I was at my local comic book shop recently (strictly back issues now when it comes to Marvel and DC) and I bought some 80s/90s era Superman comic books from the dollar bin and the cashier was talking about how great it was that they were going to do a black superman. I told him that if it is one of the alternate universe version then sure, but I wanted the Clark Kent superman to look like he does in the comic book. The guy was kind of shocked about that.
When the whole diversity obsession started I just assumed that it meant the best people for the job regardless of race (yes I can hear y'all laughing at my naivete) but definitely in the entertainment industry it is about anything but making good stories.
One thing I honestly don't understand is if you want to see more women, minorities, etc. then shouldn't you promote stuff that is actually good? Like the first Blade movie was pretty popular and they didn't need to push the representation card. We have all watched as garbage movie, tv show, comic book, video game, gets hyped to the moon because an actor/author/designer/director checks the right boxes. I don't know how many times I've screamed in frustration that diversity is neutral and it doesn't necessarily make something better or worse.
And when it comes to women (not talking about women are are actual fans of an IP) they seem to insist on putting a square peg into a round hole. "Oh this is a series that mainly appeals to guys? well then lets remake it and fill it with women and then blame those men when it bombs". Also any reader of science fiction/fantasy has seen that to win the Hugo or Nebula in the last few years you basically have to be a woman (preferably minority) who screeches about how evil white men are.
Same thing goes with Oscars/Emmys. I used to wonder why the worthless critics clap like seals if a woman or minority directs a movie and refuse to call it out if it is bad. Even with that garbage Wrinkle in Time adaptation by Ava "I can't go two seconds without whining about oppression" Duvernay was praised by the critics and she even said she was focused on race while making it.
Up until a few years ago I used to give pretty much any book or show a chance but not anymore. With a few exceptions I don't watch or ready anything made after 2014. With video games I think I'm safe with modded Skyrim and will give Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 a chance.
They don't care about making a good story, just pushing an agenda. I guarantee you that a woman actually was a fan of Star Wars would have a hard time getting hired at LucasFilm. Or a minority who wanted to get into directing to tell good stories. Of course a white male has to frequently apologize for being white. I actually used to joke that since I'm black I could film myself walking down the street with a narration about how oppressed I am and win an Oscar or some sort of award. Now that isn't even a joke because I probably could win something for that.
On a good note, at my local comic book store the back issue and dollar bin section are so busy that they had to put a time limit on how long you can stay back there. Also Manga sells well there. I'm sure you can guess what isn't selling well.
To me if you change the race it's just not the same character in most of these cases. Superman is Clark Kent, a white guy with glasses. Batman is Bruce Wayne a rich white guy who's parents were shot in front of him. Spider-man I actually have no idea there's way too much Spider-verse stuff and I'm not in to comics at all. I'll stick with the regular old Peter Parker Spider-man myself. Even worse is making James Bond a woman. I might could accept a black man without much fuss, but James Bond's persona is just impossible for a woman.
I'm really starting to buy into the idea they just want to ruin things out of spite myself. They could just make black characters. At one point they did. If you look at the most popular male actors 25 years ago (e.g. Morgan Freeman, Samuel L Jackson, etc.) there were plenty of black characters that weren't bad. At some point a switch flipped and now every black character has to be focused on their oppression and how awful it was. It just makes for bad stories.
Exactly. Look at how popular the first Blade movie was. With James Bond I don’t understand why they can’t just spin-off a new agent.