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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
edited 29th Jan '16 8:02:32 PM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.Also, to clarify an earlier comment, irrelevant to current stuff: Marvel putting a minority in charge of a thing traditionally means a minority will also be starring in that thing. Agent Carter's got female showrunners, Jessica Jones had a female showrunner, Luke Cage has a black showrunner, Black Panther is gonna have a black director, Captain Marvel is gonna have a female director.
Marvel put a white dude in charge of Iron Fist.
Danny Rand's probably gonna be white.
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.I mean, I know, probability-wise, yes, he will be white. But still! He could be non-white!
Honestly, I, er...
I mean, I don't want him to be white, necessarily? But, like, when I say Marvel likes their minorities to match, that's not necessarily a knock on them. I don't think a dude could've given us Jessica Jones, or Agent Carter the TV show (yes, yes, Markus and McFeely have their names on it, but it's really Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas running things.)
It sets a bad precedent, like, if you're a minority, and you're not a woman, or black, any ol' white guy can write your experiences, why not.
edited 29th Jan '16 9:17:17 PM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.Uh, well, I mean, Into the Badlands
was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, two white guys. That wasn't a Marvel project, but still: it's possible.
Is Into the Badlands any good, though? I've not watched it.
(Wait, what am I saying, it's Mark Millar, of course it's terrible) (That says Miles Millar, damn you reading comprehension)
I just feel like, if Danny Rand's gonna be written as non-white—especially given the Netflix series' established focus on social issues—it should be written by someone with firsthand experience with those issues.
edited 29th Jan '16 9:24:24 PM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.Unless someone's race is a huge part of their character, I really don't think who's in charge makes any difference. Seems more of a synergistic move to make the illusion of being in touch with things than anything else. Not to say that the people in charge of Agent Carter or Jessica Jones or any other show aren't in touch, because they absolutely are, just that being of the same gender/race doesn't necessarily mean anything if the issues that are associated with plaguing that particular group of people aren't heavily addressed in the work anyways.
Like, in Iron Fist's case, assuming they made him black or Hispanic to avoid the Mighty Whitey implications and the Asian martial artist implications, his race would likely have no impact on his character beyond avoiding those implications, since he's presumably still from New York but spent a lot of time in Kun'Lun. In which case the gender or race of the showrunner is more or less irrelevant to making the character work.
edited 29th Jan '16 9:26:36 PM by Khfan429
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I could agree with you, but precedent with regards to the Netflix series says otherwise.
Matt Murdock's religion and blindness are both huge parts of his character. Jessica Jones is all about how women deal with male entitlement. Luke Cage is gonna have to deal with the fact that he's a wrongly imprisoned black man in a culture that's taking notice of race-based police brutality in a huge way.
If Danny Rand is something besides white, it's probably gonna be a focus point for the show.
edited 29th Jan '16 9:28:08 PM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.As far as I know, those things were already central to the characters though.
Not everything trying to be progressive has to suddenly make that progressivism front and center. If they want to engage in color-blind casting, there's literally nothing to suggest that they need to make a huge deal out of it within the story. Honestly, I find that a troubling implication all on its own.
Danny Rand already has a lot of things going for him in the comics. If they do Race Lift him, there's absolutely zero reason it needs to become a thing worthy of focus, because I'm sure they have enough material to work with from what already exists with the character that they don't have to add a race-based subplot that would only have the potential to exist if they decided they didn't want to deal with the Unfortunate Implications of the two more obvious choices.
edited 29th Jan '16 9:33:46 PM by Khfan429
So, uh, I guess it's kind of both good and bad?
edited 29th Jan '16 9:34:01 PM by alliterator
Well. That's fair.
I mean.
Having someone who is blind, Catholic, or even both be in charge would've been nice. Not gonna deny that. But at least this isn't the first time Marvel's chosen to forgo behind-the-scenes representation when it was needed.
edited 29th Jan '16 9:38:04 PM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.The creators of Into The Badlands are white, but both they and Daniel Wu (one of the E Ps and also the lead actor) have talked about how closely they worked together to develop the show. The script is decent but the choreography and acting is fantastic.
That said, with Netflix's and Marvel's track records I absolutely expect Iron Fist to star a white dude.
Non-Marvel Netflix has been pretty good at diversity, I thought? Orange is the New Black? Master of None? Grace and Frankie? Sense 8?
edited 29th Jan '16 9:49:30 PM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.Other than Master of None, which was created by Asian-Americans, not really. OITNB does a good job with its black and Latina characters but it treats its Asian characters really shittily (an episode called Ching Chang Chong, really?). Sense8 is just racist in general. I haven't seen Grace and Frankie so I can't comment on it.
The director for the next Thor movie is this dude with the Name I can't remember - in any case, Thor is still a white dude. Yes, Marvel does try to match the ethnicity of director and certain properties, but I think that is more about fan-management than anything else. Black Panther and Captain Marvel could become controversial movies, it is better to avoid the old "well, why did they give the property some white guy" controversy. Iron Fist is not half as explosive.
Taika Waititi. Anyway The Winter Soldier was going to be directed by a black man until he dropped out due to prior commitments, and Thor 2 was going to be directed by a woman until Executive Meddling caused her to leave. And for a Danny Rand who's neither white nor Asian to have a special subplot that brings attention to his race (and not in the context of him being an outsider to Kun-Lun) goes against the whole point of color-blind casting IMO.
Anyway, how do they choose test screening audiences? The fact that Civil War seems to be doing well like The Winter Soldier did is a good sign, but IIRC a lot of the more controversial plot choices in AOU were made based on test screening.
edited 30th Jan '16 6:51:38 AM by AlleyOop

Don't know if this has been posted yet. Skimmed the last five pages and didn't see it.
Papa Star Lord has been cast
. His identity is yet secret, all we know is that it's not the same guy as from the comics.