I Am So Normal About Cartoons /Sarcastic 🇵🇸

The inherent orientalist writing of the al Ghuls

First of all, what is Orientalism? Orientalism is a broad term describing the Western stereotype of Eastern cultures, or the Orient (particularly Asia and North Africa), as backwards and exotic. Coined by Edward Said, it describes the way Western civilization portrays itself as superior and rational, while portraying the Orient as irrational and wrong.  Common orientalist stereotypes include the assumptions that Eastern societies are misogynistic, barbaric/violent, sexual/perverted, and inherently behind societally.

When it comes to DC, the way the al Ghuls are portrayed is inherently orientalist. They are of mixed arab/chinese descent - you can find some more details about that in this post by @/daminette-56 (the post is about Damian's Chinese heritage in particulal, but it still applies). They fit into the racist trope of the ‘Asian Assassins’ - elite East Asian ninja assassins which use traditional/ancient combat forms to kill. Ra’s is the controlling man, Talia is the Dragon lady/Femme Fatale, and their overall concept can be attributed to oriental views. This is furthered by the existence of Damian’s character, since it caused Talia to be converted to a 2-dimensional villain to facilitate Damian’s white saviour story when he is sent to live with his white father to ‘learn to live normally’, or to be civilized. 

Despite this, the al Ghuls are interesting characters. Ra’s motive as an environmental terrorist and Talia’s inner dilemma over her loyalty to her father make them complex characters. Damian’s love for animals stemming from his upbringing with the al Ghuls The fandom tends to ignore this, however, and keep them as boring background characters without much depth. 

When I analyze fandom racism surrounding the al Ghuls, it is important for me to distinguish between what is coming from DC and what is coming from the fandom. As such, it is vital to determine whether or not Ra’s having Tim’s spleen is canon.

2. Does Ra’s have Tim’s spleen?

The short answer is no.

Lets summarize the events which caused Tim to lose his spleen. Tim loses his spleen in his standalone Red Robin series. It happens in the second arc of the series (issues 5-8), called The Council of Spiders. There's a bunch of buildup, but Tim essentially teams up with Ra’s al Ghul to complete his current mission - finding Bruce, who is lost in the time stream. Tim agrees to work with Ra’s (after he kidnaps him and his coworker Tam), however he secretly plans to take down the League Of Assassins from the inside.

During this time, Tim survives an ambush by a group called the Council of Spiders. Later on, Ra’s tasks him with defeating this rival assassin group since he is the only one known to have survived an attack from them. Tim sets up a plan, however it backfires and they are attacked by the Spiders. In this attack, Tim is stabbed and resigns himself to death, however he is saved by White Ghost who stitches him up (presumably with the help of fellow assassins) and removes his spleen due to the damage it has sustained. When this happens, Ra’s is nowhere near. 

Tim’s spleen is never mentioned again. The arc concludes with Tim blowing up all LoA bases that currently exist, and Ra’s threatens to blow up Wayne Enterprises in retaliation. 

Ra’s is not shown to be nearby when Tim’s spleen is taken. He is not implied to have it. He is never shown in possession of it.

It is safe to conclude that Ra’s al Ghul is not in possession of Tim’s spleen.

3. Why is it racist to parrot the idea that Ra’s has Tim’s spleen?

The reason this fandom narrative is inherently racist is since it feeds into multiple orientalist stereotypes. As defined before, Orientalism is the idea that Western society paints itself as superior to Eastern society. Here are the two most harmful ideas it feeds into: 

Creepy Brown Man imagery: Brown men in media are often painted as inherently creepy and dangerous. This is closely linked to the ‘othered foreigner’ trope, where writers focus on the otherness of characters of colour rather than any other trait. Now, I will not deny that Ra’s is dangerous. However, the way he is portrayed by the fandom as borderline obsessed with Tim, going as far as to keep his spleen as a trophy, clearly feeds into the ‘creep’ aspect of this stereotype. It also ignores the fact that Tim was kidnapped by Ra’s for this mission purely due to the tactical advantage - Tim was the only one to have survived a Spider attack, so it was logical to have him be part of the mission. Instead, it shifts the narrative to make Ra’s seem irrationally attached to Tim. 

Sacrificing characterization for propping up a white character: Ra’s is never portrayed as anything other than an evil tyrant within the Tim Drake fan space. His characterization as an eco-terrorist whose goal is to save the Earth from ecological destruction is sacrificed, and he is instead characterized as power hungry, obsessed (see above paragraph), or plain evil with no reasoning behind it (all of which contribute to the Evil Brown Character stereotype separately. Together? It's even worse). Once again, it ignores the logic that accompanies Ra’s decision in choosing Tim, and either paints him as a poor victim attacked by Ra’s, or a fighter so powerful that even Ra’s had to acknowledge him. Any logic Ra’s applied to the decision is ignored in favour of propping up the white character.

4. Common justifications given for this narrative/storyline

It's literally canon! → as I've already broken down, it isn’t. 

But Ra’s is obsessed with Tim!! He calls him Detective and respects him and his fighting! → Ra’s also refers to both Bruce and Dick as ‘detective’. This title is not exclusive to Tim and does not prove anything. Additionally, respecting someone as a fighter and stealing their body parts as a trophy for beating them are two very different things.

It is not out of character for Ra’s to take his spleen! He’s a cult leader and taking trophies from people isn’t uncommon !!! → Ra’s is an ecoterrorist. He has no use for anyone’s spleen. Although he is sometimes depicted taking trophies, they are in the form of land or material items, not body parts. (The assumption that Ra’s takes human body parts as trophies is also orientalist, by the way. Goes back to the original ‘Asian Assassins’ trope, as well as the ‘Barbaric Brown People’ ideal.)

In short: