i kinda wanted to address the awkward chinese shopkeeper in valhalla, and the similarities of how elves are written in dragon age. specifically, how majority white writer rooms have this weirdly caricaturized image of how poc behave in majority white contexts

when i met the shopkeeper, she instantly starts banging on the blandness of viking food. which is very fair, except she's doing that to sigurd's right hand man in a community of VIKINGR who raid and murder people for fun. which makes ZERO SENSE considering that she is their guest

in dragon age, elves are a little overeager for blood whenever something bad happens to one of their own. velanna in particular holds on to her hostility while in the grey wardens, which makes me question HOW THE HELL DID YOU SURVIVE.

i think majority white writer rooms tend to assume that poc feel safe enough in majority white contexts to clown the majority, becuase they're friends with poc who feel comfortable enough to clown them.

that is not the case if you're a minority in a group of armed militants!

surprise! people only clown their friends if they're convinced their friends aren't liable to murder or sabotage them at the drop of a hat! and that danger is completely lost to writer rooms who think of other white people as "safe"

anyway, it's a dangerous assumption because caricatures of poc who dunk on white people enable folks to think "if poc were REALLY uncomfortable by this hostile environment, then they would be outspoken enough to say something"

no, no actually... a lot of people enjoy being safe.