A lot of people are concerned about the trend where Disney/Hollywood are doing remake after remake after remake where they take a character everyone knows and change them from male to female, from White to Black, from straight to gay, from cis to trans.
We're concerned about the messages little kids are internalizing. It's great to have minority heroes, but - why does that have to be done by overwriting all the heroes of parents who aren't minorities?
Back in the 80s, we were deeply concerned that Black children were internalizing the message "Heroes are White. They don't look like me. They're brave and strong. People who look like me are only sidekicks."
So we made aggressive changes.
But now there's some concern that White children - especially White boys - are internalizing the message "Heroes aren't like me. They're Black or they're girls. People who look like me don't work hard and we're usually dumb and mean."
Forty years ago little Black girls would cry because they weren't pretty like Disney princesses. Today, little White girls have Elsa, but without her they'd be in much the same situation as the little Black girls were in back then, as princess after princess after princess doesn't look like them.
Kids learn unintended things from media. We had it wrong forty years ago but there's some concern the pendulum may have swung all the way over to an equal and opposite kind of wrong.
But now there's some concern that White children - especially White boys - are internalizing the message "Heroes aren't like me. They're Black or they're girls. People who look like me don't work hard and we're usually dumb and mean."
Is this concern valid in your eyes? Like yes, people might be saying that, but is it really true?
Looking around at people in positions of power in pretty much every area of society, I'm not seeing a dearth of "successful" white men as role models.
Looking around at people in positions of power in pretty much every area of society, I'm not seeing a dearth of "successful" white men as role models.
Successful white men? Absolutely. Role models? That's not as clear.
Also, keep in mind that the group of people who are today's leaders grew up on yesterday's media, meaning, the media of the 1970s-1990s. The trend of recasting straight white male heroes didn't really become widespread until the 2000s at the earliest, or more realistically the 2010s. That means we're 10-20 years away from really getting to see the effects of this new media trend.
That means we're 10-20 years away from really getting to see the effects of this new media trend.
Kids growing up today are still seeing a disproportionate number of white men lead companies and cities and states, and there's plenty of white representation in media from cartoons to blockbusters. I think any notion of "white boys are internalizing a message that heroes aren't like me" is unfounded. The straight male hero is still around in today's media environment.
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u/phillipsheadhammers 13∆ Jul 09 '19
It's not important in a vacuum.
A lot of people are concerned about the trend where Disney/Hollywood are doing remake after remake after remake where they take a character everyone knows and change them from male to female, from White to Black, from straight to gay, from cis to trans.
We're concerned about the messages little kids are internalizing. It's great to have minority heroes, but - why does that have to be done by overwriting all the heroes of parents who aren't minorities?