Posted: 20 March 2019 at 11:58am | IP Logged | 2
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I think it becomes a problem when it becomes a story about exoticization more than about the characters and story.
I am minded of a story in Lois Lane #106 - "I Am Curious (Black)" in which Lois asks Superman to use his psyche-quantum-transformation-babble-babble device to make her black for 48 hours, so that she can see what "the other side" is like. I was pretty young when I read this, but I felt that was going a little far - or not far enough. But that was one of several examples I could think of right now.
Comics never used to be a proper venue for this IMO. When I started collecting, I didn't care who Spider-Man saved from a mugger, or who Batman got out of a burning building. And the Avengers and the Legion of Super Heroes were fighting to save whole worlds.... and everybody on them. (If there was ever a non-case of exoticization, I guess the Legion is the gold standard of it.)
In literature, I guess it depends on the theme of the publication. I read "Farnham's Freehold" by Robert A. Heinlein which (among other themes) propels a family forward in time to an era when blacks run their realms, and whites are servants and can never achieve much status (Mr. Farnham is a very rare exception, for reasons that are self-evident in the book - too long to sum up here.)
I never read "Planet of the Apes", but I saw the movie, and that seemed pretty obviously based on exoticization. The same occurs in Mr. Orwells "Animal Farm" (which I've never read either.)
So the point can be made, and some might dare to call them legendary. But I don't think it works in comics so very well. Consider DC's Black Lightning, their first black super hero character (as memory serves.) This could be seen as the first attempt to stretch out - but it was far from the first opportunity. Both the Justice League and the Teen Titans - and even the Doom Patrol - had non-human or non-American characters, and nothing was ever made of it. No one ever gave Superman, Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, or Robotman* a hard time about their natures. Shucks, the original JLA only had three Americans in it - Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern.
*Robotman was something of a special case - but to me, it never seemed that his inhumanity was a metaphor for any minority. Ditto that for Ben Grimm in his venue... or even the Human Torch.
It's an interesting point. So many years later, it's very difficult to examine motives and any possible bigotry of the comic writers. It seemed that Julie Schwartz and Mort Weisinger, and Stan Lee were pretty color blind in that spectrum - but we'll never know now.
But ultimately, I'm pretty sure that comic books aren't the place to emphasize this exoticization (sorry Miles Morales.)
Edited by Eric Sofer on 20 March 2019 at 11:59am
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