Ever since it’s inception spanning nearly a hundred years ago, the American entertainment industry has always been a true focal point of wonder, and amazement engrained into our culture. It births stars across various platforms, transports us to different worlds, and fills epic stadiums to packed capacities. Yet, if we focus on specific segments of the industry, it’s easy to see that not all aspects of it are necessarily fair, primarily dealing with issues of racial diversity and gender equality. If we delve a bit further, the spotlight brightens on mainstream TV and film, the darling divisions of entertainment.
I could take you over decades worth of television shows and movies, highlighting the sheer volume of minorities and women used as nothing more than plot devices, minor supporting characters, and otherwise as background scenery. But that would be boring, time-consuming, and just a bit off-topic. The overarching point of all this is to say that currently, in the year 2014, the U.S. and most of the world at large is at a tipping point. In no way are we as a society close to total equality in every sense of the word. But when we have people at large, protesting the right to basic civil liberties in places like Gaza and Ferguson, and women like Emma Watson and Beyoncé defining (or redefining depending on how you look at it) what feminism really is, it would seem we’re on the verge of a breakthrough. Something… historic.
*Cue shaky transition*
Now, enter the fictional reality of the comic book world, if for only a few minutes. What do you initially think of? Without a doubt tights, capes maybe. There are various ‘powers’ that exist like super strength, optic beams that could carve out a mountain, flight, telepathy, immortality. You name it, I guarantee you it’s out there somewhere in that odd, childish, fantastical realm known as the comic universe. Yet in many ways, there’s never been a world more reflective of modern society than within those 2-D paneled, 22-page graphic novels of spectacle. Sure, you could name various films and shows that deal with race, gender, mental health, identity crisis, political strife, revolution, enslavement, empowerment, death, drug abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual orientation and so on. But name me one modern, fictional universe that has dealt with all of those simultaneously for the past 80 years. I can name you two: D.C. and Marvel.
But for as much variation in history, diversity, and background that characters in each of these publishing giants have, their portrayals on the small and silver screen have been minimal at best. On Marvel and 20th Century Fox’s part, beloved, essential comic book supers like Storm, War Machine, Bishop, and Falcon have all been relegated to minor and/or supporting roles. Fox is actively trying to right the ship, announcing Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm a.k.a. The Human Torch earlier this year in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot (which frankly is ridiculous as I’ve never been a fan of race change in characters when you have plenty of other important minority characters that could make for great movie depictions, but whatever).
Admittedly, both Marvel Studios and Fox have done a better job recently in giving female characters larger roles, like Mystique played by Jennifer Lawrence, and Black Widow played by Scarlett Johansson (who are also characters with enough backstory and following to have their own movies). However, with all that said, no female comic book character or non-white character, male or female, has gotten their own solo film in the current era of the genre (Iron Man, 2008). Skeptics would blame this on the reception of poorly executed, over-sexualized movies like Elektra, and Catwoman, or flat-out bad ones (Blade III anyone?). But those abominations reflect the directors, writers, and actors involved, not the fictional characters themselves.
I probably should have led with the forthcoming info but all of the above rhetoric was to further belabor the main point. A few weeks ago, in association with Warner Bros., D.C. announced a slew of new movie titles coming to theaters over the next five years. But here’s the big story: of the 10 movies announced, one stars a female (Israeli actress Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman), and four (possibly five with Green Lantern) star minorities. Aquaman will star Jason Mamoa (a native Hawaiian), Shazam will star Dwayne Johnson (half-black and half-Samoan) as Black Adam, Cyborg will star Ray Fisher (African-American) and The Flash will see Ezra Miller, who is openly gay, take on the lead role.
Never to be outmatched or outclassed by their main rival, Marvel was forced to unveil titles that at least seem to have been long in the works. And as a Marvel fanboy, while it’s been nice to see incredible characters like Iron Man, Cap, and Thor come to life, I was very very pleased to hear the news. Black Panther is the brilliant warrior T’Challa, a powerful, brooding, and orphaned ruler of a fictional African nation. Often likened to Bruce Wayne (with good reason), the character was finally announced on Tuesday. This, along with the other big reveal of Carol Danvers’ popular iteration of Captain Marvel who, while having a vastly different backstory, is basically Marvel’s version of Wonder Woman.
To end, this is why you should care, especially if you’re a fair-weather comic book movie fan at best. D.C. has made it clear that they plan on making these films to at least 2020, while Marvel has plans to go all the way up to 2028. So if you thought this was a fad, the comic-inspired movies aren’t going away any time soon. Yet in contrast to the white male-driven films previously mentioned, the upcoming batch will involve a diverse cast of characters that are no less lacking in rich history and importance. Both Black Panther and Captain Marvel are captivating heroes, and integral parts of the Avengers team, a franchise that has raked in billions over the last six years. For Marvel Studios’ part, they’ve done an excellent, unprecedented job at making quality movies that are interwoven with each other, while creating an epic fictional world that has yet to stop being entertaining. If they can continue to do that with their new properties, they could inspire a whole new demographic, one that has collectively been waiting to see people who resemble them alive, and just as badass as a Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne, on the big screen. D.C., also has quite the opportunity at their fingertips and, while unproven, can have just as much of a vital impact. I mean it is Wonder Woman, 1/3 of the freaking Holy Trinity of comic book legends. So here’s Hoping.
~J. Mon
(p.s. If you couldn’t tell, I really like it when Superman gets his ass kicked :))
Product Of Society 