are literally just standing around and arguing. (Except the Bursar, who I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to.) The sequence where the thaumic energy causes them all to age backwards (or forwards, in the case of Ponder) is hands-down one of the weirdest things in a\u00c2\u00a0Discworld\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>book so far. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a bad thing because y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all know I love surreal shit, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 where is this\u00c2\u00a0going<\/i>? I did enjoy that this ended in Ridcully making that joke about how Ponder would have to go through the experience all over again. (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At least once, anyway.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) But \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to use the word again \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is all so\u00c2\u00a0aimless<\/i>. What story is Pratchett telling here?<\/p>\n
And then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got\u00c2\u00a0more<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of the wizards objectifying Mrs. Whitlow, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so\u00c2\u00a0boring<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the same joke over and over again, and unless this is repeated for some grand thematic motif, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see why Pratchett keeps doing it. (And if it\u00c2\u00a0were<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for some Important Point, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure that would be worth it either.) Is the awkward misogyny of men supposed to be funny?<\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I have to repeat myself, though, so OH WELL, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M REPETITIVE, TOO. This is just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not how this works?<\/p>\n
Like Rincewind, the Bursar had no room in his head for racism. As a skin color black came as quite a relief compared to some of the colors he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen, although he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never seen anyone quite so black as the man now staring at him. At least, the Bursar assumed he was staring. The eyes were so deep set that he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be sure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh, lord, how do I unpack this? Like, this is exactly what loads of white people do before spewing racism, so that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s REAL FUN. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the Bursar does anything awful here, and him watching this man (Fourecks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s version of an Aboriginal man) is kind of a sweet moment. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite pure. My problem is that such pronouncements about race are seldom, if ever, true. Racism and racist thoughts are so much more insidious than Pratchett seems to think they are. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a matter of not having room in one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head for them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about how you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re raised; what you see and experience; who you interact with; what narratives you believe about other cultures and peoples. I find it hard to believe that a culture like the one in Ankh-Morpork, which openly derides or makes fun of things from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153forn parts,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is suddenly incapable of racism just by choice.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work like that. How can you observe that black skin doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t upset you, but then make a point of remarking that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen skin as dark as this man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s? Either you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice it or it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t unnerve you, or\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it does? You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have both of them.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UKjqd49W09I<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b>
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the seventeenth part of\u00c2\u00a0The Last Continent, the wizards adjust to the beginning. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,248,522],"class_list":["post-4075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-the-last-continent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}