OUTLANDER'S FRANK RANDALL: RACIST OR REALIST? *BONUS: Diana Weighs In With The Facts

LIGHTBULB MOMENT!

Yes...this looks JUST like me. Scarily so.

Many of the fans that Diana Gabaldon calls the anti-Frank crowd, site the phone calls from women that Claire receives, who tell her to leave Frank and their marriage, as proof of his infidelities. As I do NOT believe that Frank was a cheater, it just occurred to me why they may have called her: we know that 'everyone thinks she is having an affair with Joe Abernathy as they spend so much time together' (as Franks says in Voyager Chapter 19). This is why I believe these curious phone calls are either from:

1) women/students who are smitten by him and want her to leave with her lover and open the path to his heart/bedroom or a combination of both OR

2) women who simply admire him greatly and want her to leave with her scandalous black lover and stop shaming him and ruining his reputation...and making fool out of him. 

This could also explain what he meant when he said being with, or having an affair with a black man was 'dangerous'. His saying that 'being overprotective of Bree was better than having her 'fucking a black' man sounds more like bitter jealousy, deep anger and real fear...and not racism. After all, he didn't say the 'N' word and racists certainly do and did, especially in those days. Nevertheless, many do say that this is the point they lose all respect for Frank. If they had any to begin with, that is.

I don't believe it is in Frank's honorable and decent character to be racist, even though racism was utterly commonplace in those days. In 'Leaf' we see Frank as a man of great character, intelligence and sympathy who can speak other languages (even if just a bit) and feels for the Jews and the soldiers of any ethnicity keenly. This hardly seems the type of man to harbour racist or prejudiced values.

Black and white couples could be and WERE beaten, jailed and murdered in those days and marriage was ABSOLUTELY out of the question. For example, In 1958, an interracial couple were torn from their beds at night in their own home and slammed into jail when the police discovered they had married.

*See this link: INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS THAT CHANGED HISTORY

By 1966, things has improved but not by much (it wasn't until 1967 that all the States in America made interracial marriage legal)...as we can sadly attest to even today.

If Claire was thrown in jail because of her love affair with Joe, what would happen to Bree? Both of their reputations? Bree's future? What if things escalated and they were attacked or abused? And could it be that THAT was the reason he needed to go to England and take Bree with him...and even dare to hope Claire would follow? 

Indeed it could. In fact, if we do find out later that Frank is not in fear for Bree's (AND Claire's?) safety because of his MI6 Secret Agent involvements concerning Time Travel and other nefarious reasons, it may be simply that he felt he had to save his daughter's reputation and shield her from the stain of her mother's shame and reckless love affair...again...just like he did in 1948.

So, in closing, let me reiterate, I do very much believe that Frank was/is not the racist he is thought to be (another red herring Diana? GAWD WOMAN...I am getting full! Can't eat herring again if I tried... *wink* ) and was really just worried for the safety and reputation of Brianna...and even of Claire, who we know he loved until his dying breath. He spent his life keeping them safe.

And this then begs the question, what does it say about us for jumping so quickly to the conclusion that someone saying 'a black man' in any kind of angry sentence is racist, without thinking about what else they could mean. Am I racist if I say 'I don't like Eskimo Pies'? Or, 'Hey Officer! That Ukrainian Canadian guy just stole my purse!'. Sometimes it is just a description for a specific purpose.

*and yes, I am Ukrainian Canadian and that guy who stole your purse was probably my brother. Sorry. He doesn't get out much.

Joking aside, it is terribly easy to fall into an opinion skewed by one's preconception of a character...but you can now see, I hope, that maybe the problem is with us, not Frank.

ADDED: Many thanks to Beth Trogdon Allen for this copy of Diana's opinion of Frank's perceived prejudice and racism, and why he is NOT either: 

click to enlarge

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OUTLANDER SEASON 3 (& 4,5...etc...): 3 Major Missing Facts & 3 Additions That Will Cause A Fandom Meltdown

The upcoming season(s) will be bittersweet. Something like lemon rind coated with chocolate.

Starz molds and shapes Outlander like PlayDoh, so it is no surprise that among the various adaptation changes (plot/event removals and additions) there will be things missing or added to Season 3 and the upcoming Seasons.

So...these are the Top 3 things that are/will-be missing, and the Top 3 most radical additions...that I, to be frank, love. *wink*

SADLY MISSING

1) BRIANNA WILL NEVER KNOW HER NAME WAS ALWAYS PRONOUNCED WRONG

When Jamie sees Brianna's picture for the first time when Claire returns, he is told her name and says 'What a terrible name for a lass!' or something even worse, and Claire is obviously indignant and angry and reminds him that HE asked for the baby to have his father's name...and since she couldn't call the child Brian, she morphed it into Brianna with the same 'pronunciation'!

Jamie then realizes the problem and says "Oh... I see, then it's supposed to be pronounced 'Bree-ana. Not so bad then." in a conversation a little better written than that in the book.....and we then realize that from the minute we meet Bree, should have been called Brian-ah. That would have been fun to see.
*sadly grabs a scoop of pink 'LGBT Yum' ice-cream to make a Consolation Cone to feel better*

2) JAMIE CANNOT BE SHOCKED BY BREE'S HEIGHT

I know that casting can rarely, if ever, find perfect replicas of book characters as actors and we must use our imaginations to make up for the shortfall (pardon the pun) BUT, in this case, I am going to miss how Brianna initially thinks Jamie 'isn't as big as she thought he'd be', and then Jamie's first REAL words to Brianna after she introduced herself  "You're huge!" 

The ensuing hug that makes her feel like a wee lass in her father's massive arms would have been a 10 Boxer. (Rating from 1 box of Kleenex to 10)

Oh...and also, now Jamie can't give this to Bree as 'Nice Ta Meecha' gift he made by hand:

*sadly adds a vanilla scoop of 'White Ice Matters' ice-cream to the Consolation Cone*

3) NO MORE SCARS FOR JAMIE

Claire comes back as a Plastic Surgeon and in an Episode titled  'Out(lander) Patient Procedure', Claire removes the scarring on Jamie back and makes it all masculine and ripped like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here is a leaked photo of the new back:

The decision to do this drastic change was dual-purposed:

1) the prosthetics used to make Jamie's war-torn back was time-consuming and expensive so it was a financial consideration and 
2) who doesn't like a manly-man back? A few more buckets of drool won't hurt anyone...

Personally, I liked the scars...they were so Jackson Pollack.
*sadly adds a green scoop of `The Full Minty' ice cream to the Consolation Cone*

INTERESTINGLY ADDED

1) BREE WILL GRADUATE BEFORE FRANK DIES

In the books, Frank dies in a icy road accident in his pyjamas after fighting with Claire in which she tears his heart to shreds (a most undignified way to die for someone like Frank...a warrior of a man who survived untold (literally, untold) adversity for years, just weeks away from Brianna graduating high school at age 17).                     

               *cries into a lace hanky engraved with the initials 'FWR"*

Happily, for TeamFrank (and my fellow Frankettes), pre-season 3 clips and still shots show Frank and Claire sweetly together, applauding Brianna as she graduates! SO...one can safely assume Starz MagicDust has been sprinkled and Frank gets to be happy for another full 30 seconds of the entire series! Yay!

I`ll take it...and smile through my tears. I hope more MagicDust is available to allow Frank a more dignified and deservingly heroic death on the screen. Diana DOES call him the Tragic Hero of the story...so... *crosses fingers*

2) THE REASON THE BOOKS FRANK WROTE HAVE NEVER BEEN READ

Diana has dropped hints lately that we should be wondering why the books Frank wrote were never discussed anywhere, or seemed to have not been read at all! Good question....so what is hidden in his writings that tell us 'WHAT DID FRANK KNOW?`, the spontaneous title DG gave a potential Frank Book should there ever be one. 

I, however, already noticed why his books were never perused. See if you can find it too in the photo below. Take your time and pack a lunch...you'll be Where's Waldo?-ing it for hours...

*click to enlarge

3) A MIND BLOWING TWIST OF A CLIFF HANGER

At the end of the last season, it has been leaked to the media that Diana and Ron Moore have been so impressed and amazed by the superb acting skills of Tobias Menzies, that a complete re-write of the entire ending of the series is due to be completed in 2020 and it will be revealed that FRANK is really Brianna's father and NOT Jamie!

It will be explained that Frank was given the wrong Sterility Report (he got a rich grocery chain owner's report who had just married his 6th and much younger wife who wanted a Trust Fund Baby to ensure her future income) and didn't know he could father a child. Claire, with fresh sperm in her fallopian tubes, tumbled through the Stones 'magically' and whilst doing so, Frank's Little Soldiers were `frozen` in time but thawed and did their duty just before Jamie's Squiggly Lads could get to the somewhat dizzy and bewildered egg that simply didn`t travel well at all! Time Travel can be tricky...

This Ultimate Shocker will stun everyone except die hard Franks Fans like me, who always questioned why Claire and Jamie have blue eyes but Brianna and Frank...well...see for yourself:

I'd say the 'eyes' have it. *winks and slaps a scoop of 'Chocolate Orgasm' ice cream atop her Celebration Cone*

**

UMMMM...just so you know, only 3 of the 6 above are true. See if you know which ones they are...

*lick...grin*