TF Views

Dominic wrote:Why would the movies get a reboot. "Hulk" was a commercial failure. And, the "Spiderman" movies are getting rebooted because the cast is getting too old and nobody wants to do a good linear story and let Spidey age.

That's not why the Spider-Man films are getting a reboot. They actually had Spider-Man 4 under development with Raimi set as director and Maguire, Dunst and other cast members set to reprise their roles. They were even looking to do a 5 and 6th movie after that with the same cast and crew. Sony decided to cancel those plans when Raimi withdrew from the project and to just re-start the franchise over from the beginning.

People with gross amounts of money at their disposal can afford to be fickle. Here's hoping whoever owns the TF movie rights decides to give us as much of a wild ride re: continuity.

And if Troy from Community gets to be Peter Parker, then we better have a genuinely Indian Sari in our reboot!!

.....But Troy isn't gonna be Peter Parker, is he. Being white IS a hugely important facet of Pete's character, way beyond his optimism and self-imposed guilt trips, after all. Yaaaaay Andrew Garfield. *yawn*

That's not why the Spider-Man films are getting a reboot. They actually had Spider-Man 4 under development with Raimi set as director and Maguire, Dunst and other cast members set to reprise their roles. They were even looking to do a 5 and 6th movie after that with the same cast and crew. Sony decided to cancel those plans when Raimi withdrew from the project and to just re-start the franchise over from the beginning.

I stand corrected then.

But Troy isn't gonna be Peter Parker, is he. Being white IS a hugely important facet of Pete's character, way beyond his optimism and self-imposed guilt trips, after all. Yaaaaay Andrew Garfield. *yawn*

Changing things like the ethnicity or gender of a character smacks of "community center basement production" or crass pandering. Both are offensive.

Part of a character's traits is their appearance. And, appearance is influenced by skin color or ethnicity. Changing a character skin color would be like making Batman's cape pink or green.

I was furious about the Spawn movie turning Terry, (the guy who married All Simmons's wife after Simmons died), from black to white. If nothing else, it implied that the studio did not think that "mainstream", (aka "white"), audiences would accept a nice black character who stepped up to help his dead friend's wife in her hour of need. (And, god forbid that a movie show a black man in a mature relationship and responsibly raising a child.)

Terry wsa black in the comics, and he damned well should have been black in the movie.


Dom

Dominic wrote:Changing things like the ethnicity or gender of a character smacks of "community center basement production" or crass pandering. Both are offensive.

Part of a character's traits is their appearance. And, appearance is influenced by skin color or ethnicity. Changing a character skin color would be like making Batman's cape pink or green.

In terms of film, I disagree. If a black actor is best suited for the role of Peter Parker, then that black guy should be the one playing Peter Parker. I recently saw a stage production of 'It's a Wonderful Life' that had a black man in the role of Mr. Potter (which honestly DOES introduce some issues with the character's backstory and the setting) and he was wonderful in the role. Whether the actor's abilities are suited for the character or not should be the deciding factor in casting.

And you can't see any of Spider-Man's skin when he's in his costume so changing his ethnicity wouldn't affect his appearance at all.

Gomess wrote:Hahaahahahahahahahahaa. See, this is why I love arguing with people about Naruto. Often naysayers will laugh at his garish orange outfit, claiming "that's not what a ninja should look like." Now, I'll rarely defend Naruto, but I hate inaccurate criticisms, and I have to say that a 13 year-old in a puffy orange coat is a MUCH more effective ninja than a muscular adult in a black (even when it's snowing!) bodysuit and mask carrying ostentatious swords. Surely the POINT of a ninja is you're not meant to KNOW what they look like. They're supposed to be able to blend in with their surroundings, which the characters in Naruto do far better than Mr. Eyes or Mr. Shadow. I think "serious research" should make way for "common sense" when you're dealing with a modern interpretation of already vague folklore that's been mangled and mutated for centuries.

I prefer Nabari no Ou...

Dominic wrote:Changing things like the ethnicity or gender of a character smacks of "community center basement production" or crass pandering. Both are offensive. Part of a character's traits is their appearance. And, appearance is influenced by skin color or ethnicity. Changing a character skin color would be like making Batman's cape pink or green.

I'd like to live in a world where you're right, but you're not, for one simple reason: the races are NOT equal. Making Al Simmons white *is* more offensive than making Peter Parker black, and will continue to be until racism is eliminated at every level of society. Spawn being black is a big deal BECAUSE he's black. Spider-Man is white because Everyone Else Is. It's not actually a part of his character, certainly not in the way Batman's black cape is part of his!

This reminds me of the (entirely justified) protests against Shyamalan's Airbender movie. I'd love to believe that he "just hired the best actors for the part", but that's blatantly untrue, because ethnicity is a HUGE part of the source material. You might think it's racist for me to say "No, it does not matter as much if a *white* character's ethnicity is changed", but that's pretty flipping petty. Double standards do exist; no, it's not ok for white folks to say the N Word, etc. etc. and things like that won't change until mainstream fiction puts less focus on the ethnicity of non-white characters, and more is put on that of white ones, until they're balanced. Probably not gonna happen in our lifetimes. =3

BWprowl wrote:I prefer Nabari no Ou...

See, mah boi knows where it's at when it comes to ninja anime.

Dominic wrote:
Changing things like the ethnicity or gender of a character smacks of "community center basement production" or crass pandering. Both are offensive.

Part of a character's traits is their appearance. And, appearance is influenced by skin color or ethnicity. Changing a character skin color would be like making Batman's cape pink or green.

But it's not really changing the character's race if the Peter Parker in these movies is a black guy. Movie Spider-Man's gonna be a different guy from Comic Spider-Man anyhow, there's nothing that says he couldn't be a different race than comic Spidey. No one's that upset over Nick Fury being a black guy in these movies, are they?

True, but Nick Fury already looked like Samuel L Jackson in comic book form in Ultimates for at least a couple of years before it was seen on screen. And they actually stated in the comic that Jackson should play the live action version.

Shockwave wrote:True, but Nick Fury already looked like Samuel L Jackson in comic book form in Ultimates for at least a couple of years before it was seen on screen. And they actually stated in the comic that Jackson should play the live action version.

Right. Which sort of proves my point, I think. Different version of the character, so if his race gets changed, then big deal.

At least if his race gets changed to being someone of more color. For all the reasons Gomess said, I'd call bullshit on any black characters being honkied up for a movie. It's called a double standard because it's twice as true.

Also, again, this is different characters in different stories being different races. When a character straight-up changes in their race in story, ah, that doesn't work quite as well.

138 Scourge wrote:It's called a double standard because it's twice as true.

Haha, I'll have to remember that one. Don't get me wrong, I *wish* we lived in a world where race didn't matter, and I do what I can to make that happen, but I'm realistic about it for now.

Just gotta get this anecdote in, if only 'cos it slightly rerails the topic: the theatre where I saw bits of TF2 is in an area where white people are a definite minority. The place was packed with kids and adults of every hue- mostly West Indies descent- and when Skid and Mudflap bounded onto the screen like great clanking Uncle Toms, the place immediately fell into the stoniest, most awkward silence I've ever experienced. Kids as young as, like, 7 had these looks on their faces like they knew EXACTLY what they were seeing. So hey, Mr. Bay, if you need proof that your portrayal of ethnic minorities IS racist...

...Now anyway, I'm no big comics buff, but I never noticed the Punisher went through such an interesting character change. I mean, surely once you go black...........

Gomess wrote:
...Now anyway, I'm no big comics buff, but I never noticed the Punisher went through such an interesting character change. I mean, surely once you go black...........

One would think, right? But the plastic surgery and melanin implants that turned him black wore off. Seriously, that's how it ended.

90's Marvel, man, I dunno.

Gomess wrote: Don't get me wrong, I *wish* we lived in a world where race didn't matter, and I do what I can to make that happen, but I'm realistic about it for now.

Yeah, I think there's progress being made in this regard, but of course, I'm a lower-middle-class white boy saying that, so what do I know?