"Guardians of the Galaxy," and Chasing The Diversity Unicorn

[Mr. Mastermind]

Really? Peter Quill is effectively a blank slate. The character has no character, no personality, or anything. He is a walking stick figure in the in comics. Anyone could have been cast because that character has no mainstream awareness. Hell, the reason why Chris Pratt did so well, was because he was just being himself. When people saw the movie, they saw Chris Pratt, they didn't see Peter Quill since Peter Quill is no one.

I have no idea what Peter Quill is like in the comics, but for James Gunn's version of him, Pratt was perfectly cast.

[wmpreston]

"Diversity bingo." How marvelously dismissive. Those of us who are older grew up seeing white people get slathered with grease so they could play Hispanics. We saw white people play Asians. We saw, in Apocalypse Now, Filipinos play Vietnamese (they only look alike to white folks). We've seen attempts to deal with race in stories and in casting decisions. There's no "perfect solution," but there are people who are thinking, people who aren't thinking, and people who mis-think. (Peter Jackson, with his "only the white 'races of man' are good" then tried to do something better, and failed, with King Kong's casting of the unlikely black captain . . . and the horrific portrayal of those islanders.) The Matrix movies, whatever their flaws, at least realized that humanity wasn't majority white, now or in the future. Abrams has a mostly-white future Star Fleet, which makes no sense.

It's just good to see when people think about these things. Casting Idris Elba as an Asgardian god: good thinking. That says something to viewers and to the film community. You don't need to be checking off a list, but for some of us (and I'm white), these are important issues now and for our future. (I've lived through seeing TV become diverse when I was a kid, back off from that in the benighted Reagan era, then rediscover diversity most impressively in recent years. That diverse TV viewing in my childhood shaped my view of the world; this stuff has an effect.)

[MattinDurham]

Hardly surprising that "white guys," historically the most included group in the comics industry, are on the whole the least interested in including more diversity in comics and comic book films, and are largely indifferent if not openly irritated when the issue is addressed as it was in Albert's review. But even if one is uninterested in diversity for diversity's sake, it's undeniable that the demographics of the potential audiences for this stuff is shifting, so it makes no sense not to move the product in that direction.

[poneley]

Extremely well written Albert. Talking about this stuff is important and necessary. We, the folks on this message board and who love this medium and the genres that spring from it, are a very diverse community. We should be proud of that. And if some of us ask the question, "if our community is is so diverse, why isn't that reflected in the movies that we enjoy?" Why are folks trying to shut down the conversation or be dismissive towards each other? Albert is asking questions that a lot of us are asking-- and he's doing it in a straight forward, respectful manner. We all love this medium and its genres. Its just that some of us are still invisible when it comes to representation in the most popular medium.

[Blind Otto]

The problem with what is being called "diversity" is, it isn't. What people actually seem to be calling for is inclusiveness.
Everyone wants their favourite film to star, or at least feature, someone like them.
Which is ultimately ridiculous, especially when talking about established characters. Ultimately, all you get is a token, which isn't fair to anyone.

I have no problem whatsoever with people introducing new characters of any gender, race or creed into the mythos. None. But this whole "well, this is my take on an existing character - look, I gave Batman a Jamaican accent and a pony tail" bit just seems like they're too lazy to come up with something that is truly original.

I also notice that the Superhero field seems more affected by this than any other. Wonder why that is? After all, I haven't heard anyone calling for the great Westerns or any British myths to be redone with the main characters transposed. Queen Arthur, anyone?

[KOSLOX]

I just want to see a Captain Marvel, Black Panther, and Shang Chi movie already.

I could care less about Thor 3 or Ant-Man.

[Teek]

It's just good to see when people think about these things.

It truly is, but that doesn't mean it's bad when people don't.

[gleality]

I could care less about Thor 3 or Ant-Man.

Weird Al wants to let you know -
"I hate these word crimes
Like "I could care less"
That means you do care
At least a little"

[MatchesMalone]

I have no idea what Peter Quill is like in the comics, but for James Gunn's version of him, Pratt was perfectly cast.

I think you missed my point and yet you made it perfectly.

Everyone knows Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man. They are white guys, but they are overall very different characters.

For each there are specific traits and characterizations you want from an actor playing each particular role.

For Peter Quill, he has no well-defined personality or mannerisms. So anyone could be cast for that role.

I would even go on to say that A) Chris Pratt did for Peter Quill what Robert Downey Jr did for Iron Man and B) Batman was perfectly created to be a rich white kid that suffers because of a city that neglects its citizens and doesn't offer a way for them to build themselves back up.

[afrocarter]

It truly is, but that doesn't mean it's bad when people don't.

Okay, but it's bad when people don't want to.

[JediMindTrick]

I don't know about "slightly," but I was disappointed to see, on checking the cast list, that there weren't more black actors.

The movie was made in the United States. While worldwide markets are starting to become more and more important its still a U.S. film so lets look at the breakdown relative to U.S. census stats compared to the main characters which I'm defining as named characters who had more than just a line or two in the movie. From what I just got off wikipedia in the 2010 census whites were 72.4% of the U.S population, blacks were 12.6%, Asians were 4.8%, and the rest was something else . . . FYI hispanics are considered caucasians though many might not see it that way. According to the data hispanics are 8.7% which brings down the non hispanic white figure to 63.7%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demogra..._United_States

So lets break it down by actors. I'm not going to include Rocket or Groot since it was just voice acting. And I'm only including the important ones who had significant parts or speaking scenes (no background Ravagers, background characters in Knowhere / Xandar, or family members around Peter Quill). And I'm not including anyone who was literally only there for one scene since they were unimportant (Peter's family, his hookup he forgot about, etc).

White actors / characters: Peter Quill, Ronan, Yondu, Nebula, Corpsman Dey, Nova Prime. Thats six and three of them were so covered in costume / makeup you wouldn't know they were white (since so many are saying it doesn't count with Drax and Gamora since they were covered.

Black actors / characters: Gamora, Korath

Pacific Islander: Drax

Hispanic: The Collector

So out of the ten most important characters only sixty percent were represented by white actors which is below national average based on population. Twenty percent were represented by black actors which is above average. And the other two were different minorities. So exactly how does anyone complain about this movie not fairly representing anything especially blacks or hispanics since they are represented at the actor level at or above their national demographic rate? If any group has any gripe its asians since they had no representation. If women wanted to complain because they only had three signficant roles and two of them were fairly limited then there might be a valid point but this movie was nothing if not racially diverse at a level equivalent to the demographics of the country it was made in.

If you by only the ones whose skin color you can actually see than you have three white characters and one black character. Ruh roh the % relative to national population just got even higher for blacks.

If your making a movie that centers around race and black issues, such as a movie about slavery or inner city life in Harlem then of course you need a lot of black actors. But if its a movie where race is utterly irrelevant to everything about the story then how you can not do better than Guardians did by matching up very closely with national demographics?

[Güicho]

Only one thing left to say:


CREATED FROM THE COSMIC REACHES OF THE UNIVERSE!
.............................................(wtf that means, idk?)

DC/WB pay attention!(Oh and Rimma too!)

[Rook47]

There's something about questions like "Why can't Star-Lord or Peter Parker be black (or any other ethnicity)?" Which just irks me no end. I feel that changing a character's ethnicity for the sake of diversity is so disingenuous to the very people whose cause others are trying to forward. (The same can be applied to switching genders with the same perils.) Personally I don't like it when the race of a character is changed because it seems so cheap and easy. So Marvel Studios makes Star-Lord black or Donald Glover gets to be Peter Parker after all, are white people like me meant to pat ourselves on the back and say "good job, this makes up for everything"? No, it most certainly doesn't.

Honestly when it comes to ethnicity and gender equality, I think that everybody deserves more than that. When changing a character's gender or ethnicity just because there's no reason not to, you limit the sincerity of the gesture. It turns a blind eye to history and culture and gives the mistaken message that in the real world these things are no longer a factor. They remain a factor and a black Star-Lord wouldn't magically fix that. To retroactively change the result of years of racism isn't the same as making proper amends and moving on to a better and more open society. The dark parts of history are there to ensure that they don't happen again. Most comic book characters are white and male for historical reasons, let's not change that, but instead ensure that those few characters that aren't the majority are done right and handled with respect. Tell a good story with those characters, it's what everybody deserves. I have far more interest in seeing a story about a character who is meant to be of a culture or gender or ethnicity than one who has it painted on later. I want to see every comic book movie and TV show done right.

I don't want to see a black Star-Lord and I feel no guilt in saying that. What I would like to see are other properties being given a chance and for people who have never encountered these characters before being given a chance to get excited about them. Give me Power Man, give me Black Panther, give me a new Blade, give me Bishop, give me Shaterstar and Rictor, give me Jimmy Woo and the Agents of Atlas. Give me a Carol Danvers Captain Marvel, but do it right, make it mean something. Make sure that she has the legacy of Mar-Vel to live up to, because that's part of what makes her great. I don't mind waiting for the better world we're all hoping for because I want it to be done right. If we need Avengers (X) before it'll be the time for a Black Panther movie, then so be it. I want it to be a good story and not just a box to tick off on the diversity list.

You know what would be worse than seeing more movies with white guys and their female/ethnic supporting cast? Seeing the first movie with (X) minority in the leading roll being the first Marvel movie to bomb.

[Rambaldi]

Posting this before I go back and read the responses to the article.

I'm a gay white male. I know the privilege of representation, and I also know about being a minority. Just thought I'd make that clear.

First of all, the reason there are so many of these types of articles is because there are so many people who agree, so many underrepresented people who are more than willing to shill out cash for Marvel's quality product, hoping to see a little bit of themselves up on the screen.

The "ugh, another diversity article" responses are useless additions to the dialogue because they produce nothing. All you're doing is groaning and saying, "Shut up about minority stuff. I already got mine; don't need to hear about your junk."

[Jonah Weiland]

Posting this before I go back and read the responses to the article.

I'm a gay white male. I know the privilege of representation, and I also know about being a minority. Just thought I'd make that clear.

First of all, the reason there are so many of these types of articles is because there are so many people who agree, so many underrepresented people who are more than willing to shill out cash for Marvel's quality product, hoping to see a little bit of themselves up on the screen.

The "ugh, another diversity article" responses are useless additions to the dialogue because they produce nothing. All you're doing is groaning and saying, "Shut up about minority stuff. I already got mine; don't need to hear about your junk."

Absolutely right. Welcome to the CBR Community, Rambaldi. Please stay for a while.