Black + Magic = Voodoo?
I’m putting this response to Dane’s comment to my earlier post here because it is one of my typically longwinded blathering rants that I’m convinced is so very important that it needs its own pictures and such.
My main issue with Empress is when you want a black magical character then voodoo is the default answer. It's played out: Papa Midnight, Brother Voodoo, etc. There was one in Preacher, but he was modern. Maybe back in the 90s it wasn't so bad, but I don't want to see anymore of this archetype for awhile.
Ah, I see. You are looking at it backward from how I am. I'm seeing that if they want a Voodoo character, they make the character black. And you are seeing that when they want a black magical character, the character gets his powers from Voodoo. I kind of see your point, but...
A. Aegis, the Spectre, Bloodwynd, Dr. Mist, Freedom Beast, Jakeem Thunder, Vixen, Spawn, and King Peacock are all black characters who have magical powers who aren’t into Voodoo. Spawn is a more prominent character than any of the Voodoo related characters and his magical origins have nothing to do with Voodoo. He, the Spectre, and (to a lesser extent) King Peacock all have their origins in Christian magical traditions. So “default answer” seems overstated, and as I said above, it begins with the assumption that character was envisioned as black first and Voodoo second, and not Voodoo first and black second.
B. Empress is in the main DCU. Papa Midnight is in that Vertigo Universe with a lot of the other magical characters, but he doesn’t seem to crossover into the main DCU. Brother Voodoo is in the Marvel universe. So basically there is one Voodoo using hero in each universe. To me, that doesn’t seem like an overused archetype. While there are a few more villains around using Voodoo (e.g. Houngan & Black Talon), I'm not sure there are more Voodoo connected heroes. I guess one might count Simon William Garth, the Zombie, as being a hero, but calling him a hero is stretching things a bit. He was more of a plot device, IMHO. And there’s Voodoo from the W.I.L.D.Cats, but her powers are alien in origin more than they are Voodoo generated. And one might note that both of these characters are white. Personally, I suspect that the folks involved in Voodoo might appreciate more Voodoo practicing heroes, considering the bad rap Voodoo gets.
C. “Gets powers from Voodoo” seems to be a less common origin than “gets powers from mutation” or “gets powers from pseudo-scientific invention.” I’m willing to bet we could name far more black characters who got their powers from their own personal genius (e.g. Bill Foster, Night Thrasher, Steel, Mr. Terrific, Ultimate Falcon, Jack-in-the-Box, Nighthawk of Supreme Power, Prowler, & Technocrat) than we could heroes who get their powers from Voodoo. We could probably name more heroes who get their powers from rings than from Voodoo even if we count all the Green Lanterns as one. Hmm, Green Lanterns, Booster Gold, Freedom Ring, Insect Queen, and umm, come on – there have got to be more! I could site Webwoman, Shazzan, and the Thing from the cartoons (“Thing ring, do your thing!”), or would that be cheating?
D. Other religious traditions have quite a few heroes, and they are frequently more prominent characters. I would point out that virtually all magical traditions have some ethnic connection. For instance, there are tons of Native American magical types that all tend to use some (pseudo?) variant of shamanistic traditions of Native Americans. The whole devil obsession is pretty much an invention of Europeans and there are quite a few white characters what have devil connected background (e.g. Ghost Rider, Son of Satan, Satanna, Blue Devil, Kid Devil, the Demon.) And it seems to me you are saying that you'd like to see more black Satan-empowered characters (e.g. Spawn and to a lesser extent, King Peacock – his religion is complicated!) More of those generically magical blacks that don't have any connection to an actual religious tradition like Dr. Strange. I'm fine with that, but I'd point out that there are fewer Voodoo-connected characters than there are characters connected to Native American shamanism (e.g. Shaman, Talisman, Manitou Raven, Manitou Dawn, Forge, Puma, Flying Fox), Judeo-Christian magic (e.g. those Satan-related above and Zauriel, the Spectre – who is black now, Ragman, the Confessor, Hellboy, and even for a short time the Punisher), and Greek myth (e.g. Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, Capt. Marvel and Marvel family, Hercules, Ares, Aegis – who is black, btw.) With all of these characters from other magical traditions around, why would the few Voodoo related characters be considered overkill?
I’m going to go a little overboard here and say that I think we could bring a little of Obama’s recent speech on race to comic related topics and say that we can look at black characters and get out of sorts about how this or that might be perceived as racist -- no matter how slight the evidence -- , or we can work for the broader goal of having more inclusive comics with out constantly squabbling about minor details that may or may not be evidence of racism. Frankly, by saying we shouldn’t have any more black Voodoo characters, we are limiting the roles of blacks in comics. There is no stereotype of blacks in the US as being into Voodoo. No one passes black people on the street and suspects them of being into Voodoo simply because they’re black. There isn’t an overabundance of Voodoo practicing blacks in comics. There are real issues of racism, stereotypes, and a lack of inclusion in the world in general and comics in particular, but “an overabundance of black Voodoo characters in comics” does not appear to be one of them. Calling out Peter David as a racist or an uncreative hack or whatever because he created what I believe is the main DCU’s first and only Voodoo-empowered, black hero is not helping to increase the inclusion of blacks or religious minorities in comics. It’s doing just the opposite.
Over in a comic discussion group I belong to, someone said that hiring a black actor to do the voice for Timberwolf in the Legion cartoon is evidence of racism because the casting director is assuming that black voices are related to anger and bestial qualities. I would suggest that telling casting directors they well be accused of racism if they cast blacks in roles where the character is angry or bestial is not helping to increase the presence of black actors in media, especially if the only evidence you have of the racism is that they hired a black actor. Wouldn’t not hiring an actor because he’s black for an angry or bestial role also be evidence of racism? Isn’t saying that the actor only got his role because he is black kind of a slap in this guy’s face because it implies that he didn’t get the role because he was the best actor?
Something similar happens with gay characters. If the character exhibits any traits that might be perceived as stereotypically gay, someone (who is frequently gay) says that the portrayal is offensive. However, if the gay character has no traits that might be perceived as stereotypically gay, someone (who is frequently gay) says that the portrayal is offensive because the character has been created to be palatable to straight guys by removing anything that might make the character seem too gay. If a lesbian character is added, we hear either that the character was created to be a beautiful lesbian sex fantasy for straight boys or that the character is homely because they are stereotyping lesbians as being unattractive. This kind of well-meaning sensitivity is not helping to get gay/lesbian characters into comics. Rather, the very people who want more gay/lesbian characters are frequently the same people who sabotage the sales of those characters by complaining about how offensive they are.
It seems to me that our well-meaning efforts to combat racism, our efforts to increase inclusion, are often backfiring by attacking people in comics who are actually increasing the level of inclusion in comics.
Comments
But man, I really relate to your last three paragraphs. Without making a big deal about it, I try to include a wide variety of characters when writing my own comic book, but I get really worried writing some characters. I've been reading a feminist blogs for about three months now (I'm rather new to the scene, but I'm reading a lot and fascinated by it all) and I try to avoid a lot of plot tropes that seem to upset women readers. Whenever I do portray a woman in a negative light though, I often think how female readers may interpret them. Scenes in comics that I think are quite mild seem to upset many feminist bloggers, like Wonder Woman showing a willingness to compromise for a guy she's interested in.
The same thing happens when I write gay characters. I feel like I'm walking the line between making him "too gay" or I'm overshadowing his gayness. What defines a homosexual anyway, besides sexual preference? I'd like to think not much else (I've worked with effeminate gays and others that people would consider quite masculine), but elements of a homosexual seems to depend on different groups' definitions of it more than anything else.
Sometimes I think for most creators it's better to stay away from tackling such characters because the consequence of being labeled a bigot or a racist is simply too high a price to pay.