That Tricky Dark/Light Binary
A hair past the (Northern) Summer Solstice, tipping from waxing to waning daylight, a good time to contemplate the use of dark-light words and tropes.
The dark of a new moon night, rich with stars.
The dark of fertile soil, well composted into humus.
Dark-Light.
Found this nest on the ground yesterday as I contemplated how to frame this article.
The dark inside an egg, inside the nest, tended and warmed by the attending parent, growing into a fledgling.
The black ink scribing on the crisp white paper.
Where we get into trouble . . .
And then there’s dark villains, black magic, nefarious deeds, evil sporing into the world.
There’s dark literature and dark genre tropes.
Remember: words have energy, language has power.
Imagine that your skin is dark brown and from a young age books and films hammered home this equivalency: black is evil, dark is nefarious, while white is good and light is the ultimate goal.
For years, I’ve tried to model different words–often quite the challenge. (Remember my discussion of language shortcuts in part 1 of this exploration?)
My go-to words are bright and shadow. Still, these are complex concepts (see part 1) and I don’t always explain my terms. A key point: these words don’t represent the good-bad binary for me (a binary that’s ripe for a whole other blog post).
Readers are intrigued by villains, by psychological depths, by thrillers. Thus, literary agents and publishers seek “dark” stories. We even have a twitter pitching event #darkpit where writers can pitch their scary, evil, twisted stories. I’m not saying that these stories are bad, injust or racist. I’m focusing on the words we use to describe them and the characters.
Of course, no one is referring to skin color.
Yet . . .
Where do you place yourself across the dark-light spectrum of skin colors? From that perspective, feel the energy of these sentences:
Darkness creeps into the world, robbing its goodness, its life.
The black magician raised his arm, and I writhed in pain.
The black tendrils twisted about her torso and squeezed.
The dark forest loomed, conjuring tales of children abducted, of shrieking predators, and he shivered.
She reeked of black magic, of curses, of aligning with malevolent forces.
Now, imagine your skin color is towards the other end of the dark-light spectrum. Reread the above sentences.
Did you taste the difference in energy?
No, I don’t have the perfect answer for word choice. I’m a white woman, albeit one who strives to de-center herself and listen listen listen to People of Color, to stand aside and support their voices and their power/effect in the world.
Words have power.
May we act for racial and economic justice.
Happy Solstice!