Minorities in Comics and Other Media, etc

[Anthony Shaw]

It's always a shooting within a circle of cops too. In this case with the poor young guy who only 'meant' to get tased, there was a brotha standing right there cuffing dude. Now it's hot for him and it didn't have to be. When he panics here she come. It's going to take another officer getting shot on some friendly fire **** to get any actual change and it will only be by proxy if it cuts down on some of these incidents.

Minnesota is on a hell of a streak.



De-escalation techniques probably worst best when said officer has little escalation techniques towords people of color in his own life first. Unfortunately these types of individuals, loud brash grudge filled assholes, have little skills to do much else.





Mans was even in uniform and didn't keep him from getting that work.

When it happens....I might be on some Harvey Dent ish....



or

[Anthony Shaw]

What she says not only applies to military, but law enforcement, imo.

[Vic Vega]

The friendly fire thing has already happened more than once:

http://https://www.nytimes.com/1994/...t-officer.html

http://https://www.nydailynews.com/n...ticle-1.372647

http://https://www.theguardian.com/u...hite-colleague

Frankly, a Black plainclothes officer who responds to an alert is taking a big chance and when some of these guys are in panic mode maybe they don't even have to be in plainclothes to suffer an "accident".

[MindofShadow]

Why would they stop?

Got caught on camers, during a pandemic when people had nothing else to do, mass protest and riots and...

What changed exactly?

If anything, police should feel empowered. There untouchable

[Agent Z]

https://www.themarysue.com/black-hor...learn-get-out/

An article by Princess Weekes on how certain black horror media has failed in areas Get Out succeeded.

Warning for spoilers for the t.v. series "Them" and for discussion about rape and violence.

[Agent Z]

https://www.themarysue.com/bbc-diver...uthentic-what/

BBC Diversity Chief Calls Character of Luther Not “Authentic,” but What Does That Even Mean? by Princess Weekes

There has been some discussion about the BBC show Luther and how it qualifies as Black “representation.”

Luther is a BBC crime drama created by Neil Cross about Detective Chief Inspector John Luther (Idris Elba) solving brutal murders in the Serious Crime Unit of the MET. It ran from 2010–2019, and there have been talks about a possible movie being in the works.

Miranda Wayland, the BBC’s head of creative diversity, told the MIPTV media conference: “When [Luther] first came out everybody loved the fact that Idris Elba was in there – a really strong, Black character lead. We all fell in love with him. Who didn’t, right? But after you got into about the second series you got kind of like, okay, he doesn’t have any Black friends, he doesn’t eat any Caribbean food, this doesn’t feel authentic.”

Wayland’s thoughts are not totally off base, since the show was written almost entirely by creator Cross, who is a white man. He stated in response to the comments that “I have no knowledge or expertise or right to try to tackle in some way the experience of being a Black man in modern Britain.” He continued, “It would have been an act of tremendous arrogance for me to try to write a Black character. We would have ended up with a slightly embarrassed, ignorant, middle-class, White writer’s idea of a Black character.”

Cross purposefully made the character of Luther a grizzled, loner detective and as a result, he doesn’t have many friends and his interior life largely isn’t a big factor in the series. Actor Idris Elba has stated before that part of his attraction to the role was that it didn’t have any stereotypical elements to it.

The role is largely a “color-blind” one in construction because, in many ways, it isn’t constructed to perform anything other than what the crime drama usually asks from its male leads.

Luther is such a weird show to choose to make this statement about because the character of Luther is a solitary character. I don’t remember him eating or really having friends. His work consumed his life and his mental health.

The bringing up of Caribbean food especially is a bit jarring since we don’t know what Luther’s ethnicity is. Idris Elba himself is of Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian heritage, so if this was supposed to indicate his Blackness, it doesn’t even match his own. Also, as a member of the Caribbean diaspora myself, yes, food is part of my culture, but when you grow up in a white-dominant culture (like Luther does), it impacts your eating habits, as well.

I think Wayland’s point is a layered one that gets muddled because of the show she picked. There is no one, monolithic Black experience, and it can not be summed up with just foods or your friendgroup. However, Luther is a show with a Black lead and a lot of diversity, but behind the scenes it was likely a largely white environment. It is good for shows to think about the larger sphere of representation and going beyond just a lead BIPOC person and no one else.

But, it is also important that, if we constantly keep reminding people that BIPOC are not a monolith, we are not looking for stereotypic shorthand in a narrative that isn’t focusing on any interior lives. It is a complicated dance, and I personally preferred that Cross simply wrote Luther as a detective and didn’t try to create a narrative about Blackness.

[J. D. Guy]

https://www.themarysue.com/bbc-diver...uthentic-what/

BBC Diversity Chief Calls Character of Luther Not “Authentic,” but What Does That Even Mean? by Princess Weekes

I'm actually inclined to agree with Miranda Wayland about this, even if we agree/argue that part(s) of the construction of her stance was off-base (the presumption that Luther was Caribbean, for example). Because at the end of the day, Luther was still a Black character on a show that lasted 8-9 years being written and directed by a White writer, who deliberately fashioned the character in such a way that they wouldn't have to worry, in their minds at least, about portraying Luther as anything beyond a generic (and defaultly so) template.

[ed2962]

https://www.themarysue.com/bbc-diver...uthentic-what/

BBC Diversity Chief Calls Character of Luther Not “Authentic,” but What Does That Even Mean? by Princess Weekes

This also could apply to a good chunk of Will Smith's career.

[MindofShadow]

It is even mildly surprising at this point how much the internet hates Karli from Fal/WS and keeps bringing up spoilers:

how she bombed a building and how she is a terrorist and Sam was stupid to try and talk to here and Walker may have been kinda right

end of spoilers

But has no problem loving Zemo, who... spoilers:

bombed a building in CW

end of spoilers

Why is this stuff always so transparent lol?

[Surf]

I'm actually inclined to agree with Miranda Wayland about this, even if we agree/argue that part(s) of the construction of her stance was off-base (the presumption that Luther was Caribbean, for example).

This, an appropriate designation.

Because at the end of the day, Luther was still a Black character on a show that lasted 8-9 years being written and directed by a White writer, who deliberately fashioned the character in such a way that they wouldn't have to worry, in their minds at least, about portraying Luther as anything beyond a generic (and defaultly so) template.

Also. This is also part of the struggle, just being seen, as an equal. In ways it's still a trapping, Idris Elba is an international movie star, there ain't but one of him that's as big as he is, and there ain't but one Luther (I've tried to watch it, not saying it isn't cool but here in America, we've seen a type of this procedural times before). It also plays to Elba's strengths, dude speaks in interviews a bit more culturally that the roles he's played would convey.

[Overhazard]

It is even mildly surprising at this point how much the internet hates Karli from Fal/WS and keeps bringing up spoilers:

how she bombed a building and how she is a terrorist and Sam was stupid to try and talk to here and Walker may have been kinda right

end of spoilers

But has no problem loving Zemo, who... spoilers:

bombed a building in CW

end of spoilers

Why is this stuff always so transparent lol?

It's because Zemo said a few woke things and did a dance. There's an hour long video of Zemo dancing on Youtube. Agatha Harkness sang a song and the internet forgot that she was an evil witch. Kind of like how they forgot Loki led the invasion of earth by the chitauri. "Killmonger was right" he was just a hotep with a gym membership. "Thanos was right" Thanos was a stupid cosmic neckbeard. The marvel fandom is as predictable as the tide, as long as the villain is somewhat attractive, does something memeable, says something vaguely poignant, or all three, the fandom will fall for them, hook, line, and sinker.

[CosmiComic]

But Thanos isn't even attractive by conventional standards.

[godisawesome]

https://www.themarysue.com/bbc-diver...uthentic-what/

BBC Diversity Chief Calls Character of Luther Not “Authentic,” but What Does That Even Mean? by Princess Weekes

(Ignorant White Boy Talking Alert)

I think the more accurate way to look at Luther is to say that he is *an* authentic example of diversity and representation, but a vague and interchangeable one - the role could be played by almost any ethnicity in the UK, and is very much a portrayal of a universal kind of “Britishness” that defies the idea of “race,” but lacks anything beyond the broad specifics of other demographics that are still under-represented in other ways.

It’s designed to break stereotypes and cliches, and to prove the humanity of its subject to all, but it isn’t education, exploring or exposing a subculture or minority group to the “mainstream” audience.

It fights against and defeats some types of ignorance, but not all type so ignorance. Racism can’t be applied against the show, but you could probably make an argument for ethnocentrism in terms of Luther still being very much “British” rather than any particular ethnic group within Britain.

[Surf]

But Thanos isn't even attractive by conventional standards.

What, of course he is. He's portrayed as charming and STRONG couple that with 'being right' he's fuckin' 1974 Billy Dee Williams to a certain segment of the male fandom.

As opposed to say Red Skull, who is not charming, strong still but less right. And that's mostly because the swastika he's been known to rock is an early victim of cancel culture.

[MindofShadow]

What, of course he is. He's portrayed as charming and STRONG couple that with 'being right' he's fuckin' 1974 Billy Dee Williams to a certain segment of the male fandom.

The amount of Thanos penises i've deleted on reddit is too damn high lol