Representation Requires Characterization: Why Your Black Leader Is Not Revolutionary

Sometimes talking about diversity in media seems like a really bad game of “spot the minority.” Countless TV shows and movies have had just one visible person of color in their casts, if at all, and we’ve currently reached the point where a number of movies have one white woman and one Black man and are content to call that “diversity.” Whatever little progress we’ve made, it’s become clear that even if we include people of color in our stories, we’re still not dedicating ourselves to telling their stories.

If there’s a token minority in a story, it used to be that they were the villain or helpful sidekick; nowadays it’s more likely that they are the leaders of the group. At first glance, that sounds like a good thing—showing that people of color can be competent in places of authority can only be good, right? Maybe so, but we inevitably see a large number of Black leaders, not Asian or Middle Eastern or Latinx leaders, and, again inevitably, these Black leaders are often the only Black characters or characters of color in the story at all. This phenomenon ties into a number of tropes and poor writing choices that highlight the insidious problem of having your single solitary Black man or woman be the boss or leader for your ultimately white protagonists.

Definitely an example here.

Avengers: The Drinking Game

This does what it says on the tin. Use this as an excellent way to celebrate the release of the Avengers on blu-ray and DVD earlier this week! 😀 (Yes, I know it came out Tuesday; I was trying to be a responsible drinking mentor and postpone possible inebriation till the weekend.)

This game is possibly a little more drinking-heavy than the last one I posted, for virtue of the fact that the last one was to be played during a LotR movie marathon and the Avengers is only two and a half hours long.

Without further ado, and in no particular order, da roolz:

Before drinking, choose a character name.

Take one drink when:

• Your character’s first or superhero name is said.
• Clint poses.
• Fury says a baller one-liner.
• Natasha says ‘red in my ledger’.
• Tony calls someone a nickname instead of their real name. (Superhero names don’t count; think “Point Break”, “Rock of Ages”, “Reindeer Games”, “Legolas.”)
• Thor says ‘brother.’
• Bruce calls Hulk ‘the other guy.’
• Steve doesn’t understand modern things.
• The Glowstick of Destiny does something. (It’s so multi-useful! It zaps! It brainwashes! It makes julienne fries!)
• Someone says Tesseract.
• Coulson’s an awkward fanboy.

Special rules:

• You can try to say lines in unison with the movie, but if you fuck it up there is a three drink or one shot penalty.
• Whenever Thor grabs Loki’s neck, drink for the duration of neck grabbing.
• Whenever Loki monologues, drink for the duration of the monologue.
• When Coulson ‘dies’, finish your drink. (‘Dies’ is in quotes because I refuse to accept that we’ve been Jossed and that he’s actually gone.)

Enjoy!

And remember, as always, Lady Geek Girl and Friends does not condone alcohol poisoning, underage drinking, or collaborating with Thanos to take over Midgard.

The Ultimate Spider-Man is Actually Pretty Good

So I’ve been trying recently to branch out into American comics. You may have noticed this. My most recent adventure has taken me into the animated world of Spider-Man.  Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man TV show is actually pretty awesome. The premise is this: Peter Parker has been Spider-Man for a while when he is approached by Nick Fury with a proposition: join up with S.H.I.E.L.D. and let them train Peter into the “ultimate” Spider-Man.  Peter accepts and is suddenly tossed onto a team with junior S.H.I.E.L.D. agents White Tiger, Nova, Power Man, and Iron Fist.  Hijinks ensue and Peter learns valuable lessons about superheroing, blah blah, you know the drill. Anyway, it’s a pretty fun show.

So first I gotta be upfront with you about the real reason I started watching this show. Yes, it was a good way to learn more about the Marvelverse, as Peter often breaks the fourth wall to explain a situation or introduce a character we may not know.  But really? I needed more Son of Coul in my life.  Yup, that’s right. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a lot of influence on this show, and one way that shows is in the presence of Agent Coulson as a supporting character.  Best of all, they even got Clark Gregg himself to do the voice acting! It’s just a small part in the background (Coulson is undercover as the principal at Peter’s high school) but it made me happy nonetheless.

The voice acting in general on this show is pretty great, with Drake Bell as Peter Parker, Tara Strong as Mary Jane, J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, and Tom Kenny, Greg Cipes, Steve Blum, Travis Willingham (as Thor!), and even Mark Hamill as various other roles. (Stan Lee has a running cameo as the high school’s janitor.)

The animation is somewhat inspired by anime, with some chibi-fication and whatnot.  It also has a good mix of episoding plots versus an overarching storyline.

I’m enjoying it so far. (Although, to be fair, seeing as the internet seems to be full of this show’s haters, I’m relatively easy to please and have no basis for comparison.) I recommend you check it out, too!

The Avengers

So I just got back from the midnight showing. And it was in 3D too! How awesome is that? Of course, anyone who has been following me will know immediately how I feel about this gimmick and the headache I’m currently experiencing from it. Unfortunately, the 2D showing had sold out by the time I realized tickets were available. Sigh…

So obviously this movie and I are not off to a good start; however, as of late I seem to have a habit of attracting things from the entertainment industry that I loathe in the beginning and love by the end. Just to be clear, what I liked about this movie after the first act was not the 3D. It did not grow on me, and I dare to say it probably never will. I only liked it in the scenes where it conveniently goes away.

So let’s talk about The Avengers! Oh, and, uh, possible spoiler warning.

The Avengers is directed by Joss Whedon, who had received some criticism before the release about whether or not he was capable of working with physically strong male characters well, since he specializes in physically and emotionally strong female characters; however, I would argue that emotional strength is more important than physical in terms of character development, and he has worked with a lot of male characters in the past: Giles, Mal, Angel, to name a few, the last of which being very physically strong. So right away, this was an argument that I brushed aside, and I’m damn glad I did.

He successfully created the means of getting Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America from their single movies into one action-packed film together. This is the movie Marvel’s been building up to for a while now and I personally think it paid off in a way that only Joss Whedon’s sense of humor can. For such a serious movie with so much violence, it had a lot of humor, and none of it seemed misplaced. Tony Stark was as snarky as ever, Steve Rogers didn’t get pop culture references, etc., etc.

So our story begins with Loki and some evil alien overlord plotting together. And from there chaos ensues on Earth. Nick Fury reacts by beginning to assemble everyone onto the Helicarrier, which I’m not going to lie, looked awesome but did little more than that. Well, not entirely true. Half of it got blown up after all.

Although I love Loki, as he is my all-time favorite comic character, I was a little worried that his being the main villain would make his and Thor’s stories outshine the others. The reunion between the two brothers and all their interactions were superb. Tom Hiddleston is an amazing actor. Everything he does with that role, from his cheeky little grins to his cool demeanor are the perfect embodiment of Loki’s character.

While in the comics, which have been going on since the ‘sixties, we don’t see much of their sibling relationship anymore due to the length of the series, with the exception of the newer comics that focused entirely on it until Thor’s probably temporary death. We see a lot more of it here. Despite all the bad things Loki is doing, we never forget that they’re brothers and that Thor misses him.

In a way, the two do overshadow the other actors, but not by much. They all had really great chemistry together. There were some things that I’m not too sure about, however. For instance, when did Tony Stark and Pepper Potts become a couple? I know they had building tension, but I can’t remember whether or not they actually got together in Iron Man 2—of course, this is my cue to go rewatch that movie because I obviously missed something. For another thing, the reveal of Natasha’s past as the Black Widow and how she fell in with Shield didn’t make much sense to me. It was very vague. The conversation she and Loki had about it probably would have made more sense had I followed her in the comics more, but as it is, it’s like two people talking about something they expected the audience to know as well.

My other big concern was that there was no explanation for why the Hulk stopped trying to murder the Avengers. The first time he appears, he tries to kill Natasha, falls from the sky while raging, then shows up at the final fight and is BFFs with everyone. Convenient?

As for Captain America, I know that Steve Rogers reactions to waking up in our time are probably being saved for his next movie, but I still expected more out of it. Yes, his inability to understand cultural references were hilarious and showed how out of place he is, but I didn’t feel as though it was enough.

I did have some other fears going into this movie.

Both the Iron Man movies were much more science based, if still implausible, than both the Captain America and Thor movies. I see the same problem with bringing him in together with them as I do when I think of the possibility of a Justice League movie and Christopher Nolan’s Batman; however, whereas something like Poison Ivy strikes me as damn near impossible in the newer Batman-verse, The Avengers and the want to make the movie have been going on for quite a while, so when watching the Iron Man movies, I wouldn’t say that I wouldn’t be willing to accept that he lives in a world with magic, just that it’s not something that easily comes to mind.

Needless to say, I think they did a great job. I’m a little sad that neither Hank Pym nor Janet van Dyne appear. Without Janet or any other female Avenger, Natasha becomes the standard one female member. Yeah, Maria Hill is in this movie, but she’s not an Avenger. And of course, Nick Fury is our token black guy, since Idris Elba apparently didn’t find a way to shoehorn himself into this film. It would have been a much better choice for him than Ghost Rider, at least.

I don’t want to talk about the movie too much more. This is definitely something I recommend. It’s just fun all the way around. Go check it out and get back to me on what you think. Agree, disagree, I’m all ears. I know I’ll be watching it a second time in the near future.

I Guess Whitewashing is Okay Again

There have been many issues around race and comic book movies over the years. Marvel I feel has been the most notable with casting black actors in typically white roles. Alicia in Fantastic Four was black instead of the usual blonde-haired, blue-eyed character she is in the comics. Nick Fury, now played by Samuel L. Jackson is black, and perhaps the most controversial, Idris Elba played the Norse god Heimdall in Thor.

Trailer Tuesdays: The Avengers… again.

Yeah, I’m doing The Avengers once again, but this time is a little different. I’m sure this news is pretty late and anyone who’s been watching the hype will know it already. But, anyways, the trailer for Japan gives us some new footage, such as the Helicarrier. Check it out:

Also check out the Russian trailer, which has a couple new clips:

Basically, at this point, I think every country is going to get some kind of new footage, and thank goodness too. Feel free to go check out the trailers in other languages.

Oh, and this is the poster for Japan. I actually like this setup better than the posters here in America:

Awesome!

Trailer Tuesdays: The Avengers

I am so happy this trailer is finally out, and I think it explains the movie pretty well. The Avengers is directed by Joss Whedon, who’s most famous for his work on Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. With him behind the wheel, I think we can expect great things from this movie. It looks fun, action packed, and a great start for all the heroes we love and enjoy coming together in one epic movie of badassness.

And Loki is everywhere! But maybe that only makes me happy because I love his character.

Though there is one point in the trailer where Black Widow just looks as though she’s posing for the camera with an explosion behind her. And that bugs me, but hey, at least she’s clothed. I just hope she doesn’t fall into the same trap as all the other female superheroes do. But considering Joss Whedon’s work with female characters in the past, I think she’ll be fine.

I can only hope that Mark Ruffalo can carry the part of Bruce Banner as well as Edward Norton did. It upsets me that they couldn’t get Norton to continuing playing the part for whatever reason, but hey, I doubt Ruffalo would have been brought in had he been anything but an amazing actor.

Check it out, and tell me what you think.