The trouble with originality
Creating entirely new pop culture properties, however, isn’t always easy. Chattanooga-based comic book author and pop culture podcaster Scott Fogg funded the creation of his own comic book “Phileas Reid Knows We Are Not Alone,” via a successful Kickstarter campaign in December 2013.The problem with diversifying pop culture, he says, is that authors working with original properties often are fighting an uphill battle to gain recognition compared to those who provide a new take on a established role.“Most people would rather pick up four different Batman books than give [a] new character a try,” Fogg says. “There have been many, many comic book characters created over the years to help with the diversity issue in comics that have faded to the background or have had their books cancelled to make room for another Batman book.“Create a new black teenage superhero? No one cares. Say he’s Spider-Man and suddenly the world’s paying attention. Sometimes, unfortunately, in order for creators to be able to tell the stories they want to tell, they have to use the toys that already currently exist in the toy box. They’re not always allowed to bring their own toys into the mix.”But it’s still important to try, says Ellen Oh, the Washington D.C.-based president of the We Need Diverse Books organization and author of the “Prophecy” young adult trilogy set in a world based on Korea.In a 2014 story on IO9.com, Oh said a diverse representation of characters of many backgrounds in pop culture can be perspective-changing on many levels. Fans who want to see greater diversity in pop culture — whether original properties or new takes on existing characters — need to support the artists who create them.“We need to see more diversity everywhere, especially in our media, which continues to perpetuate so much racism, sexism, and intolerance by their belief that a certain narrative — white, male, straight, able-bodied — is most important,” Oh says. “When you see more diversity in the books, comics, and graphic novels that our children are exposed to, you raise a new generation of kids who will embrace it.”
To fans who aren't accustomed to its shifty ways, the landscape of pop culture must seem like a fairly untrustworthy place to navigate of late. Many familiar landmarks are changing, sometimes in dramatic fashion.
As a result of the current flux, a host of touchstone characters from movies and comics are emerging from puffs of creative smoke with new faces that bear little resemblance to the ones fans have known for decades. Gender, race and sexual inclination are all fair game when it comes to these reinterpretations.
The magic hammer and winged helmet of Thor now are being wielded by a woman, and Captain America's shield has been taken up by a black hero. The web-slinging powers of Spider-Man now belong to a mixed-race teenager and Iceman, a founding member of the "X-Men" with a laundry list of past girlfriends, recently was revealed to be gay thanks to a teammate's mind-reading abilities. (Because comic books.)
But superheroes aren't the only ones being given a makeover. In 2016, a long-awaited reboot of "Ghostbusters" will feature four female leads in place of the all-male-cast of the first two films, and Golden Globe-winning black actor Idris Elba has been pegged as a front-runner to be the next James Bond.
Offering a fresh take on pop culture properties helps to breathe new life into series that have become stale, outmoded and overly homogeneous, says Terri LeMoyne, a UC Foundation associate professor of sociology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
"Most of these characters [who are being revised] were straight, white men created by straight, white men," LeMoyne says. "As the creators of pop culture and their audiences become more diverse, I would expect more of this trend.
"These reinterpretations are a response to more diversity [in our society]. So much has changed - gay marriage is legal; we have a president of color; we have a woman running for president; young women are the majority on college campuses. I would suspect that there is an appetite for these new interpretations."
A successful handoff
Chattanooga-based comic book author and pop culture podcaster Scott Fogg says pop culture is at its best when it reflects its audience. Achieving that sometimes means updating long-standing characters to better reflect new social norms and resonate with a different generation of reader or viewer.
"It has become increasingly obvious that comic books, movies and television are doing a poor job of reflecting the world around us," Fogg says. "Most of our favorite comic book characters were created between 1940 and 1965. Our world has changed a lot since then. Race, gender and sexuality are seen and treated very differently than they were in 1960. I think a lot of what you're seeing with the gender- and race-swapping is something of a course-correction as writers try to create worlds that more accurately reflect today's society."
As an example, he points to D.C. Comics' Flash series, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in January. Throughout the years, The Flash has come to refer not to a specific hero - a la Superman or Wonder Woman - but a title that has been conferred on many super-speedy heroes who followed in the wake of original speedster Jay Garrick.
Fogg calls these "legacy characters," roles that naturally can be passed on to new individuals as a series ages, which helps a series' writers ensure that characters and plotlines remain relevant to fans in the long-term. In the 77 years since Superman introduced the concept of the superhero to America, some of the most-beloved roles in comics have been passed down to a procession of different people.
And that's a good thing, Fogg says, because while Jay Garrick was the right Flash for the 1940s, his beliefs and behavior might not resonate as well with 21st-century fans.
"So Jay steps aside and lets the new guy don the tights," Fogg says. "You can tell stories that allow you to acknowledge the problems society had in the '60s without having a hero that was maybe part of the problem. You get your cake and get to eat it, too. The names 'The Flash,' 'Captain America,' 'Batman' [and] 'Spider-Man' become titles but not necessarily identities."
Dr. Bond
When a pop culture series is built around a mythology that opens the door to new faces, fans say it makes sense to re-envision a character or shift the role to another person. It's how they justify seeing six actors playing British super-spy James Bond or a baker's dozen men occupying the lead in "Doctor Who."
The regeneration of "Doctor Who" into a new form is fundamental to the series' storytelling, yet the role has been exclusively cast by white male actors. Current lead Peter Capaldi is the 13th actor to play the Doctor since the show's inception in 1963, and the acting community, the show's creators and fans alike remain divided on whether a woman should be cast in a future incarnation.
Race, gender, sexuality, culture … it really all comes down to how talented the writers and storytellers making these changes are. If they do their jobs well, then those who disagree with the changes specifically because they vary from the norm will be drowned out by the praise given to them for doing great justice in making our favorite characters just a little more interesting and awesome than they were before.
Last December, series writer and producer Steven Moffat told an interviewer with entertainment news outlet Bang Showbiz that he hadn't ruled out the idea of introducing a female Doctor, but said he wouldn't approach filling the role with that in mind.
"We've been laying on the possibility for an awfully long time, but you don't cast that way," Moffat says. "You cast a person, you don't cast the gender."
Moffat later elaborated on the subject during a 2014 Q&A at the Hay Festival in Wales, saying the decision to alter the Doctor's gender would have to occur organically, as a natural outcome of the storytelling rather than an intentional attempt to add diversity.
"Do you know how it will happen? It will not happen that somebody sits down and says, 'We must turn the Doctor into a woman.' That is not how you cast the Doctor," he says. "A person will pop into the showrunner's head, and they'll think, 'Oh my God, what if it was that person?' And when that person is a woman, that's the day it will happen."
The acting community remains split on the subject as well.
Academy Award winner Helen Mirren has said she would take the part, if offered, and likes the idea of a female Doctor, even if she's not the one wielding the sonic screwdriver because seeing a different gender in the lead role would refresh the almost-52-year-old series.
"I think it's absolutely time for a female Doctor," Mirren says. "I'm so sick of that man with his girl sidekick. I could name at least 10 wonderful British actresses who would absolutely kill in that role."
Sylvester McCoy, who portrayed the Doctor's seventh incarnation from 1987 to 1989, says he thinks the Doctor's role is inherently gender-locked. Changing that aspect of the character is unnecessary, he says.
"I'm a feminist and recognize there are still glass ceilings in place for many women, but where would we draw the line? A Mr. Marple instead of Miss Marple? A Tarzanette?" he wondered in a July 27 Washington Post article. "I'm sorry, but no - [The Doctor] is a male character, just like James Bond. I'm not convinced by the cultural need of a female [Doctor]."
A similar discussion is ongoing about the future of the Bond franchise, which has consistently cast white men in the lead. For years, the Internet has been abuzz with rumors that Idris Elba ("The Wire," "Luther"), is among the actors who have been rumored to replace Daniel Craig once he finishes his run as the legendary spy.
Despite popular support for the decision, however, Anthony Horowitz, who wrote the most recent Bond novel, "Trigger Mortis," described Idris as "too street" for the role (he later apologized for the comment). Nevertheless, David Oyelowo is the first black actor to portray the spy in the audiobook reading of Horowitz's novel, which released Sept. 8.
Be it movies, TV or comics, fans says that, even if they are open to reinterpreting a beloved role, they want any changes to be in the interest of storytelling and enacted in a way that doesn't clash with the established mythology.
"I'd probably be annoyed if Catwoman were turned into a man, but I don't care if she's black or white because those things don't define her, [but] being a woman does," says Chattanooga actress Hayley Graham. "I don't care that Lucy Liu is Watson [on CBS's Sherlock Holmes series 'Elementary'] and not an old, white dude. Watson is simply Sherlock's right hand and being good at that job and being a companion to Sherlock is what defines that character, not the race or gender."
'Stop stealing white people's superheroes'
Some fans argue that handing off established roles long portrayed by white male characters to women and minorities ultimately runs contrary to the cause of diversifying pop culture.
"I frankly find it harmful," says Justin Stokes, a Nashville-based freelance journalist. "Rather than give a hand-me-down character from 60 years ago - a vestige of a culture whose relevance is largely lost - why not give the players something new? Why not give them something that actually reflects that culture, if that's what we're trying to accomplish?"
In the 75-year history of D.C. Comics' Green Lantern comics, the ring that endows its wearer with the power to defend Earth has been worn by many individuals, including Simon Baz, a Lebanese-American Muslim, and Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, the daughter of the series' first ring-bearer.
Even though passing on the title of Green Lantern is at the core of the series' concept, actress Michelle Rodriguez shot down rumors that she was being targeted as the lead in a rumored follow up to the 2011 film starring Ryan Reynolds. Repurposing roles for minorities and women is "the dumbest thing I've ever heard," she told a TMZ interviewer in March.
"Stop stealing white people's superheroes," she said. "Make up your own."
In a clarification posted by the actress to her Facebook profile the day after the TMZ video, Rodriguez says her resistance to changingexisting roles was rooted in the lack of creativity it implied on behalf of storytellers.
"Instead of turning a girl character into a guy or instead of turning a white character into a black character or a Latin character, I think people should stop being lazy and that people should actually make an effort in Hollywood to develop their own mythology.
"It's time to stop - stop trying to take what's already there and try to fit a culture into it. I think that it's time for us to write our own mythology and our own story, every culture."
Marvel's Stan Lee is the co-creator of many of comic book's most well-known - and recently altered - characters, including Thor, Spider-Man and The Hulk. In an interview with E! news in June, Lee said that, even though he welcomes the idea of creating greater diversity in pop culture, he prefers that it not come at the cost of altering the characters he helped to create.
"The only thing I don't like doing is changing the characters we already have," Lee told E! "I would like to see Spider-Man stay as he is, but I have no problem creating a superhero who is homosexual. I have no problem having a black one, a Latino one, a Chinese one - anything.
"The whole world is our playground, and the whole world has heroes we can draw from. I'm just not too happy changing what has already been established."
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.