Yet again, somehow, this turns into a debate about cosplay. I question particularly if Darren Garrison spends any time around this community personally, and how much time he spends at conventions and other places where cosplay is common. Mean-girl websites set up to get clicks by snarking at cosplayers they decide are sub-par are easy to find and not really meaningful views into the subculture. Well, there are jerks in it, so it does illustrate that.
There is a whole spectrum of detail, from ‘hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars’ to ‘I put a cardboard box around my chest and wrote the word ‘Gundam’ on it,’ and to pretend there are only the two extremes (and that cosplaying a character of another race is always closer to the cardboard-Gundam) is silly. Some people barely put time and money into it, just for the fun… some people put a ton of effort and money into it. Most people are in the center somewhere, and very few are trying to do more than entertain themselves and fellow fans… which does not mean they cosplay on the “joke” level, just not on the “spent thousands to get this costume made” level. I haven’t noticed any real difference between black and white cosplayers on this at all. Some cosplayers and cosplay groups are more casual, some are more intense; there are plenty of very serious cosplaying groups made up of black cosplayers, especially women.
And the focus on “realistically imitating the character” ignores that cosplay itself is transformative, and there are popular varieties such as ‘crossover’ cosplays featuring characters as seen through different genres. (For example, Disney Princess or Wakandan-warrior themed Sailor Moon cosplay, both of which I have seen done at obvious high effort.) There are a lot of things that make a good cosplay. “Looks exactly like the movie” is one aesthetic choice, but honestly, if I find myself impressed by a cosplay these days, it’s more often because there was some added creative element. That, or it was a very retro/obscure reference which I appreciated. This can still mean a very high-quality, high-effort cosplay.
All of this seems so off-topic I wonder why it is being allowed to overrun this thread.
As for movies… I cannot really imagine the mindset it would take for me to be upset Valkyrie isn’t played by a white actress because “her hair was blonde in the comic books.” I also have loved comic books all my life. Given the same character will look different depending on the artist of the *book *that day, I find it hard to cling too tightly to the idea that a character must look “like the comic book” (exactly how is that to be done outside of animation? And who decides which artist’s depiction is the ‘real’ one?) As long as they capture the “spirit” of the character, however that might be defined. I don’t think of Valkyrie’s “spirit” as being defined by her hair color.
Since there are other characters mentioned, okay, probably some literary and historical characters would seem more awkward than others. But superheroes, of all groups, should be easier to imagine ‘differently.’ They’re already highly abstracted and change frequently within the books, let alone the numerous changes the movies have made to plots and origins outside of looks. :dubious: All the rest of the changes to Asgard didn’t ping any warnings, just suddenly Heimdall and later Valkyrie ‘looking’ different?
Please stop mentioning being gay; I’m gay too. There are lots of racist gay people. It’s irrelevant to a discussion of race and portrayals of fictional characters (especially superheroes, of all groups) in film.
