Can Gina Torres Be Wonder Woman?

Firefly's Gina Torres is beautiful, powerful, and can act. Can she play Wonder Woman?























Can this actor play Batman? He's handsome, buff, and has won several acting awards. Is there any reason why he could not play Batman?















Can this actor play a young Robin?























Can this actor play Nick Fury?























Can this actress play The Wasp?























Could Dean George Tanaka play Superman?























If you are a talented actor or actress, should you be limited to the parts you can play based on your ethnicity or skin color? If we say that Batman can only be played by a Caucasian person, should the same reasoning hold true for Shakespearian characters? If Avery Brooks plays Macbeth, does that spoil the play? I can't see how it would. When I studied Shakespeare abroad, I saw actors of a variety of ethnicities and skin colors play traditionally "white" roles. It didn't make a difference. Shakespeare is timeless. So is the Bible. That's why the best-selling "The Bible Experience" audiobooks, featuring a star-studded cast of African-American actors and actresses, has been received so well. You know who is the voice of God in "The Bible Experience?" Samuel L. Jackson. I can't argue with that choice -- can you?

But what if the new voice for Batman in the cartoons was African-American Phil Morris? Would fans complain? I bet you, some would.

Aren't characters like Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman timeless as well? Shouldn't they be?

I know the typical counter-argument to this: "then we should have Caucasian actors play characters of color as well! Fair's fair!" But hasn't this been going on in Hollywood like forever anyway? White actors play Asians and Native Americans. The guy who played the "Crying Indian" in that famous PSA was Italian. Even in the movie "A Mighty Heart," Angelina Jolie plays Mariane Pearl, a woman of African, Cuban, and Dutch descent. And the biggest case of a white guy playing a person of color:















Seriously. Jesus most likely did not look like Robert Powell, Max von Sydow, or Ted Neeley. Sorry. No offense to Ted Neeley. I loves me some Ted Neeley.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on it. And I still would prefer Beyonce play Wonder Woman than Megan Fox. I understand the arguments against Beyonce's acting ability. But it's not like Megan Fox is Katherine Hepburn.

About The Memin Pinguin Controversy

Adalisa gives us a bit more background on the cultural significance of Memin Pinguin -- recently pulled off Walmart shelves -- in Mexico. A good point she makes is that this character was created in the 1940s and was never revamped or updated, surviving to the present day on nothing but reprints.

Now, obviously, Memin Pinguin is an offensive-looking character. I can speak nothing regarding the content of the comic, having not read it. But his design, and the design of his mother, are clearly based on harsh stereotypes.

That said, what do we do with the instances of Memin Pinguins in our own backyard?

Do pockets of our community find themselves feeling nostalgic and forgiving over a character like Ebony White from The Spirit -- since it's a part of our own American pop-culture past? How about the portrayal of the Japanese in some comics during WW II? Or the cult over cheesecake bondage covers from both the comics and pulps of an earlier era? I've heard/read impassioned defenses of all these things by fans.


I've read as many defenses of Ebony White as I've read condemnations. Certainly, the character had his moments of self-sacrifice and heroism, often helped The Spirit solve cases, and was an integral part of that comic strip. On the other hand, he was drawn in a very stereotypical manner -- not unlike Memin -- and there was a lot of humor had at his expense.

From the Wikipedia entry on Ebony White:

"Eisner later expressed mixed feelings about his portrayal of Ebony White. He acknowledged that he was conscious at the time that he was using a racial stereotype and was unapologetic about it, but defended doing so by stating that "at the time humor consisted in our society of bad English and physical difference in identity.""

The difference, it seems to me, is that The Spirit's current publisher, DC Comics, does not try to push the Ebony White of the 1940s onto our mass market shelves (though he remains intact in their specialty archive editions). Instead what we have is a revisioning of the character (as depicted in the Darwyn Cooke drawing below) -- something that Adalisa says in her article Mexican publishers are too cheap or dismissive of comics culture to invest in.


I am glad that Memin Pinguin was taken off the Walmart shelves. Whatever its pedigree in Mexico, I really don't think it has a place here.

It's just that before we pat our backs a little too firmly over how much more "PC" we are in America than Mexican comic book readers, we need to revisit our own past as well. To defend the golden age Ebony White or exaggerated portrayals of Asians in wartime comics or blatant sexism in a variety of comic books on the basis of "nostalgia" and "a more innocent time" (a tactic that, as I get older, I'm having less and less patience for) and then condemn Memin Pinguin as racist is hypocrisy.

Yes, Will Eisner was a genius and awesome, but in the 1940s he used the stereotypical pop-cultural shorthand of the day to design the look and character of Ebony White. So did the creator of Memin Pinguin. The thing to do now is to acknowledge the past and create something far better in the present.

Vixen/JLA: The "Halle Berry Defense"

Classic Vixen

So the latest s**t to hit the fan is the recent "whitewashing" of JLA character Vixen:

Vixen "Light" in latest JLA

"It is not just a coloring error. This does not fucking happen with the same frequency (if ever) to Luke Cage and Shang Chi as it happens to Storm and Jubilee. Skin colors are lightened. Features are changed. Why? I would really like to know why. But every time a person stands up and asks why, she's shouted right down. She's ignored. You're seeing things that aren't there. Let's talk about something else. Right?"

So what is it, folks?

Is it a case of an artist who draws everything in a cookie-cutter style?

Is it a case of institutionalized racism?

Is it wrong to have a light-skinned black woman in a comic?

What about Cheryl's point that many comic book artists are not schooled in how to draw variations in race and ethnicity? Is such a hope a pipe dream in the case of an artist like Ed Benes, who draws all his women -- young or old, black or white, the same? Shouldn't we consider ourselves lucky not to have the tits and ass completely shoved in our faces in those books, let alone getting ethnicity correct?

Now, historically in pop-culture, there has been, to my observation, a "whitewashing" of certain characters.

I remember going through the "artist bibles" and licensing art for the Hunchback of Notre Dame animated movie when I used to edit Disney books in the mid 1990s. The consistency of the skin color for Esmeralda became an issue somewhere in the mix of all that. Her skin was noticeably lighter in the licensing art & toys than in the film. When we colored her skin in the comics to match the brown of the provided film stills, we were told to lighten it to match the licensing bible.


Now, for a slight change of pace let's take something like the cover to Fantastic Four #555, which depicts an evacuation scene with a cast of hundreds:


Not a tremendous amount of people of color on this cover.

But now that I say this, the mine-field starts.

One commenter would say: "Why should there be any people of color on that cover? That's racist of you to think that every crowd scene should have African-Americans on it. Maybe they are in a place where there are no African-Americans. Stop tokenizing everything."

That's the sort of argument being leveled against critics of the Vixen art in JLA -- that they themselves are racist against Halle Berry, or something like that. Step into this seething mix of comments if you dare.



I enjoy the Halle Berry defense, because it seems to be positioned in such a way as to attempt to discredit Cheryl's valid contention that many comic artists typically don't "do" diversity well. It's the old "answer charges of racism/sexism by turning the tables on the accuser and calling them a racist/sexist" bit. "If you think it's racist, it's because you are a racist." "The problem is you." "There is no racism/sexism."

It would seem that one motivating factor in the "you are racist/sexist/homophobic if you see racism, sexism, or homophobia in popular culture" would be to shut people up and scare them from voicing their opinions in the future.

And that's exactly the idea. Ditto for writing about sexism, ditto for writing about homophobia. If the pop culture critic can doubt their own instincts and think it's better not to write anymore on the topic as to avoid accusations, the dialog stops. You have to admit, it is a brilliant tactic to shut people up.

Cheryl:

"In conclusion, sometimes admitting that there is a problem can help to alleviate the bad feelings concerning the problem. Telling the person shedding light on the problem that he or she is making things up and then circling the wagons? Not helpful."

That said, there are some people online who just use these arguments and tactics simply to extend flame wars and fight because they feel ornery. You know it and I know it, enough on that.

Of course, I have to admit that the first thing that offended me regarding the art in question was not Vixen but this:


Yes, more half-naked Wonder Woman butt. They should have just titled the story "ASS."

But I know, mentioning the sexism makes me a sexist, right?

"There is no problem."

"There is no spoon."

(in other news, congratulations on Halle's new baby. Considering she is 41 and it's her first child, that's quite an inspiration.)


Here are some helpful resources regarding the application of critical thinking to the study of pop-culture. I now include these links at the bottom of every pop-culture article I write:
Pop-culture studies: a definition
bell hooks on critical thinking (video, some scenes NSFW)
Resources for studying gender in popular culture
Resources for studying race and ethnicity in popular cuture
Racialicious -- a blog about the intersection of race and popular culture

Extreme Jump In Logic Of The Week

4th letter's David Brothers gets the award for biggest jump in logic for the week, taking my statement that "DC African-American superheroes have largely been written blandly" to this:

"Going by her logic, I got some family members who’re gonna be hoodlums their whole life and are going to be worthless because of that fact. You go to jail and come out a different man? Who cares, dog, you’re still a criminal."

Wow.

Seems to me, David, the real shame is that John Irons had to be originally cast in Superman's image, not his own.

That John Stewart had to be cast in Green Lantern/Hal Jordan's image, not his own.

That Jakeem Thunder had to be cast in Johnny Lightning's image, not his own.

That Shilo Norman had to be cast in Mister Miracle's image, not his own.

That Ryan Choi had to be cast in The Atom's image, not his own.

That Kathy Kane had to be cast in Batman's image, not her own.

Do you know why that happens, David, behind-the-scenes?

Because editors are afraid that a non-white non-male non-straight character cannot lead their own comic unless they are tied in to a preexisting character. Because there is the perception behind-the-scenes that "women books don't sell," that "Black books don't sell," "that books with gays don't sell," etc.

You think I'm making it up?

You think when I say I've heard editors say "Black books don't sell," I'm lying? You think when I say I've heard editors say "we already have a Black book on the schedule, we don't have room for another," I'm lying?

As for Firestorm -- I was THERE to witness behind-the-scenes what took place regarding Jason Rusch. Were you? I had the corporate memo regarding diversity in my hands. Then I was asked to think of characters of color we could "plug" into the JLA. "Plug."

You think it's racist to find John Irons bland? You think that's the real issue? When I find characters like Gunn from Angel, Blade, Cloak, Misty Knight, Storm, and T'Challa awesome? That I think, on a whole, Marvel has more compelling African-American characters than DC? Do you see a racist agenda in that? Know what all the aforementioned characters have in common? THEY WERE CAST IN THEIR OWN IMAGE!

The real issue is that there are not more characters of color heading their own books that are NOT derived from originally-white superheroes.

The real issue is that there are not more people of color in high positions in mainstream comic book publishing.

The real issue is that there seems to be a deficit of talented writers like Dwayne McDuffie (or Marv Wolfman!) who not only can make these characters interesting -- but have the inclination and interest to.

But you know what -- I'm not letting that post embitter me into being afraid to keep agitating for diversity in comics for people of color, for women, or for people of different sexual orientations or religious faiths. I'm not going to stop posting about how I think people of color could be better written in comics just because I'm afraid of a blogger like you misinterpreting it.

And, I said it before, and I'll say it again: you get true diversity in comics by having a diverse editorial staff and roster of creative talent. Then the diversity flows organically. At Acclaim Comics, we had a diverse staff and diverse talent, and we never had to "plug" in diversity. The character "Quantum" in "Quantum and Woody" stood on his own as a fascinating character -- written by Christopher Priest, who would later make Black Panther so compelling and such a headlining character.

Compared to Quantum, Black Panther, Blade -- and even the Bendis-penned Luke Cage (though he has been a bit whiny last issue) -- John Irons, to me, is just not that interesting. So sue me. You know who is more interesting to me than Vixen, who has been better characterized in a handful of issues than Vixen has been in her entire existence? Gauntlet from Avengers: The Initiative as written by Dan Slott.

So, David Brothers, if you think the real problem with race in comics today is my tacit inability to find John Irons compelling, if you think I have a racist agenda because I think Blade is cooler than Mr. Terrific, if you think the real issue we should be focusing on is that I closed comments as the result of an obnoxious poster, if you think me saying "there should be more interesting superheroes of color" = me hurling slurs to your entire family, then I'm sorry. We clearly disagree, we do not see eye-to-eye, we are not on the same page.

So feel free to pick apart this post, show how I'm stupid and you're smart, how I clearly don't know anything I'm talking about. I expect it. I don't care. I'm enjoying my weekend.

Cartoonists Of Color Protest Newspapers

from "Lucky and Guy"

Now, here is an interesting news item.

A group of syndicated cartoonists are protesting newspapers that chose not to syndicate another strip featuring people of color on the basis that they already are running strips (or even just one strip" that meet "diversity demand."

Can you imagine if this happened in the comic book industry?

"Oh, we already have a 'black' book. We can't have more than one black book at a time."

"We're already using an Asian female. What, you want TWO Asian females?"

"We've been instructed by the Higher Ups to include a Middle-Eastern character that is not a terrorist. If anybody can think of something, please e-mail me."

"Well, if we have another gay character on this team, we fear it is going to be perceived as the gay team."

"We already have an Asian female writer. You want TWO Asian female writers?"