I know we've talked about this a ton of times before, and god knows I've seen it in fandom, but it still saddens me, because it feels like a lot of really cool characters get short shrift.
For a little while, I was kinda on the edge of Pacific Rim fandom. Now, my favorite character in it, hands down, was Marshal Pentecost. (Probably not a huge surprise.) I found it awesome to see this character, this chronically ill, TERMINALLY ill character, surrounded by angry loose cannons. He wasn't the boss because he was the biggest cowboy; he was the boss because he had discipline and control and sheer force of personality. I feel like that's a character type I don't see very often in American action movies; there, the bosses are usually antagonists, the Man keeping the loose cannon from flying free.
But I didn't get to see many representations of him as a disabled character. Folks seemed to focus more on the two scientists, Gottlieb and Geiszler. And sure, Gottlieb totally is disabled, but as far as I knew, with Geiszler it was entirely headcanon. But I saw so many people projecting their own experience onto Geiszler--oh, he's autistic, he's ADD--when for me, Marshal Pentecost jived more with my image of myself as a disabled person. (Or more accurately, the kind of person I would LIKE to be.)
When I think about it, a lot of the disabled characters I saw myself in tended not to be white. And it seems kinda weird to think about, because how many canon disabled POC are there in media, right? That seems like it'd be a pretty small piece of the pie. But it seems odds are decent, somehow, at least with cyborgs. Cyborg from Teen Titans, Em from the Portals Series, Honesty from Miles and Honesty... I guess maybe cyborg stuff could be used as an analogy for racism, so it was considered a natural combo. (Sometimes with gross results--looking at YOU, 'Almost Human.')
I also find myself thinking about how I've never been deep into fandom, but I've kinda pulled away from it recently. I find myself impatient; I want REAL trans or queer or disabled characters, not headcanons and fandom twists on existing characters. As much as we'd like to pretend, Marvel is NEVER going to allow Captain America and Bucky to kiss--except maybe in some Elseworlds mini-special. And I'm lazy! I don't want to have to do all the work of imagining the demographics I want to see represented! That's what FICTION is for, eesh!
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For a little while, I was kinda on the edge of Pacific Rim fandom. Now, my favorite character in it, hands down, was Marshal Pentecost. (Probably not a huge surprise.) I found it awesome to see this character, this chronically ill, TERMINALLY ill character, surrounded by angry loose cannons. He wasn't the boss because he was the biggest cowboy; he was the boss because he had discipline and control and sheer force of personality. I feel like that's a character type I don't see very often in American action movies; there, the bosses are usually antagonists, the Man keeping the loose cannon from flying free.
But I didn't get to see many representations of him as a disabled character. Folks seemed to focus more on the two scientists, Gottlieb and Geiszler. And sure, Gottlieb totally is disabled, but as far as I knew, with Geiszler it was entirely headcanon. But I saw so many people projecting their own experience onto Geiszler--oh, he's autistic, he's ADD--when for me, Marshal Pentecost jived more with my image of myself as a disabled person. (Or more accurately, the kind of person I would LIKE to be.)
When I think about it, a lot of the disabled characters I saw myself in tended not to be white. And it seems kinda weird to think about, because how many canon disabled POC are there in media, right? That seems like it'd be a pretty small piece of the pie. But it seems odds are decent, somehow, at least with cyborgs. Cyborg from Teen Titans, Em from the Portals Series, Honesty from Miles and Honesty... I guess maybe cyborg stuff could be used as an analogy for racism, so it was considered a natural combo. (Sometimes with gross results--looking at YOU, 'Almost Human.')
I also find myself thinking about how I've never been deep into fandom, but I've kinda pulled away from it recently. I find myself impatient; I want REAL trans or queer or disabled characters, not headcanons and fandom twists on existing characters. As much as we'd like to pretend, Marvel is NEVER going to allow Captain America and Bucky to kiss--except maybe in some Elseworlds mini-special. And I'm lazy! I don't want to have to do all the work of imagining the demographics I want to see represented! That's what FICTION is for, eesh!