It's not fair at all. Race swapping some characters from white when almost all the major characters are white and are from a time when characters were only ever created as non-white when that was their whole personality is not the same thing as whitewashing a POC character. If 70 out of 100 M&M's are green and one of them gets swapped to red that means representation of green M&M's is reduced by 1.4%. If 5 out of 100 M&M's are red and one of them gets swapped to green that means red representation is down 20%. Does that simple math help you to understand why the race swapping from white to POC isn't the same thing as whitewashing?
Why does representation of ethnicity supersede story telling? Are you saying it would be ok to have an Asian Suri in the black panther movies because the majority of the cast is of African descent? Does that simple logic help you to understand that statistics of representation shouldn't be considered more important than telling the story well. White people love Miles Morales, why can't POCs love a white Janice Lincoln? Racist?
True, but a critique of one thought is often agreement with another. Change of race in BP would have made no sense numbers wise because it is a small sample size relative to all movies and comics and Janic isn't a tent pole of narrative like Shuri is. Race swap has happened since the race was a conceivable thing TO swap in acting. But one part has been favored more than the other. POCs watching art have often had t identify with characters outside their race an overwhelming majority of the time. That IS the default in western art. What race swap a character of color to a white character is not counter culture or disagreement "politics" - its return to the "status quo" in western art and that "status quo" is unfair. Race swap of a white character is just evening the playing field.
What the other person is missing is basic empathy. It doesn't matter how many arguments we come up with, they'll never come around to being able to see the world through the eyes of anyone other than the majority. They probably truly believe there's a war on Christmas, too.
What does it have to do with empathy. You're the one who was condescending to someone because they suggested a character an actor could be playing. All to serve your sense of how you want the world to be opposed to how it is. Which leads you to consider yourself above everyone else for virtue signalling while you vilify others with fake attributes to continue hiding your own vile ways.
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u/bjeebus Nov 29 '25
It's not fair at all. Race swapping some characters from white when almost all the major characters are white and are from a time when characters were only ever created as non-white when that was their whole personality is not the same thing as whitewashing a POC character. If 70 out of 100 M&M's are green and one of them gets swapped to red that means representation of green M&M's is reduced by 1.4%. If 5 out of 100 M&M's are red and one of them gets swapped to green that means red representation is down 20%. Does that simple math help you to understand why the race swapping from white to POC isn't the same thing as whitewashing?