Of course it's all political. And of course my argument is made entirely of strawmen. If you want to get to the tower of racial equality, you must defeat all the strawmen. In some way, the U.S. is still fighting its Civil War 150 years later, because people are still making up lies about it and going on TV. The strawmen are everywhere, and are only made out of straw if you're looking at them. Don't blink.
I do get what you're saying -- that mainstream culture and politics doesn't have to apply in a fictional world. But it does. Kirk made out with green-skinned babes all the time, but when he kissed Uhura, it was a watershed moment for television. And while I don't know that much about American comics, I do know that they're for-profit ventures. And the kind of comics that will be bought depends a lot on what the characters look like. Just as the TV and movies people watch depend on the race of the characters. Sure, they could make a black Batman, but would people actually buy them?
The same applies to a new character made from wholecloth. Though a new character is still a better idea. It's hard to imagine a black man in the role of Bruce Wayne without compromising the gritty realism of the Batman setting. Unless we're talking about Silver Age Batman, in which case I'll bite. But the more powerful artistic statement would be new heroes overcoming new challenges. Both in villains and the challenges that minorities face every day.
Yes, it's completely ridiculous that real world politics has to be considered in a world of supervillains and superheroes. Completely ridiculous that it does.
-- ∇×V
I do get what you're saying -- that mainstream culture and politics doesn't have to apply in a fictional world. But it does. Kirk made out with green-skinned babes all the time, but when he kissed Uhura, it was a watershed moment for television. And while I don't know that much about American comics, I do know that they're for-profit ventures. And the kind of comics that will be bought depends a lot on what the characters look like. Just as the TV and movies people watch depend on the race of the characters. Sure, they could make a black Batman, but would people actually buy them?
The same applies to a new character made from wholecloth. Though a new character is still a better idea. It's hard to imagine a black man in the role of Bruce Wayne without compromising the gritty realism of the Batman setting. Unless we're talking about Silver Age Batman, in which case I'll bite. But the more powerful artistic statement would be new heroes overcoming new challenges. Both in villains and the challenges that minorities face every day.
Yes, it's completely ridiculous that real world politics has to be considered in a world of supervillains and superheroes. Completely ridiculous that it does.
-- ∇×V