Lit Ignorance is Bias: The Diversity Manifesto

http://comicbook.com/2014/12/02/suicide-squad-oprah-winfrey-reportedly-first-choice-for-amanda-w/

Nothing speaks greater volumes about the dearth of big-name black female stars than that Oprah would be the "first choice" for Amanda Waller.

 

Please no.

 

This thing has been floating around for a little while but I don't think it's come up in here yet.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ack-panther-and-captain-marvel-revolutionary/

 

Can't help but perceive the article as a variation on the Why Hasn't Reed Richards Cured Cancer line of thought where superheroes are concerned.

Marvel and DC's heroes are all about maintaining the status quo, in one form or another, despite claims to the contrary. Villains are defined by the same standard, wishing to overthrow The Way Things Are to All Hail Your New Overlord! They don't do revolutionary moves, to expect that is to expect something that is not in the nature of superheroes.

 

The answer to that question is: becous he is not a medical doctor.

 

Well on the face of it you're absolutely right--but the article goes on to say that just having "the status quo" represented by something other than a WHM is still a positive step.

 

What bugs me about that article is the implicit difference feminism-style positive discrimination it seems to be buying into.

 

Dude, we're talking Reed Richards, of course he could do it. Why hasn't he? It's the box marked Don't Ask.

I'd agree Coop that, in representative terms, it's a positive move. That said, for some, I think, the question will be representative of what? That violence solves all problems? At that point I'm reminded of the line, I think attributed to Warren Ellis, that superheroes are akin to wrestling. It really isn't all that deep no matter what it tries to claim.

 

We will have to agree to disagree on this.

 

It is a little dry, but people might find this interesting.

http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2014/11/179827-the-data-on-diversity/fulltext

 

Because somebody else already has, duh.

Spoiler

 

I was just about to post that, you beat me to it by like a minute

 

I don't really know anything about Oprah, except that she is famous, so why is she given as an alternative and why is it bad?

 

That's so dry it makes mummies look aquatic. Interesting stuff if you can get into it, though.

 

From http://www.slashfilm.com/phantom-menace-behind-the-scenes-photos/

 

Very interesting. From the latest Axel Alonso CBR interview:

I'm a big fan of Wilson's work so it's great to read this.

 

I dont know they just seem to be stacking deck with biggest names available

 

It just seems a little strange that their first choice is someone whose movie roles tends to be voice acting in children's movies, or parts in civil rights/race relations. I'm not saying she can't do it, it's just, odd.

This is how I imagine the casting meeting going down:

Exec 1: We need someone to play Amanda Waller
Exec 2: Meryl Streep!
Exec 1: No, no, she's black.
Exec 2: Meryl Streep is black?
Exec 1: No, you moron, Amanda Waller is.
Exec 2: Oh. Hmmm. Zoe Saldana?
Exec 1: Not what we're looking for.
Exec 2: Kerry Washington?
Exec 1: No, I don't think so... She's too...(shows picture of character)
Exec 2: ...
Exec 1: ...
Exec 2: ...
Exec 1: ...
Exec 2: Oprah?
Exec1: Brilliant! You're moving to a corner office!
Exec 2: Should we have a second choice?
Exec 1: Have he cast of Precious on stand-by or something, I don't know, I only watch mainstream movies.

 

So what are the chances that we'll get some LGBT diversity in the new movies? I suspect they'll play it safe and stick to erasure the same way JJ's done in the Star Trek movies, but I'd like to be surprised. At the very least, I hope we get some LGBT characters in the novels. I'm pretty sure most of the few gay characters we did have in the EU are now out of official continuity, except maybe a couple of bi/lesbian women in the Old Republic, and I'm not sure of that.

 

No, technically, every LGBT character (all, like, four of them) is Legends now. As for the ST, I'm not willing to set my expectations quite that high, but the spinoff movies are a different ballgame.

 

Getting gay characters even in the spin off movies would be more than I expect. At this point even getting good representation in the novels would be very welcome.

On a different topic, surely Queen Latifah should play Amanda Waller.

 

The thing is, Amanda Waller should look like a bureaucrat. Oprah and Queen are good actors but their public images are so distinct at this point that I'd have trouble seeing past their real-world glamour.

 

I just want Waller to be a big intimidating woman. The tv and movie versions we've gotten of her have been too thin and pretty for the most part. Smallville's version was better with the fierce Pam Grier, but really, none of them have come close to the way I always pictured her, which is 80s Nell Carter. Please tell me I'm not the only one that thinks Carter was perfect for the role.
The 90s Justice League cartoon got Waller down perfectly.