Why is batman always black in the films?

Because he doesn't look like Superman, another black Kryptonian is one thing, but he is not Kal El.

 

Superman.

Is.

Not.

Real.

By the way, neither is Santa. Sorry.

 

Funny you should say that. There are actually plenty of black Santa Claus ornaments, figurines, Christmas cards, decorations, etc. Most companies that sell and manufacture holiday merchandise include them in their catalogs--and have for years. And I'm sure there are black Santas in malls all around the world, depending on the demographics of the region.

So I guess lots of people do buy that . . . literally!

It's just like offering black Barbies as well as white ones.

 

See, this is the crux of the misunderstanding between the two sides of this debate. Some of you see a change in skin color as the largest possible physical difference, outweighing all the similarities that two people might have. But I don't see it that way, and there are other people who don't see it that way.

Superman is:

tall
muscular
handsome
square-jawed
dark-haired
blue-eyed
light-skinned

There are plenty of nonwhite men who are tall, muscular, handsome, square-jawed, and dark-haired. If someone shares those five traits with Superman but has darker skin and eyes, I just don't see that as the same kind of huge dissimilarity that you do. It's only a difference of 2 traits out of 7. If that person is an actor who's also able to capture Superman's personality well -- to convey his strength and compassion and goodness, to do a good job differentiating Clark and Superman -- then that gives him an even larger number of traits in common with the character, so the two visual traits that differ are an even smaller factor in the equation. Like I said, we're not talking about casting a model here, we're talking about casting an actor, someone who has to capture the character's personality, not just his looks. Even aside from any racial issues at all, it's naive to base any casting discussion purely on an actor's appearance.

 

Nope.

The PC driven crowd often assumes conservative-minded people are racist if they:

-talk about border control
-talk about people getting government handouts
-criticize people who are non-white
-emphasize learning English in (US) schools



...and are automatically anti-women if:

-they discuss aspects of life before birth


Sorry bub, but there are certainly people who bully others for voicing their point of view; we see it with boycotts all the time. It's nothing new either - some form of it has always existed with elitist groups no matter what affiliation they were.

Weren't you the one who claimed only "white Christians" see it? Last I checked, my mom isn't white. Neither are many of my friends who seem more bothered by it than me.

Yeah it does - you made a severely negative assumption on what his personal beliefs were based on a smilie. You may as well have just said "based on your smilie response, I truly believe you don't care about racism or sexism."

Personally chastising based off an assumption.

It isn't invisible. See the examples above - anyone who's a conservative can't seem to have a rational discussion with people without it being implied that they are either racist or sexist, or insensitive to both.

 

Senthil Ramamurthy of covert affairs will make a good dark skinned superman. He got the handsome features for it.

 

^Interesting thought, but as I've been saying, there's much more to good casting than looks. I'm not sure Ramamurthy is right for it personality-wise. Maybe I've just soured on him because of what a jerk his Covert Affairs character turned out to be, though.

 

If you're changing a character's race to make it awesome (like Samuel L Jackson Nick Fury), then it should be done. If you're changing a character's race just so you can say you changed a character's race...then no. That's true of any artistic venture - you set out to make a great piece of work that people can enjoy. You don't stick nipples on Batman just so you can say that there are now nipples there.

 

I dunno, I'm kinda down on Sendhil Ramamurthy after the poor performance he put forth the last time he tried to play a superhero: on Heroes. Probably not his fault, the scripts were horrible.

 

Fetishizing an entire race of people does not make someone not-racist. Read David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly for an exploration about how fetishizing a race is itself still part of the paradigms of white supremacy.

For you, maybe.

For me? Superman is about Truth, Justice, and the American Way. He's the outsider looking in; he's the rural farmboy who moved to the big city and made good. He's the idealist in a cynical age. He's the inspiration for a better moral character. He's the kind of man I would be if I could.

Nothing about that precludes him from being black.

 

Spoiler alert much?

But at least now I know why no one answered those letters.

I thought he was just being a jerk.

 

Well-said. If anything, part of the American Way is (or should be, if the Justice part is taken seriously) that anyone can achieve their dreams. If a black man can grow up to be President, then there's no reason another black man couldn't grow up to play Superman. (Or maybe he could do both?)

 

Here you go. Batman in gray.

http://youtu.be/Yq5RHUO6yLg

 

Ignoring the fact that a number of conservative positions are in fact racist, allow me to touch your final sentence- you state that all groups, no matter the affiliation, have people who speak out yet at the same time you are talking about PC run amok which apparently means you only have a problem when one side states their mind.

Of course, a simpler solution would be to look at your own views and question whether some of them are enforcing racist or sexist values but it's always much easier to just play the victim.

 

By the way, I just happened across an article proposing candidates that the columnist thinks would be good choices to take over as the next screen Batman, and Idris Elba is included in the list.

 

Sure but there are limits to the way your can change his looks without making it into a completely different character. How about making the Lone Ranger Chinese?

 

Except it would not be very convincing. If you want another "Superman" one who is not Clark Kent, then go ahead, make him black, I have no problem with that, but part of a character's identity is the way he looks. I think Superman should probably stay the same, and people should not try to reinvent him. It also would be very original to have a "me too" Superman one with all his powers but he's black. Most people don't care what color he is, I mean what's Lex Luthor supposed to do if he encounters a black superman, snarl more viciously? His color doesn't change anything but continuity. People will say who's that? For people who've collected Superman comics since the 1930s, reinventing him and acting like it was an original idea may appear offensive.

 

To be completely accurate, they made him black first, then made him into Samuel L Jackson.

 

What's not convincing? The idea that a Kryptonian might have brown skin? I don't see how that's any more implausible than the idea that a Kryptonian would happen to look like he's from Europe.

What's not convincing? The idea that an inspirational, moral leader who stands for Truth, Justice and the American Way could be black? Is that what you're saying?

Or are you just saying that Superman's always been white and you want all alternate versions of him to stay white, because Tradition?

Are you saying Truth, Justice, and the American Way are white personality traits? I'm sure you're not, but that's what it sounds like. And you've cited nothing about his personality that requires whiteness.

In other words, you are attached to the idea of Superman, the ultimate super-hero, being white, even though nothing important about his personality depends on his whiteness. All you have to fall back on in your argument is your emotional attachment to seeing the inspirational hero as a white guy.

Exactly. And continuity gets changed anyway in a movie -- which means that there's no reason to rule out casting a black man as Superman.

Oh yes, it's ever so offensive when a member of an oppressed race gets celebrated in the same way white people routinely are. SO offensive.

 

I want Idris Elba to play James Bond.