>>107298654It's interesting how our enjoyment of works can be impacted by those we identified with. As a Brit, I used to be bothered by so many villains being played by british actors/having british accents.
But then, it used to be a way of making a villain sound smarter and superior to the ordinary white american protagonists, so I got over it. I was rooting for the villain on more than one occasion though.
I can see how having black characters (and female characters, latino asian etc) to identify with is important. And of course a positive character is needed - a surplus of black villains sends the wrong message.
However, I've heard that writing a black character presents a challenge; good characters are often flawed - they have a temper, are alcoholic, make reckless and stupid mistakes etc. But many writers hesitate to make obviously flawed black characters - for various reasons. So you then have black characters who are flawless superhumans, or just bland and boring.
As for the 'muh forced diversity' crowd, fuck 'em. They'll get mad if they see any black character anywhere.
The idea that black characters MUST deal with black issues is, I think, a tricky one. You don't want to pigeonhole a black character as only dealing with racism, but it seems like if they live in a world where racism doesn't exist, that's a different kind of escapism, and probably to the benefit of the white viewers more than the black ones.
Either way, it's a tricky line to walk when writing a black character. And that's not even touching on the Tumblr crowd who insist that only a woman can write good female characters, only a black person can write good black characters etc.
Thanks for answering - as an amateur writer it's always useful to hear how people view fictional characters - particularly those types that I have little direct experience with (I live in a very white part of england).
