#the ableism and racism in Animorphs

[rjalker]

"OMG, it's a kids series, why are you criticizing the bigotry in it? That's so cringey!

"Who cares if a show aimed at little kids is teaching them that it's romantic for boys to sexually harass and assault girls?

"Who cares that this kids book series with over 60 entries is defending slavery and genocide??

"Who cares if there's victim blaming and rape apologism in just the second book??

"Who cares if [insert children's series] is teaching kids horrible, cruel, bigoted ideas that they will absorb and reproduce in real life?

"Who cares that the media we show to kids plays a massive role in shaping our society?

"It's just a kids series! Stop criticizing the blatant bigoted propaganda being fed to kids by conservatives who want little kids to think that being abused by their partner is the height of romance!!!"

[ID: The Garfield "you are not immune to propaganda" meme, with Garfield the orange cat's head smiling on a blue background, with the text now reading, "Children are especially susceptible to propaganda.". End ID.]

[motherofmabari]

My parents: We just don't understand how we raised such a leftist child 😟

Me in elementary school: Reads The Enchanted Forest Chronicles and Animorphs, deeply internalizes concepts of fairness and justice for all, and subsists almost exclusively on Girl Power narratives

Me in middle school: Reads Hunger Games, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Protector of the Small, experiences same sex attraction for the first time (though it will be years before I realize this) and is bullied over it, and witnesses a friend be repeatedly failed by the ableist educational system

Me in high school: Reads Huck Finn, the Trickster Duology, and the Uglies series, experiences ableism, fatphobia, and homophobia more acutely, witnesses multiple friends struggle with racism and classism, and graduates right as mass shootings are becoming commonplace

Me as an adult: It's a mystery alright

[solarishashernoseinabook]

Solaris reviews Odder, by Katherine Applegate (2022)

Confession: this is the first book I've ever read by Animorphs author KA (Katherine) Applegate

Summary: Odder is a playful young sea otter. After a shark attack, she's taken to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to recover, and reminisces on her time there as a young kit, orphaned after a storm that washed her up on the beach.

Content: Written in free-verse, this is a cosy and charming bit of xenofiction. I got through it in a couple hours and heartily recommended it to students coming through my library. There's a fair bit of anthropomorphising in it, but considering this is a middle-grade novel that's to be expected.

The book does get slightly dark at points, though it's no worse than you'd get in, say, any of Rick Riodan's books. There's animal sickness, injury, and death. I thought they were handled very well, and all came together into a satisfying conclusion.

Who I think would like it: Anyone looking for a light, sweet bit of xenofiction. I'd say this book would appeal just as well to a kid as to a teen or an adult - you'd just get different things out of it depending on your stage of life. This book is very safe - if you look below, you'll see that it doesn't have most of the things I trigger tag for, making it good for all ages.

Things it does well: Free-verse was a really good choice for this novel actually! Applegate gets creative with word placement and line length to add emphasis or enhance impactful scenes - short lines to make something punchier, gaps between lines to indicate that time has passed. It makes otherwise simple passages, like Odder pausing for suspense while she tells a story, very sweet.

Things that could be improved: Roughly 2/3rds of this book is written in the present tense, which I have a lot of trouble reading to the point where I basically don't bother with books written in it. But because it's written in verse, it's easier to deal with. Nevertheless, I got through the middle portion (written in the past tense) faster than the present-tense portions.

My review: This was just so sweet and so well done. I was initially drawn in by the absolutely adorable cover art (seriously, google this book, it's so pretty), and fell in love with the story along the way. Applegate based the characters in the book off of various otters cared for by the Monterey Bay Aquarium over the years, adding a layer of authenticity to the creatures she portrays.

Does this book have…: ✅= yes ��= not sure ⭕= possibly/mixed ❌= no

Romance? ❌

Sex? ❌

Racism? ❌

Sexism? ❌

LGBTQIA-phobia? ❌

Ableism? ❌

Swearing? ❌

Drug/Alcohol references? ❌

References to or actual violence or suicide? ❌

References to or actual animal death or cruelty? ✅ You'll encounter shark attacks, mentions of orphaned animals, and some light mentions of a mother otter losing a pregnancy towards the end. As I said above, I thought these were dealt with sensitively and handled well.

Recommended: So much yes

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

A couple weeks ago there was someone in the animorphs tag (idk who; I blocked them immediately out of exhaustion) who was arguing that the animorphs tv show was better than the books bc the books are ableist, racist, and misogynistic (and anyone who likes them is all those things as well). Do you feel like those are valid criticisms of the books—and do you think the show avoids these pitfalls?

1. You are correct that the thing to do is hit Mute on XKit to get rid of the kind of posts that do nothing but raise blood pressure.

2. The whole process of comparing media to say “x is more racist than y” is... kinda wonky at best, because it’s almost never comparing apples to apples and there’s no such thing as a non-racist work because we live in a racist society.  So I think we should criticize the things we love, but I don’t think stacking them up against each other is necessarily useful.

3. AniTV has a few not-good decisions that aren’t present in Animorphs, including:

Casting white non-Hispanic actors to play Ax and Eva

Having a Magical Negro scene where an older Black man convinces Tobias to become an Animorph through the power of simple folk wisdom

Adapting multiple plots where Rachel gets rescued by Jake or Tobias, but never any of the plots where she saves them

Casting Cassie as a light-skinned actress with long wavy hair, when she’s described in the books as dark-skinned with short tightly curled hair

Casting a 27-year-old actor as Tobias and a 17-year-old actor as Rachel

Having a few not-good jokes about an oatmeal-addicted controller having psychosis or needing medication

Diverting from Cassie’s and Marco’s book descriptions to make them more traditionally gendered by late-90s American norms

Other things I’m forgetting

4. Animorphs has a few not-good decisions all on its own, including:

Not questioning Ax’s assumption that disabled andalites have no quality of life because they’re disabled

Killing or curing all of its disabled characters, thereby buying into the idea that disabled bodies are a “problem” that needs to be “resolved”

Telling a story that parallels a group of Black Americans to a group of nonhuman aliens

Everything about #40, none of which ages well

Having Cassie mention that Jake “doesn’t care that I’m Black” like he deserves a fucking cookie for this or something

Other things that I’m forgetting or didn’t spot as a nondisabled whitey

5.  I don’t have a single good answer for what to do about anything I just said.  My own stance has always been to love what I love and also not shy away from criticizing it, to try to learn from the failings of these works and do better, and to do my best to reflect and self-educate.  To recognize that Your Mileage May Vary, and that anyone who chooses to “nope” out of the series because of those elements is entitled to do so.  To be aware that my own personal “can’t enjoy it because can’t see around the imperialism” (Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials, Discworld) story is someone else’s “hate the imperialism, love the plot” series.  To remember that I can still love deeply homophobic series (Supernatural, Angel, The Path) while being loudly and proudly queer.

Roxanne Gay’s Bad Feminist talks endlessly about the question about what one can do as a fat Black queer woman and assault survivor who finds the music of Robin Thicke just so dang catchy, and doesn’t arrive at a single answer.  Because I don’t know that there is a single answer, but I don’t think that either extreme of “let’s pretend there’s nothing wrong with this work” or “you’re a terrible person if you tolerate the existence of this problematic work” is a useful solution.

[chansaw]

like? help

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

I really wish the Animorphs fandom would stop actively ignoring how racist and ableist the series is while promoting it as the most progressive thing ever.

It’s exhausting when you know your fandom supports a lot of racist content but barely anyone, aside you, acknowledges it and tries to fix the problem

~mod n

[wingsoffireaus]

Okay so let's talk about Jerboa...

Again trigger warnings. But let me start off by saying this.

I actually didn't mind the chapter delving into her past so much. BUT I get if people are triggered or don't like it.

I mean I was shocked it was in there. But it didn't bother me that much. Guess that goes to show who I am though.

I don't know guys. Like it's bad. It really is. We've got it all here. Child abuse. Brainwashing (literally) and some loss if limb. But... I don't know. Like it took me back but...

Yeah it's probably bad that I just found it more fascinating than anything else. Like it's a very good dive into how ultimate power (and time) can corrupt you. Like... Ugh. I thought it was fascinating.

But.. I don't know. It's valid that people are upset over this part. It really is. But I grew up reading animorphs and let me tell you... That is some fucked up shit. Haha. Y'all think "oh those books with the silly covers? Psh what do they have?"

Haha how about. Child soldiers. Someone gets eaten in the first book. Mind controlling slugs. Racism. Ableism. Loss of limb. PTSD literal children being mind controlled by slugs. Cannibalistic giant centipede things. Genocide. Chemical war fair.

Oh and the series ended on one of the darkest cliffhangers I have ever seen. So yeah. Guys I've grown up reading stuff like this. It does not bother me at all. It probably should... But it doesn't. In all seriousness though guys Animorphs is an amazing series and I recommend it... But keep these in mind. To be fair they actually do have a lot of humor and character... Admittedly once the ghost writers took over it took a turn but .. we don't talk about that. But yeah. (There is an actual gay alien couple in the later books though. Being in the 90s they couldn't be obvious about it but... It's there guys. It's very obviously there. And the author's confirmed it. Not in that way. Like they did all they could do to confirm with out saying it straight out.

Anyway. Sorry Animorphs is a thing for me. I can't help but rant about it.

Continuing on. Yes this is a disturbing chapter. And I can see people being freaked out about it... But to be honest y'all can probably skip it. Actually here this is what pisses me off about all this.

Why does Jerboa exist? I literally think it's just because Sutherland came up with this fascinating character backstory.. but besides that Jerboa doesn't really do anything. Besides traumatizing children. She does that very well. Like I said earlier it didn't bother me. But I'm so fucked up that even as a child I don't think it would have bothered me. Again haha animorphs. But I don't think I'd let any of my nieces or nephews listen to that part. Maybe that's my protective side coming in I don't know. Meh. Ultimately I think it depends on who it is reading it.

So here's the thing that pisses me off. Jerboa took away animus magic. Cuz that's totally a great idea.... Fuck off man. I hate this trope. Why is this a trope? Why is this a thing? Let's take magic away! (But did anyone else notice she said only living Animi. Good job Tui. If you ever want to write a future book with Animi you can now.)

But just... Okay the obvious reason Tui did this was so they can't use magic to defeat the plants... But hey guess what? What you could've done is a spell where no magic can ever cause harm. Boom. Fixed it.

Then they can't use it to just kill Wasp. They'd have to find a way around it. Isn't that more interesting than taking it away? Like I'm sorry it's just... It's so boring and stupid.

This is exactly like when in fantasy movies they always have to leave the magic behind. Oh wow magical world. Oh wow friends. Oh no you have to go home but you're okay. Cuz being normal is good.

Cut it with the condescending crap! It pissed me off when I was 6 (seriously guys Narnia was an... Event when you watched it with 6year old tree) and it ticks me off as a 21 year old adult!

We're reading these books for the magic! Don't introduce it and then write it out so lazily! Even as a kid this would upset me.

But um yeah. So Jerboa? I kind of wish you didn't exist. Yes your backstory is... Deliciously tragic. And I'm just the sicko to find it fascinating. But y'know what. I could've lived without the taking magic away. No.

And another reason this upsets me?

Turtle. Hey anyone remember the end of his book. When he had a shut down when his magic was taken away? A vital piece of himself? No?

Well it seems like Tui has too. And it just... Fuck guys. I cried at that part! And I was ecstatic when he got it back. But nah guys.

Animus magic is too convenient. Better scratch that. Not try and be creative.

Blegh...

Oh wait... Hold on. Yeah so remember the ring? Yes the magic ring? That I'm kind of on the fence about? Guess what it adds another layer against Jerboa doing what she did. The ring shows the good magic can do. And then we had the crown showing the bad... I just .. I don't know I feel about this guy's. I just wish they weren't a thing. Cuz now I just feel like there could've been a dialogue about the good and evil of magic. But there's not really. Let's be real here. Once again one person made a decision without talking to anyone else. And I hate that. I want dialogue guys. I want conflict and then talking. You can't have one person be it all.

Cuz that's just as bad as one person running the show. But this is never gonna come up again. Just like Peacemaker is just gonna... Be Peacemaker. And it's all just... So upsetting I don't know.

I am so genuinely upset by these cheap cop outs guys. And I'm tired.

Anyway sorry guys. Prolly not the rant y'all expected. But I'm tired now. And emotionally drained from writing this.

Sounding totally cliche. I miss the magic of this series. But I feel like it's been getting drained from it. Literally and figuratively.

[thenixkat]

Animorphs stans be like “I can excuse pro-genocide rhetoric, racism, and ableism but I draw the line at the insinuation that the writers made a continuity error”

[walks-the-ages]

Please imagine for me:

Animorphs x Stargate SG1 crossover.

The Andalites would run into what they THOUGHT was a bunch of yerks and just get,, completely annihilated. I don't remember if Goa'uld can take over non-humanoids but my god they would be unstoppable in a morph-capable Andalite body.

The Andalites somehow meet SG1 and ask for help against these "Advanced Yerks" but SG1 is barely on their world for like five minutes before they realize the Andalites are just complete and utter shitbags full of sexism, ableism and casual genocide.

It starts off small, with the way they treat Sam.... Then with the way they treat Teal'c.... Then the way they treat Daniel when they learn he's a scholar instead of a warrior.... Then the Andalites casually mention they might have to blow up the Earth to stop the Yerks and that's when Sg1 goes RIGHT back to the Stargate, but obviously, gets pulled into deeper drama before they can leave the planet to warn the SGC.

Maybe there'd be a plot point where SG1 runs into some secret resistance fighters on the Andalite homeworld and hook them up with contacts to the Tok'ra because woopsies, looks like "Andalite" is not a species in the same way that "Goa'uld" is not a species: instead, it's a the name of a facist political party!

Seriously. The Tok'ra must have been so fucking DONE with the Tau'ri constantly calling them the equivalent of "space facists" because the Tau'ri were too lazy and willfully ignorant to actually listen to a thing the Tok'ra said any time they spoke, even in plain English.

Either way, it would have to deal with the racism and colonialism that is rampant in both Animorphs AND Stargate whilst having a fun plot where the Andalites and Yerks get their asses kicked.

[bio-fluorescence]

Also any re-release WILL actually have people making substansive critique, especially from an anti-racism and anti-ableism perspective, and we ALREADY KNOW the authors Cannot Handle Criticism

I can imagine lots of people developing p strong animorphs “hate” (misnomer for thinking animorphs is over the line of unacceptable fandom). The only things keeping this from happening are 1) obscurity 2) its baby and 3) its old as hell so like. Of course its not going to be great (untrue obviously but the sentiment exists). Getting essentially a rerelease and likely advertising WILL change the experience of reading the books and it WILL make it worse unless they do serious rewrites

[mtorolite]

I wish internet culture and social media and the like had been around when Animorphs were first becoming a thing, because, let me tell you, as popular as they were in my third grade class, they would have EXPLODED. Six series and a movie in the right hands. 

The books aren’t perfect - there are plot holes and some gaps in world building - but they have so much going for them. The characters are honestly complex and diverse, kids grappling with problems so much bigger than them, and the frank, and honestly terrifying look at war and its effects is the most realistic this side of “Fallen Angels.”

The aliens are complex and diverse, with individuals in each species.

The history is complex, and the heroes aren’t always heroes.

Books ask hard questions, and not just about war, but about how people treat people, questions about ableism, racism, the nature of consciousness, and how far people can go to do the “right” thing, and deals with the aftermath of all these ideas realistically.

There’s humor and hope to balance the blood and moral quandry. 

There’s so much to love, and I still dream of the day they’ll get an animated series to do the six idiot teenagers with a death wish justice. 

[rjalker]

This is your free 2023 reminder that the Animorphs book series is filled to the fucking brim with ableism, misogyny, racism, and slavery and genocide apologism, and if anyone tells you otherwise, they are straight up lying to your face. The fandom regularly just makes shit up out of nowhere and lies about every single fucking thing that happens in the series. You can literally shove pictures of the book showing the text in their faces and they will literally continue straight up lying about what it does and does not say.

If someone tells you to quit Harry Potter and read the Animorphs instead, that person is literally saying that they're fine with misogyny, racism, ableism, and slavery and genocide apologism, but draw the line at transmisia.

They are fucking telling you that if JK Rowling hadn't become an open transmisic, they'd be perfectly fine with all the other fucking bigoted shit baked into the Harry Potter universe, because the only minority they care about is white trans people.

Stop fucking telling people that The Animorphs is a bigotry-free alternative to Harry Potter just because the author doesn't hate trans people.

Stop fucking telling people to read The Animorphs without warning them about all the absurd levels of bigotry.

[rjalker]

Are the animorph stans just completely incapable of not proving the bigotry we are talking about right while they are trying to argue against it like. I don't think I've ever made a single Animorphs post talking about the bigotry where one of the Animorphs stans I haven't blocked yet did not *immediately* come out of nowhere to attempt to argue with it, and literally prove everything I am saying and then some.

[rjalker]

Animorphs stans go "Well, the author doesn't hate trans people, so that makes all the racism, ableism, genocide and slavery apologism and misogyny A-OK!!!!"

[rjalker]

People who tell people to read The Animorphs without telling them about all the racism, ableism, and misogyny, and instead insist that it's super progressive and so much better than Harry Potter and has queer characters 🤝 People who tell people to watch Star Trek: The Original Series without warning them about the racism or misogyny and instead sing its praises from the rooftops and declare that anyone who thinks its misogynistic is just too stupid to understand Gene "how many dead wives can I fit into eleven episodes of a show" Roddenbury's genius.

[rjalker]

There's an entire Animorphs book literally dedicated to torturing one of the main characters in detail until he's literally lying in his own shit and vomit.

But people who've never even picked up one of these books in their lives see me talking about how this series is filled with racism, ableism, and misogyny, and glorifies and makes excuses for slavery and genocide, and these people, who have iterally no fucking clue what this series is about or anything that happens in it, think I'm being ridiculous and absurd because "It's a children's series! No children's series has ever been bigoted!"

But I guess criticizing bigotry that's aimed at kids is only cool if you're shitting on Harry Potter, even when shit tons of people go "oh Harry Potter's bad now, so you should read The Animorphs!" and never give anyone a single warning about any of the shit that happens in it.

Just because KA Applegate isn't a fucking transphobe does not mean The Animorphs series is progressive and feminist and awesome in every way. It is, in fact, filled with racism, ableism, misogyny, and slavery and genocide apologism. Just like Harry Potter is filled with antisemitism, fatphobia, classism, and more.