On the one hand, having representation limited to villainous roles is bad. (See early depictions of black people and think about “Cowboys vs. Indians”)
On the other hand…there are plenty of women in villainous roles. I can also think of a few notable gay and disables villains.
Hell, Breaking Bad is a great example of having all of them, and even though it aired before “woke” became a bad word to some people, nobody ever complained about it being too progressive or anything.
I can also think of a few notable gay and disables villains.
Basically every Disney animated movie? Sure the villains weren’t boning other dudes or anything, but there was a lot of “queer coding” going on.
The trick is to not imply that someone is a villain because of their gender, gayness, ethnicity, etc. Villain that happens to be gay, whatever. Villain that’s gay and really creepy about it and seemingly motivated by their gayness to be evil… yeah that’s really bad.
But I think things have improved a lot. Giancarlo Esposito is the villain in basically everything now, and I don’t think anyone is complaining. The dude is just really good at playing villains, so why not? It’s not his ethnicity that makes him a villain, it’s just that he’s really good at playing a cold and calculating sociopath and people enjoy his performance.
When they are rarely or never the bad guys, they are saying more than just that they exist.
It’s impossible to regularly be the bad guy if you are not regularly an acting participant of the story, or even in a position of power.
Do you actually believe Princess Peach is “women are better” propaganda? Nice stats you got…
On the one hand, having representation limited to villainous roles is bad. (See early depictions of black people and think about “Cowboys vs. Indians”)
On the other hand…there are plenty of women in villainous roles. I can also think of a few notable gay and disables villains.
Hell, Breaking Bad is a great example of having all of them, and even though it aired before “woke” became a bad word to some people, nobody ever complained about it being too progressive or anything.
Basically every Disney animated movie? Sure the villains weren’t boning other dudes or anything, but there was a lot of “queer coding” going on.
The trick is to not imply that someone is a villain because of their gender, gayness, ethnicity, etc. Villain that happens to be gay, whatever. Villain that’s gay and really creepy about it and seemingly motivated by their gayness to be evil… yeah that’s really bad.
But I think things have improved a lot. Giancarlo Esposito is the villain in basically everything now, and I don’t think anyone is complaining. The dude is just really good at playing villains, so why not? It’s not his ethnicity that makes him a villain, it’s just that he’s really good at playing a cold and calculating sociopath and people enjoy his performance.