There is however a trend that seems to be creeping in lately that certain people have taken issue with and that is gender swapping. I have mentioned the recent 'controversy' surrounding a female Doctor for Doctor Who but this isn't the only case. The recent Ghostbusters film had an all female cast as opposed to the all male cast of the original, several Marvel Comics characters have either changed genders or ethnicities (such as a black female Iron Man now called Iron Heart, an Asian Hulk, a Muslim Ms Marvel, a black Spider-Man AND a female Spider-Man called Spider-Gwen, a female Thor etc) and it has been announced that there will be an all female Lord of the Flies remake. This does raise an understandable issue as replacing male characters with female characters instead of creating new ones is a touch lazy and it implies that the only way for female characters to gain prominence is to take on male roles but that's not what some people take issue with. They claim that SJWs and 'feminazis' are ruining their favourite characters and franchises by changing the status quo. Heck even original female characters such as Rey from the new Star Wars films are getting criticised for 'intruding' popular previously male driven characters.
This puts me in a bit of a predicament as no matter who I side with, I will annoy certain people. I'm typically on the side of the SJWs because... well they mean well... why wouldn't they? They want justice and equality for all and I find that very admirable even if they get a bit preachy at times. The anti-SJW crowd annoys me more because I feel like they're just throwing the term around without knowing they mean. Now that my opinion's out there (and I'm hoping my followers are civil people) I should probably weigh in on this who increase in diversity.
As far as original characters are concerned, bring it on. We need more diversity in Hollywood and it's nice to see that actors of different genders and ethnicities finally getting work. In fact, we need more of this. Despite the fact that we finally have a good female driven superhero movie from DC, Wonder Woman, I've noticed that Disney and Marvel, despite churning out consistently strong films, has taken 11 years for them to finally give us a female driven superhero movie with Captain Marvel (and that's assuming it comes out in 2019).
Gender swapping is where it gets a bit tricky. The 2016 Ghostbusters film has taken a lot of flak for presenting an all female cast. Of course, it wasn't the only reason for the backlash with many taking issue with the fact that it was a reboot of a classic and the fact that it was poorly marketed didn't help either. I haven't seen this film at the time of writing as I myself thinks that the film doesn't look very good in terms of quality (I may be wrong, I need to see for myself) but the consensus seems to be 'eh' and that people have been worked up about nothing. I am confused as to why it was a reboot as it could've easily have worked as a sequel with the old cast passing the torch to the new cast similar to the new Star Wars movies but at the same time, there's nothing wrong with an all female cast since they are original characters after all with new and different personalities (I think, again I haven't seen the film). What does worry me is how they handle the male characters as I've heard they're all either idiots or evil. Look, I know that in the past, it was the other way around but come on! This isn't any better! Both male and female characters should get equal treatment when it comes to portrayal.
Case in point: Wonder Woman. Despite it being a girl power film with an island of all female Amazons and the main protagonist being tough and inspirational, the male protagonists get equal treatment being genuinely helpful throughout the film. Honestly, more films should do that! Feminism, for me, is the belief in total gender equality. No battle of the genders or 'us and them' mentalities, just equality and harmony. If what I hear about Ghostbusters' treatment of male characters is true, then I feel like it suffers from the same problems as male driven Hollywood movies only reversed.
Then again, female Ghostbusters is not a bad idea since... well... who doesn't want to bust ghosts? (Well me for starters but hey, no-one should be excluded from the issue). In fact gender swapping characters isn't too bad of an idea IF, and this is a very big IF, it doesn't betray what the original characters stand for. Though I'm all for a female Doctor since the character's an alien who's personality changes with each actor who plays him/her, I'm against the idea of a female James Bond. James Bond is the embodiment of masculinity. He drives expensive cars, wears tuxedos, gambles, drinks a lot of alcohol and, most crucially, is a massive womanizer. Making James Bond a woman (Jane Bond?) would take away the masculine fantasy that many men have (i.e. saving the world and sleeping with as many women as they want). I'm all for a strong female spy character that regularly assists James Bond but not Bond himself. A black Bond however, I'm more than okay with (#elbaforbond).
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that gender swapping is fine but Hollywood etc shouldn't go too mad with it. I'd much rather have new well-written female characters that Hollywood risking missing what makes those stories and characters work to begin with. I am worried that the female Lord of the Flies would change too much of the original story since there are inherent differences between males and females for it to be a direct adaptation and even if there wasn't and the story is still the same, why do it? What's the point?
The rise of diversity in film is an wonderful thing and neither feminists or SJWs are ruining Hollywood but Hollywood should be careful about implementing diversity at the expense of either reskinning the problem or even making too many changes to the source material.
And for those commentators from both sides of the arguments who are being nasty to the opposing side... just try to be civil with each other. I know that's apparently a difficult thing to do but just try. I don't care who's right, if you're being nasty then you're wrong in my eyes and you should fix that attitude.
Well I hope that was a fair and constructive argument. I might have to run and hide in case I annoy certain members of my followers but hopefully you lot will be nice to myself and others and I hope you won't send me hurtful or hateful comments at my general direction. I did the best I could with a topic as delicate as this. If you don't want to come after me with a pitchfork and torch then be sure to like my Facebook page 'Joel Mole' and to share this around any possible forms of social media. You can also leave ideas on what topics I should cover next time and until I do this again, fair the well good people of the internet!
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