This comic had plenty of representation already. Why arbitrarily change a main characters race, unless its simply virtue signaling. This doesn't give a role to a black actress, it's animated for crying out loud, so what reason is there to do this other than social posturing?
shareWHY NOT?
shareLiterally virtue signaling and further black-washing of characters to push the woke agenda. That's literally it. They even admitted as much in an article justifying the black-washing.
shareFrom my understanding Amber was a stock bimbo with no depth in the comics, and this Amber is an improvement (although a tad annoying in some parts).
You would not believe bimbo Amber in the comics wanted to devote free time in Soup Kitchens, care much about higher education and Margaret Atwood novels, or being cultured and worldly and seriously engaged in political issues. Already, TV show Amber has way more going on. Both she and Atom Eve also give depth to Mark, by showing the compassionate side of humanity..it reminds us why it's worth defending.
The original comics debuted in 2002. It would be silly in 2021 to complain that one character is changed when you already have most of the main cast being white anyways, with Mark and mother being "unambiguously Asian".
Your very selective perception regarding race aside (I love how inconvenient it is that the actual lead of the show is Asian, so you arbitrarily dismiss him "ambiguous"), you didn't actually answer the question of "why"?
shareI put that in quotes because Kirkman said he never clearly defined Mark and Debbie back in 2002-2003, but he has now conclusively decided they are Korean. I have to put things in quotes and "sensitively" tread around phrases because there's a lot of sensitive Right Wingers in this forum.
I have no problem with Kirkman's changes at all and agree with his full explanation. He and the producers say they were two young dudes from Kentucky and New Mexico that had almost no diversity back then. But now in 2021, they realize people from all walks of life like seeing themselves on screen in some way. And the real world populations in cities reflect that.
https://www.comicsbeat.com/robert-kirkman-invincible-amber-bennett/
That is perhaps why this series works so well. It does not feel like an artificial CW show where everyone looks like a model or stepped out of a photoshoot. It's just a random, real mix of people in Invincible that I would see in most high schools and cities. And the tension and stakes feel very high when good believable characters can be harmed (almost no character is off the table if one did not read the comics).
That was my initial comment, about how much diversity the comic had right from the start. His friend is gay, there is an interesting arc regarding a characters weight gain, many races,ages and sexual preferences are represented, so why the need to change it simply to add another element, if not to pander? Does representation have to be spread evenly, like icing on a cake? I ask because it wasn't lacking, just applied differently. The world is never a perfect mix of identities, and trying too hard to create that in fiction spoils the illusion that we are trying to get lost in. Incidentally, Amber is considerably more insufferable on the show than the comic, so they made her black and LESS likeable, although I doubt it was intentional.
shareYou said:
o why the need to change it simply to add another element, if not to pander? Does representation have to be spread evenly, like icing on a cake? I ask because it wasn't lacking, just applied differently.
“Invincible was a comic book series that was started in 2003 and it was created by two white guys. I was from Kentucky, Cory [Walker] is from New Mexico. Diversity was not something that was at the forefront of our minds back then. AND I THINK THAT INVINCIBLE IS A VERY DIVERSE COMIC THAT HAS A WIDE RANGE OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PEOPLE REPRESENTED, BUT I THINK THAT IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE RECOGNIZE WE CAN DO BETTER WHEN IT CAME TIME TO DO THE ANIMATED SERIES NOW. So, we solidified Mark’s race as Korean. Shrinking Ray was a character that was changed from male to female because we recognized that we didn’t have enough female characters. Debbie’s role is significantly expanded. Amber’s role is significantly expanded.”share
Yes, it backs up exactly what i said. They did it for no reason other than the sake of it. He admits it already had wide representation, and just like my point that it doesn't need to spread perfectly evenly, he admitted to doing just that by changing the characters so it can be even MORE representative...from what he'd already admitted was a very representative comic. Do you really not grasp the point? Because you seem to think you had a "gotcha" moment, but you failed miserably.
shareYou do realize that Burk is one of those sensitive right-wingers, right?
shareIn the end this is what diversity brings, people that want to see people of their 'own' race rather that being 'united/unity' as one. All about race these days instead of Americans. You don't feel empowered or oh cool American hero but oh look, it's someone that doesn't look like me so I don't feel remotely inspired.
shareWHY NOT ?🤔
shareI am not familiar with the comic, but appears they gender swapped The shrinking girl. She is a dude in the comics.
shareIt didn't bother me that she was black...but there is no doubt it's virtue signaling (which is often racist in itself).
shareI didn't mind her being black either. At least she wasn't speaking ebonics or hard to hear English. Felt like a black girl in a white girl voice or Americanized fully to sound like a white girl. She's just damn annoying at times though. Too needy but I get where she's coming from. I'd get pissed too if your significant other is always showing up late or goofing off. Why superheroes should either focus on being heroes or only date other heroes so it dones't conflict with scheduling. That or just tell them outright who you are if you're really into them to save all the hassle.
shareJust to show racists that their time is coming to an end.
share