Ethnocentric Hollywood producers and American moviegoers would foil any plot to cast Batman as black, the Portland Mercury's Bobby Roberts argues in response to the widening debate about people of color playing roles of classic superheroes.
Suggested Reading
โฆ Itโs a strange tug-of-war that many superhero fans are engaged in. Thereโs the desire to see superheroes look and act more like the people reading their stories, watching their movies, downloading episodes of their television show. And with the knowledge that everything will likely be rebooted/remade on a 10-15 year cycle anyway, part of the appeal in following superheroes is seeing how these characters are reinterpreted, what new twists are applied, what new beats can be dropped in the newest remix of a culturally significant piece of pop-culture.
But how much can you reallyย wantย a more diverse pop-culture landscape when youโre not even willing to sacrifice the imaginary racial identity of a completely fictional person? If thatโs the price that must be paid to help get that playing field just a bit more leveled out, how can you balk at that?
Unless the racial purity of a make-believe crime-fighter who dresses like a flying rodent to punch out fat socialites is too sociallyย importantย to play with; that itโs too risky an answer to the question "Why arenโt there more black faces in our escapist fantasy fiction?"
Maybe thatโs all there is to it. Batman staying white is more important to people than pop-culture more closely mirroring the audience engaging it. Thatโs why Batmanย canโtย be black โฆ because even at such a low cost-of-entry, that price is too high.
Read Bobby Robert's entire piece at the Portland Mercury.
The Rootย aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.
Straight From
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.