Special Features - Superhero Movies and Race

Anthony Stokes on superhero movies and race...

Controversy time. I want to talk about race.  I'm not going to step on a soap box and hopefully this can entertain thoughtful and informed discussion without acting like five year olds. Recently, there's been a lot of controversy about taking characters from a comic book who are traditionally white and making them black.  Some people seem genuinely confused as to why that even matters, or why anyone should even be concerned about it. Before I was too irritated to think of a response that didn't come off as preachy or militant, but now I've finally found an answer.

I recently got into a discussion about how little diversity there is in the Comic Book Movie industry and I jokingly said Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. should be renamed " Pretty White People".  Now, I was more commenting on how bland and indistinguishable the cast is, but immediately people said that "race doesn't matter" and that it was racist to suggest the notion that diversity is an issue.  Idealistically, yes - race shouldn't matter and I'm glad there are so many people who share this mentality. But in the real world, rather than a naive fantasy world where everybody shares this sentiment, it's hard not to look at the movie industry and notice the status quo is White Male.  That's just the industry, and it will no doubt stay the same for quite some time.  I've seen every Marvel movie the weekend it came out in theaters, and it shouldn't be wrong or racist to ask for me to be represented in the movies or television shows I watch.

Michael B. Jordan is rumored to be playing Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four reboot. A lot reactions to this were along the lines of "Again man. What if I took black characters and made them white? It's the same thing."  Whenever somebody ends a comparison with "it's the same thing", it almost always never is. The reason it's okay to make Johnny Storm a black character is because there's nothing in his character description that defines him as white.  These comics were made at a time when it wasn't regarded as okay to make black characters.  I always consider certain characters' races as ill-defined.  The reason why you shouldn't change a character from black to white, aside from the lack of diversity issue, is because that's usually a defining part of their origin.  The Black Panther has his race in his name.  These characters' identity and character arcs are infused with their race and since the creator made a point of making them black, it must be important. By that same token, you can't take a character such as Steve Rogers and make him black, because that wouldn't make any sense.  So the real question should be, "is their race important to this character?"

Under normal circumstances I'd say keep the races the same. Unless you're going to deal with the social changes that come with it, or an actor has a genuinely great take that embodies the character, then leave it as it is.  And I'm not saying this diversity thing matters a whole lot either - I'm still going to watch the movies and the new S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show - I just wanted to try and help people have a better understanding of the issue, and shake some people's way of thinking... 

Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker.