How important is representation to you?

[Danileriver23]

With series like midnight and a force generating a lot of buzz about under-represented demographics as of late I was curious; how important is representation in comics to you?

That is to say, how important is it to you that you identify with a character based on their race, sexuality, gender, etc.

I ask because I have noticed for a lot of people this seems to be an important aspect. Personally appreciate and relate better to personality traits rather than traits in the vein as the one listed above (although, I do enjoy seeing how those aspects apply to their stories). I don't think I have ever felt the need to read a character that lines up with myself in a physical aspect, though, to be fair, I'm a heterosexual male, so I "match up" with like 75% of comic book characters.

So for you, is it important that you identify with physical traits of characters like gender and race?

[Raye]

It's not so much that I have to be able to relate to a character to enjoy them, there are plenty of characters that I follow who are nothing like me. It's more that it's jarring to be reading something like the MU and not have something be represented, or represented poorly. It makes the universe feel incomplete and noninclusive. So I think it is important that the characters exist, even though I maybe won't consider them to be favorites. And of course I realize that there's more than just people like me out there, so being diverse and trying to cover a lot of different types of people is important;

[Byakko]

I remember someone at Bioware, during a talk, gave this hypothetical. What would be everyone's reaction if all the white main male characters in gaming were all changed to be black instead, for example. And if the greater public suddenly takes notice, that it becomes suddenly more apparent that there is an abnormally large number of those races/genders, that means there was a problem when it was all 'white' in the first place. In that case, he was referring to white male representation in gaming, and how it was a position of privilege to be able to automatically assume such a large percentage of media that caters directly to a single demographic.

I generally use that as litmus test too. Apply the same thing. Gender-flip or race-change all the characters of a single team or main comic series, and if you can legitimately 'feel' there's no problem, then there probably was no problem in representation in the first place.

I honestly don't feel that problem with Marvel, or DC for that matter. But that's just me, I'm not American. The teams are American teams. And what their line-up is means differently to a person who is an American and lives in the country, and an outsider looking in. The teams that come out of comics are in line with how America tends to portray itself to other countries, so to me I don't see a problem. Even if you have an Asian-Chinese character, that person comes from a certain state in the US, and acts like how a person born in the US acts. They aren't the same kind of Asian-Chinese as I am. Hell I'm considered different from mainland Chinese because I'm born in South-east Asia and come from Peranakan stock, who are the descendants of immigrant Chinese and local Malays.

Even though I look like my icon (points left), the most recent Marvel character I actually identify with is Kamala Khan, because I am Singaporean. I am visibly Chinese-looking and Buddhist/Taoist, but I've grown up around Muslim Malays, Indians, Bangladeshis etc. all my life. Kamala was the closest to a 'local face' to me I have ever seen from Marvel. Even then, she's a Jersey girl, and she represents Muslims living in the US, so how can I say she represents any facet of me?

But just her existing, and the way she acts feeling like how I know Muslims do act in real-life around me, it makes the face of a very USA-oriented comicbook universe feel more familiar to me. It shows me that the US and my home and the people that I know aren't so different, it makes the whole thing feel less 'fake' because I finally have a point of reference.

So yeah, that's how it affects me I guess.

But a more direct form of representation, in this sense a little negatively, I did noticed my country Singapore being represented as a hive of scum and villainy under the alternate name 'Madripoor', most recently in Fraction's Hawkeye. Heck, includes a pastiche of our tourist trap Marina Bay Sands as the 'Madripoor Pearl' with one less tower but with that boat structure on the top all the same:
Singapore in Hawkeye.jpg


That did cause me to be a bit miffed. I remember Madripoor being established in the comics from long ago, but that time, they didn't even look remotely like us so I didn't think too much of it. Now they're directly taking bits and pieces of my country and I don't know, tokenizing us into the oriental den of sin, like we're combined with Manilla or something.

The only time I ever saw my country represented as is, is in The Authority (hence my icon). Even then, we got blown up, meh.

[Overhazard]

It's fairly important to me. The superhero I relate to most is Barry Allen,sure people think he's boring and vanilla but I don't. I don't look like him at all. I think as you grow as a a reader you can see aspects of yourself in a character that doesn't look like you, but I do think that the world has changed, and more comics need to reflect that change. It's a good thing that there are more stories with female, minority, and lgbt characters. Even if I can't get into it, someone else will.

[Omega Alpha]

I'm all for great characters used well, regardless of gender or ethnicity.

I'm all against putting characters together for a marketing stunt only because they are of a certain gender or ethnicity and calling it diversity.

If you have 10 teams, 8 of ten are made nearly entirely of white men and one is made out of women only and one only of black people, you don't have a diverse line-up, you have to 10 homogeneous teams with little diversity in them.

[Danileriver23]

It's not so much that I have to be able to relate to a character to enjoy them, there are plenty of characters that I follow who are nothing like me. It's more that it's jarring to be reading something like the MU and not have something be represented, or represented poorly. It makes the universe feel incomplete and noninclusive. So I think it is important that the characters exist, even though I maybe won't consider them to be favorites. And of course I realize that there's more than just people like me out there, so being diverse and trying to cover a lot of different types of people is important;

This is a good point. There is a lack representation in comics across the board, but to be fair, I think Marvel, and DC for that matter, have done a good job at addressing the issue as of late. But its gonna take time to give under represented groups more prominent "screen time" in comics.

I just happen to see a number of people complain about not being able to see themselves in characters just because they didn't look like them and I have a hard time grasping that concept.

[SolarRadical]

None, I want entertaining stories first and foremost, I don't care how much diversity one puts in their work but if it's boring I don't care for it.

[Raye]

This is a good point. There is a lack representation in comics across the board, but to be fair, I think Marvel, and DC for that matter, have done a good job at addressing the issue as of late. But its gonna take time to give under represented groups more prominent "screen time" in comics.

I just happen to see a number of people complain about not being able to see themselves in characters just because they didn't look like them and I have a hard time grasping that concept.

ok, yeah. I have trouble understanding that as well, to be honest. Sometimes when a character displays a trait or something that represents me I give a little internal 'yay!' to see that on page, especially if it's not seen often. But it's not usually enough to get me to follow the character on a regular basis if they didn't hook me in other ways.

[FanboyStranger]

Representation is very important to me, but not because I need to relate to certain character traits or background. I'd like to see comics that reflect the variety of life I see outside my window, not the person who lives inside. I think minority characters with different backgrounds are a springboard to tell different kinds of stories and educate people in diverse worldviews as well as show us that we're also the same.

That's part of the reason that I get frustrated with people who argue so forcefully against diversity and representation-- why wouldn't you want to see something different?

[klinton]

Not really, no. I'm drawn to them because they're interesting characters, not because I want to be liike them or have them be like me.

That said, t is always nice to see little things that you can identify with. That can be anything though. I don't need to see a gay couple to be able to identify with the sentiments between two people. Romantic exchanges are pretty much universal, regardless.

I don't enjoy Sam any less because he's not the same colour as me. I love him as much as I do Steve. Sometimes more, because he's got a bit more of an agressive streak than Steve. But then I started reading Cap when they were co-headlining the book, so they're of equal interest to me, being integral parts of the same saga.

I just want good stories featuring interesting characters. And, really, if more people are needing to see characters showcasing different walks of life, gender or sexuality...then bring it on. It certainly can't hurt anyone nor prevent writers from telling good stories.

[t hedge coke]

Representation is nice. Erasure is $&$@ing vile.

It's not that I want kids to only believe in heroes who look like them, but it's nice if all kids can see some heroes who look like them and not always, well, white people. And, as an adult, some characters with backgrounds or identities similar to mine probably deal with some situations or aspects of situations that have deeper or more serious resonance with me than those whose lives and concerns are completely removed from my own.

I can't begin to really express what it meant to me, as a kid, to read Black Panther's intro issues of Fantastic Four, and see the rarest of all rare things in entertainment (especially back then): nonwhite characters who were good at stuff, and sometimes better than any of the white people around without it being "that one special time when they can be better, but next week, back to normal where they're at bottom." Panther was brilliant, powerful, handsome, worldly, and in charge of an incredible nation. He gets the drop on the white characters to test them, and gets taken out by another rarity in comics even today, a Native American living in the modern day without any feathers dangling at random places. That kicked ass.

I want my nieces to have that. I want them to have it in characters of their ethnicity and not of their ethnicity, of their gender and not of their gender, with their sexuality and with other sexualities. But, foremost, I want them to be able to choose, to have options, and to grow up seeing that all those people can be interesting enough to support a story, that they can be heroic, or villainous, tragic, amazing, silly, and that they aren't limited, either to one time period or one place.

[mysterio1989]

I find it irrelevant, as long as the character is written well, an interesting personality, character arc and origin thats all that matters to me. Everything else is secondary.

[Tiamatty]

As a straight white man, I'm already over-represented to an obscene degree. So, for me, it's actually kinda the opposite: I want characters who don't look like me.

That said, one of my favourite characters is Karma, a librarian. I'm trying to get a library career started. It's not visual representation, sure, but it's still something that makes me happy to see, on those rare occasions where it's shown. Likewise, the easiest way to make me like a character is to have them be a geek. Captain Marvel being a Star Wars fan pleases me. Kamala Khan being a superhero fangirl is a major part of her charm. If a character declares Picard is better than Kirk, that character will rocket way up my list.

So even I, despite my over-representation, actually really appreciate being represented in subtler ways.

[Bafflement]

I don't think representation is necessary for identification with major characters or anything like that. Most of my favourite characters are nothing like me, and are different races, genders, and so forth. What I do think is good is for people to encounter a character that resembles them at least occasionally, to avoid a sense of exclusion. It's not proportional fulfillment of major roles that's needed, all that's really required is for a sufficiently diverse collection of characters in total that readers can say, "hey, I could be a part of this too."

[idisestablish]

As a white male, I feel the same way as the OP in some respects. The gender and race of the character is really unimportant to me. The characters I like are demographically diverse, and many of them are different from me. I think this is probably at least subconsciously due to the fact that my race and gender are overrepresented. That's not to say that I don't support these kinds of diversity; I enjoy seeing a variety of viewpoints and seeing things from a different perspective. I'm just saying that I'm not inclined to think about the absence of...idk, Indian representation, for example, unless something or someone calls it to my attention. That said, as a gay man, I can relate to the other side. I understand what it's like to feel unrepresented. It's a difficult phenomenon to explain, but in the real world there are a lot of people and things that make me feel like it's not ok to be me, and it may seem silly but something as simple as reading an issue featuring a gay character makes me feel like it is ok to be me. I would imagine that Muslim and Pakistani readers feel the same way about Kamala Khan, for example. That's not to say others can't enjoy the character even though they're different or that I can't identify with characters that are different than me in many ways, but I think it's impossible to understand how it feels to be in the minority when you're not in the minority. I hope this doesn't come across as condescending because I can legitimately see both sides, and my only goal is to promote understanding between the two perspectives.