I originally saw Stratt as Black because…Black people can and do exist in Europe, so nothing has to say she’s white, especially with Weir’s self-admitted loathing of character descriptions. But what really solidified it for me was that she was a woman who was made the face of a white collective’s endeavor (in the book, she was chosen by the UN, in which the white Western nations have a ridiculous amount of vote sway). Once it slowly became clear that Stratt had put herself in a position to be used, it reminded me not a little of Shonda Rimes’s place in US television: powerful so that they can say a woman wrote it, problematic so they can say a BLACK woman imposed it on the network. As Cal said, “the world’s scapegoat couldn’t be anyone but a woman.”
Another reason I saw her as Black was…well…the extra layer of maternal stereotyping certain areas of the world get with their Black women. Latina and West African Black women, I have noticed, have the Mother Earth stereotype placed upon them. Because they are somehow intrinsically connected to the problems of their land, they need to care about the Earth and food and kindness on behalf of the Global They. They must be collectivist, and collectively ready to take on white people’s apologies for the environment. If you can find a Black woman to fix your personal problems, you will definitely find a Black woman to fix the world for you.
Next, Stratt’s villainization has always rubbed me very wrong. I think the movie does a horrendous job of explaining Stratt’s motivations. She’s clearly an erudite, extremely pragmatic, and yet she gives Ryland three hours to decide, or rather, realize that he’s been positioned into being humanity’s biggest choice. I’m also going to spoil the book for all of you again and explain that Stratt was actually the very first to check for the coma resistance gene when Thailand gave her the sleeper ship idea. This woman stays throwing herself in front of the tracks for the trolley problem—a sacrifice that weighs far more for a woman who knows there is nothing about her personal life that can save her, as Cal said.
“Stratt does it anyway, she steps up because she’s a historian.”
I am a Black historian. I’ve only seen two other people like me, interested in the same areas. There are Black sociologists and Black cultural consultants that I listen to, of course, but there are very few people interested in the white world with a Black angle (my area of study). In the book, Stratt makes a summary that most wars have been over food, and at the time I was reading Project Hail Mary, I was also reading The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris. Early on in Chapter 2, he points out that, yeah, the origin of the word “lord” is hlafweard (loaf ward). In other words, Stratt knows exactly how low humans are willing to go in the social stability ranking just to eat. Remember what I said in my post about immutable Project Hail Mary thoughts for the white fandom: Andy Weir actually wrote a really dark book and is pretending he didn’t.
Thank you for mentioning me, Calvin. I made her Aruban almost immediately because I wanted to see the look on racists’ faces when I pulled up my elite “I know who colonized what” Caribbean information. She is still Dutch by nationality, but she’s also Caribbean. (I made her Caribbean specifically because she’s portrayed as less emotional in the book and the movie, and not everyone knows what to do when a Black person is not as endearing or bubbly as they expect).
Before I answer the next part—here she is, actually!
I made Stratt dark skinned because of that quote-on-quote “joke” Weir made where Ryland was shocked that Stratt was probably pleasing the woke mob because she put a dark-skinned Black man in charge of science.
“Unlike her, he’s not going to face the world’s torment. He’s not going to be held responsible. he gets to be the presentable, palatable face of the project and she has to be the hardass and the bitch who’s going to actually get things done. And no matter what, in the end it’s supposed to kill them both.”
I need everybody to sit with this one for a second. If she was white it wouldn’t really make sense for the world to pre-emptively dislike her. If she was white, why would she be in calm terror even after she had permission from the president of the United States to commit any crime? If she was white, why would she be holding on to dear paperwork, dear procedure, dear recorded information? If she was white, she’d get off quite easily as long as she provided solid evidence that everything, including Ryland Grace’s nonconsensual recruitment and therefore murder, was necessary.
Black Grace and Black Stratt click into so many of the themes that Andy could have explored…had he been only slightly political.
