How if Forge was represented fantastically and was a stand out fan favorite why would it matter if he was not exactly placed in Cyclops context?
Am I missing something? Why do you have to make a race change in order for diversity to matter?
Because Forge is not Cyclops. Forge existing does not cancel out the possibility of a Scott Summers derived from a First Nations tribe simply because "We already have a Native!"
Nevermind the fact that Forge works for the Government 80% of the time so he can never compare to the significance Cyclops has to the X-Men. Do I want a great representation of Forge when it comes time to introduce him? Of course.
You do not seem to understand my meaning or are sentence cherry-picking to bolster an argument I am not even making. Using X-Men's general "rights for all disenfranchised" to qualify a very specific ideology that you adhere to when it comes to adapting these films is not the same. You have to understand the difference. Or maybe you don't.
Oh, I understand perfectly clear. You are inferring that race changing characters is pushing a "specific" political ideology. Hmm, I wonder what that ideology is. And whether the X-Men have been aligned with it for decades (they have).
I wonder if it has something to do with modern Identity politics that so many decry nowadays... Hmm. It's almost like identity politics have been at the root center of Civil Rights activism for
quite some time now.
Some have been more comfortable with it in X-Men stories as long as it never went past the general "Equality for all! Discrimination = bad!" And never explored the inner workings and cogs that allow oppression to take hold. Some X-Men stories do take it
there and Marvel have always used the X-Men in particular as a vehicle to express progressive political ideals.
Ask yourself what progressive political ideals look like today and not 1965.
You have completely missed the point though. You can have strong Native American comic accurate representation without changing characters ethnic origins to satisfy this itch a couple fans would like scratched.
Ethnic origins? So what ethnicity informs Hank McCoy being white? None, zero, zilch. They are white because they couldn't be anything else when they were created. It's really that simple. If the X-Men were created today with all social themes intact, what would they look like? That's the question that matters here
This is just untrue. It has been proven to not be true also for the most part having ideological/political talking points guide movies. Ghostbusters, Terminator: Dark Fate, Charlies Angles, Fan4stic, Captain Marvel and Star Wars just to name a few have had major backlash due to these same types of thinking. People do not go to see a film only because they have "representation" within that films context.
Oh boy, A lot to unpack here. First of all, Captain Marvel & The Last Jedi were both massively successful from a commercial and critical perspective (Keyword - actual critics) and the backlash for Captain Marvel in particular had
zero negative affect on that success. What you had was a bunch of grown men whining and complaining and trying to sabotage a movie because the lead actress hurt their feelings. I'm sure Brie Larson and Kevin Feige are crying their hearts out over a loud minority on the internet over the billions of dollars Captain Marvel made.
As for Fant4stic, Ghostbusters and Charlie's Angels- all of those films failed because they were terrible films. Not all films are critic proof like Michael Bay's Transformers franchise. The loud, angry men decrying those films were not anywhere near significant in their failures. Nobody was asking for or wanted another Charlie's Angels film and the trailers for the movie made look generic as heck.
I can assure you the vast majority of people did not care or even know about Elizabeth Banks' comments.
That is a ludicrous accusation to make when when there is so much data saying otherwise.
Hmm, you mean like this data?
Why on-screen representation matters, according to these teens
In Hollywood, the box office success encourages inclusion & diversity
Representation in film matters to minorities | YouGov
Cast of ‘Captain Marvel’ On Why Carol Danvers Matters
I can assure you that just because minorities have had no problem seeing films head by all-white, straight casts or protagonists for
decades-- does not mean we don't want to, or rather don't care if we see ourselves represented in these films. We do and the impact that representation has on minority communities is something a lot of execs are realizing is a great thing
As you admit they have it in the context of the stories inherently just in different ways then trying to make outright political statements about the leader of the group by changing his race. Also there is something to be said of iconography.
Why does a Native American man leading the X-Men have to be a political statement in of itself? Why is it not a political statement when Scott is white leading the X-Men? Well, I
know the answer to that question. But the fact that I have to ask in the first place is s problem.
The "political statement" that a non-white Cyclops would bring is that brown men can lead and coordinate superhuman teams
too, y'know - like white men have been doing for decades in media. It would be positive representation and reinforcement for kids who never have someone to reflect themselves.
The wider politic statement is that the X-Men are discriminated minorities fighting to protect the racist and bigots who hate & fear them. Except now, they reflect *actual minoritiest and not straight-white characters coded as minorities so certain people don't get to uncomfortable in the theater seeing black, brown & gay faces fighting against their oppression.
Is "MJ" ever going to rival the actual Mary Jane as far as fans are concerned? Absolutely not! Yet this need to create diversified though not as well liked versions of characters persists. Because a very small group rally for this? You are all basically saying "well, I want it so they should do it and be damned with any fans or general audience members who disagree!"
And yet Far From Home made 1.2 billion at the box-office. Kevin Feige and the good people at Marvel Studios are part of this "small minority" you speak of -- and will continue to feature diverse characters in the MCU going forward headed by diverse people-- all the while making billions of dollars and proving we are not the "minority" you speak of.
Anyway
@Lip I've been thinking of how to modernize Rogue and I think I'd keep her white. Rogue grew up in the Deep South's Bible belt county in rural Mississippi. And I think you could do something interesting with that, with it juxtaposed against her becoming a mutant. I.e the rejection she would have faced in a deeply religious, conservative town