Iron Man now a black girl

What is increasingly starting to strike me, and no offence meant to anyone here, is how serious issues (not just Diversity but of course that's the one that gets talked about) are beginning to be interpreted almost solely through pop culture outside serious academia.

I know a woman who would cheerfully describe herself as an ardent feminist. But all she ever says about the subject is recycled internet talk, pop-culture feminism: mansplaining (whatever that is), the male gaze (likewise), who is playing who in what film. Ask her about the various waves of feminism, or the plight of women in the Middle East, or even The Handmaid's Tale, and she wouldn't know what you were on about. Now, obviously, people are free to learn about what they want, and often the easiest way to start the discussion on a complex issue is to present it in an exciting, simplified way, but to say you understand feminism from what you've seen on the internet is like saying that you understand psychology movement because you've seen Batman.

A while ago I watched The Cabin in the Woods. It was pretty good, and fairly clever. While looking at reviews, I found a long, scholarly essay on it, which pointed out how the film didn't quite work, how in its nuances it missed the exact centre of the target, and so on. Two thousand words later, I wondered "What's the point? Is it worth discussing this in such detail, and in such a formal way?"

I'm not sure what I think about this, and I suspect that the answer is a matter of degree rather than "yes" or "no". Apologies if this is veering too far off topic: mods, feel free to move it if necessary.
 
Lafayette said:
Years later I think I have a reason why this idea turns me off. It is a form of rape. I know too well that the white race is far from perfect and have a huge amount of sins at their feet. But being white is part of who I am. I believe that Blacks and Jews who we know have had centuries of persecutions and discrimination would also feel that they're being raped if someone took away their ethnicity.
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Huh? What? You didn't really say that.

I'm not a huge fan of comic books, but I have been paying attention to this. There's a fundamental difference between a white character being changed and a one which started out as a minority, due to over-representation of white (especially white, cis-het male (often wealthy)) characters in fiction, and comics in particular.

On the broader level, rape...really?
Why can characters not be changed around, what I've said above notwithstanding? In the past year, I've seen a lesbian version of Romeo and Juliet, and a mainly black South African ballet troupe perform characters usually associated with being white simply because most ballet dancers to date have been white. These are characters, open for interpretation.

My personal dream is to see a gender-flipped Some Kind of Wonderful (1987 John Hughes film) - I always thought Amanda Jones and Keith Nelson should have been flipped around for a better story. Or Bond could be played by a black man in the modern world of espionage* (perhaps Idris Elba is getting a little old for the part, but then...Roger Moore springs to mind). Or, just maybe, Tony Stark could retire and pass over his suit to a young black woman, the same as he might turn over his title of CEO to someone else: because, oh yes, that's the other thing, this young woman is a completely different character, is she not? A bit like when Robin was replaced, or there was a new Batgirl, when the original was injured, or when X-Men (grrr, title, ;-p) go off and are replaced in the team by others.

Yes, a few new characters would always be welcome. As would a bit more imagination, especially on diversity of characters. But a little more general acceptance, and less wanting to keep an artificial status quo, would be ruddy awesome!

*And perhaps not so modern: during WWII, some members of the French Resistance were black, including the great Josephine Baker. The first Bond novel, Casino Royale, starts at the end of that war.
 
Personally I find it OK and do not mind gender or race changes made in well known pop culture characters but if these changes eventually imply into better stories that is another story. What I largely despise though is when Marvel decides in a sudden that some of their characters are to become scum like I had read somewhere that Marvel would make Captain American an undercover nazi. It just does not make sense, it is a "right in the face" way to convey a political message which is which is arguably disgusting.
 
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Remember, 'MArvel' bought the whole lot... they are free to diddle away at any of it. AND - these comics were originally primarily aimed at young teenage boy mentality. The Marvel movies seem less intelligent, overall, so that's the demographic of what? Beats me. *
 
Toby Frost said:
What is increasingly starting to strike me, and no offence meant to anyone here, is how serious issues (not just Diversity but of course that's the one that gets talked about) are beginning to be interpreted almost solely through pop culture outside serious academia.
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Is there anything that influences how people view the world more strongly than pop culture?
 
Academia certainly looks into such things; but by the nature of the beast its often only an isolated segment of the population who have awareness, access or even understanding to read and be influenced by such material. You have to have some resources and go looking for it.

So yes pop-culture is and always has been the bigger motivator for change for the average person (which is not to say that pop-culture is not influenced by both the population but also academic reading and influences).
 
I wouldn't say always; in fact I remember a time when the masses were extremely skeptical of movies. They were wiser than the modren herds, and demanded real talent or no show. Nobody throws beerbottles at lousy bands anymore. )
 
They might have thrown beer bottles and required real talent; but that still didn't mean that they were not led more so by pop-culture. It is however, important to note that pop-culture varies between different groupings of people; just like academia is not a single viewpoint; although academia has potential to have more logical barriers between differing viewpoints (in theory).
 
Oh no, they knew the 'movie' companies were very suspect, is what they knew. Early Hollywood, heck even 'modern' 'Hollywood' is one nasty business, worse than politics - so's 'music' - a sad fact that is covered by the usual blather. They own the blather machine, so no way around it.
Academia has no place in a dumbdown, except as something to mock. Ya buncha SFF nerds. Go read a book, four-eyes!
 
I don't mind if a super-hero suit is worn by someone else, different gender/different race or not, but changing the actual person is harder to accept, as in the case of Nick Fury. I saw no logical reason to upgrade his existence.
 
Hehee.... I remember when Sgt. Fury struck off on his own, in Strange Tales, around when Dr. Strange got his own comic... and Nick just wasn't the same without DumDum and the howling commandos. Did they change Fury again? Glad I missed that.
 
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