I don't think the OP's proposal is necessary, but what's with the unnecessary extra salt in some of these comments? There's a trash talking competition going on? Staff member already rejected the proposal, so I don't think there's any need to drag this out further.
Speaking of which, I see many people being offended by slavery element in isekai stories, even though I think all of the ones I've read has slavery be a very trivial part of the plot. And these isekai stories are set in a world based on medieval Europe, so of course slavery is to be expected. I assume some people just don't like seeing part of their dark history in a manga...?
Hi, big fan of dark fiction here, especially manga, i really like "berserk", have read "Bastard!!!" and some others series that have dark tones to it, and in my journey reading these type of stories, i have stumbled upon some series that touch or have slavery related themes, and i don't care when it's well executed, but i take a real big problem when it's horribly implemented. Take for example the
Vinland saga (not a dark fiction series, but the example works) character and slave owner,
Ketil, even though he superficially sympathizes with his slaves and gives them food, shelter(if you consider sleeping with horses shelter) and basic necessities for them to live, he still sees them as his objects, that's why at the end of the arc that he appears on, his most notorius scene happens, and it shows him beating and spanking a female character because of his frustations regarding the place that he lives in (not trying to give hard spoilers from the series, but if you have read it you know what i'm sayin), and it's shocking and brutal, but it works because it shows how even the "nicest" of slave owners are still shit people that desumanize their "living property" and will use them in any way they want, because in their minds they own them. or even a more simpler example of
Reszure in
Boroboro no Elf-san wo Shiawase, she's so traumatized at the beginning of the manga being reduced to a state of an object, that she is incapable of speaking, this is where the appeal of this manga comes in, seeing Reszure slowly recovering is at the same time Heartbroken when you try to imagine just what she has been through and Sweat because you see her getting better, it's a series that executes really well the concept of slavery is without fetishizing it. And now that i have given 2 good examples and cited the word "fetishizing" i think it's time to adress the elephant in the room and probably
the reason why op made such a thread in the first place, and it's the bad ways of using slavery in your story just like
@Dwarfy2k said:
I'm fine with slavery in the plot when it makes sense, I (like my thread somewhere in here under hated tropes) hate when you have lovers who have a slaved partner and keep them slaved and the like, very icky.
I believe that having something in your story such as slaved partner that's kept as
A SLAVE it's one of the most basic examples of fetishizing such a fucked up thing like slavery, because most of these cases are trying to do this to the reader: "Wouldn't it be nice if you had a cute anime girl like the one here as your slave? Doing everything that you want? and being super nice and submisive to you? and being in mad love to you? while being in an position that you are still the 'superior' in the relationship? wouldn't it be nice???" and this is exactly why having a discussion surrounding slavery being a red tag like erotica is relevant. I believe it's necessary to advert the reader that if he reads the series that has this tag, there's a real chance that he will se this theme being fethisized and being take lightly by who is making the story, this is why i'm genuinely perplexed and worried seeing the petulancy of the people answering OP, because while he didn't have a very strong argument to reinforce it, he has a point and it shouldn't be answered in a way like "Slavery isn't that big of a deal", like some people did in the thread, i hope this made things clearer.
