Could it be said that this is a pattern or that someone who comes to this conclusion is exaggerating?
For example, in many animes the characters are Asian and right-wingers don't seem to mind. Maybe because most of the characters appear to be white, or because many Japanese animes have an actual cast of white characters. They don't seem to mind if in a fictional world all the characters are white or Asian, but on the other hand they would mind if in the fictional world all the characters were black or had dark skin. Is this really a fact or an exaggeration?
27 Comments
toomanypancakes@lemmy.world · 55 pts · 1y
It's real. Conservatives are awful people.
RobotZap10000@feddit.nl · 36 pts · 1y
"Political Correctness", "Social Justice Warrior", "Woke", "Diversity, Equality, Inclusivity"; the shit-for-brains bigots will always try to make their hatred seem reasonable and just. Don't be fooled!
bobs_monkey@lemm.ee · 9 pts · 1y
It's because their entire identity is based on culture wars and politics. But those of us who are well adjusted, who gives a shit what color/orientation a protagonist is, as long as the plot has actually substance and the entire purpose of the story isn't virtue signaling.
richieadler@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
In a country so morally corrupt as the US, virtue signaling is necessary, as are instructions in shampoo bottles.
bobs_monkey@lemm.ee · -2 pts · 1y
And constantly forcing a particular set of values/viewpoints down everyone's throats is exactly how we ended up in the situation we are in now. Promoting equity and inclusion is great and the right direction for society, but forcing people (especially conservatives) to turn on a dime is going to yield resistance, and taking it over the top is how people like Trump get elected. That is the culture war aspect even moderates don't care for, the constant drum banging. If we keep the ante up for slow and consistent change, we'd be much further ahead than via social force. You catch more bees with honey, and it would take generations to effectively breed the excess amount of hate out of American society.
leftytighty@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 1y
richieadler@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
You don't use honey with immoral people. Being right wing is incompatible with common decency, period.
lurch@sh.itjust.works · 15 pts · 1y
It's real, but you don't get to see anything from billions of viewers who don't mind or even enjoy a little variety. Only the five hillbilly snowflakes who feel offended by a skin tone bother to voice their stupid opinion.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org · 11 pts · 1y
With the low level of detail that's used for most anime faces and the wild (by Japanese standards, anyway) hair colors, it's usually pretty much impossible to tell without context whether a character is meant to be asian or european.
On a more ideological level, Japan was allied with Nazi Germany and committed a lot of atrocities back then, and they always had strong anti-immigration policies and an advantageous position to enforce them (island nation, difficult writing system etc.).
vonbaronhans@midwest.social · 3 pts · 1y
As an aging anime fan... I tend to agree with Miyazaki's take that anime is made by weird people for weird people.
Sometimes being a bit of an outcast gives you perspective and you take that and make someone great.
Sometimes it turns you into an incel who creates characters that totally aren't pedophile bait, no sir, they're 2000 years old! They just so happen to have the body of an 8 yr old.
The conservative anti-woke scum of the Internet who love anime can't tell the difference between the two. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 1y
Yes
derzeppo@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 1y
Aggrievement is the central tenet of these people. They imagine it everywhere and never accept reality.
thermal_shock@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1y
Yes, and you'll be "woke" for liking something without a white main character. Part of their playbook. Can't just be happy for someone else making it.
Social_Discussion@lemm.ee · 4 pts · 1y
Majorllama@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
Every single right leaning person I know LOVES several movies and shows that have main characters that aren't white men.
The boondocks, blade series, basically anything Morgan Freeman or Samuel L Jackson have done, Lando, Morpheus and uncle Phil off the top of my head.
I am aware there are the super racist far right guys that probably can't even watch Scooby Doo because the dog is brown, but the grand majority of "right wing" people aren't white supremacists that lose their shit if a character isn't white in their movies and shows. Even if that's what some people here might tell you is the case.
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website · 1 pts · 1y
I think people have complained about casting choices forever. The first female Hamlet must have gotten some negative press as well. I believe the pattern you see is based on two factors:
So Star Wars is casting a non-binary person to lead a new show? "Fans are outraged!" The new 007 is a black woman? "Fans are up in arms!" These have become predictable reactions that gain traction in for-profit media that also needs us to engage so they can sell ads. So is this a pattern? Yes. Is it new though? I don't think so. It's just accelerated, amplified, fueled by politics, and more often than not a storm in a teacup.
Before I finish this essay, I would like to point out two examples that popped into my head that go against the grain. Scarlet Johansson's casting in Ghost in the Shell caused a stir. And about a decade earlier Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan from Star Trek was also met with criticism.
Kaboom@reddthat.com · 0 pts · 1y
For every single piece of corporate media, you can find someone on the internet saying something bad about it.
Different aspects will invite different types of people.
For example, casting a non-white person as Snow white, that'll invite everyone with a pair of eyes to ask why? Or for another example, giving Lara Croft smaller boobs will invite the gooners to say something. Modern Star Trek will invite old trek fans. I can go on.
Most corporate media these days is made by lefty companies like Disney, so you'll see more of those kinds of criticism.
Whether or not it's legitimate criticism is up to you though.
Sanctus@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 1y
If Disney was an actual left company it would be a worker co-op. It is not.
Kaboom@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 1y
Okay. Rainbow capitalism if you will.
RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com · 5 pts · 1y
Okay buddy, there are some lines you just don't cross. Be very careful now. Modern Trek flavored sci-fi isn't Trek! ðŸ˜
match@pawb.social · 1 pts · 1y
deep space 9 had a black lead and it came out 40 years ago
Kaboom@reddthat.com · -2 pts · 1y
I wasn't calling new trek woke. Just different from old trek.
Zonetrooper@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 1y
"Every time" is certainly an exaggeration. Just off the top of my head in a minute:
If I looked around further, I'm sure I could find more. All of these have variously been critiqued for writing, characterization, or pacing, but failed to draw attacks based on the ethnicity (or orientation) of their protagonists.
Is this kind of attack a thing that happens? Absolutely. Is it "every time"? No. I'd suggest it's more often when a series goes out of its way to bludgeon the audience with a message related to it, or tries to sell a newcomer as a superior replacement for a legacy character, that people can get riled up.
DemBoSain@midwest.social · 12 pts · 1y
John Boyega won't return to Star Wars because of racist fans.
yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 1y
Both Star Wars and the MCU have had examples of what OP describes
njm1314@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
Isn't the dragon Prince's lead a white guy? I'm almost positive. Also a lot of these are probably too obscure to really raise a stir. I'm kind of shocked even brought up dragon Prince much less the Gundam show you mentioned.
Also your ability to wall yourself off from the Star Wars "controversies" is rather impressive.
Zonetrooper@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
TDP has two main leads, one white and one black.
I'm not walled off from Star Wars' controversies, merely pointing out that "every time" isn't accurate.
njm1314@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
We can quibble about whether or not a second character merits the title lead or not, however it's still inaccurate to use it as an example of a counter to the raised point. The show's main lead was a white male character. That's inarguable.
ryathal@sh.itjust.works · -3 pts · 1y
No one cares who the lead is in a good show. It's been popular to blame racism/sexism for shitty shows for a while. It's easy to find a couple tweets and turn a handful of assholes into the face of criticism.