Tropes

Recently we've seen quite a bit of diversity when it comes to mainstream films. First we see Jamie Foxx play Electro, Miles Morales is the new upcoming Spiderman,  and now Zendaya has been cast as Mary Jane. Idris Elba has just scored a role in the new Stephen King movie and T.V show based on the best selling scifi fiction novel "The Dark Tower". But where are the Latino superheroes? This summer we saw one of our first superheroes, kinda, in Suicide Squad. However, Suicide Squad was really just about a bunch of villains fighting worse villains. Regardless, El Diablo is the the first Latino superhero/villain we've seen on the big screen lately. Unfortunately though, he didn't say much the whole movie, save for a few funny lines here and there. His story is a sad one, he doesn't use his powers because of a violent outburst that killed his family. But all that is lost in between his stereotypical accent and his face/body of tattoos. Something, as you can see, isn't really accurate to the comics.



However in "The Flash"one of the main characters, Cisco also known as Vibe, is Latino. He has always been one of the leading characters in the show and as the seasons go on and he develops his abilities, his role continues to expand.
Shows like The Flash with superhero characters like Cisco aren't the norm though. One of the biggest reasons I think this is has to do with the film industry in general. I feel like the film industry is underdeveloped when it comes to finding Latino talent. In film, Latinos have traditionally been the bad guys. Hollywood has always had a bias when it came to films involving Mexicans, who were often only cast as violent villians. Hollywood films now need to overcome such bias and cast Latinos outside of roles like El Diablo who is definitely another movie trope.

Doctor Strange

There has been recent controversy over the upcoming Doctor Strange movie which will feature Tilda Swinton as the Ancient one. In the Marvel comics, the Ancient One is an elderly Asian man who is the mentor of Doctor Strange.


Many fans are upset that someone Asian will not be playing the role of the Ancient One and have accused Hollywood of whitewashing media once again. However Scott Derrickson, the director of the upcoming film, argues that Tilda Swinton playing this role is a good thing. The Ancient One being a Asian man is a stereotype in itself. It's bound to upset some people. The casting of The Ancient One is also political. The Ancient One is originally from Tibet in the comics. At the moment, China considers Tibet to be a part of their nation. Contrary to China's belief, Tibet sees itself as independent from China. So if The Ancient One was cast as Chinese, that in itself could be seen as a political statement supporting China and would upset anyone who disagrees. But if the Ancient One was cast as Tibetan, that would also be perceived as a political statement and would upset China. Therefore, the director decided that casting a woman in a strong, leading role and avoiding politics altogether was best for the film. Unfortunately, they did not succeed in avoiding offending Asian Americans. People understand the reasons behind the Director's decision. But still argue that if they only wanted to avoid controversy, they could've cast The Ancient One as white and Doctor Strange as Asian American. If you ask me, I think that would've been a great idea. I think the only true reason that The Ancient One wasn't cast as Asian is because upsetting China would cost the movie a lot of money. China, being one of the biggest and arguably most important nation in the global box office, is being catered to. In the end, it's less about what people want and more about the money.

Spider Man

In today's age we are beginning to see a lot of diversity in film. It seems like more big screen roles are opening up for black, latino, and biracial people. Mary Jane from Spiderman, who is usually cast as white, is now being played by Zendaya.
 

Zendaya is a actress and singer who is biracial. Since this has been announced, the actress has received lots of love and hate alike with her acceptance of this role. There have also been rumors that Miles Morales, a Spider man from an alternate universe who is black, will be taking on the big screen as Spider-Man this year instead of Peter Parker. Some people seem to have no problem with this and love the idea of switching things up. However, some people react negatively. I was sitting on the bus listening to this group of guys talk about the upcoming Spider man movie. They were discussing Jamie Foxx from a previous Spider-man movie. He played Electro in the Amazing Spider-Man 2. I got the gist of their conversation, which was that Jamie Foxx was a decent enough actor but didn't quite seem to fit the part. They also talked about Miles Morales as Spider-man and expressed their skepticism in this idea.

















Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But I feel as if most of the time a minority is cast instead of a white person in a role that has typically been played by a white person, people are a little put off by the idea. People feel like an actress or actor doesn't fit the part because they don't look the part.  I think this is because Hollywood has whitewashed film. Now there is a unspoken rule that the characters you have always watched and admired were meant to be played by non ethnic people. But that just isn't the case. In fact, when white people are cast for big movie roles outside their race, like Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell. There seems to be little controversy over it. Ghost in the shell is

a Japanese anime featuring a Japanese woman as the protagonist. Much like Doctor Strange, another movie where one of the main characters is Asian, but will be played by someone white.