Gypsy Stereotypes

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.

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

Literature

*1596: ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' by William Shakespeare – Which includes the lines "Sees Helen's beauty in the brow of Egypt" ("Egyptian" was used to refer to the Roma of England). Here, Theseus is imagining the face of a lover can make the dark-skinned Roma look like Helen of Troy, who he considers more beautiful.
*1600: ''As You Like It'' by Shakespeare – He uses the word "ducdame" (Act II, Sc. 5), possibly a corruption or mishearing of the old Anglo-Romani word ''dukka me'' ("I foretell" or "I tell fortunes") E. K. Chambers. ''William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems'', 2 vols., (Vol. 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930)
*1603: ''Othello'' by Shakespeare – Desdemona's handkerchief a gift to Othello's mother is a gift from an "Egyptian charmer" who can almost read the thoughts of people.''Shakespeare's Caliban: a cultural history'' by Alden T. Vaughan, Virginia Mason Vaughan 1993 Cambridge University Press
*1607: ''Antony and Cleopatra'' by William Shakespeare – Cleopatra is twice referred to as a "gipsy," both in the play's opening speech and following Antony's defeat at the Battle of Actium. Early modern people erroneously believed that the Roma had originally hailed from ancient Egypt.
*1611: ''The Tempest'' by Shakespeare – Caliban, the only human inhabitant of the mythical island, is thought to be named after the word ''Kaliban'' meaning "black" or "with blackness" in Anglo-Romani. As the first Roma immigrants arrived in England a century before Shakespeare wrote ''The Tempest'', it is thought he may have been influenced by their looks and exoticised them.
*1815: Walter Scott's novel ''Guy Mannering''.
*1815: Jane Austen's '' Emma''. Roma make a brief appearance in Emma as children who bait Harriet in a lonely lane. Austen's description of the Roma is romanticized.
*1847: Emily Brontë's novel ''Wuthering Heights''. Heathcliff is described as looking like a Roma man and is presumed to be one by several characters, although this is never confirmed.
*1847: Charlotte Brontë's ''Jane Eyre''. English Roma set up camp near Thornfield Hall, later Rochester disguises himself as an old Roma fortune teller in order to get Jane to confide her feelings for him.
*1860: George Eliot's ''The Mill on the Floss''. The protagonist Maggie runs away to Roma, but decides she has gone out of her depth. They do not harm her, but the episode darkly prefigures the steps that she will take in adulthood.

Other media

* The Curse of Strahd supplement for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' includes a fantasy version of the Roma, the Vistani. Early printings portrayed the Vistani in a stereotyped light.
* In Marvel Comics, many characters are Romanis like Doctor Doom, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, and Meggan. Siblings Colossus, Magik, and Mikhail Rasputin are also of Romani heritage.
* In DC Comics there are Romani characters like Dick Grayson, Madame Xanadu, Ice, and Zatanna Zatara (and Zatanna's father, Giovanni "John" Zatara). DC Comics also has a superheroine called Gypsy (Cynthia "Cindy" Reynolds), who was depicted as Romani when she was first introduced. However, Cynthia was later rebooted as a non-Romani woman, who simply calls herself "Gypsy" as a gimmick (born out of another character noting that she "seems to prefer a more nomadic existence. That makes you something of a trans-dimensional... gypsy.").''Justice League of America's Vibe'' #7 (August 2013)

See also

*Names of the Romani people
*Anti-Romani sentiment
*Romani literature

Further reading

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fictional Representations of Romani People


Fiction