| Jonathan |
Representation
When Jane Foster first debuted as Thor, I was one of THOSE comic book fans.
I complained about how Marvel was disrespecting the essence of Thor's character. I rambled about how this was the work of SJWs and that gender politics should have no place in comic books. I used it as additional justification that DC was better than Marvel (even though this is still an objective fact hehe). More than anything, I thought that those who were looking for representation could do so in dozens of other characters - just not my favorite legacy one.
Fast forward about 4.5 years later, and now my stance on representation has changed into something a lot more nuanced and unsure. Not only did I just grow up, but I've also had a lot of conversations and experiences that have made me reconsider why exactly representation is important, if at all.
One of my mom's college friends is a very outspoken advocate for the greater Asian-American immigrant community. When Crazy Rich Asians came out, he questioned whether the Asian-American representation that Hollywood had so greatly lacked before had really come to fruition. The vast majority of the Asian community has no opulent wealth, no generational political power, and certainly does not celebrate weddings by shooting rocket launchers off a private cruise ship. In and outside the United States, people of Asian descent work long and hard to make ends meet and regularly face institutionalized discrimination. Did Crazy Rich Asians, a film that depicts such an alien distortion of the real life ethnic experience, truly give a voice to the experience of Asians around the world?
I think similarly about Black Panther, which is arguably antithetical to the actual diaspora experience of Africans around the world. Yes, Killmonger's aspirations do address the whole concept of why ethnic retribution would be wrong, but the whole concept of Wakanda is so ludicrous that I still think that the film misses the mark with representation. It is not grounded in any useful reality. It's currently up for seven Academy Award nominations, very few of which I believe that the film deserves on merit alone.
In regard to Black Panther, Jamil Smith for Time Magazine even wrote that the film would "prove to Hollywood that African-American narratives have the power to generate profits from all audiences."
Why are we, as a society, trying to generate profits from ethnic narratives in the first place? Do the Hollywood executives that greenlit the film really care about issues that exist in the African and African-American communities?
If the whole point of representation is to serve as a hallmark of social change, why has there been so little actual social change?
And if the counterargument is that "it's just a comic book/movie/book/media product, stop taking it so seriously," then why make a stink about representation in the first place?
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! :)
Representation
When Jane Foster first debuted as Thor, I was one of THOSE comic book fans.
I complained about how Marvel was disrespecting the essence of Thor's character. I rambled about how this was the work of SJWs and that gender politics should have no place in comic books. I used it as additional justification that DC was better than Marvel (even though this is still an objective fact hehe). More than anything, I thought that those who were looking for representation could do so in dozens of other characters - just not my favorite legacy one.
Fast forward about 4.5 years later, and now my stance on representation has changed into something a lot more nuanced and unsure. Not only did I just grow up, but I've also had a lot of conversations and experiences that have made me reconsider why exactly representation is important, if at all.
One of my mom's college friends is a very outspoken advocate for the greater Asian-American immigrant community. When Crazy Rich Asians came out, he questioned whether the Asian-American representation that Hollywood had so greatly lacked before had really come to fruition. The vast majority of the Asian community has no opulent wealth, no generational political power, and certainly does not celebrate weddings by shooting rocket launchers off a private cruise ship. In and outside the United States, people of Asian descent work long and hard to make ends meet and regularly face institutionalized discrimination. Did Crazy Rich Asians, a film that depicts such an alien distortion of the real life ethnic experience, truly give a voice to the experience of Asians around the world?
I think similarly about Black Panther, which is arguably antithetical to the actual diaspora experience of Africans around the world. Yes, Killmonger's aspirations do address the whole concept of why ethnic retribution would be wrong, but the whole concept of Wakanda is so ludicrous that I still think that the film misses the mark with representation. It is not grounded in any useful reality. It's currently up for seven Academy Award nominations, very few of which I believe that the film deserves on merit alone.
In regard to Black Panther, Jamil Smith for Time Magazine even wrote that the film would "prove to Hollywood that African-American narratives have the power to generate profits from all audiences."
Why are we, as a society, trying to generate profits from ethnic narratives in the first place? Do the Hollywood executives that greenlit the film really care about issues that exist in the African and African-American communities?
If the whole point of representation is to serve as a hallmark of social change, why has there been so little actual social change?
And if the counterargument is that "it's just a comic book/movie/book/media product, stop taking it so seriously," then why make a stink about representation in the first place?
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! :)