Does Representation matter in fiction?

I'm just curious from so many websites,SJWS and others have an obsession with Representation in films, shows, games, etc like demanding for more gay/trans/rest of LGBT's characters for the franchise or constantly praising about it in social media?

Is it that's important for a story or not at all?

I don't think its important to a story but I think it is important to society.

@jashro44: Oh alright thanks since i was just wondering about it.

@gokluma: No problem.

I think its somewhat important, like alot of ficton was made in era when people who are colored , suffer from disabilities or LGBT were seen as lesser people , so i guess its good that we are changing for the best

@jashro44: Oh alright and how do you felt about Representation?

I do think representation is important. You can definitely tell great stories without having it. We've seen evidence of that for years. Having different groups represented is not a pre-requisite for a great story.

That being said, the types of stories that come from a Black/Hispanic/Asian/Gay/Etc. background are stories that we rarely get to see. I think it's a good thing we're now getting to hear and see more from these groups because

A) It's just more representative of the population at large

B) You get a chance to learn something about other cultures/perspectives you might otherwise never gotten

C) It's just cool to see someone that looks like you up on the big screen, doing extraordinary things, as opposed to just being portrayed as a stereotype. That can be a very formative experience, especially for young people.

I think its important but I think it needs to be done right.

I think it’s important to story and society depending upon the material.

I'm against people trying to exert pressure to force artists to produce works with diverse characters or influence consumers to create a demand that they wouldn't have otherwise, it seems distasteful to mess around with people in that regard. But I can see why diversity in art might cause some kind of social good.

I don't think there's such a thing as a good story that includes diversity for the sake of diversity.

Yes and no. I love seeing different world, people, culture etc in my stories. I think it can be impactful when you see something that is relatable. Because our experience, where we live, our self does effect what we enjoy. I mean different movies can be praised differently in around the world. There a reason why some box office movies do better over seas than it does here.

But at the same time representation alone is not enough to make something good.

Fully agree.

It depends on the audience you’re trying to attract. If you plan on making most of your money on 18-49 yr old middle America white dudes, then don’t worry about it.

But a lesbian is naturally going to be driven to a comic with a lesbian plot because it’s not only relatable, but if all things are equal she’ll enjoy it more because half the story structure is already understood by the audience.

Think about if you read a comic with a character who practices Southern Mongolian customs. Every page will be, “Why is he doing that?” “That was stupid.” “Where did he come to that conclusion?”

Obviously I’m exaggerating both hypotheticals to some extent, but it does have an effect. For business purposes, spread your wings, try and hit all demographics. If you are selling 50 different books at once, and 35 of them are the same white people with the same white people problems, are you really maximizing your revenue?

Of course. I just don't like how some people's idea of representation is taking pre-existing characters and changing their race and gender.

@theamazingspidey: well said

yup

one other comment. i think by forcefeeding diversity they're addressing a problem the wrong way.
Comics struggle to appeal to the younger generation and its rly not because of the lack of diversity.
Look at the MCU for instance extremely popular but rly, not that diverse.
The issue I think is the form and nature of comics.
The paper, monthly disitribution of comics is missing a generation that is digital- and doesn't adhere to
the monthly releases prior generations were locked too.
Furthermore, comics are just harder to get into. The branding is awful in Marvel. Thor in the MCU is
unrecognizable in the comics, doesnt have a flagship presence in video games. IE all that hurts..

Marvel needs consistent branding across platforms with unified story telling not antiquated distribution and media.

Diversity is important. Just don't mess with the OG characters that are already in the film/show and change a characteristic of an already created character just for shits and giggles. You're better off adding a new character with the characteristics you want to the movie or show.

Yes, however it needs to flow naturally through the medium. Too often these days it feels as if someone is marking off a checklist. No group is better served by tokenism.

Not to me really although I suppose I can understand why it might matter to some. Even though I do think that they are making a bigger deal out of it than it should be.

But I'll definitely agree that it depends on the execution.

Those people seek for attention, they just want to tell that they exist, mere political correctness, of this way, they indirectly blackmail recognized authors which might not agree to introduce those personifications in their stories and if it doesn't happen in a long term, they start throwing biased suppositions against.

The LGBT community will force their acceptance into your throat and if you don't accept them even though you're not attacking them but you're just keeping distance, they will call you a bigot, uncivilized and so on, the LGBT is just part of the liberal NPC agenda.

It's most certainly important for society.

As long as the story doesn't suffer because of it or anything like that I have no problem with it.

For a story, unless one of the main themes is about race/gender/sexuality/whatever, not really.

Just tell your story. If it has a man who wears a plastic Woman suit and makes love to cactuses in it, then good.

I thought identity politics were bad ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No.

No, stop complaining if a character isn't gay.

What matters is the story and the characters. If the character is well written, then I don't give a crap what race, sex, sexual preference, religion, etc. they might have

Only if you’re weak minded.

But you were fine with the decades of pressure on artists to produce works without it. Let's not forget here if Wolverines creator would have had his way Wolverine would be bisexual.

@stahlflamme: In future, please ask my opinion before making assumptions followed by accusations. To my knowledge I was never fine with “decades of pressure”, I’ve been a comic fan for less than a decade, Wolverine is almost two and a half decades older than I am.

On the Wolverine example specifically, I have no knowledge about his conception. Although I feel I should point out that when creators don’t make characters diverse because of a pragmatic decision making process to sell products then, though unfortunate, that is fine by me. An example would be the criticism leveled against JK Rowling when she revealed Dumbledore was gay after the series end, which was perceived as cowardly to not put in the series proper.

When I say that I am against people exerting pressures to force diversity, I should also say that I am against the inverse - where people try to exert pressure to create homogenous casts.

No