Lit Ignorance is Bias: The Diversity Manifesto

hi yes here I am and SHRIV IS THE BESTEST

Anyway, interesting observation in the main BF2 thread that TJ Ramini appears to have some Middle Eastern heritage. As this post from Uli highlights, he doesn't necessarily jump out as a POC (at least he hadn't to me) until you put him alongside a picture of Del. It doesn't ruin the character or anything but it is interesting that they put Iden-as-Janina up front and then made the deliberate choice to turn TJ Ramini into a white guy.

 

I don't think they did, really - I think that's just what he looks like, heritage aside.

 

Hm, it could just be something about that first promo image. The second pic looks way more like Ramini--not just skin tone but the shape of his face.

 

I don't know if we need to keep posting pictures of his face and pretending it's just to discuss diversity, but I don't think it's harming anyone. In fact, it may be helping.

 

I want a Del Meeko Year One story about him getting that eyebrow scar on Scarif.

 

It should be a DLC mission. One of the objectives should be: "Get scar."

 

I don't care if StarWars is diverse at all. As long as you have a great storyline, great movies, novels and tv series, I for one don't care what race is excluded from the StarWars universe. I think we are all too sensitive these days, when it comes to race and sex. We are all human and should all be able to relate to a good story

 

Cool, goodbye then!

 

edit:

or, going further... has it occurred that diversity can be one of the ingredients of an outstanding story?

or even just for realism... women are always ~50% of the population, black people exist, brown people exist, gay people exist... why be unrealistic and not include them?

 

Welp, that's it everyone. Diversity failed. Bring in all the white guys and Billy Dee.

 

I am not the majority on this board, but all I care about in movies, books and tv shows is entertainment. I am all for equal opportunities for all colors and sexes. I don't want to spark Political discussions, but I am more in favor of equality than most.

 

I don't even see a need to debate this with you; here's my point--would you go into the Battlefront thread just to post "I don't care about Battlefront"? It's one thing to join a conversation from an antagonistic POV, another to just say "hi, this is a dumb topic". Are you open to hearing why this does matter to so many of us? Because if not, there's no reason for you to be in here.

 

I think that the most important thing is a diversity in characters (as in personalities). There Rogue One failed for me, for some reason. You had all the different ethnicities and nationalities represented and the most interesting personality was that sarcastic robot. As a fellow author (if a very marginal small time scribbler) I'd like to point out to the Hollywood folks that deciding on the sex or skin hue of the character and making said character kick some villain butts - does not character yet make! Ok, you'll make a lot of people excited in the Tumbrl, but I will be disappointed unless I see some charismatic personalities as well.

My ethnic group is never represented in Star Wars (except underneath that Chewbacca suit this time) and I dont personally really care, I always root for characters because of their personalities and I mostly root for the villains.

As for diversity in Star Wars context Im still hoping for more non-human characters, who would actually have interesting stories and personalities. I've read a Star Wars novel where only one of the characters was human and it worked perfectly. Id like to see something like that in the big screen too, but not holding my breath. They still tend to be magical villains, magical sages or funny sidekicks. Too many humans.

 

Of course I am open to hear, I am here to listen to different points of view and sometimes debate. On this subject I don't think I would have much to debate about, most have their own personal reasons.

 

You mean you haven't been on the edge of your seat for the last 563 pages waiting for forum user Master Endz-One to pop in and tell us his incredibly important opinion on the thread?

 

If you want to be more realistic, but StarWars is science fiction. I could go with or without, as long as the storyline is great. I loved "Blood In Blood Out" mostly Hispanic film, " Menace to Society" mostly black film, " The Godfather" mostly white, "Lord of the Rings" mostly white, "Fearless" mostly Asain and didn't care about exclusion of race. In fact in the StarWars universe it's Aliens who get the wrost of it and you see mostly human characters. If anything I would like to see more Twi'liks, Ewoks, Chiss, Iridorians and Sith ( I mean the Race ), than humans.

 

I actually agree with you on that last point, but that's an abstract, philsophical desire, while for many people seeing Star Wars characters that look like them is a huge deal, for people with small children seeing themselves in SW for the first time, even more so. I guess where I'd start is, aside from not caring about it yourself, do you think it's empirically unimportant? Like, I'm not a big Luke fanboy but I recognize that he's a major part of SW and seeing him used well is very important to a lot of people--can you see that POV re: diversity? Or do you think people for whom this matters are wrong? Is an Asian cosplayer who's been dressing as white characters for years wrong to be extra excited when Sabine and Rose come along? Or can you at least understand why that would mean more to them than it does to you?

 

I think it's very important to have other races included in movies, but even more important to represent them and their history right. Example I didn't think it made sense to have Tom Cruise as the Last Samurai, but I did enjoy the movie. Being excited for a good character who happens to be from the same continent and look like you is only natural, we all have pride and should be proud of the positive accomplishments our people have made. I can understand why and I don't think it's silly for anyone to want to see more their people being represented in a positive in movies, tv and/or movies. I think there needs to be more diversity in Hollywood, but in StarWars all I am hoping for Disney not to mess it up. I am a giant StarWars nerd and just want the future of it, to continue to be great.
I think it's necessary and important for all races to have role models of their own race. If I saw more diverse humans in StarWars it wouldn't matter to me, as long as it's storyline is great.

As far as me saying i think we are all too sensitive these days, I mean in recent times I see too much of it. I'll give an example, when TPM first came out the media put out that West Indians are upset, because the Gungans were meant to represent them. I meant in general and not talking about anyone's specific post.



Where I think diversity really matters is representation in our Government.

 

Tom Cruise wasn't the Last Samurai since Samurai is plural (like Jedi). Tom Cruise was the ethnic comic relief.

 

Speaking of Jedi and Samurai, I've always felt Jedi and Sith derived from the Samurai. The dueling style, the philosophy, and Vader's appearance.

 

1. I mean, who would have come to the conclusion that the native inhabitants of a planet who have been marginalized by colonists was a representation of the Indians? /s

2. Was it the media saying that, or actual Native Americans who were offended?

That's because they were.

 

Not Native Americans West Indians, Jamaica Trinidad Guyana etc.etc. I never heard people complaining about it, but in the news I heard a story of West Indians being upset about it.

The Media, all of the West Indian people I know weren't offended.

 

Ah, OK. Lemme amend that.

1. I mean, who would have come to the conclusion that the greedy aliens with over the top Jamaican accents would offend anyone? /s


Can I also put out the idea that maybe you don't know enough people from that demographic to have an accurate survey of their population? Just because you don't personally know someone who was offended doesn't mean that no one was offended.