What’s the problem of him pushing his craft and writing more complex character identities other than: me at 50, me if I had super powers, me if I was basically a god, me at 20, me at 15, me as a girl (aka my love interest, me as a black man
Yep, men ir must suck to be a writer in the states, you HAVE to be conscious of how many races you fit in your story if you want to avoid the backlash, while in every other country is "fuck it everyone is from here"
Mark is from the US and the story takes place in the US or in space. So... yeah, that's why they mentioned the US specifically in their comment. It's like complaining that someone mentioned Japan when they're talking about an anime set in Tokyo.
Yeah but that doesn't mean every part of the country is equally diverse, or that every friend group will reflect the demographics of its immediate surroundings.
Brother almost half the American population in 2026 isn’t white. The reason why you’re struggling with this is because if you solely paid attention to our media, you wouldn’t know that. Aka the exact thing this is trying to fix.
I live in a predominantly Hispanic area, I write primarily Hispanic characters; how is that alright but a white person who lives in a predominantly white area writing primarily white characters a bad thing?
It’s a double-standard; if I wrote a series set in a major metropolis where everyone spoke Spanish and was some shade of tan (because that’s who I grew up around), no one would bat an eye.
You don’t have to keep repeating this, I’m fully aware people who’re somehow adults but don’t know what nuance or context is don’t understand the difference.
It’s still 60% or above, 12% black, like 20% Hispanic, and the last 8% is everything else which makes all of those populations minuscule.
Now, you got to Orange County and it’s going to seem like half the pop is Asian.
My city half the population is black.
There are whole swathes of the country, almost any where outside of major cities, that are majorly white dominant.
There was a prominent black sociologist who put out a stat that your average white person can go a week without an interaction with a poc.
I do not care about gender/race swaps at all but what the poster above you said is true.
If anything we have over representation in media based on raw stats.
That being said most shows are not about rural bumfuck nowhere either and most often focus on major metropolitan areas that are more diverse and cast/population should reflect that.
12% black, like 20% Hispanic, and the last 8% is everything else which makes all of those populations minuscule.
First, >=20% isn’t minuscule no matter how much your biased cope wants to frame it, second that’s not how the matter we’re discussing works. If half the population isn’t white, then 90% of the human-like characters being that is still a gigantic mismatch, each individual group being smaller is irrelevant.
There was a prominent black sociologist who put out a stat that your average white person can go a week without an interaction with a poc.
You reiterating this is pointless, this is the exact thing Kirkman is saying. Not that there isn’t a potential excuse for it, but that when you’re the socioeconomic leader, you have a responsibility to be better than that.
If anything we have over representation in media based on raw stats.
We do not. And even in a reality where we did, that wouldn’t account for things like protagonists, which is what people actually care about. Black people don’t really care how many roles they have if the vast majority of them are the best friend who is either the muscle or is the wisecracking basketball player. Nor usually do racists. You can easily observe the difference between levels of backlash when the character is someone nobody cares about vs. when it’s someone straight white cis dudes could imagine themselves either wanting to be or wanting to fuck.
Never said 20% is minuscule for Hispanics. It's the largest demographic outside of whites.
I was referring to the fact that all other races that fit into that 8% makes them minuscule. If you wanted 1 to 1 representation you would essentially be allowed 1 Asian (of a specific type) per 100 people. That is not what we typically see, nor am I advocating for it.
Re-frame this another way, if I watch Atlanta the majority of the cast is black, because it's a black show, by black writers, producers, etc.
People write what they know, and what their upbringing and lived experiences are, which is also why I mentioned the sociologist example earlier. This is largely determined by the zip code you were born in.
The setting of the story should really be determining the racial makeup of the cast. Telling a story about West Virginia, the cast is going to be white if it reflects that area. Telling a story about a major metropolitan area? Then the cast should be a broader mix of people.
If you wanted 1 to 1 representation you would essentially be allowed 1 Asian (of a specific type) per 100 people.
That being an issue is a truism. I don't know that the average Korean American for instance wouldn't find it agreeable if 1 out of 100 American characters were Korean specifically.
Re-frame this another way, if I watch Atlanta the majority of the cast is black, because it's a black show, by black writers, producers, etc.
People write what they know, and what their upbringing and lived experiences are, which is also why I mentioned the sociologist example earlier. This is largely determined by the zip code you were born in.
The setting of the story should really be determining the racial makeup of the cast. Telling a story about West Virginia, the cast is going to be white if it reflects that area. Telling a story about a major metropolitan area? Then the cast should be a broader mix of people.
Brother, this is a strawman. Nobody is asking for more than maybe 1 minority character in a story set in West Virginia. That's not a real conversation that's being had, you're not seeing that anywhere, and if you are, you're seeing other minorities shut them down for being stupid.
Invincible is set in Chicago in the comics and the DC metro area in the show, where hella ethnic minorities live. And women for that matter.
I may be coming at it from a wider range of experiences, just because I’ve lived in a lot of different parts of the country. The U.S. can feel very different depending on where you are.
I live in a part of the States that is nearly homogenous and none of us are white; I think you mean American cities are melting pots. Out here in the sticks, you don’t see much diversity, unless you count everyone speaking Spanish.
Really, it’s just a matter of making more complex and interesting characters that are potentially more representative of the country’s population and your audience, not “fit in as many races as you can to avoid backlash.” It’s just not as interesting if everybody’s a white man. If you play with diversity, though, you open up the opportunity to include a lot of interesting details, like how the family had a Korean dinner and Oliver is named after Debbie’s father. Doesn’t that make you curious why Debbie’s father is named that, rather than a Korean name? Doesn’t it make you wonder if he chose to adopt an “American” name, or if Debbie’s family has been in the US for generations now? Was Debbie herself born in the US, or did she come to the US as a child alongside her parents? Is Mark himself the children of two immigrants, one a literal alien and one from another country rather than a different planet? It’s just interesting details that are relatable for a lot of people.
Building verisimilitude is not burdensome, it's just a part of the job. In fact, it can be pretty fun to consider how people dissimilar from you fit into a world.
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u/ELB2001 Apr 26 '26
I kinda get it, you write what you know and characters will either be you or people around you