Geeks in the Mirror

I would love to say that the inspiration for this piece is not an article written by a more famous person in a more comprehensible manner than I ever could. Sadly, this post is brought to you in part* by Max Barry and his post on Smurfs and Dogs. I swear that it's relevant, and you should probably read it before reading this post. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Right, so we are probably all familiar with the concepts he is talking about in the article. Female protagonists are theoretically not as universally identifiable as male protagonists. This is more or less a fact of life for the early 21st century. While there is a lot of progress being made, you still cannot convince a large part of the American viewing/ reading public to take a female protagonist seriously. I say "American public" not "men" because women go to movies and read books too, and if a large percent of women decided that they are going to do something, they would make it huge. *cough*Twilight*cough* So, it tends to be that if there is a woman in the book or movie, it is usually a side character whose main selling point is that she is female. I don't want to get bogged down in going over this, so watch Nostalgia Chick's video on it, if you really don't believe/ get what I'm saying.

The downsides to this phenomenon are pretty self evident. Not only does it de-value women and their life experience as something that could never be interesting enough to be the main plot, but it also expects that men can't and shouldn't identify with these life experiences. It also means that these characters have to stand for ALL WOMEN EVERYWHERE. Which, lets face it, is impossible. Any character who tries to stand for all of anything is going to fail, because the range of female/human experience is infinite. So they generally go for lowest common denominator, which means that these characters are going to have qualities that most people associate with the word female.

The trouble is, this is not just a problem for teh ladies. This is a problem for every sub-set of mainstream culture who gets "token-ized". I'm not going to talk about ethnic minorities much because well, I'm not super qualified, but if I see one more film where there is only the one non-white character who is EITHER cool or evil, I might go crazy. Again, I shouldn't have to expound on why this is a bad thing. Hollywood has this perception that audiences won't "get it" if they don't present us with these stereotypes. That we would be completely flabbergasted and uncomprehending when presented with anything that isn't a straight white male to identify with as our main protagonist. Again, a lot of progress is being made, but these are exceptions that prove the rule.

My biggest problem with all of this? The fact that geek culture does not seem to be trying to pull itself out of this bias. If we want to talk about straight white males as main characters, think of all the comic book movies that have come out recently. Think about all the video games, with the exception of Portal, where you play a guy as the default. Bioware has been working on the "not-straight" part, and you certainly can play as a girl, but neither of those options have gotten much press in the past. It's like, if we can have a nerdy protagonist we still prefer him to be straight and white.

What I don't understand is why this is still going on. As geeks, shouldn't being counter culture come as second nature? There are women on the Avengers, why did none of them get an origins movie? (Ok, only one in the coming movie, but still) Women are a minority among geeks, but becoming less so all the time. I know I said I wasn't going to talk too much about it, but seriously with no non-white main protagonists. I'll give you that maybe in an urban fantasy or perhaps even a comic book reality, which is still set during our own time,  it may be "problematic" to write from the point of view of someone who is not you, i.e. white or male. I qualify this because there are people who are not white or male working in these industries, so I'm not sure it's really all that hard to find a voice for it. However, giving the benefit of the doubt, it is somewhat understandable to not want to offend by "telling it wrong", especially when writing a book rather than working with an actor of color to tell a story honestly.

So what's your excuse, high fantasy? Theoretically, you should have the same freedoms of science fiction, since racial tensions are a thing of the present and not necessarily of the Ages Ago or Future. And don't give me the whole, "But we're in England past!" argument, because ELVES. I'm pretty sure it won't strain anybody's disbelief, especially if handled with the same aplomb Star Trek has always handled it, i.e."This character is not white. It does not in any way effect the story or his ability to tell it, so we are MOVING ON." Also with the no women! I mean, when was the last time since Xena that we saw some ancient fantasy past woman as the actual main character? Shouldn't magic be the great equalizer? Science Fiction has more, but still not a lot. I'm starting to feel like even the kick-ass girl side-characters aren't enough, because despite being better role models it still creates the illusion that there is only one Girl, and she is only THIS WAY. Being weak or kick-ass is not inherent to a gender, and sometimes being strong doesn't mean you aren't objectified needlessly.

What I love about being a geek is that on the internet, your visual self matters far less that your actual self. The whole "it's what's on the inside that counts" means a whole lot more when the people you are interacting with literally cannot see you. It's more important that you like David Tennant when you get on a chat about Dr. Who, because no one can tell and therefore can't care. You could literally be that dinosaur from Toy Story Three for all anyone would know. I enjoy that and I enjoy the message that it sends. That we don't care about all of that bullshit that keeps us apart IRL, but we can come together around the things we enjoy. So...wtf? Why in our biggest contributions to culture are we confined by the same nonsense that keeps Hollywood from hiring Asian actors for Akira? Why do geek girls constantly feel like they have something to prove, and why can't Green Lantern be African-American in the movies too?

I know what all of the easy answers are, but I want the answer that explains how the people who routinely reject reality continue to accept it. If you don't have that answer, then maybe you should start asking the question yourself, and finding ways to help change things.






* Max Barry does not actually endorse this post. Nor do any of the other thousands of things I've linked to in this post. At least...I don't think so *peers into internet*.