Discovery of Racism in the Fantasy Genre. The Dark Elf Motif in Dungeons Dragons

The fantasy genre bares some stigmas born from the times of its most formative au- thor, J.R.R. Tolkien. Among them, there is a problem of so-called “fantasy races”, imaginary entities like elves, orcs, or goblins, and their real-world implications, rooted deeply in racial stereotypes. In this artic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Gender and Power Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 31 - 46
Main Author Strzelczyk, Agata
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza 2022
Adam Mickiewicz University
Subjects
Social differentiation
diversity
fantasy
tabletop games
Dungeons Dragons
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Summary:The fantasy genre bares some stigmas born from the times of its most formative au- thor, J.R.R. Tolkien. Among them, there is a problem of so-called “fantasy races”, imaginary entities like elves, orcs, or goblins, and their real-world implications, rooted deeply in racial stereotypes. In this article, I study this topic on the example of the fictional race of the drow or dark elves and their portraits in the media related to Dungeons Dragons, a tabletop roleplay game system heavily influenced by classic fantasy motifs. I try to argue that the changes in social and racial sensitiv- ity observed in the young generation of Dungeons Dragons players are correlated with changes in the portrayal of draws from classic monsters to much more nuanced approaches.
ISSN:2391-8187
2657-9170