Where have all the (insert PC term) men gone?

Well you should know that I don't ask people to agree with me.  I did leave it open for people to chime in with characters that I hadn't thought of so it wasn't as though I were saying that there's absolutely nobody else on a page except those that I could personally think of.  I see that you are trying to keep your responses formal, however I would advise a little more caution in verbiage.  I didn't jump on it at the time since I figured it wasn't intended as a slight against me, but with another person that might have set them off: "nitpicky."  That one word conveys either a denotation or at least a strongly universal connotation of the subject to which the term is attributed being obsessively concerned with things that don't/shouldn't matter.  That *could* be taken not merely as an invalidation of the topic but of the point of view or overall personality of the individual raising the topic.

I'm not insulted or anything, just saying.

Point taken.  So then, aside from issues of how things are said, where's the discussion go from here? 

Edited by Ciel - 23-May-2009 at 2:30pm

First let me say that as a black man that I have been called a hell of alot worse than colored.

Anyway I think that Jano had a pretty decent point of why it appears that way. The majority of writers are going to write what they see or what they perceive. If most of these writers only know hard ass Bishop type guys -then thats the way they would write them. Based on my excrutiating customer service experiences I can promise you quite a few people would be calling me Luke Cage or Bishop.

Anyway the same agrument could be made about any limited group in comics-gay guys for instance. For example, I dont know any gay guys--to my knowledge in my everyday life, but if I were to write one he would would come up looking like Northstar who I consider a decent person but pretty bitchy and snarky. This would be because of the limited experiences I have had--mainly on this forum.

I mean yeah its something to notice and contemplate, but I am happy we have people like Bishop, Falcon, and Luke Cage because if we didn't we would be stuck with a DC like universe.

Anyway the same agrument could be made about any limited group in comics-gay guys for instance. For example, I dont know any gay guys--to my knowledge in my everyday life, but if I were to write one he would would come up looking like Northstar who I consider a decent person but pretty bitchy and snarky. This would be because of the limited experiences I have had--mainly on this forum.

I echo Mel Taco's comments...

I disagree. I think political correctness is a useful tool that has helped to stop "petty" or violent responses to ignorant stimulus. I think it's well worth your time to consider what you say and how it might make other people feel. It's not "petty" to have an emotional response when someone judges you based on their ignorance to begin with.

Judging you? Who was talking about that?

honestly I'm really not sure what you're talking about.....

I do find it funny that Bishop is commonly grouped into the black guy category though.
Then again I do my part to kind of help that I guess.

As diverse as some characters may be. I think there needs to be a little bit of diversity in the writing staff at Marvel. You can research all you want about different ethnic groups. But unless you are part of that group you can't fully understand what it's like. Therefore can not write about the experience of being part of that group in whole.

Edited by mutielover12 - 18-Jun-2009 at 3:43am

all I was saying that a little diversity on staff couldn't hurt.

yeah it's all good this whole topic is a pretty touchy subject anyways. It's hard not to get all fiesty about it.  

I have to agree and disagree with you The Bub...

I agree that writers should do research on different kinds of people and creating them should be for a sort of purpose beyond just making a quota...

However, I do think you oversimplified and even patronized the great ethnic characters in the X-verse. Not all of them fit into the things you stated and the ones that do, fit a niche as far as that group goes.  Especially the Bishop part, that wasn't racial significant and in fact was apart of showing the disjoint between him and the present (many time smaller cultural identifiers are more important then the big ones). Like yes Bishop is the hard-nose smart black guy (he's not Black American either) but thats because its supposed to off-set the often times overused ignorant black image. A good example of someone who is diverse is Luke Cage. yeah he cusses alot, yeah he uses slang, and yeah he can be rather violent. But he's also intelligent, witty, and a brave man. Luke Cage is very much like some people I know.

I agree with medium, PC talk is supposed to be helpful. What happened (like many progressive things to lessen the significance of race/ethnicity) was it was turned into a joke by the more conservative movements and is now, like feminism, seen as some joke or tool used by "upty minorities" or "scary white folk".
And writers from different backgrounds would never hurt Marvel (or any comic company)...as many times some of the best female comic books are written by women (who give their own unique voice)...nothing is ever wrong with diversity imho. And while yes a writer should clearly be able to use another "voice", sometimes it doesn't hurt when that person has some experience in that "voice". I mean yes I could write about being a photographer all day long, but sometimes I'd miss out on things a photographer wouldn't (even with research). Many times experience trumps research...


Edited by Blackcyclops - 06-Jul-2009 at 7:41pm