|
The first thing I want to mention is his nickname. I think alot of people might find it offensive, but the thing you need to understand is, I don't have a prejudiced bone in my body, and neither do any of the major characters of D'WARD's 1890's. It doesn't matter where you're from, what race you are, or religion, or gender, or anything. People's just people. Still, it's possible there could be minor characters (none of whom I've come up with as yet) who do hold certain prejudices. So it's not like my characters are unaware of the existence of such things. But when people call Jason "Frenchie," they don't mean it as a slur, it's just a totally neutral reference to the fact that he's from France. Although technically, I'm not sure if Jason's ever been there, as his bio says his family have lived in America for generations (though at this point, I'm not sure exactly how many generations America itself had existed, as a country). Still, I expect he has a bit of French culture about him, though it's most likely to be more modern (at least mid-20th century) than 19th century). I would imagine.
I also need to mention something I perceived as a cliche at the time I created the character, which is barbers serving as town doctors. This is just one tie to the fact that I watched Dr. Quinn around the time I created these characters. But I'm sure it really was fairly common, going back centuries in Europe. I'm not sure how long the concept of hairstyling as it currently exists has been around, but it could be another anachronism of the series. I would imagine Jason styles Sheriff McSlick's hair with a certain degree of flair, but most townsfolk aren't interested in anything more than simple haircuts.
Oh yeah, and I suppose I must have given him the last name "Shearer" as a reference to Harry Shearer, of Simpsons fame. I'm sure the show has itself at least done a visual gag about his name, but I'm not sure if that ever happened before or after I made up this character.
|