The latest news out of Marvel regarding Spider-Man: Homecoming was quite a doozy: while early reports claimed that she would be playing a character named “Michelle,” Zendaya could in fact be playing Peter Parker’s most iconic love interest, Mary Jane Watson. While many saw this casting as a positive step forward to encourage diversity, there was (as there always is) a vocal faction against casting a woman of color. “Only a redhead can play Mary Jane!” became the rallying cry, leading many to roll their eyes at this narrow-minded view.
One of the leading voices speaking out is Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who had a very succinct response to the query on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/766479791054655488
Gunn expressed himself more fully in a lengthy Facebook post, where he explained that while he was not confirming the rumors (he doesn’t know for sure), he had gotten thousands of responses to that tweet, so he felt compelled to respond further. The entire post is worth a read, but one paragraph in particular hits the nail right on the head.
“I can’t respond to the racists – I’m not ever going to change their minds. But for the thoughtful majority of you out there:
For me, if a character’s primary attribute – the thing that makes them iconic – is the color of their skin, or their hair color, frankly, that character is shallow and sucks. For me, what makes MJ MJ is her alpha female playfulness, and if the actress captures that, then she’ll work. And, for the record, I think Zendaya even matches what I think of as MJ’s primary physical characteristics – she’s a tall, thin model – much more so than actresses have in the past.”
Gunn continued, explaining that diversity in casting is so critical because these films, despite their supernatural elements, need to reflect the world that we’re living in.
“Whatever the case, if we’re going to continue to make movies based on the almost all white heroes and supporting characters from the comics of the last century, we’re going to have to get used to them being more reflective of our diverse present world. Perhaps we can be open to the idea that, although someone may not initially match how we personally conceive a character, we can be – and often are – happily surprised.”
Gunn has addressed issues like this in the past, and as long as he keeps making so much sense, it’s difficult to argue with him.
(Via James Gunn’s Facebook)
