Rantings and Ramblings: "The Black Guy"

I'd like to actually follow up on a previous post of mine, wherein I discussed the Green Lantern franchise. Let's talk about this guy a bit more.

John Stewart: Don't let the picture fool you, he's not just an angry Black man.

If I may put on my English-Major-to-be cap for a bit, let me bring up August Wilson. August Wilson was an immensely talented African-American playwright. Let’s take, for example, his play Fences.

Fences focuses on an African-American family, and their struggles given their lives and situation. The fact that they are African-American factors into their lives (especially given their predominantly white and racist surroundings) but that was not their sole defining characteristic. The play’s focus character, Troy Maxson, is immensely complex. We know so much about him that shapes who he is. He cares for his family, he loves baseball, he’s got a bit of a temper, he makes up tall tales, he doesn’t want to hurt his family, but he ends up almost tearing them apart.

Troy Maxson is a compelling, human character, and he would be whether he were African-American, Kryptonian-American, Mexican, Cherokee, Japanese, Atlantean, or anything else. His race helps to create who he is, but it is not the only thing that makes him the man he is.

Too often, when white writers create a minority character, their race becomes their only characteristic. This is where we get not characters, but stereotypes and tokens.

This is where John Stewart in the Justice League cartoon comes in. John Stewart was partially (but not primarily) chosen to add diversity (which was a point of contention for many fans of other Green Lanterns) because, basically, all the other team members were white. Well, except for the Martian Manhunter, he was green, but still. The point stands.

But John Stewart was not solely defined by his race. He had numerous interesting qualities that made him more than a simple act of adding diversity. He was a former Marine, he had a strong sense of duty, he had to overcome doubt, he fell in love. Take all that together, and he was a well-written character. He wasn’t just “The Black Guy.” As he was written, he was a well-rounded 3-dimensional character who added more to the DCAU's richness than merely providing diversity.

But this is oftentimes not the case. All too often, when a character is added to a work because of their race, their characterization is simply "S/he's [INSERT RACE HERE]."

Please don't misinterpret me. Diversity itself is not the issue here. Diversity should be celebrated and encouraged.

The problem is how some writers approach diversity; as a box to be ticked, rather than an opportunity to add depth and flavor to a story.

There are amazing minority characters out there who have enjoyed amazing adventures under the proper writer's pen.

But so many of these same characters have been marginalized in ensemble pieces when the characters have so much to add to stories beyond merely ticking a demographic box.

Characters who have been affected by this include: Steel, Cyborg, Falcon, Luke Cage, Sunfire, and more.

To say nothing of all the characters who were created for the sole purpose of standing around and doing doing little apart from standing there and being a minority. Apache Chief, El Dorado, Black Vulcan, Samurai, Defensor, Shamrock....

You know. "Tokens."

"Tokenism" is basically Step 1 when it comes to adding diversity. A writer sees a lack of diversity in their cast of characters and adds a minority character to shake things up.

That shows an awareness of the issue.... but you have to take it further than that. You have to add personality traits. Faults, foibles, quirks. You know, the same thing that you should be doing with all of your characters. "Tokenism" is what happens when you add in a black guy with no personality and pat yourself on the back.

TL;DR: Ethnicity does not automatically equate with characterization. I am against crappy characterization, and I am against stereotypes.