Why Swaps Are Stupid
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2023
- Race and Gender swaps lead to terrible writing because the writers think the swap itself is already so interesting.
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No, Bucky shouldn't have been Captain America either.
The really sad thing is that you can see the good parts of TFATWS under all the garbage. The show should have been about Sam and Bucky's characters and also Sam and Bucky's relationship. The parts that that touched on those things were great. Unfortunately, most of the show was about a character who wasn't even on screen: Steve. Couple that with the writers wanting to make everything about race and clumsily trying to do the "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" thing, and you get a show that is about 40% crap.
The attempt to make Walker a bad guy was also handled so poorly that a lot of people like him now. They were trying to go for a Homelander thing and missed so badly. Now THERE'S a well done villain who thinks he's actually the good guy main character.
@@gregowen2022 Also, The Boys is a much better example of a "woke" superhero show done right. I've seen Twitter comments claiming that The Boys makes fun of conservatives, but my conservative friend offline recommended the show to me, and we both enjoy the show a lot. It goes to show how well good writing can transcend political differences.
If I understand the original comics correctly, Sam was made to be the new Captain America briefly at least. So on one hand they are trying to make a reference to that.
But I agree that referencing original comic material can only justify so much(that they end up just ignoring anyway). The overall execution of this show is terrible and that we can agree on.
12:11 About them blaming your family I am sorry about that backlash. That is only something children do, that’s why Hollywood has no actual adults.
@@CitizenPoehe killed so many people, I'm with you, I'm confused how Walker killing a guy is bad. I forgot about that scene from Civil War from the video where Sam has Red Wing bomb some guys, too.
If Disney cared about black represetation The Princess and the Frog should have been the first animated movie to get a live action remake.
This
There was this great Disney movie a long time ago that had a black actor who sang and told us all about his difficult childhood growing up during the civil war during slavery and how he overcame it, but Disney banned it for being racist. Most people can sing the words to Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah but have no idea what movie it's from because you can't buy it online or stream it anywhere in the US. You can of course view and buy it everywhere else in the world where people aren't obsessed and artificially offended by skin color.
That's the ONLY one I wanted live action.
I agree, but also I don’t want to see the horror of them doing realistic frogs and fireflies, lol
@@gregowen2022 Fair enough
I am a black man and I am in 100% support of this statement.
I appreciate that, thank you!
Wouldn't call myself black, but I am dark-skinned - and this video is absolutely correct.
Same here
Nice speaking your mind banks
This level of insulting swapping and pandering to me damages a lot I'd future stories centered on black leads because they only seem to default to "struggles in the current world on racism etc"
I am a white guy who grew up as the minority in most of my neighborhoods, and life was so much better when race wasn’t the first thing we thought about. Oh, and as a white guy; I too support this black man’s statement of support… in case that wasn’t clear. Just sayin’ 😂
Imagine feeling the need to ask a random person born a certain color if it was ok if their kid dressed up as his favorite super hero. Modern society sucks.
Modern American society, to be precise, but yeah, that’s the gist of it (read with Nebula’s performance in mind)
@@niccololugli62Incorrect. To be more precise, Canada is the same. Maybe worse.
It was a weird convo to have to have, but I like my neighbors so I wanted to check
@@Mossybrain101 The UK at large is pretty awful as well.
@@SelrisitaiI can imagine. I've been watching clips of you guys. Good luck to you.
"It's important because people need to see themselves" is an argument made by narcissists that can't see characters for their struggles and personality, and need everyone to look just like them in order to relate.
I agree. I don't understand the people who think that in order for someone to relate to a character, they need to be the same race as them. That is total BS. I am a Hispanic man and if I thought like that, I would hardly relate to anything. Thankfully, I am not racist, and I understand that people are more than what their skin tone is. You see yourself in a character because of their personality, their struggles, their likes and dislikes. NOT because of their skin... it's sad that people believe this and then try to impose it on people. 😔
And shallow narcissists at that. I'm white and just because I see a white person on-screen doesn't mean I feel "represented" - and I don't care about being "represented" on screen. The whole point of cartoon characters being animals is that children learn to connect with them no matter what they look like.
Man, did you nail it:
-hackneyed
-pandering
-writers think it’s so cool
-reduction to race/gender/sexual orientation
And that buy me dinner/mind blow line was hilarious
I wonder if you have seen 'Why blockbusters are worse now' by "Some More News" or the Raceswap-Videos by "Just Some Gu"?
I remember I actually was done when they literally dropped the stupid "Do better"
I mean that statement is always stupid. Comes from usually flawed people that think they can judge people
The living embodiment of the Military Industrial Complex telling a senator to 'Do better' was interesting
The whole speech was hilariously awful. What’s really funny is that the people who wrote that actually thought it was like a mic drop moment.
“You control the banks”. That’s other people’s money, Sam. You can’t just spend it how you feel
You know why. Whites are NOT procreating and blacks are expanding. Guess who the companies are betting on?@@gregowen2022
@@gregowen2022You mean... they can't just cancel debt? 😢
It felt awful because it's the equivalent of handing over all the problem and the task to solved it to the other side completely without looking back. It's a manipulative way of saying:
"Well that's yo problem solely now. Now go and fix it !!"
The one critique of the show FATWS you didn’t mention is how Sam was given the blessing of none other than Steve Rogers himself at the end of Endgame only for Sam to go “Naw I’m not worthy despite what Captain America told me to my face”
and then gives up the shield. The writers go out of their way to create drama where there should be none and then spend the next six episodes to get back to where we were with Endgame.
Exactly, I was frustrated at his decision until he met the Bradley guy for the first time, and we hear about the injustice done to him, and I thought to myself, "Why wasn't this in episode 1, why so late in show" or why wasn't this secretly his reason for refusing the shield because if I'm not mistaken, wasn't that Sam Wilson first time ever meeting Bradley? It was really too late to explore his decision between the mantle and standing up for what happened to Bradley.
In Spider-Man: Far From Home Peter didn’t think he was worthy of Tony’s EDITH glasses, he gives them to Mysterio, chaos ensues, Peter’s terrified and injured during his rock bottom moment, has a heart-to-heart with Happy, finally accepts he can still be Spider-Man *and* carry on Tony’s legacy. He was never the “new” Iron Man. I would’ve loved to have seen that with Sam Wilson. I can understand if he didn’t feel worthy of the shield - there’s the set-up for an awesome character arc. Sam realizes he can still be Falcon *and* carry Captain America’s shield. Hell, everyone remembers when Steve lifted Mjölnir and beat the shit out of Thanos….
Though personally I disliked living up to Iron Man being Spider-Man’s character arc
I think the Far From Home thing was good, though I agree that him discovering that he doesn’t need to be Iron Man would be good. It makes a little more sense in that movie since Peter and Tony have kind of a father/son relationship, but there’s definitely room for improvement there.
As for Sam, I like your idea. He and Steve were close, so Steve could inspire him or something, but trying to take up his mantle just sets Sam up for failure
@@gregowen2022for the iron man, it would be interesting if they developed iron patriot. He was actually cool, had a cool suit, and was able to handle situations better than tony sometimes. I don't know why they dropped the character
In the comics, it's Bucky who takes up the shield under two conditions.
1: any secret mental conditioning from his days as the Winter Soldier had to be telepathically removed
2: he would answer only to himself
Why Marvel wouldn't follow through with this, I don't know.
As a black man, I could not agree more. First of all, I found your channel 3 months ago, and it's becoming one of my favorites! I really appreciate the work you put into your content.
Even from a young age I never understood the concept of liking or being interested in something because of my skin color. It is one of the most foolish ways to live life. I'm also tired of being told I will like something or need to like something because I'm black. One of the best things I learned from my father was that my morals, character, and faith should dictate how I live my life. He never mentioned our race as something that would hold me back. As a result, I am very successful, well versed, and respected in my community. People take notice of someone who is different. I am different because I do use my skin color as my identity.
I am a white dude from a mayo white suburb. In approx 1989, I met my lifelong best friend in 1st grade. He was the only black kid within 10 miles. Which had nothing to do with our friendship. I didn't even know what a black person was. My brother still thinks this is hilarious, but when they dropped me off for my day of school, I asked my mom why that boy was brown.
But a few hrs later, we were playing football and kickball together. And that was the foundation of our friendship that has spanned 30 years. I miss the 90's approach of being color blind.
Unfortunately, the grievance economy is very profitable for people preaching about inequity. The demand for racism is outpacing the supply of racism by a wide margin, so now ppl focus on insignificant nonsense.
Found this channel about a month ago and couldn’t agree more. It’s so refreshing to hear opinions that are logically planned out and researched, and not the self-censored and regurgitated “”unpopular”” opinions you’ll hear from people with more subscribers.
I have to admit, it almost feels wrong watching some of Greg’s videos sometimes because he shares different opinions with good backing evidence, but I’m happy that the algorithm threw this in my face.
Well spoken, when I was little, Blade was the coolest hero ever, everyone wanted to be Blade, I'm from Europe so we only had the one black kid at my school, but we never thought about that, we all took turns playing Blade, quoting the movie.
Because your race doesn't hold you back. The victim mentality does. And instilling the victim mentality from a very young age is much more detrimental to black people, or women for that matter, than any external difficulties, like prejudice or discrimination.
Well said my fellow black man! I’m the same way! My father was absent like some in our communities, but my mother was a teacher and taught me morals, values, self worth and hard work and dedication. My step father did also! I 46 and grew up loving metal, punk rock, the breakfast club, the outsiders, you know all the things that made other black kids call me white! Today, I’m a US Naval Veteran, I work in Defense Weaponry as an Electronic Technician, and I even have a Real Estate license. I never play victim, I taught both of my sons to not play victim! There hasn’t been one white man that’s told me what I can’t do, shit I’ve been surrounded by white men who congratulate me for my accomplishments and told me I can reach the sky! Seeing race divides us, and that’s what the powers that be want! To divide and conquer us all!
6:52, ironically enough in 2002, DisneyToons actually made a movie about Wendy’s daughter Jane becoming the first girl to join the Lost Boys and it was actually good
It's like they don't care about Falcon himself. He was danm cool in winter soldier. It's like they forgot about that. He'll also never be able to fill captain america's shoes either.
It was such a silly premise to even compare him to Captain America. He’s his own man!
same with war machine / iron patroit. I'm brown but still was intrigued by war machine. It was extremely cool character and was toe to toe with tony
I like to tell people that say diversity and swapping is important that we should reboot black panther with Michelle Rodriguez because black panther in Spanish is Pantera. The first thing they say is that being black is part of the black panther lore and character. Odd that that's when they're all for respecting the lore
Hahaha, that would be hilarious, and honestly might work in a way. I bet they get real attached to the lore then
"It's meant to hurt just a little bit."
And this is why you're one of my favourite UA-cam creators. The father energy is real.
He brings that big daddy energy to all his videos. LOL So far he hasn’t made one video I didn’t enjoy or agree thoroughly with. Hope his channel gets picked up by the algorithm soon.
"yeah son, that's the point"
The problem is that these swaps are becoming more and more out of pure unadulterated spite and hate rather than just laziness, I realized that back when they race-swapped Heimdall (no disrespect to Idris Elba, he is a fine actor)
And here is how I figured it out, I usually research mythology (mainly Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Norse) for my art projects, so while researching some Norse mythology I came across Heimdall, and it really surprised me when one of his titles was "the whitest among the gods" because he was really pale according to Norse mythology, when they take that one specific character and cast a black actor to play as him it's not a coincidence or just laziness, it's intentional to spite people, specially people familiar with Norse mythology and culture.
Then of course it started happening with historic characters like Anne Boleyn former queen of England and it became clear this is intentional and hateful not just sloppy pandering, really disgraceful and abhorrent.
I didn’t know that about Heimdall😅 The Anne Boleyn swap was just weird, though, and I say this as a black woman…
Yeah it's quite insulting, being from the Nordic countries myself, stay away from doing strange things with our ancestors gods, and a fricking love Idris Elba, he is one of my favorite actors, but a Heimdall he is not.
Swaps are essential. How else can they make rehashing the same old crap over and over through reboots and sequels interesting? Like you said, it's a crutch.
Yeah, it's basically comes down to quick buck. It's easy to not write a bew story and just raceswap everyone.
Hahaha, true. Without swaps, the output from Hollywood would drop 90%
@@gregowen2022There are perhaps times where swaps may be necessary. Look into why they changed the ancient one in Doctor Strange as one example. However, there are also times when it's perhaps not necessary like with the example you used about them having a black tinker bell when they could have just used Iridessa 🤔.
@@CLDJ227 Swapping/inclusion isnt inherently bad, the problems is that they just do it to pretend they care about them. In the past swapping wasnt done with those bad intentions and thats why it worked there (For example: Nick Fury, who first was white. Disney's Princess and the frog, a story originally from Europe)
Completely agree. I'm a Hispanic woman and some of my favorite characters in entertainment are men and not just for the eye candy. 😉 I just find they're typically better written and have great stories and arcs. Even if we're not the same sex nor race, I identify with their struggles. That's what I never understood about all these "so you can see yourself as person because they're this color". Someone does not have to look like me for me to empathize with them and that is one thing these one-dimensional "race-baiting and swapping, calling everyone a racist or phobe for not liking something" people lack, it's empathy. It's rather sad to see. 😕
Agreed. I'm a 49 year old dude and Million Dollar Baby is one of the most inspiring and soul crushing movies I have ever seen. The fact that the movie is about a female boxer has no impact on my ability to respect the obstacles that the protagonist overcomes.
I also think her mentality is super admirable. She absorbs some nasty insults from some of the male boxers at the gym and not only does she shrug it off, she responds with a devastating insult of her own. She is super stubborn, but also eager to learn. She starts out as a horrific fighter and gradually improves throughout the movie.
And the best part is, they didn't just swap a chick into the Rocky franchise and make her unbeatable right out of the gate. Original character, original movie and no built-in audience. And the movie has been universally loved by almost everyone. No one ever complained about her being a Mary Sue or questioned the decision to make a movie about a female boxer because the movie stood on it's own 2 feet.
Same here!
A Filipino woman here! I love my fav male characters who are awesome and I can relate to them.
I kind of forgot how cool the falcon was in the movies. After watching the series all I can remember is that he’s oppressed and sad. Great video though, I really enjoyed your take.
Plus, Anthony Mackie has the charisma and acting ability to become the focus of the next MUC phase. They just need to give him better material
As I was grabbing material for the video I was reminded of just how cool he was, and funny! This show was shameful, but I hear they are changing the movie in response to the criticism of phase 4. Hopefully they treat him right going forward
@@EverettBurger He was a character I liked, then disliked when he got his own show. Mackie is great, as is with much of Disney material.. everything is par or better, except for the writing. It's awful.
I recently watched the MCU Infinity Saga for the first time. Falcon became one of my favorites! Never seen him butchered in the show but it really sucks that they threw away a great character to turn him into Black Captain America. He deserved to be more than that.
Another example of this that I think is particularly interesting is the Supergirl series’ version of Jimmy Olsen. Not only did they make him black instead of giving some attention to underrated and ALREADY black DC character John Henry Irons, but they even added insult to injury by having him dawn a superhero persona with silver armor (Guardian). That’s literally John Henry Irons becoming Steel, but moved over to Jimmy Olsen FOR NO REASON. And on top of that, the character of Winn even acts somewhat as a stand-in for OG Jimmy Olsen (white, under-appreciated in the workplace, etc.). So, why not just let Jimmy be John and Winn be Jimmy!? It gets on my last nerve when a movie or show could so easily have had its cake and eaten it only to go out of its way to screw it up. They could so easily have gotten their brownie points for racial inclusivity AND stayed faithful to the Superman mythos by just using Steel instead, but that would apparently make too much sense for modern entertainment.
Future swaps. Seven Brides for Seven Sisters. 12 Angry Women (That one will write itself)
12 Angry Women would only take 30 minutes. 5 minutes to unanimously demand the death penalty or 25 minutes to discuss fashions and gossip, like a Real Housewives show
Hahaha, if Seven Brides for Seven Sisters had the kind of music we got in Little Mermaid like that Scuttle rap, it might collapse under the weight of its own awfulness
'Twelve Angry Women' actually exists. 'Adapted by Sherman L. Sergel. Based on the Emmy award-winning television movie by Reginald Rose.'
"12 Angry Women": you don't understand the rules of the swaps yet.
Snow White and the 7 Lincoln Lawyers?
They be talking about being able to "see themself in the character of the same race" while I see Optimus Prime and go "That's literally me"
I stopped reading books about girls when I was like ten, I didn’t really understand why I just knew that I didn’t enjoy them, now I know that it’s because even the girls who aren’t girl bosses are manipulative, whiny, and insecure.
I 100% agree! As a gay man, I am so tired of unorganic 'inclusion' (understanding this is mainly in regards to race, but also seeing it w/ orientation).
I have been saying this for so long to ppl. If you REALLY give damn about representation, then you would take the actual time it takes and put forth actual effort to create new and well written LGBT/POC/women characters, with their OWN backstory, rather than just taking a pre-established white/male/straight character and change the one feature and try to pass them off as the same, and just as good as the previous character. If y'all R too lazy to do that, then take the already lesser known characters and introduce them to the main audience and make them popular by giving them a well written movie/show...if you still can?
Good for you
honestly! retroactively changing characters orientation is one of the lowest forms of pandering.
TOTALLY AGREE!@@SCP-Dr_Bright
"Is the racism in the room with us right now?" LOL
Oof. OK. Here's my TL;DR version of my thoughts on this whole topic. It would be best if writers focused on writing good stories and maybe make interesting, original characters of various races/ethnicities/genders/etc. The problem is those movies/shows simply don't get made any more because studios are scared to take risks. Part of it is cancel culture, the other part is the fact that smaller budget films, etc. aren't viable any more since the secondary home video market was killed by streaming. Thus only big tent-pole $100-200M+ "blockbusters" are worth the investment or risk.
I love Anthony Mackie as an actor, loved him as The Falcon...he's not Captain America. That show was nothing but BLM scripts that I rolled my eyes on HARD until I tapped out...
Mackie is really enjoyable in Twisted Metal
It’s so hard to watch in some spots. When Sam and Bucky are acting like an old married couple, it’s excellent. When they are trying to make political statements with all the eloquence of a 5th grader, it’s unwatchable.
I’m going to try Twisted Metal this weekend. I’m seeing some dislike of it, but I’m so curious. Is it just bad bad? Or is it the kind of silly bad that makes it good?
@gregowen2022 I completely agree. Once again, Disney missed what made that duo so compelling. Can't wait to watch your review on Twisted Metal, I've been thinking about getting Peacock again. This might sway me.
The thing about these swaps is that I think they can work, but they won't surpass the originals. I remember the very issue where Sam Wilson became Captain America. I randomly bought it when it came out, and I loved it. I remember sitting through Endgame, and when Steve gave Sam the shield, I lit up like a Christmas tree. The problem is exactly what you said. They don't put effort into these swaps. They just expect you to see a different race or gender of a pre-established character and marvel at it. As someone who was rooting for Sam to become Cap if Steve retired or died, I am heavily disappointed with his MCU portrayal so far.
They certainly can work, it’s just a big hurdle and a lot of these writers don’t have the chops to get over it
I think making a new character is a way better option, Blade was so cool to me when I was a little kid. No need to swap anyone, make a new cool character, give him a nice arc with good writing, make him cool or deep or whatever you want. Comes with none of the baggage of having been someone else before.
It's easier mentally to get to know a new charafcter, instead of some strange new version of an existing character. Imagine if the next Batman movie came out, but now he is Wuce Brane, and instead of a billionare with dead parents he is now an orphaned sewage worker.
Could you make it work? Sure, but at that point, why not create a new super hero, because no matter how well you write Wuce Brane he'll always be compared to Batman if you name him as such.
How dare you, stop using your brain and consume this drivel like the good little drone that you are, now give the government and the giant businesses everything you have including your soul 😉
In another universe, Steve passes the shield to Sam and tells him it's now his.
Sam says, there will only ever be one Captain America..
Steve says, America still needs a symbol..I want you to be it.
Sam says he will.. But not as Captain America... And not as Falcon either.. He'll combine the two mantels into something new... Something that will never replace Steve, but stand along side him and what he represented.
Sam says, call me "Eagle"
Sam makes the regrettable choice to shave his head and paint it white.
I’m not a comics guy, so I don’t know if that’s a real thing, but it sounds awesome! That would be the kind of upgrade that would make sense for the character
The saddest thing about the falcon show is how much good stuff they had going, but just got buried in modern politics crap.
- sam & bucky being buddy-cop
- Fake Cap being the perfect embodiment of A Good Soldier
- Zemo.
- the community coming together to rebuild when the big companies refused to invest.
But i cant enjoy any of that without sitting through twice as much screentime in inplicit and explicit Race/Class lecturing
Well said, this was essentially my experience with the show as well - good and bad. Had the bones to actually be quite a solid-to-good show but the screeching race lecturing was very uninteresting. Shame.
Ha, he did the thing with the thing from screen rant pitch meeting, homage to Ryan this time! Just love these nods to other creators! Your videos are great!
Ha, I spend enough time watching UA-cam, it’s fun to put them in! Thank you so much!
@@gregowen2022It turned out great too! Seriously hope you keep adding some little skits here and there, very entertaining. :)
"Did your mind just buy me dinner? 'Cause I'm gonna blow it!" Bravo, sir.
You are exactly right. Falcon was already cool. He didn't need to be Captain America. He became LESS COOL as Captain America. Bucky should have become Captain America (as he actually needed a form of redemption, being a brainwashed assassin, so there would have been a heck of a lot more interesting conflict. And we'd get Captain America with a metal arm and a gun). Or just leave Captain America dead, and make a Falcon and Bucky movie. Whatever.
Well Bucky also has a version of the super-serum running through his veins to easily do all the feats Steve could do as Captain America. Giving Sam the shield to be Captain America just seems nonsensical. Where does he get the strength to throw the shield with any force?
Bucky could have taken the mantle of Captain America to honor Steve, and then rediscover a higher purpose being that symbol and defending liberty and freedom. After all, Bucky was also a soldier in the US Army.
Blacktain America is up there with Peter Darker in the top tier of joke names for these characters. Well done.
You hate Miles Morales?
@@EclipsingTNT can we not criticize Miles Morales now? He's kind of boring and bland.
@@DavidMartinez-ce3lpHow is he boring or bland?
I'm fond of the parody name "Jane FosThor".
Unless it’s Into the Spiderverse miles, every other rendition of miles is bland I boring, they always lazily write him and want him to be better than Peter in every way@@EclipsingTNT
Waht I fond particulerly disturbing is how they are REMARKABLY consistant about replacing originally ginger characters with black characters. Its like SCARILY consistent. I didnt know hollywood hated gingers like eric cartmen 😂😂😂
I still haven't gotten over the fact that DisneyToons was shut down before they could make their Iridessa-centric movie. They had plans to make films centered on each one of Tinkerbell's friends, but only managed to complete one before the franchise was canceled. The absolute disrespect of current-year Disney just race-swapping Tink instead of bringing back all her cool friends, smh.
I honestly have to agree with you Greg. Unfortunately Hollywood has lost it’s originality and almost every movie is basically a quick cash grab of already established stories. Just race swapping Lil Mermaid and Snow White doesn’t make it an original movie. It’s really exhausting and it’s getting hard finding original stories to watch anymore. I respect your honest takes and analysis, and that’s why I watch your channel 👍🏽.
Systemic strugglitis!!! That is gold!🤣 Your commentary here on the disservice to Falcon was eye-opening. As a woman, I am not impressed with gender swaps. They reek of pandering, inferiority complexes, and lack of creativity.
you nailed this topic. I am sick of race swapping and gender swapping characters. I think it is a lazy crutch for so called writers to use because they truly cant write.
"Thank you for Smoking" is an excellent recommendation! Especially that scene.
Great Take on this topic Greg, I agree peak Falcon Sam Wilson was "Civil War" his scenes were some of my favorite in "The Winter soldier"
I like that you mention Iridesa the tinker bell saga is surprisingly deep in lore and originality and deserve more attention and it could have been cool to see a different neverland story using Iridesa the fairy society and maybe exploring how the kids obtain the power to never get old that could have been cool and original movie plot
Did autocorrect rat you out, or do you actually find lore and world building sexually attractive?
I think "The Princess and the Frog" was a great example of how it could be done well: Take a well-known story and use it as inspiration to retell it in a different setting. So many great stories have done something similar-the "Lord of the Rings" was itself a retelling of the Germanic Ring Saga-and "The Princess and the Frog" stands on its own without drawing any unnecessary or unfavorable comparisons, while still giving us a new and entertaining view on a classic tale.
I'm so tired of race and gender swaps, and this idea that having someone of your race is the only way to "see yourself" in a movie. I'm a white woman, and the Disney character I relate to the most is Joe from Soul. His relationship with his creative passion really resonated with me.
It's an excuse for lazy writing. "We can't make the character relatable so we'll tell you you relate to it because it looks like you. There, call it a day guys!"
You know what would have been great? A scene with Sam and Bucky where Sam tells him that he should have been Captain America. Then Bucky straight up tells him that Steve asked him first, but Bucky declined it, saying that he had way too much baggage as the Winter Soldier.
I personally find it odd that Steve never offered it to Bucky first, because he is his literal best friend.
I can like a swap when it makes sense. Positive example: Kate Bishop. Yeah, she's mostly just female Hawkeye, but because she was inspired by Clint, respected him, and followed his guidance. Her character elevates the original one, and beyond that, she has her own backstory and stake in the ongoing story. Characters like Blacktain America on the other take on "mantles", because we need a new Captain America. Why? There are a lot of Avengers, Falcon himself was one. These characters are always compared to the original, becausd without the original, they are nobodies and they know it. And this comparison is always that they are better than the original, because come on audience, like them already, not realizing that shitting on beloved characters to elevate a new one makes us dislike the new one. And this is why it's so insulting for the groups they want to represent this way, they will just get more hate because of their talentless hack writing.
You gotta do better, Disney. You gotta step up
You control the screens! You can make more characters with an email!
You hit the nail on the head for the most part. I was looking forward to Falcon/WS out of the first line of shows they announced. But after what they did in WandaVision (a HERo tortures a small town and is allowed to walk away?) I was concerned. For Falcon/WS it was a perfect setup for a buddy-cop/odd couple adventure dynamic that was glimpsed at in CA: Civil War.
But yeah, instead we were lectured to and fed ridiculous notions to make Sam Wilson oppressed for being black. He couldn't secure a bank loan for his sister's boat? As a military veteran and top test pilot he doesn't get a pension from the US Govt? (pretty sure they also have specific loan programs for vets) Tony Stark never paid anyone for risking their lives for being an Avenger? Come on, man! I quit watching the show after cops randomly pulled up on the street in a black neighborhood and asked Bucky "Is this (black) man bothering you?" So stupid.
The only disagreement with your rant is that Miles Morales is still a swap. Spiderman is Peter Parker. Miles and Gwen are part of the Spiderverse. In the case of character property rights for the studio, one would not be able to sell off Miles or Gwen as their own entity, because they are derivatives of Spiderman. Miles also has no rogue's gallery of villains of his own. Although that may change with him facing off against Miguel, but i'm sensing it might be more of a team effort with Gwen. Still, they're not playing in their own sandbox. It's still Spiderman's. As Nerdrotic says "Peter Parker is Spiderman. Miles Morales is Miles Morales." Only time will tell if someone will come up with an epic storyline that is all Miles' own.
An interesting story for Falcon would be to continue the story from the winter soldier. What happened when to the veterans that someone was helping were they also dusted or were they left all alone? What happened to them when Falcon disappeared? Would have been also interesting to know who was Sam's wingman. Who was the guy that was sam partner? Did he really die the way he thought he did?
I agree. Sam was a good and authentic character worthy of becoming the New Captain America. He did not need to prove himself as already had done so. I felt the white guy was good but couldn't handle the pressure. Sam did not have to worry because he was already a respected hero
Many of us had huge problems with Scarlet in Ghost in the Shell!
gits casting director did it because scarjo was more bankable than any of the east asian actress
My dude, this video is simply the best. I can’t understate it 😅 you perfectly encapsulated the problem and no one else is talking about it (or at least, not as calmly and well)
My brother who watched it with me described it as “he made it not insulting to anyone”.
Please keep making videos like this 👊
God bless
Thank you for stating everything that has frustrated me about entertainment in the recent years much better than I could myself. Another thing I don't see discussed (specifically to Falcon / Capt America) is why does he even NEED to become Captain America? Why can't Sam lead the Avengers as Falcon? You touch on it a bit in your part about how they basically say Sam isn't good enough to be Cap by "having to live up to the legacy". So don't do it at all. Sam is badass all on his own as Falcon - as you very well illustrated. He has nothing to live up to. He's amazing in his own right, because of what he uniquely brings to the table. Marvel suggesting that he isn't worthy until he crams himself into the Captain America mold to some degree is insulting to the character AND the audience. Disney just can't stop ruining good things.
Well said, i feel the same way.
The best example I can come up with of a character who is a gender-swap working out all that well would be Danielle “Dani” Phantom in Nickelodeon’s animated children’s television series Danny Phantom (the main character’s nemesis wanted to create an evil clone of him and she was the closest he got.). Since in the show, her name, her powers and even her personality are deliberately modelled after that of Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom (the male protagonist) but after she stops being a pawn of the villain she actually develops as her own distinct character and it works out pretty well. With regard race swaps, they can (sometimes) work.
In The Batman, Jeffrey Wright plays Commissioner Gordon and honestly does a decent job and (to my knowledge) people don’t tend to complain about him being a race swap but with Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, people did complain (even though Eartha Kitt played Catwoman in the 60s) but I suspect that that wouldn’t have elicited much controversy if it weren’t for the character giving a shoe-horned in rant about white privilege.
I love the example you gave about your son. It completely proves that race swaps aren’t needed to lift up others in minority groups. Even Rachel zegler managed to destroy her entire argument by posting photos of herself dressed as Snow White when she was a KID, proving that she identified with her then, and proving that the characters race did not matter, especially to a child who couldn’t care less. To prove it further, I identify with miles morales. It’s not because I’m black or because I need to feel better about myself. It’s because the lessons those movies teach speak to me. It’s not about race. It’s about what the character can teach you and what you can walk away from the movie with.
As an African American I find them insulting. Like you mentioned these "characters" wouldn't be so bad if someone put effort and time into making them fully fleshed out. There are plenty of shows and movies that do this so well that I can tolerate and sometimes not even mind the underlying woke messaging. Good characters really make up for a lot
They’re creatively bankrupt. Solution? Adapt award winning books *without* changing them. Mistborn would be a great trilogy, Stormlight would be great for streaming - wish they’d make that series with Arcane animation. Amazon did a good job with Reacher. Even House of the Dragon was solid and that source material reads like a history text. Dune is going to be good….
i’ve never seen anyone put this bs into words so well and quickly, i hope this opens some eyes fr. you’re very underrated
See, I do think Bucky should have been Captain America (i know you said you don't). To me it makes sense because Bucky is the heart of all three Cap movies. He's what triggers Steve ditching the dancing monkey routine in TFA, Steve's whole objective is to save him in TWS, and of course he's at the heart of the conflict on CW. Plus it would've been a nice payoff for Bucky carrying the shield at some point in every Cap movie. Now i don't necessarily think it should've been passed directly from Steve. It would've had the same issues as all these other characters just inheriting mantels. Rather Steve dies fighting (i hate the whole sending him back in time thing), Bucky grabs it because it's a weapon, then it's just in his possession and he's been seen carrying it so the public starts calling him Captain America. He doesn't even have to accept the title, people will stop call him the name and he can go through his arc of wrestling with his past and all of that before either laying the shield to rest, or deciding to continue carrying it.
The idea of passing the torch can be well done imo. Carrying on a legacy or cause left by someone who came before doesn't have to overshadow the person stepping into the role of done well. But it isn't being done well. At all.
As for the pandering i am
1. Female
2. Half Chinese
Which probably works out to being allowed 3/4 of an opinion? I hate it. All around. And I'm glad so far Asians haven't been dragged too far into this mess but I'm sure they'll get to us eventually 😒
Swap rhe Female Characters to male!
Ha, that’ll only happen if they make them look stupid afterward
I'm a black woman and totally agree with you. I'm a long time comic book fan as well as well as Tolkien fan and I HATE these swaps! It's so disrespectful and senseless. But on the plus side, it does help me to know what not to watch.
they want popularity without earning it
Awesome video, Greg! Well written, nice pacing, excellent cut-ins and editing; it was very witty, and contained no sugar-coated nonsense. I loved it! I give it a 10/10!
I 1000% agree with this! I hate swaps they are sometimes cheap, slightly insulting, and lowkey racist.
1:18, Was that a Pitch Meeting reference? Wow, wow, wow. Wow.
It was easy to work in. Barely an inconvenience
@@gregowen2022 Wow, wow, wow. Wow.
As a former Percy Jackson fan who read the series all the way through the original PJ books and The Heroes of Olympus, this hit me really hard. Seeing Rick Riordan pull up that bullshit with the casting and gaslighting the fans for not being happy with the race-swaps completely destroyed my respect for the author to the point that I no longer had the passion for the source materials.
I agree. I was an old fan of PJO and I was excited to watch a "book accurate" adaptation that were promised to us by Rick but they couldn't get the cast right.... I'm disappointed that Rick decided to antagonised his fans for not liking his casting despite it obviously contradicting his promise. Is not like he didn't write a badass black heroine, Hazel is there and if that's not enough, he can write new characters for the series or revealed a character in the book to not have their race specify to be POC. Not that hard, PJO is already diverse but he pander instead and divided his fan base... I feel so bad for Annabeth's new actress, she's just a child but Rick had put her in a dangerous situation because he wanted to check some boxes :/
I have yet to find a swap that was beneficial or necessary to a story. I agree with you Greg, and it is even more annoying when there are fully realized, interesting characters of color in a story or world and they are excluded. The race swaps in the Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City movie were frustrating because they ignored existing characters like Sheva, a strong female lead of color.
Wow your definition of Kafkatrap pretty much sums up like ALL of the whole "White Fragility" program. Also, loved the whole dinner buying mind blowing riff. I don't know how yet, but I'm going to find a way to shoehorn that into a conversation.
Greg, I agree wholeheartedly. This sex/race swapping has been going on at Marvel comics for 20 years and it's usually perpetrated by folks who don't know much about the characters being affected. In the case(s) of the Disney/Marvel TV shows and the later MCU movies, they don't read comics so they don't know the characters (She Hulk showrunner/head writer name-escapes-me) and they are writing for some imaginary 'woke' audience that will totally get their 'hilarious' jab at a character that was admired and loved by millions before they even knew the character existed. I can't count the number of times I ranted to my friends about the laziness and lack of imagination in the comic and now video entertainment industry to re-use characters by changing the sex or race instead of doing justice by existing characters and coming up with new and unique characters with their own backstory and not just 'She's Tony Stark's daughter so she gets to be the new Iron Person. It just proves that this woke crowd has nothing original to say and no imagination other than 'Let's take this character and make them (Oppressed group du jour).' Props to the people behind the spider-verse.
I have always maintained that it would show more honor to any group by developing new characters with new abilities with their own origins to be part of the DC or Marvel comics or cinematic universes. Unfortunately, that takes too much time, effort and imagination for these lazy, useless, one-trick-pony wokies. More's the pity. Instead of expanding these universes they are being shrunk and distorted, i.e. FUBAR.
The best representation I've seen on screen recently was the end of the second season of Mando. Mando runs away to fight Moff, and we're left with four strong female characters fighting their way to the bridge. It's tense, it's climactic, it fits with their characters, I was so happy. I asked so many of my friends, "You realize they just made the best 'woman power's scene we're ever going to see?" And they were stunned because THEY DIDN'T REALIZE ALL THE HEROES WERE FEMALE
Brilliant! It’s a crime that you don’t have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Never commented on a UA-cam video before, but your videos are always just so well done. Keep them coming.
This is so on point. Give me badass, original black characters that are awesome on their own merits, but Disney doesnt want to actually put any real effort into that now do they? And I caught that pitch meeting reference 😄
its about popularity
@@ektran4205 Except that all of the things that are hugely popular now were complete unkowns when they were created. They were just the hopes and dreams of some passionate people who wanted to tell great stories.
Greg, I've been really loving your channel. You bring a really interesting perspective, without the "outrage" of a lot of similar channels. Keep up the great work
I was done with the super-hero trend when I realized that End Game was going to lean on time travel for its resolution. I did not go see it because I can count on one hand the number of time travel episodes that were decent and viable uses of the genre. With that in mind it is sad that Falcon's character arc had to end with him having to be Captain America. The better resolution would have been him deciding that he does not need to be Captain America but needs to be his own type of patriotic superhero now and choose to upgrade to American Eagle or some other cool name.
They needed to retire Captain America, but just could not resist milking it. The thing Marvel now does not understand is that their popular characters all had compelling origin stories, real personalities and character traits, including weaknesses. Steve Rogers was a little guy who had tons of heart, but is also super loyal and always wanted to do "what is right" because of his whole story. Fighting in WWII and his life as a picked on pipsqueak made him who he is.
You cannot just give some other guy the shield who does not have that story. Or at least one without an equally compelling story. This is why the Batgirl and Batwoman shows always fail. Batman IS Bruce Wayne. The entire reason for Batman is Bruce Wayne's entire story. Without it, the girl replacement is just a girl in the suit with some toys. Who cares?
Who is the Falcon and why should he be Captain America? Marvel has told us about him...nothing. He is a generic good guy who is african american with a flight suit. Shrug. Where is the character? What are his character weaknesses? Why should you care He specifically is Captain America now? They gave us zero answers other than "this is now how it is, consume product!"
Still waiting for the MLK movie starring Ryan Gosling.
They just made one - it was called "Barbie". I mean, isn't that what Ken did for his oppressed people?
Hahaha, Shirtless Gosling MLK flexing the whole movie. Or Reynolds, just slinging jokes the whole time
I am not white and I am also not a man, but I agree with your assessment. Swapping a character's immutable characteristics, then proceeding to forget to give the character any interesting personality characteristics is both lazy and disingenuous.
In total agreement. My husband and I love your videos and agree. Your video on women fantasy and why Cpt Marvel doesn't work is the reason I subscribed to your channel.
Woman here. The "Luke Skywalker/Iron Man/Black Panther, but with a girl!" trope is annoying. Lara Croft and Ripley and Mara Jade and other female heroes are cool because they had their own journeys and part of those journeys was being a woman, which is a bit more subtle, complicated, and interesting than just having (pardon my bluntness) tits. The "but with a girl!" characters are just made to co-opt male characters' journeys or, worse, "say something" and don't have that.
Dude, thank you for showing me the direction that Hollywood is going in.
You have brought me so much insight to what I have been feeling has been happening generally.
Keep up the good work, and don't let anyone stop you from expressing your own feelings and how you feel about what filth Disney has been feeding us recently
I remember some discussion around "Captain Carter" that said "Peggy Carter *finally* gets a chance to carry the shield". As if just ... being near Captain America means you deserve to be him? Or to have the things he has? Falcon was a cool character, it doesn't make him more special to become "Captain America".
the made her captain britain in the mcu
@@ektran4205yes, that's what this article was about--about how "finally", Peggy Carter gets to take up the shield. As though that's something she earned or deserves, by virtue of being a hero with a connection to Steve Rogers.
Any chances we get a family review for Haunted Mansion? I took my kids and although I found it painfully dull my kids somehow thoroughly enjoyed it.
Possibly, but I think I’m prioritizing Turtles first. Some of my kids don’t tolerate scary stuff, even when I think it’s super tame, which is a low bar because I’m a big wuss when it comes to scary stuff
I've heard good things about it, but no advertising ( or barbie blowing out the advertising bandwidth) didn't help it.
Man I wish that the head of every major studio would sit down and watch your video. You lay it out so clearly.
For me personally, as a POC, i have always disliked these. Instead of ruining pre existing characters with established races and personalities, just to swap them out to please a fake mass, they could instead create newer characters in order to help represent these groups. This is why the Princess and The Frog was so loved and why the new Little Mermaid wasnt, despite them trying to accomplish a similar thing. Princess and the Frog was new, fresh, exciting and an amazing movie in its own right while the Littlw Mermaid remake just felt hollow, lifeless, like there was no effort put into it in order to make it a good time.
they want their characters to be as/more popular than the established characters without earning that popularity over time
@@ektran4205 I think earning popularity over time is the best play as what they're doing if anything is losing interest in those characters very quickly
One thing that always frustrates me with race swap defenders is that when people say that they want original characters they say "Oh, but the already make original characters, but they don't get enough attention". Well why don't you TRY WORKING HARDER TO PROMOTE THEM?!
Right, it’s another lazy excuse. Also, their rebuttal is unintentionally funny. Are they saying they don’t do well because they aren’t white? Lol, that’s suggesting some bad stuff
Your video presentations are to the point n not covered in bs. Just watched 5 in a row. Subscribed to your work.😊
"Is the racism in the room with us right now?" That really made me laugh😂
This was only my second video of yours that I have watched. The 2 pac bit and then the like and subscribe right after got me ngl😅
Clutch Thank You For Smoking reference. It's legit one of my favorite movies (book is great too, no shock). It just seems to get more and more relevant as time goes by.
It’s so good! That’s the kind of movie we need these days. It’s obviously anti-tobacco, but also anti-government and anti-idiot consumer. Just a great film that gives you a lot to think about
you are incredibly well spoken, and not afraid to get real, and I respect it. people need to get used to the fact that uncomfortable conversations are the ones most worth having, and you are definitely not afraid to be down to earth with your audience and still entertaining. my subscribble is yours.
Your channel is growing fast - keep it up! I rely on your movie reviews before I take the fam 😂
I agree. There are plenty of characters that are non-white or of non European descent and the fact that they try to race swap is not only an insult to the original character but also the other characters that could be brought to the spotlight, but are deemed unworthy of it.
Its like when people said that Lightyear and Strange World were lame, and people immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was because of the gay/lesbian stuff... And definitely nothing to do with the questionable writing and convoluted plots.
The biggest complaint I heard about Lightyear is that it’s supposed to be the movie that Andy watched and wanted a Buzz toy. However a kid of his age would be more interested in a cool action comedy like romp than… whatever Lightyear was.
@@DarkEclipse23 Yeah that's one of my biggest complaints too. It would have made a LOT more sense if it was an in-universe reboot or remake of the movie Andy watched.
There aint no possible way a movie made in 1995 would have a lesbian couple!🤣
Funny you mentioned Wish because the voice actress for the main character was Rachel Zegler’s costar in West side story.
1:16😂
Ooooouu I see what cha did there, nice pitch lol
It was super easy, barely an inconvenience!
As a white man, I feel pressured by society to not espress my opinions and emotions about certain topics. It has gotten to the point where it feels like my opinions and thoughts are a burdern to others. Popular culture is one of the things I feel society does not want to hear from me about since none of it is made for me anymore.
Hey. You doing ok?
@@CloudyWolf713 no
@@MeteorologistScottC I’m so sorry. I don’t know exactly what your situation is, but I’m sorry for what you’re going through.
You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I can listen if you want to talk about things.
I saw the title and thumbnail and wanted to be mad, then I watched the video and now I completely understand what you're saying. Great video 🤝
I'm tired of character swapping. I'm a character designer and all my designs are intenonal. So if I see a major company changing my designs for profit and saying my designs were bad I'd be pissed
Good point. Same thing goes for "sensitivity readers" going thru old classic novels and taking out all the controversial words.
When's the collab with Eric July happening?
Oooh, I should email him! After the campaign, though. He seems busy at the moment
Like seriously, everything Rachel Zegler wants Snow White to be Elena already is. Elena has no love interest, she wants to become queen, and she kicks butt. I don’t know why they don’t just doing an Elena movie. Rachel even looks like Elena somewhat. I know Elena came from Disney Channel but still there’s so much story and lore to work with.
I'm glad you said something cuz I've been preaching this for a long time as a black person I'm like Sam is the first black hero and get with downgrading him to Captain America because diversity inclusion for what reason. And it's funny how we have all these original black characters that he never want to do anything with them but instead of bringing focus to them they always want to replace them for their white counterparts and it just gets kind of tiring you know they keep timing out any representation but then the representation is usually or give the black character 2 sloppy seconds. Like no it's completely insulting
In the netflix show castleviana (highly recommend watching it by the way) they race swapped Issac one of Dracula’s court mages. People threw a hissy fit over him. His race swap worked cause of amazing writing and great character motive. After watching it I prefer the netflix version of Issac over the OG version due to how they handled him
"Is the racism in the room with us right now?"
LOL! Nailed it.