D&D 5E Are humanoid mono-cultures being replaced with the Rule of Three?

[Paul Farquhar]

Some of the blame about Dwarven accents, might be on John Rhys-Davies...

It was already a stereotype long before the LotR movie (Rhys-Davies is actually Welsh BTW). You see it in early FR novels, you see it in Warhammer. You see quite a few Welsh-accented dwarves in Terry Pratchett. That at least has some logic - there is a long association between Wales and mining.

 

[Yaarel]

I've been listening to westerns on the old-time-radio station for a number of years, and catching a bunch on TV lately. It's hard to find a western without killing. It's pretty amazing how differently the indigenous Americans are portrayed in some of the radio shows (Gunsmoke and Fort Laramie for two; where it seems a pretty fair portrayal to me in most cases) vs. on some of the movies I've been seeing lately (where it seems as racist as one might expect to find). The former has plenty of bad guys to kill - following the law in most cases - without needing to have an entire group of people marked with targets. And a lot of the better westerns do fine with shades of gray. Westerns, of course, have the problem of bullets being a pretty quick death even for the heroes in a lot of cases as opposed to the Sword & Sorcery or High Fantasy battles. But I find the better ones inspiring.

As far as shades of gray and seeing how motives clash, this was an episode on Sirius/XM today that I hadn't heard before: The Well | Frontier Gentleman | Western | Old Time Radio Downloads

I have a specific case in mind, and suspect it was a prevailing motive.

During the era that Westerns became popular, the US had already destroyed and relocated many aboriginal Natives.

Natives enthusiastically supported, consulted for, and supplied material culture for, the radio and movie industry. Natives foresaw that this was an effective way to preserve their own cultural identity and heritage. Some even volunteered their services.

The result is, many of the Westerns who made use of these Native resources produced reasonably accurate and compassionate portrayals of Natives.

 

[Cadence]

I have a specific case in mind, and suspect it was a prevailing motive.

During the era that Westerns became popular, the US had already destroyed and relocated many aboriginal Natives.

Natives enthusiastically supported, consulted for, and supplied material culture for, the radio and movie industry. Natives foresaw that this was an effective way to preserve their own cultural identity and heritage. Some even volunteered their services.

The result is, many of the Westerns who made use of these Native resources produced reasonably accurate and compassionate portrayals of Natives.

I hadn't considered that. Which show/consultant were you thinking of? (I want to go ask on the OTR FB group, and an example might help). Nothing jumped out right away about the two programs I mentioned in particular (they were by the same group of writers).

 

[Yaarel]

I hadn't considered that. Which show/consultant were you thinking of? (I want to go ask on the OTR FB group, and an example might help). Nothing jumped out right away about the two programs I mentioned in particular (they were by the same group of writers).

The show I have in mind was an appraiser show, where experts say how much an antique is worth. A family had inherited an old movie set accountant ledger, which had a number of Native names in it. The daughters wanted to know more about who they were, and if their great grandfather had treated them well. The show uncovered the history surrounding Hollywood and Natives, and interviewed Natives including a descendant of one who was in this ledger. The Natives werent treated bad by Hollywood, but not great either. But sentiment was these Natives were participating and volunteering accurate clothing and jewelry, and so on, for their own reasons to record and preserve Native culture.