Michelle Rodriguez: Minorities should stop 'stealing' white superheroes

This has been a trend that has really disturbed me and since I am a huge comics fan I am glad to see that some in Hollywood realize this also. Minorities in the superhero business are fine and there are some great ones but when Hollywood feels the need to start changing iconic characters just for political correctness it is something I feel is wrong.

Changing the Green Lantern to a homosexual or turning Thor into a woman are just things that simply do not fit the tradition of how these characters have been written and drawn about and for many of us these comics are more than just simply cartoons you watch on Saturday mornings, they have become something we have grown up with and in many cases almost feel like old friends. To see them disrespected for political implications is just sad.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/celebrity/michelle-rodriguez-minorities-should-stop-stealing-white-superheroes/ar-BBi5Is6?ocid=ASUDHP

 

Meh, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it's interesting she said the bit about minorities taking white peoples roles, especially considering the part she played in the movie SWAT. Her role in that movie was pretty different from the show in the 70's.

 

That's exactly what I thought of immediately.

 

Who cares what the color of their skin is? Jackson did a great job being Nick Fury in Captain America. Look me in the face and tell me when the fake SWAT Team was trying to break into his car in the Winter Soldier that he did a bad job at being Nick Fury. If anything, we should probably be a bit more concerned with the fact that originally Thor sided with the Nazis before being shown the error of his ways, or how they used to portray the Axis powers during WWII.

 

I want to see Shaft portrayed by a white guy.

 

not being huge comic book type of guy I have no idea what race "Fish Mooney" is in the original comic books but in the Gotham TV show Jada Pinkett Smith is just smoking hot and can play the role any day of the week as far as I am concerned

 

Blame the comic book creators first. Also, there's multiple Green Lanterns so they may need to specify which Lantern is gay now.

 

True, and there is a very popular black Green Lantern. He is kind of an exception because his role is ongoing and can be filled by anyone but if they are bringing up the old characters that were already portrayed then they should keep him as he was originally conceived, not edit past history. Really, nobody is going to care if a superhero is gay its when they alter hero's that have already been created that is the problem.

Hollywood is tapping into the hero pool because there is a built-in audience and that is great but then they are trying to stretch that audience by changing the tradition of the hero which just does not feel right, it feels cheap. Hollywood seems unwilling to try and create their own superhero's and granted, that is probably a very difficult thing to do, but they might be surprised if they were to give it a shot.

When they have tried it they have had some success I think. I loved the movie Hancock with Will Smith as a hero and true, the movie did not do that great but it had potential, the Kickass movies, although campy, had some great characters, especially Hitgirl, and then more drama orientated movies like Unbreakable with Bruce Willis who wasn't really a superhero but he kind of was. Disney scored huge with the Incredibles with a main superhero being black, which everyone loved, so there is room there for them to start creating their own franchises and they do not necessarily need to rely on the Comic industry to give them material.

 

I didn't know Shaft was a superhero.

 

In the Thor movie one of the guardians of the Nordic Valhalla was a chunky black man. LOL, as they say.
It's as absurd as having white tribesmen in the Shaka Zulu movie but that's Hollywood for you...facts and accuracies never get in their way.

 

He originally started in novels but he has now gone to comics but its true he did not originate there. Great time to get in on that series if you are a collector by the way, in 50 years or so you might have a fortune on your hands if those comics take off.

DON'T OPEN THE PLASTIC

 

I knew he had a comic book, but what super powers does he possess?

 

Badassiness, I don't know....not a Shaft fan really.

 

What super powers does Batman possess? Or Iron Man? Not to get too nerdish, but super powers are not necessarily a prerequisite for a super hero (not that I would consider Shaft a super hero).

 

As far as I know she's not in the comics, she's a character they created for the show. And she does a terrific job as Fish. Very intimidating indeed.

 

I've never seen either. I'm assuming she took the role of a white character? If so then yeah, it seems a little hypocritical of her to say that.

 

Would also like to add to that list from the tv series Heroes, Hiro Nakamura. I've only seen the first season but he's easily a fan favorite. I believe the route to go is to definitely create an era of new heroes instead of changing those who are already there, and it gives the writers the ability to create new lore without having to change something that was already established.

 

Yea, but Nick Fury in the ULTIMATE Marvel version of the comics was black. Actually, he wasn't just black, he was modeled after Samuel L. Jackson.

 

The difference is, if the superhero got his powers from being white, then casting a black person would not make any sense. With Shaft, his blackness is what made his character the way he was.

 

Minorities have more power, they are entitled to do whatever they want. Not sure what is you problem.

 

These characters are open to interpretation so they can be portrayed anyway the artist or writer choose.

 

watch the Hebrew Hammer.

 

This smacks of "Santa is White".

Superman was created as a space alien that looked like any other white Metropilian. How in the 1940's US could the creator of SM make him anything other than a white male?

It wasn't until Star Trek in the 60's did we see characters other than white.

Superheroes are not bound by the forced convention of and on their creators...We should be past that already.

 

Yes but they have already been created, it is changing that original design that many of us are having a problem with.

It is not sticking to the historical vision those creators had.

 

They are open to interpretation. Seriously making a gay Green Lantern is a big problem for you?