October Question Meme: Day Six

[rogueslayer452]

Asked by philstar22:

What sorts of fandoms/characters do you wish existed or wish there were more of and why?

This should be a given, but I wish there was more diversity, especially in fantasy and science fiction. It's disappointing knowing that there's all this imagination in creating a made-up world, only to be so restrictive in representation. Like, I love you Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but it isn't beyond plausibility to have Asian hobbits or more women warriors. This also implies to other genres, too. The fact that there's this fear of having proper representation of women, of minorities, of presenting sexuality that isn't in some perfect little label box or ignored, is astounding to me. I mean we're slowly getting there bit by bit and the small victories we get should be celebrated, but we should already be there by now.

Comments

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Truer words were never spoken, and yes I think this problem is most ridiculous when it comes to fantasy and SF. I mean, the fact that there are more characters who are part of groups that aren't real (vampires, immortal people, elves, etc) in the media today than so many groups that are(bisexuals, asexuals, etc) is mind-blowingly ridiculous.

Really tired of seeing nothing but straight white dudes when I turn on my TV.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Even with some things that are inclusive sort of fail on certain representation too, which while I know not everything is going to be perfect it's just sad when things, like bisexuality for example, is hardly ever recognized or treated like a joke (e.g. purposefully choosing to not have Constantine be bisexual even though they could have done so, for example, and claiming that it wasn't important part of his character or whatever). We should really be above this by now, and yet it's always like when we take one step forward, we then take three steps backwards.

I understand the the business itself is rather harsh and unrelenting, I have heard plenty of stories about creators fighting and fighting for certain things only to be shot down time and time again. But I figure, the more we fight this archaic system the more we might try to change the way things operate, you know?

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

You're right about the business being difficult, and I blame the people in the big chairs more than individual creators, because so much of the entertainment industry seems to just be stagnating. If you look at the comparatively big risks Netflix is taking with shows like Orange is the New Black, you'd think that network TV could take a much smaller risk and- say- vaguely allude to Constantine having a male ex or something.

I think the main reason I get frustrated is that I'll watch shows from the sixties and seventies and see that they tried so hard to push the envelope. Were they sometimes incidentally racist and sexist? Sure, but they were also actively trying to be inclusive. Sometimes I think that the media today has lost a lot of that, because they sort of decided "we're good now" when we really aren't yet.