Take Meghan Markle. Discussion of the duchess does not centre on her as an actual person any more, but whether or not you think the critique of her is fair. She has become a canvas onto which people project their hopes, fears and dreams. Markle (too American, too Hollywood, too ambitious, too Black) is diminished, diminished and further diminished. She has been flattened into a paper doll. On one side, a victim. On the other, a hero. With nothing in between.
