Romani people in fiction

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Gypsy Fortune Teller by Taras Shevchenko. Gipsy Fortune Teller by Taras Shevchenko.jpg
Gypsy Fortune Teller by Taras Shevchenko.

Many fictional depictions of the Roma in literature and art present Romanticized narratives of their supposed mystical powers of fortune telling, and their supposed irascible or passionate temper which is paired with an indomitable love of freedom and a habit of criminality. Critics of how the Roma have been portrayed in popular culture point out similarities to portrayals of Jewish people, with both groups stereotyped negatively as wandering, spreading disease, abducting children, and violating and murdering others. [1]

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The Roma were portrayed in Victorian and modern British literature as having "sinister occult and criminal tendencies" [2] and as associated with "thievery and cunning", [3] and in English Renaissance and baroque theatre as incorporating "elements of outlandish charm and elements which depict [them] as the lowest of social outcasts," connected with "magic and charms," and "juggling and cozening." [4] In opera, literature and music, throughout Europe, Roma women have been portrayed as provocative, sexually available, gaudy, exotic and mysterious. [5] Hollywood and European movies, as well as popular music and other forms of pop culture, have promoted similar stereotypes. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Particularly notable representations of the Roma appear in classics like Carmen by Prosper Mérimée and adapted by Georges Bizet, Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Miguel de Cervantes' La Gitanilla . The Roma were also heavily romanticized in the Soviet Union, a classic example being the 1975 Tabor ukhodit v Nebo . A more realistic depiction of contemporary Romani in the Balkans, featuring Roma lay actors speaking in their native dialects, although still playing with established clichés of a Roma penchant for both magic and crime, was presented by Emir Kusturica in his Time of the Gypsies (1988) and Black Cat, White Cat (1998). Another realistic depiction of the Roma in Yugoslavia is I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967).

Shakespeare

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Further reading

Related Research Articles

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References

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  5. Reed, Toni (1999). Button, Marilyn Demarest (ed.). The foreign woman in British literature: exotics, aliens, and outsiders (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. pp. 152–155. ISBN   978-0313309281.
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  7. Smith, Jerilyn. The marginalization of shadow minorities (Roma) and its impact on opportunities (Thesis). p. 90.
  8. Smith, Paul Julian (2000). The moderns: time, space, and subjectivity in contemporary Spanish culture (1. publ. ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.  181. ISBN   978-0198160007.
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  11. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Joseph Allen Bryant
  12. When Romeo Met Juliet by Leslie Dunkling
  13. As You Like It by William Shakespeare Editorial Review – School Library Journal vol. 55 iss. 3 p. 171 (c) 3 January 2009
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  15. 1 2 Shakespeare's Caliban: a cultural history by Alden T. Vaughan, Virginia Mason Vaughan 1993 Cambridge University Press
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  17. Marshall, Cass (23 June 2020). "Wizards of the Coast is addressing racist stereotypes in Dungeons & Dragons". Polygon. Retrieved 25 June 2020.