Literature White Culture Superheroes

[RIPSaidCone]

because we all seem to be stating race and gender i'm a black and native american pansexual woman. i'd love to see more of my people represented and no one is stating that white people can't have their shine it's just that there's not too much representation for us. it's not meant to knock ya just a simple observation that there isn't a lot of rep out here.

Not wanting to cause offense but the reason there's not a lot of representation for black, native-american pansexual women is because there aren't a whole lot of black, native-american pansexual women out there. At the end of the day the companies that produce superhero comics and movies are still businesses and they know they're guaranteed to make more money if they show more superheroes that the majority of people can identify with.

Unless you just mean either black or native-american heroes in that case I do believe there are some native-american ones and plenty of black ones.

 

[kou]

Not wanting to cause offense but the reason there's not a lot of representation for black, native-american pansexual women is because there aren't a whole lot of black, native-american pansexual women out there. At the end of the day the companies that produce superhero comics and movies are still businesses and they know they're guaranteed to make more money if they show more superheroes that the majority of people can identify with.

Unless you just mean either black or native-american heroes in that case I do believe there are some native-american ones and plenty of black ones.

you'd be surprised at how many of us are actually out there. the whole world isn't just filled with one thing or another and when i spoke of "us" i meant poc. people of color in general and even other minorities deserve their representation and just because there aren't a lot of us out there doesn't mean you can't write about it. i mean we have comics with people who literally doing so much shit that is humanly impossible and the fact that there isn't any adequate representation in tv and media is annoying.

there's a lot of black ones but they don't get as much notice because people won't fund them or invest in them.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

you'd be surprised at how many of us are actually out there. the whole world isn't just filled with one thing or another and when i spoke of "us" i meant poc. people of color in general and even other minorities deserve their representation and just because there aren't a lot of us out there doesn't mean you can't write about it. i mean we have comics with people who literally doing so much shit that is humanly impossible and the fact that there isn't any adequate representation in tv and media is annoying.

there's a lot of black ones but they don't get as much notice because people won't fund them or invest in them.

I wasn't denying that, but comparatively there aren't really a lot. If you took the whole population of the western world (which is undoubtedly the largest consumer of superhero themed media and content with China beginning to get into it as well now) then the percentage of people of color would be rather low. And I never said that you can't write about them, it's just that most corporations tend to stick with what they know works because--well they know it works and they know it makes them money. And besides, most if not all superheroes are there to give inspiration to everyone, not specific groups of people. So just because the majority of superheroes are white doesn't mean they can't inspire people of other ethnicities.

You got Storm, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Cyborg, the Falcon, Vixen, Batwing. There's certainly a lot that do get "adequate" representation. And besides honestly I don't think race is important in superheroes, as long as they are good characters and likeable ones I'll enjoy reading or watching them. However if you shove in a black superhero because "diversity" then most people will probably not like it because there'll more likely than not be zero character development. Make a good character, and then think about race. Not the other way around.

 

[Chimney Swift]

Paying people of other ethnicities special attention is quite patronizing don't you think? Which is one of the main problems I have with topics like this. I know this isn't what you were saying but topics like this remind me of the fact that no one says fuck white people more than white people.

Oh, I know. I'm not saying "fuck white people", I'm saying "fuck the idea that everything has to be about white people all the time". Believe me, my Irish grandma would rise from the dead to slaughter me if I dissed my heritage.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Oh, I know. I'm not saying "fuck white people", I'm saying "fuck the idea that everything has to be about white people all the time". Believe me, my Irish grandma would rise from the dead to slaughter me if I dissed my heritage.

Well I mean it's not everything has to be about white people all the time considering how "progressive" Marvel is trying to be, in-fact it seems more hip and cool these days to obsess over people of color. Plus "everything has to be about white people all the time" is more or less modern western culture because obviously nearly every country in the western world is near-entirely white. So in Africa it would be "everything has to be about black people all the time" and in East Asia it would be "everything has to be about east asian people all the time" It's just culture. You only happen to notice the white people part because you presumably live in a western country.

 

[kou]

I wasn't denying that, but comparatively there aren't really a lot. If you took the whole population of the western world (which is undoubtedly the largest consumer of superhero themed media and content with China beginning to get into it as well now) then the percentage of people of color would be rather low. And I never said that you can't write about them, it's just that most corporations tend to stick with what they know works because--well they know it works and they know it makes them money. And besides, most if not all superheroes are there to give inspiration to everyone, not specific groups of people. So just because the majority of superheroes are white doesn't mean they can't inspire people of other ethnicities.

You got Storm, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Cyborg, the Falcon, Vixen, Batwing. There's certainly a lot that do get "adequate" representation. And besides honestly I don't think race is important in superheroes, as long as they are good characters and likeable ones I'll enjoy reading or watching them. However if you shove in a black superhero because "diversity" then most people will probably not like it because there'll more likely than not be zero character development. Make a good character, and then think about race. Not the other way around.

The fact that you can count those on your fingers and can't count how many times you've seen a white hero is the exact problem with this is all. Not saying shove a character in cuz representation cuz even that could be detrimental but sure as hell need a bit more.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

The fact that you can count those on your fingers and can't count how many times you've seen a white hero is the exact problem with this is all. Not saying shove a character in cuz representation cuz even that could be detrimental but sure as hell need a bit more.

There are obviously a lot more than that, I just gave some big examples. Don't take this the wrong way but I think you may have taken that a bit too literally to try and prove your point. But yeah, there are more white superheroes because white people for the most part have been the biggest consumers and creators of superheroes. If superhero culture and media had started and become mainstream in East Asia or Africa instead then I can guarantee you that the majority of superheroes in comics at least would be East Asian or African in ethnicity. If there are to be more minority superheroes, then let it happen naturally. Don't just start pulling them out your ass because you feel you need to, because as you said that's more regressive and patronizing than it is progressive.

 

[Truff]

As a white female, I really think a lot of us are making a huge deal about dissing white people. When it comes down to it, white people are gonna go watch Black Panther kick ass in theaters and walked out of the theater thinking "Wow that was so cool he was so badass". The majority of people won't be thinking, "Wow they really dissed my pale skin by making a badass African American hero."

Asking for representation isn't saying "fuck ____" (At least that's how I see it) It's saying "Hey guys can we have a superhero that looks like me too?" I don't think asking for representation is an aggressive act, nor should it be taken that way.

Maybe this is a dumb example, but Wonder Woman. As a woman, it was incredibly cool to see a girl on the big screen kicking some butt and to see the movie getting attention for that woman kicking ass (no matter personal opinions on the movie itself). I walked out of that theater feeling pretty cool as did lots of little girls. Representation matters. We should want to make other races feel that cool too because that was a fun feeling. POC superheroes aren't going to hurt white people. We will enjoy them just as much as white superheroes, so why not give a little representation while we enjoy?

I guess to put it simply, I shrug and say "cool beans" when someone mentions a poc superhero because I know it'll be awesome no matter what

 

[welian]

What do you think a perfect white superhero is like? Who could be a symbol for the *terrible oppression* that white people face every day?

Everything below is only half-serious. I had fun writing a silly hero, and I hope you have fun reading what I wrote!

I've named my hero Mayonnaise Man, or Mayo Man for short (Thanks kou !) Since "white culture" tends to be white American culture, I'll be focusing on that.

He is a young white male from the Bible Belt, who strives to be the best person he can be. He became a superhero out of frustration for not being able to achieve the American dream: He's good at sports, but wasn't good enough to get a sports scholarship, his grades were decent but nothing to sneeze at, and his hometown is so small that there's no new job openings unless someone quits or dies. Unable to afford college, and unable to find a steady job, he wandered the country, looking for something to make him special. Eventually, he was able to find a job at a dairy farm, where he honed his dairy powers.

Mayo Man's name, of course, comes from a dairy product. However, it was chosen mainly for its alliteration. His superpowers include the ability to milkbend. Like Popeye, he gains a power boost from eating a certain food - in this case, cheese. If things are getting hairy in battle, he looses a mighty moo, and glowing blue spirit of a giant bull rushes into battle for him.

His archenemy is (ironically) the White Man, a pharmaceutical representative in an all-white suit who destroys entire communities by upending the local economy with drug dealing. Mayo Man has, in the past, fallen victim to the White Man's opiate schemes, but was able to quickly escape before too much damage was done. Others were not so lucky, and their souls and wallets are slaves to the White Man. They live by his command, and die by his command. Mayo Man vows to free them one day,

Mayo Man's nemesis is his own cousin, Grand Dragon. Grand Dragon is exactly what he sounds like, a KKK official. He dresses in stylish clothing, lives in the big cities, and by day pretends to be a dapper young man, charmingly conservative, and always up-to-date on the latest trends, especially in social media and the technology industry. Grand Dragon uses his charm and his connections to seed white supremacy among the good American people. It's always small and subtle, and Mayo Man struggles in these conflicts because he's not nearly as good at psychological warfare and manipulation as Grand Dragon is.

On a less serious note, Mayo Man also comes into frequent (but usually trivial) conflict with Sparkledog. He's pretty sure Sparkledog is a girl, but she keeps insisting that she's not, and it really confuses him, especially since she wears such skimpy clothing and then gets mad when she catches him staring at her chest. He tries to humor Sparkledog by using whatever pronouns she requests that week, but it's not working all that well. One time, he tried to change the topic to video games, and Sparkledog disabled him with a supersonic screech about... actually, he's not sure, he was unconscious for most of it. Something about female representation, and yaoi?

 

[kou]

Everything below is only half-serious. I had fun writing a silly hero, and I hope you have fun reading what I wrote!

I've named my hero Mayonnaise Man, or Mayo Man for short (Thanks kou !) Since "white culture" tends to be white American culture, I'll be focusing on that.

He is a young white male from the Bible Belt, who strives to be the best person he can be. He became a superhero out of frustration for not being able to achieve the American dream: He's good at sports, but wasn't good enough to get a sports scholarship, his grades were decent but nothing to sneeze at, and his hometown is so small that there's no new job openings unless someone quits or dies. Unable to afford college, and unable to find a steady job, he wandered the country, looking for something to make him special. Eventually, he was able to find a job at a dairy farm, where he honed his dairy powers.

Mayo Man's name, of course, comes from a dairy product. However, it was chosen mainly for its alliteration. His superpowers include the ability to milkbend. Like Popeye, he gains a power boost from eating a certain food - in this case, cheese. If things are getting hairy in battle, he looses a mighty moo, and glowing blue spirit of a giant bull rushes into battle for him.

His archenemy is (ironically) the White Man, a pharmaceutical representative in an all-white suit who destroys entire communities by upending the local economy with drug dealing. Mayo Man has, in the past, fallen victim to the White Man's opiate schemes, but was able to quickly escape before too much damage was done. Others were not so lucky, and their souls and wallets are slaves to the White Man. They live by his command, and die by his command. Mayo Man vows to free them one day,

Mayo Man's nemesis is his own cousin, Grand Dragon. Grand Dragon is exactly what he sounds like, a KKK official. He dresses in stylish clothing, lives in the big cities, and by day pretends to be a dapper young man, charmingly conservative, and always up-to-date on the latest trends, especially in social media and the technology industry. Grand Dragon uses his charm and his connections to seed white supremacy among the good American people. It's always small and subtle, and Mayo Man struggles in these conflicts because he's not nearly as good at psychological warfare and manipulation as Grand Dragon is.

On a less serious note, Mayo Man also comes into frequent (but usually trivial) conflict with Sparkledog. He's pretty sure Sparkledog is a girl, but she keeps insisting that she's not, and it really confuses him, especially since she wears such skimpy clothing and then gets mad when she catches him staring at her chest. He tries to humor Sparkledog by using whatever pronouns she requests that week, but it's not working all that well. One time, he tried to change the topic to video games, and Sparkledog disabled him with a supersonic screech about... actually, he's not sure, he was unconscious for most of it. Something about female representation, and yaoi?

I'm GOFJFPOEm;MGWRL;EMT;GMWE;LRL,

 

[Hall Kervean]

Alright, my two cents in which Sano gets frustrated.
If we really want to accurately represent every minority (not that that should be a priority; the stories should be), we would base them off the population statistics.
And this is based off the fact that Marvel and DC are American-based, so these are Wikipedia's American statistics.
For every 1,000 superheroes, 724 would be white.
126 would be black.
48 would be asian.
9 would be Native American/Native Alaskan
2 would be Hawaiian or another Pacific Islander.
29 would be two or more races.
62 would be their own special race.

So if someone gets pissed off that there are 724 white superheroes for every 9 Native American superheroes, I'd ask you to stop trying to overrepresent one race over another.

In addition, from the 30's to the 60's-70's, there is a white buildup. I'd bet money that there are 900+ white superheroes for 1000 superheroes in that day and age. So if you're frustrated that so many superheroes are white, just remember that white people have had a head start. Fair? No. But that doesn't mean we should underrepresent white people now.

In addition, you really have to realize that many superheroes aren't even ethnicities from earth. So there's a chance that more superheroes fall under the special races category. So if you want to play that game, special races are highly overrepresented in mainstream comics.

 

[Axel The Englishman]

I almost dispel like giving a detailed explanation of the majority of white heroes here with logic and brain power..

I must jump on this bandwagon.

 

[Hall Kervean]

Alright, my two cents in which Sano gets frustrated.
If we really want to accurately represent every minority (not that that should be a priority; the stories should be), we would base them off the population statistics.
And this is based off the fact that Marvel and DC are American-based, so these are Wikipedia's American statistics.
For every 1,000 superheroes, 724 would be white.
126 would be black.
48 would be asian.
9 would be Native American/Native Alaskan
2 would be Hawaiian or another Pacific Islander.
29 would be two or more races.
62 would be their own special race.

So if someone gets pissed off that there are 724 white superheroes for every 9 Native American superheroes, I'd ask you to stop trying to overrepresent one race over another.

In addition, from the 30's to the 60's-70's, there is a white buildup. I'd bet money that there are 900+ white superheroes for 1000 superheroes in that day and age. So if you're frustrated that so many superheroes are white, just remember that white people have had a head start. Fair? No. But that doesn't mean we should underrepresent white people now.

In addition, you really have to realize that many superheroes aren't even ethnicities from earth. So there's a chance that more superheroes fall under the special races category. So if you want to play that game, special races are highly overrepresented in mainstream comics.

On the other hand, if we want to inaccurately represent races and ethnicities but have an entirely equal representation of everyone,
We would have 14.2% of all superheroes be white.
14.2% of all superheroes be black (the only remotely accurate statistic in this list)
14.2% of all superheroes be asian
14.2% of all superheroes be Native American/Native Alaskan
14.2% of all superheroes be Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
14.2% of all superheroes be two or more races
14.2% of all superheroes be another race that is too small of a minority to mention.

To achieve that, we would have to have something like this.
Until we achieve equality,
Around 30% of new superheroes should be Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
Around 25% should be Native American/Native Alaskan
Around 15% should be two or more races
Around 10% should be Asian
Around 10% should be a minority too small to mention
Around 10% should be black (suppresses black people as well)
0% of new superheroes should be white.

Do you see how exclusionary that is? I sure hope so.

 

[Thatoneflawedhero]

Heroes are heroes, does it matter what race they are?

I mean what does saving people and being the good guy have to do with race?

 

[Chimney Swift]

Heroes are heroes, does it matter what race they are?

I mean what does saving people and being the good guy have to do with race?

Nothing.
But the fact remains that there is a significant lack of superheroes who are poc, and that needs to be corrected.

 

[Thatoneflawedhero]

Nothing.
But the fact remains that there is a significant lack of superheroes who are poc, and that needs to be corrected.

I mean, there are a lot of white superheroes, unless your including modern heroes.

 

[Chimney Swift]

I mean, there are a lot of white superheroes, unless your including modern heroes.

Even if we're including modern heroes, white heroes vastly outnumber all other ethnicities. Black, asian, latinx, native, etc. heroes are rare and often overlooked.
It might be time for us white people to share the spotlight, or better yet step out of it for a while and work with more diverse protagonists.

 

[Hige]

Actually there has been attempts to bring more diversity in comic line-ups, though, they haven't been doing so well. Black Panther's two spin-offs were cancelled, one of them had only been out for a few issues when they pulled the plug for their bad sales.

 

[Chimney Swift]

Actually there has been attempts to bring more diversity in comic line-ups, though, they haven't been doing so well. Black Panther's two spin-offs were cancelled, one of them had only been out for a few issues when they pulled the plug for their bad sales.

So clearly it's not enough.

 

[Hige]

So clearly it's not enough.

That people aren't supporting existing POC characters?

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Even if we're including modern heroes, white heroes vastly outnumber all other ethnicities. Black, asian, latinx, native, etc. heroes are rare and often overlooked.
It might be time for us white people to share the spotlight, or better yet step out of it for a while and work with more diverse protagonists.

You don't speak for the entire race lmao. I for one certainly don't want to see all my favorite superheroes get kicked off stage (Superman, Batman, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man etc) Just so we can see Black Panther and some others in the name of "muh diversity"

 

[Thatoneflawedhero]

So clearly it's not enough.

There's a bunch of black and hispanic heroes though.

 

[Chimney Swift]

You don't speak for the entire race lmao. I for one certainly don't want to see all my favorite superheroes get kicked off stage (Superman, Batman, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man etc) Just so we can see Black Panther and some others in the name of "muh diversity"

I'm not saying get rid of preexisting white superheroes, I'm saying write more poc heroes. Simple, really.

There's a bunch of black and hispanic heroes though.

Name 20.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

I'm not saying get rid of preexisting white superheroes, I'm saying write more poc heroes. Simple, really.

"It might be time for us white people to share the spotlight, or better yet step out of it for a while and work with more diverse protagonists."

"Step out of it" That suggests not making movies with white superheroes and replacing them with others. Also it's hardly even as if it's just white people in the spotlight, these other heroes are in the spotlight too, doesn't matter how many of them there are. Black superheroes like Black Panther and Cyborg are getting their own movies just like any white superhero would.

 

[Hall Kervean]

Name 20.

Alrighty, let me help you out as to why many people can't.
There are more famous white heroes than black or hispanic heroes because, 1, there are less black or hispanic heroes to draw from (see my post for why that's not really a sign of racism), 2, Black Panther came around in the 50's and, for example, Batman came around in the 30's. The most famous white superheroes have been around longer and are more famous in general than the most famous black ones, sorry. Even though Black Panther is one of my favorite heroes. 3, because 90% of people reading the comics don't actually care about the skin color of their hero. Tbh I'd forgotten cyborg was a black guy because it didn't matter to me.