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posted by martyb on Monday October 01 2018, @10:14PM   Printer-friendly

c|net:

Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors is a sweet superhero tale where, yes, a group of younger heroes come together to battle an extremist group. But more importantly than that, it's a superhero tale with diversity oozing out of every animated frame.
...
Ms. Marvel, who idolizes Captain Marvel and is inspired by her, instead leads the Secret Warriors movie, showcasing her origin tale, her relationship with her mother and her struggle for acceptance in a culture that is adverse to the creation of the Inhumans -- the latter being people who gain superpowers after getting into contact with a gas substance called Terrigen Mists.

What Secret Warriors is doing particularly well is that it isn't shying away from its focus on diversity in any part of its plot. In particular, the storyline aims at a brewing conflict between humans and an extremist group of Inhumans, the latter believing that a war between the two groups is inevitable. Khan ends up stuck in the middle, as an Inhuman herself who doesn't believe the conflict is needed.

Another refreshing carryover from Marvel comics is America Chavez. Her origin story, which sees Chavez's two mothers sacrificing themselves to protect their daughter, remains completely intact and sympathetic. Chavez herself demonstrates herself as a formidable ally, having super strength and the ability to fly. It's a nice start for LGBT representation on the animated side of the Marvel universe for now.

Wasn't Captain Marvel a man?


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @03:01PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @03:01PM (#742814)

    Funny, because back in the day when comic pages were full of exactly the kind of diversity character you’re talking about, nobody ever batted an eye.

    Exactly.

    Something has definitely changed about diversity in the last few years,

    Yes.

    So let me ask you, the reader: do you feel threatened? Who made you feel that way? The alleged SJW that made this story happen? Or the alt-right reactionary trying to turn your vague anxieties toward white supremacist rage?

    No, "diversity" became a double think style codeword for overt discrimination; The very thing it claims to be against. Telling the most diverse, tolerant and equal civilization in human history that they're racists and sexists and it's therefore fine to discriminate against them is obnoxious. I don't think I have a reactionary response, I'm just going to continue enjoying my "white privilege" and "toxic masculinity" while ignoring "diversity" and telling anyone who has a problem with myself or my family to "fuck off"! Do you think this is an unreasonable position to hold?

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  • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Tuesday October 02 2018, @03:56PM (5 children)

    by meustrus (4961) on Tuesday October 02 2018, @03:56PM (#742855)

    I think your position is a lot more reasonable than the position of most people like you on the internet. Probably because most people on the internet are trolls crafting reactionary arguments to stir up shit.

    I'm actually quite glad to see anyone, even someone positioned on the other side from me, expressing an opinion that doesn't seem carefully crafted to piss off as many people as possible.

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    If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @06:25PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @06:25PM (#742984)

      My position is one of self-interested disinterest, I will not open my wallet to support the kind of discrimination I have always taken a principled stand against. I suspect this is the majority position, even among those who are annoyed that every fictional character and franchise in popular culture is being hijacked and reimagined through an SJW lens. We've long had black, female and gay characters in fiction and few cared - but it was never so politicized as it is now. Neither of us have to pick a side. Alienating the majority audience by appealing to ever more disparate minority groups is a losing strategy. A recent survey on the declining NFL ratings could be an interesting insight into the commercial viability of intersectional identity politics. [surveymonkey.com]

      • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Tuesday October 02 2018, @08:04PM (3 children)

        by meustrus (4961) on Tuesday October 02 2018, @08:04PM (#743032)

        I am not seeing what you see about the NFL. Kneeling is a protest, so the extent to which it harms business is probably desirable to kneelers. It doesn’t tell us anything about running a successful business...other than “avoid controversies you can’t personally resolve”.

        As for how long we’ve had diverse characters in fiction, you are technically correct only because you leave out how many. There are vastly more and diverse characters in English-language fiction now than ever before, and these characters are in more central roles than ever before.

        Any quality issues with these new characters are probably just growing pains. There is a lot about representation that has little to do with story quality that authors want to accomplish right now. I can see how writing a character specifically to represent one ethnic group alienated others, especially any ethnic groups that are not accustomed to characters that explicitly represent someone else. Some would say “welcome to the not-being-represented club”.

        I suspect it will pass. Once each community feels better represented by the mainstream, representation will naturally become less of a storytelling goal. Whether things ever go back to “normal” depends on what “normal” means to everyone. If your normal requires that you be exclusively pandered to as the majority identity, you will be sorely disappointed and your frustration will only contribute to the things you love devolving into identity politics.

        If however your normal just requires a level of quality and relevance, then as long as you don’t let yourself be distracted by identity politics, things will get better. Give minority writers time and identity will become less important than identity-specific themes, and everyone will get better at exploring those themes.

        But if you’re an asshole about it, you will get kicked out. And if every straight writer is an asshole about it, you’ll have to get used to all romance being queer. When that happens...well we can all look forward to a new counter movement of straight people shoe-horning straight romance where it doesn’t serve the story because nobody will give them the representation they desire.

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        If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @08:51PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @08:51PM (#743059)

          I am not seeing what you see about the NFL.

          That they're in a no win situation which they could have avoided.

          Those who took offense to it were most likely to cite their support for Donald Trump—who condemned the act—as their reason for avoiding the NFL (32%).

          Why did people in favor of kneeling steer clear of watching and attending games? To act in solidarity with the players (22%) and to support former quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who's being infamously shunned by teams across the league for kneeling (12%).

          Some would say “welcome to the not-being-represented club”.

          While the receipts will say welcome to bankruptcy protection and the media blames Russia [theverge.com] despite corroborating data. [cosmicbooknews.com]

          • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Tuesday October 02 2018, @09:39PM (1 child)

            by meustrus (4961) on Tuesday October 02 2018, @09:39PM (#743079)

            The NFL is in a no win situation: yes.

            They (the organization) could have avoided it: no.

            Players are protesting something outside the NFL's control. The NFL itself doesn't care and can't really address police brutality. Meanwhile, comic book companies are trying to reach different demographics, a social issue that they are uniquely situated to address. The two may be related politically, but they are not comparable as business decisions. Especially because the players aren't making business decisions and aren't likely to face market consequences even if NFL viewership goes down.

            Those that avoid the NFL because of Trump are doing it because of Trump. Not because of SJWs. Which I think is pretty indicative of the whole situation we're talking about: certain people want to stoke white rage in order to bolster their own goals, and without those people, we'd all be more likely to criticize things based on their own merits instead of the identities of the people involved.

            As for The Last Jedi...from my perspective, that movie's biggest problem was pacing and that has nothing to do with social issues. The whole casino world subplot was pointlessly pointless, and I get the sense that it's only there to set up future movies. But what do you expect? They're just following the MCU forever-series formula, which until now at least has been pretty much entirely about white men in costumes.

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            If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @10:09PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @10:09PM (#743093)

              comic book companies are trying to reach different demographics

              To be fair, they've been doing this since the seventies but the difference was that those titled sold.

              Especially because the players aren't making business decisions and aren't likely to face market consequences even if NFL viewership goes down.

              They are making business decisions, even if they don't know it. The NFL could have exercised "editorial" control over the narrative from the outset.

              As for The Last Jedi...from my perspective, that movie's biggest problem was pacing and that has nothing to do with social issues. The whole casino world subplot was pointlessly pointless

              I agree with you but there were social issues on display, not least the Asian girl bringing The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the pointless subplot you mentioned.

              But what do you expect?

              A movie that plays to universal human archetypes instead of deconstructionist dogma. A movie that honors the characters in the mythos. If the director wanted to "subvert expectations", he should have killed his protagonist. Obviously too much to expect, just as me bothering with any further Star Wars outings is too much for Disney to expect.