I agree to an extent. I don't think anyone's specifically set out to "steal white people superheroes" but I find it annoying that you get accused of being racist if you point at a character who's been while/black/Asian in comics for 40 years and say "he's supposed to be white/black/Asian". It's about following the source material and you are not allowed to want that because a bunch of idiots try to overcompensate by pretending that race doesn't exists or by pretending that they're colorblind. At best their argument comes down to "hero's background doesn't require him to be of a certain race, man!". Great, Superman is an alien. Let's get a cute Asian lady to play him. Yay us! Political correctness FTW! It's harmful if you think about it. Take the Fantastic Four movie for example. Some film makers (not all but some) want to add some diversity to their superhero movies but instead of actually introducing great black characters from the comics or coming up with new ones they choose the lazy way out and go "fuk it, just change the race of one of the four and get it over with". While great black characters remain in the shadows. I don't want a black Johnny Storm anymore than I want a white Luke Cage. Apparently that means I hate black people.
I know there was a time when White people were considered the only important people to exist in a comics page, and I have been in favour of diversifying many background characters going forward. I had some pause when Idris Elba was cast as Heimdall, but it worked terrifically as Asgard was shown to be a place of visible diversity, making the ties with humanity stronger. I'm only willing to draw the line with longtime core heroes, like Spider Man and others. I think the key is to find characters who are 'racially neutral' - Nick Fury, Wilson Fisk, Harvey Dent, Perry White; they have all worked being played by black actors in the past.
I think Rodriguezes' statement is a long overdue validation of what has been going on for some time now. There is no sense or need in changing an "already existing", characters race.
I'll use the "karate kid" remake as an example. There was absolutely no need to remake that movie, however, you could have RETOLD the story in a different fashion. This is what Michelle was trying to express with her statement. I for one, completely agree with her. There is no need to make superman black just because.
Originally posted by jinXed by JaNx
I think Rodriguezes' statement is a long overdue validation of what has been going on for some time now. There is no sense or need in changing an "already existing", characters race.I'll use the "karate kid" remake as an example. There was absolutely no need to remake that movie, however, you could have RETOLD the story in a different fashion. This is what Michelle was trying to express with her statement. I for one, completely agree with her. There is no need to make superman black just because.
I'll say it again - White people dominated comics for too long, ignoring the diversity of North America and the fact that minority members read comics as well. Some correction was needed and overdue; we can debate about how far they should go with it, is all.
My only problem with The Karate Kid remake was the fact it was set in China with a Chinese teacher, so why would it be about Karate and not Kung Fu? Because it was all about name recognition for audiences, despite the illogical premise.
Originally posted by roughrider
I'll say it again - White people dominated comics for too long, ignoring the diversity of North America and the fact that minority members read comics as well. Some correction was needed and overdue; we can debate about how far they should go with it, is all.My only problem with The Karate Kid remake was the fact it was set in China with a Chinese teacher, so why would it be about Karate and not Kung Fu? Because it was all about name recognition for audiences, despite the illogical premise.
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Originally posted by roughrider
I'll say it again - White people dominated comics for too long, ignoring the diversity of North America and the fact that minority members read comics as well. Some correction was needed and overdue; we can debate about how far they should go with it, is all.My only problem with The Karate Kid remake was the fact it was set in China with a Chinese teacher, so why would it be about Karate and not Kung Fu? Because it was all about name recognition for audiences, despite the illogical premise.
Correction by adding new black/Asian/latino/other ethnicities characters is fine by me.
saying that it's okay to change background characters is one thing, but we've already seen that they're not stopping there. Human Torch and Aquaman are the two biggest examples so far.
Originally posted by roughrider
I know there was a time when White people were considered the only important people to exist in a comics page, and I have been in favour of diversifying many background characters going forward. I had some pause when Idris Elba was cast as Heimdall, but it worked terrifically as Asgard was shown to be a place of visible diversity, making the ties with humanity stronger. I'm only willing to draw the line with longtime core heroes, like Spider Man and others. I think the key is to find characters who are 'racially neutral' - Nick Fury, Wilson Fisk, Harvey Dent, Perry White; they have all worked being played by black actors in the past.
Batman is racially neutral.
Originally posted by AstnerA white guy was also cast as Bane (who is hispanic in the comics) in TDKR.
But you were not skeptical towards the choice of casting a white guy as Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins?
Whining about a character's race being changed in a different medium is just that: whining.
Who gives a **** that Aquaman will have darker skin than his Aryan counterpart in the comics? It doesn't make the film worse. The film in all likelihood turning out to be as bad as Man of Steel makes the movie worse.