The Double-Standards Hypocrisy of Minority “Representation” in Modern Media

Inspired by The Critical Drinker’s latest video on film criticism today:

I don’t have memories of ever being a racist or a misogynist. If you ask me if I’ve ever bore any hatred towards any other minority group, I could tell you with confidence that the answer is no. As a Chinese, I might have had conflict with some Malay bullies back in secondary school, but I was thankfully exposed to enough American media (featuring some very entertaining and appealing black AND white characters) that I was influenced to look past the color of our skin and appreciate the inner qualities within.

Plus, I’m a Chinese. I’m practically a minority, even if I’m a filthy cis male. Do you know how many times I had to deal with people calling me a chink? Or putting up with the very, very dated “ching chong ting long” jokes? I was even referred to as “not a real Chinese” because I live in South-East Asia. That last one cut me deeper than some dumb, nonsensical Chinese noises.

So in 2022, when I look back at my history as 1) someone who prefers playing Femshep more than Broshep in Mass Effect because I found Mark Meer’s performance duller than a rock, 2) someone whose favorite heroes as a kid were heroines like Kim Possible and Buttercup, not to mention how Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley were among my favorite movie characters of all time, 3) someone who praised Black Panther and thought it was an entertaining and ambitious film that called out the crimes of an entire empire’s shady history the way Thor: Ragnarök should’ve but didn’t… When I look back at all of that, and my identity as a Chinese who understood the pain of being marginalized and prejudiced against, I don’t know how the heck I got here in the first place, siding with the views of The Critical Drinker (AKA William “Will” Jordan) and The Quartering (AKA Jeremy Hambly).

And just so we’re clear, even though I agree with those two on certain views (specifically the freedom to criticize with logic without being falsely accused of being a racist/sexist troll), I do find some of their takes to be suspiciously biased as well. As someone who isn’t as vocal or irate about race-swapping and gender-swapping as these guys, I did find both their videos suspiciously biased towards films with a “diverse” cast, not to mention their obsession to cover those films instead of other more well-written and underrated films more deserving of their attention. But that’s another topic altogether.

Instead, today, I want to talk about my own exhaustion from arguing about politics, how I couldn’t get away from being dragged into some political discussion just by criticizing a show on its own non-racial/gender-related merits. As William rightly pointed out in the video above, the culture we’re living in today, how we are silenced when even remotely criticizing “diverse” movies, means that critics might feel less inclined to give scathing and perhaps honest reviews about films in the future. It’s perhaps appropriate that Roger Ebert has passed, much as I respect him as a film critic, because god knows how well he’d be able to operate in our current politically-charged climate.

The biggest irony to this is that I would have been equally scathing towards Ghostbusters 2016 as Transformers: The Last Knight. I wouldn’t just trash She-Hulk either, but also Netflix’s failed attempt at Iron Fist. I’m just that critical of a person. Even after realizing that I might have been wrong half of those times, I couldn’t help speak my mind. Isn’t that what women were encouraged to do? Speak their mind? Well, now the shoe’s on the other foot. And it’s not just men either, but there were many women who also criticized some of these “diverse” films too for their writing, only that they didn’t receive the kind of “misogynist” labeling men actively receive.

And it’s not just Internet arguments I’m tired of, but also how insignificant entertainment media has wedged this cultural divide between genders and races. Arguments and conflict wear me out, and I’m someone who prefers to enjoy a relaxing life. But nowadays, everyone just seems to be angry at each other all the time. Over what? A bunch of TV shows created by billion dollar corporations that used such conflicts to further market their shows. Their use of the race and gender card means that people will talk about their show, be it positively or negatively, which is what these companies wanted, especially Disney and Amazon. And people stand up to defend these companies, companies that only want the money in your pocket. They’ve never cared about your “diversity.” Where’s that diversity when Disney allowed Chadwick’s face to be covered up on Black Panther posters in China? Where’s that diversity when they allowed John Boyega to be shrunk into a smaller space in China’s posters of Star Wars: The Force Awakens? This double-standard hypocrisy is why I refuse to believe that the corporations’ “diversity marketing” is anything genuine, especially when it comes from the greedy monopoly that is the Walt Disney company, a company that proceeded to swoop in on Walt Disney’s estate the moment the man died, those vultures.

And the problems don’t stop there. It’s one thing if it’s just people being angry on the Internet, because that has always happened ever since the double-bladed tool was invented. No, nowadays, male characters are blatantly being humiliated or underwhelmed the same way female characters were treated back then, as if it’s some sort of feminist revenge against all males. It’s as if the intention here isn’t equality, but superiority and an encouragement of passive aggressiveness between the two genders. As a man myself, I’m now being forced to go through the same feeling that women have felt seeing problematic female characters on screen, even though 1) I’ve always called out of problematic writing for female characters, 2) I’ve never done any harm to any women, period, and 3) I’m not at fault for the problematic writing that existed in the first place.

This kind of tribalistic “me vs. you” attitude has also encouraged a kind of toxic mentality in me as a Chinese because I’m left questioning, where’s my Asian Mario? I mean, if you’re going to replace every white character with a black person, where’s the Chinese representation? Where’s my Chinese Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter? Give me some of that Chinese taste to appeal to me as well. Even though I don’t live in America, Chinese Americans do exist. Asian Americans do exist. Why did you whitewash Light Yagami in that horrible Netflix live action remake of Death Note from 2017? I thought you were all for diversity? Where’s the obligatory Japanese actor? Where’s the outrage of “THAT’S RACIST!” tweets that called out the whitewashing I’ve seen with The Little Mermaid’s AI “whitewashing” on Twitter recently? Why aren’t my Asian brothers being defended for having their race marginalized? Something I’ve noticed a lot over the years is that nobody seemed to take my annoyance with the whitewashing of Asian characters seriously, but everyone loves to take an issue with it when it happens to black characters, standing behind them with the aid of celebrities in cringeworthy tweets. I feel marginalized. Where’s The View and Whoopi Goldberg when Japanese characters were whitewashed? Why is the mainstream media focused on black representation only, when there’s plenty of Asian Americans, Japanese Americans and Chinese Americans out there? Are you suggesting that Asians’ marginalization isn’t as important as black people’s marginalization? It all feels like what Jordan Peele was trying to say with Get Out, how we propped black people up as this super-important group that must be coddled and celebrated at all cost instead of being treated as equally as all other races.

Because once you start swapping races, it becomes a political and tribal competition where people ask, “Where’s my share of representation?”, including white people. Yes, in case you’ve forgotten, white people are humans like you and I deserving equality too, no matter what their ancestors did a long time ago that has nothing to do with them today. The same way black kids grew up with Black Panther and felt represented in the comics, white ginger kids might have grown up with The Little Mermaid and felt represented. What you’re essentially saying here is that their representation doesn’t matter. You could have created a brand new take on a very old IP no one would question like The Princess and the Frog, because who even remembers what race the original princess from that fairy tale was? But The Little Mermaid, on the other hand? A lot of people still alive today remembers that she’s a white ginger girl in that one animated cartoon, and their childhood representation consisted of that redhead. On a video discussing this Little Mermaid scandal, I remember someone commenting that they were tired of gingers being replaced in movies and TV shows with brunettes. You can’t fight prejudice with prejudice.

And going back to Princess and the Frog, do you remember how refreshing that film was to highlight the culture in New Orleans in that film? You see what magic can happen when you do an original take on a character like this instead of rehashing something existing? You’re literally celebrating black culture with such original films, so why bother rehashing some white men’s culture that you accused of having been pillaged thousands of years ago? Just do your own non-Disney version of a mermaid movie and you wouldn’t have ruined many white kids’ representation. Disney owns The Little Mermaid’s animated movie, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t own the rights to the book, much like how there has been a non-Disney Tarzan movie in 2016 (The Legend of Tarzan by Warner Brothers). In fact, I would even argue that Disney’s animated version of that mermaid tale wasn’t even that good, so I would have loved to see a more faithful adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale; I wouldn’t care what color her skin is in that particular case.

In the end, do what you want. I’m just some Singaporean middle-aged man confused by all the race/gender bickering that didn’t exist in the 2000s when I liked female/black characters as much as I do today. Nothing I say here matters, and it won’t affect Disney films in any shape or form. I’m just venting.

Plus, like I said before, I’m not even a true advocate against race/gender-swapping. I’ve enjoyed the 1997 remake of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella starring Brandy because it’s part of my childhood and it had wonderful songs. I just find all the bickering about race over a stupid cartoon remake blown out of proportion. Stop arguing and try to find a way to get along. The 2020s are depressing enough as it is.