So I was totally fine dropping this subject for Eric, but you just HAD to rip this open again, so I'll set the record straight one more time. *cracks neck*
Ok, so first of all, I'm getting the vibe that you misinterpreted my posts to mean that I was advocating for intolerance or anti-representation. For the record, the question was whether media "needed" to have diversity as opposed to being successful with or without it. Now then, let's dig in.
Promoting, encouraging and appreciating diversity is an acknowledgement that specific circumstances or identity aspects of a person does not inherently make them any better or worse than anyone else, and that we all have unique, interesting viewpoints to offer.
Being apathetic/hostile towards the expression/appreciation of diversity is to say "certain perspectives/identities are inherently more important, more meaningful, more valid, and any that fall outside the predominant demographic are worthless."
This assumption is both false and ludicrously black and white. A person can be totally indifferent to another person's identity but that doesn't mean they deem it as worthless. To claim so is being painfully presumptuous towards those that aren't actively "promoting" diversity since you say a person either is or isn't.
A workforce on the verge of collapse, a supremely FAILED education system that creates model students who go on to have crippling mental health issues (impacting their ability to be productive members of society, hence their troubled workforce), all of which have very little to do with perceived cultural homogeny. Also, arguing that diversity isn't so great because it brings more hate crime is like saying a cure for cancer is bad because it leads to more non-cancer deaths.
"A workforce on the verge of collapse"? "Supremely FAILED education system"? Where are you pulling this garbage from? Japan was ranked second in the world for education in 2015 (
http://fairreporters.net/world/the-best-education-systems-in-the-world-in-2015/ ) and don't even try to compare their disfunctionalities with the US. We've got them beat every time. You wanna talk mental health issues? Look at the rabid violence in our schools! Look at the drug abuse. The absolutely pitiful funding we put towards education. I could go on but this entire point was a huge tangent from where I was trying to go in the first place. My point was that a homogeneous society doesn't have to worry about overcoming differences because everyone is the same. Granted, there are pros and cons to this since diversity DOES offer an edge when it comes to technological development etc. but I was merely trying to state that uniformity isn't without SOME advantages.
Artistic angle: People make art for self-expression, but they often also wish to impart some kind of emotion or message unto an audience, which requires their work to be effectively realized. If your audience is diverse, it makes more sense to factor that into your work, and have your work more accurately reflect the world your audience is familiar with. A racially/culturally homogenous setting or cast is NOT what most audiences will be familiar with, so it will likely be less inherently engaging for them, and less effective at connecting with them.
Commercial angle: In a global market, with a global audience, why limit the appeal of your product? Why not make a product more reflective of the experiences more people have had?
You're just flat out wrong here. To say that "a racially/culturally homogenous setting or cast is NOT what most audiences will be familiar with" is incredibly tone deaf to the rest of the world. Roughly 20% of the entire world is Chinese. You wanna talk about a racially/culturally homogeneous setting? And take a wild guess which market is the second largest for movies. You wanna know the third? India. Another homogeneous country. It's no wonder everyone stereo-types Americans as considering themselves the nexus of the world. It's really sad, but there's a lot of places in the world that couldn't care less about diversity. Have you ever seen it in Bolly Wood movies? How about a SINGLE non-Japanese actor in a Japanese movie? In fact, if you want to argue from a commercial perspective, limiting your cast to mostly whites and asians has historically proved more lucrative. Heck, did you know that in China, when the Force Awakens was released, the movie poster shrank Finn's picture almost out of existence while blowing up Harrison Ford's? I'm in no way advocating for these kinds of practices or ideologies, and I understand exactly what you mean about trying to connect with your audience, but realize that projecting your world view onto people doesn't make you right.
This assumes that a push for diversity in storytelling and media is some unrealistic, politically-driven agenda. In reality, it's the correct observation that most mainstream media has been DEFINED by an unrealistic, politically-driven agenda, one that aimed to prioritize the experiences of conventionally-attractive, straight, white men over EVERYONE ELSE to an ABSURD degree for over a century.
Ok, since you're at least the second one to bring this up, I'm going to put this to bed once and for all. You wanna know why most American media up until now has been "white-centric"? Let me give you a little history lesson. Recall that back in the 1700's, the United States was founded by Judeo-Christian, WHITE Europeans. As horrifying as it may sound, this demographic has comprised the numerical majority of the US's population ever since (roughly 60% as of 2017 but projected to actually become a minority by 2050). When you made the earlier point that an artist should connect with their audience, there happens to be a statistical reason for why it often leans white. Let's look at the comic book industry since people have been pining for more diverse heroes: The first super hero to ever reach critical acclaim was our good old fashion Superman in 1938. His creators were Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Both white. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee spearheaded over 90% of the known Marvel Universe. Both white. These were inspired people with amazing stories to tell. They didn't make the vast majority of super heroes white because they were part of some evil white patriarchy out to subvert the rest of the world. They simply made characters that they and their target audience could relate to. If Marvel had started in Kenya, don't you think that most the heroes would have been black? Or if Japan had come up with it, Japanese? (Note: Manga characters are almost exclusively Japanese...shocker) People need to stop ******** about why existing heroes aren't diverse enough and start coming up some heroes of their own. Make a hero that connects with YOU'RE identity or expand on those that already do. You want a book with more diversity? Write one! You want to show the beauty of your culture? Paint it! Tell a story through you own eyes and promote diversity in a tangible way!
There aren't some finite list of creators who are being held at gunpoint and told "make more black women characters!".
You've clearly never worked for Disney... lol
INTOLERANCE TOWARDS INTOLERANCE IS NOT A THING. I had a young black foster kid living at my house who thought black people were ugly "because they're barely on TV". I won't abide people arguing against fair representation with completely disingenuous, misleading lines of crap like this.
You're right. "Intolerance towards intolerance" ISN'T a thing...which is why it's a damn good thing that's not what I said. I was referring to FORCED TOLERANCE towards intolerance. I'm all for diversity, but it's something that needs to be WILLFULLY accepted and based equally off merit. Don't think for one second that there aren't people that would sooner bash your face in with a baseball bat than hear you say that Black Panther was overrated. There's people out there that would incite a virtual lynch mob on social media to get you fired from your job because you said something even remotely racist. I live in Southern California and see this happen far more than it should. Heck, I came from a Junior High where the term "white" was considered a vulgar insult. Again, I'm all for diversity, and I'm all for FAIR representation (I never said otherwise) but when it devolves into violence, favoritism, and "hang the straight white patriarchy", now we're talking bigots against bigots. You can't make progress without dialogue from BOTH sides. It can't just be an echo chamber. When you call my posts "completely disingenuous, misleading lines of crap", that's both uncalled for and shows a complete lack of empathy. Again, the entire point of my posts was to argue in favor of creative freedom on the part of creators. Diversity is always admirable to include, but an artist should never be forced to create solely for others. True art can only come from the artist, not someone else's checklist of wish fulfillment. You don't have to like it, but consider the fact that someone else will. Period. I pray that your young foster child realizes that beauty comes in all colors. It sincerely hurts me to hear that they said that.
Yeah, barely Smash related, but if stuff like this is posted, it can't be allowed to fester. No offense to Firox, as I'm sure you meant no ill will, but there are certain things that need to be challenged. I've promoted negative mindsets/arguments in the past inadvertently and I wish someone would have called them out.
"No offense"? An interesting disclaimer to an otherwise hostile post. For the record, I meant no ill will. I never did, but some things SHOULD be challenged, and that is why I had to reply. Again, I agree that diversity is important, but I feel that freedom is even more so. Anyway, I've said my peace and will honor EricTheGamerman's request to drop the subject since we're wildly off topic. If anyone else wishes to continue arguing, I probably won't dignify their post with a response. I'd rather move on to something more Geno-related anyway.