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Recently, a franchise I really love (which I will not name because the phenomenon I am about to discuss is happening in every franchise) committed a “race swap”. The writers found a relatively obscure character from the 1970s who had a cult following within the fandom but was not well developed. The character, having had only one episode of animated television, was recreated as a live-action version in the most recent flagship show. Fine and dandy; some of us had been wanting to see that particular character in live action for years.
Except that the animated character was a white man, and the live-action character was black. Instead of choosing an already established character from the franchise canon, a black guest star who rivaled the white lead in charisma, bravery, and sheer presence, the franchise ignored that character in favor of race-swapping a white character for a black one.
This is not the first time a popular franchise acted according to the prevailing postmodern Neo-Marxist narrative. Only a few years ago, the franchise inserted a never before heard-of, “strong” black female character into the most popular family in the franchise. The prequel nature of the television show allowed the writers to retcon that character to be the reason that family and those characters were so successful and endearing. The show retconned the father figure in that franchise to be the “bad good guy” and the strong black female character to be the magnanimous, wounded poster child for the father figure’s guilt, shame, and regret.
But what’s the big deal? Doesn’t our culture need to “uplift black voices” and include more “diverse” characters? I don’t think anyone would disagree that we do. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it.
There has been a great deal of contentious discourse around the practice of race-swapping. I argue (and my best friend counter-argues, because that’s what best friends are for) that race-swapping in television and movies is a manipulative and subtle form of racism. It is predicated upon the assumption that an original black character, who is a well-written, well-acted, deeply layered, and complex character, cannot succeed independently. In order to ensure the success of the black character, the writers have to replace a white character and take over that character’s legacy. Or the writers clumsily shoe-horn a black character into an already established character’s past. The black character is not allowed to stand or fall upon their own merit; they must be given an advantage of connection to an already established white character. This is a paternalistic “white savior” mentality at its finest. But that’s only the beginning.
Race-switching creates a lot of controversy around a character. The firestorm that ensues is “free advertising” for the franchise because in our outrage culture, controversy sells subscriptions. This comes across as an incredibly manipulative way to get views. Not only that, but it is insulting to the black actors who are being recognized for their diversity and not for their ability to act, emote, and enchant viewers with their own unique talents.
Finally, the discourse around the controversy turns into a childish game of competitive piety, who can be the most anti-racist. If you so much as whisper that you disagree with the race-swap or even hint that the original character had committed the unpardonable sin of whiteness, you are howled down. And this is damaging because it shuts down discourse. The only way we are going to combat true racism, not imaginary, is by open discourse.
Perhaps the practice of race-swapping is well-meaning. Perhaps it is motivated by white guilt. But be that as it may, it isn’t helping the black community in any substantive way. To pretend that the rich and diverse cultures of the black community are interchangeable with the white community ignores the centuries of myth, folklore, legend, and hero’s journeys the black community could bring to entertainment. And that is an incalculable loss.
But the most important argument is that many black voices are pleading with white writers and showrunners to stop the practice of race-swapping because they feel infantilized, insulted, and, yes, “marginalized” by the practice. By refusing to listen to the black voices pleading with white people to stop this practice and let them be their own beautiful, rich, layered, complex characters, without white paternalism trying to give them a leg up, we are silencing the very voices we are trying to uplift. By drowning out heterodox black voices with our endless self-congratulation about how anti-racist we are, we have become what we hate, and we don’t even realize it.
“With love and gratitude to Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, Africa Brooke, and Amala Ekpunobi, for showing me the way.”
The Racism That Dares Not Speak Its Name
Thank you for writing this piece. I love good stories. That’s why it drives me nuts that TV and Movie writers can’t seem to write good characters anymore. They either take beloved characters and stories and make them unrecognizable or they take characters and fill them with political propaganda and demean both the story and the audience. I’m so sick of the edgy and/or dark reboot.
My generation (X) didn’t distinguish between black or white artists, it was just are they producing good stuff or bad stuff and we consumed accordingly. This is where the mainstream was in my Midwest suburban middle school and high school in the ‘80’s and 90’s. So I think a lot of ‘modern’ millennials and Gen Z have done us all a big disservice with their hyper focus on race and identity.
You’d think that black superstars didn’t happen back in the day the way some people act now. MJ was the king of pop for a reason. And quite a few of the white guys in my school had to have the MC Hammer pants. It was really a thing in my overwhelmingly white high school. They were truly cultural phenomenons. I just can’t relate to the attitude a lot of young Americans have, especially because many want to lecture us on attitudes we already have. Yes, we agree, don’t discriminate against people. So why the lecture?
The ironic part of all of this is that with all the different streaming services, nobody will ever be able to watch or read all the content out there. So, just pick the stuff you think is good and move on. It really doesn’t matter if I don’t like the things you like because we both can find content that we like. Why try to force content on people?
It just frustrates me that mainstream TV is overtly propaganda now and our culture is uber-political. So, everything is seen through that lens, even if you try to minimize that element. You just can’t avoid the role it plays in even deciding if you want to invest yourself in a show or movie or book at this point. It also impacts the story you are trying to tell. That just doesn’t make for interesting stories. Especially when artists feel censored and are actively censored for having the ‘wrong ideas’ or being the wrong sex or color. That’s the opposite of what I thought the future was going to look like when I was younger.
Again, great insight and loved the article. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Ruth Anne for having the courage to write this essay.
I am an old man who first met black people in the military back in the early 60s.
That is when I learned that President Truman had ordered the demise of segregation in all branches of the military. There were severe penalties for any person, regardless of race, who violated the new rules.
And thus a few hundred men with different skin color started to become friends while off duty.
For several years now, I have been aware of what you so accurately reported, but only by watching television commercials where the incidence of black people who are inserted into the message seem to be tokens.
For example, in a commerical that is obviously aimed at white people, it is now common to have one or two black actors among the dozens of white actors.
The most important lesson I learned so long ago in the military was that I needed to threat the men who did not look like me and who did not come from the same culture only became friends with white guys who did not stereotype them.
Color and cultural "blindness" was the order of the day.
Now, in my old age, my wife and I live in a very rural area of north central Florida, where it is common for a white person to say yes sir or yes mam to a black person.
It is also common for us to know married couples who are from very different cultures, and whose bi-racial children are exposed the the different cultures of their extended families.
Once again, Ruth Ann, thank you for a most informative essay.