Daredevil Message Board

[Bullseye11]

Yeah I wouldn't call thoman a racist. He's allowed to want a character true to the comics. I don't mind a black character playing a white character if they do a good job. I wouldn't mind a white character playing a black character if they do a good job( although I'm sure there'd unnecessarily be an outrage). What I would mind is a someone getting casted to play someone, when there are better options, just because they are a minority. That's racism in my mind. And vondie doesn't fit into that category. I'm sure hell do an amazing job. Calling thoman a racist is very extreme and unfair.

[Mike Murdock]

I also think it depends on the character. For some characters, race is important to their identity or the logic of their background. Steve Rogers was the symbol of the American military in the 1940s. It's hard to justify changing his race. T'Challa, of course, should never be changed either. He's the head of a native African tribe that predates and survived European colonization.

In Arrow, there's a character named Sin who was changed from an Asian character in the Green Arrow comics. The character was the same person in name only, though, so it's hard to analogize. Not being particularly attached to the character, I thought the change was fine. But I'd argue even her race is more central to her character than Ben Urich's.
_________________
Matt Murdock's cooler twin brother

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I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
Thomas More - A Man for All Seasons

[Marcus Plato]

Thomam, I most certainly wasn't referring to you my friend! It seems some threads get hijacked for the sake of contoversy.
Anyone had a chance to check out any of Scott Glenn's films? IMO he's always been the best choice for Stick. I'd recommend "Backdraft", "The Challenge" and "Silence of the Lambs".

[thomam]

Thanks Marcus. Just figured you were talking to everyone.

I think these guys may be projecting a bit.

Scott Glenn is excellent for Stick!!

[The Overlord]

I have a slightly different take on all this. I don't think thomam is being racist, but I disagree with his belief that the show would benefit by being a word for word adaption of the Daredevil comic, with 50 years of continuity, some adaption changes are inevitable.

The Dark Knight and Captain America: Winter Solider made some changes from the comics, they are not direct adaptions of any one story, but combine elements from several different stories, while throwing in new stuff as well and both of those movies worked.

I think adapting the spirit of the work is more important then trying to adapt every last detail. Owl seems to be playing a different role in this series then he does in the comics (given his age, I would assume Owl in this series is a combination of various rivals and precursors that Kingpin has dealt with).

Making Ben Urich black does not ruin the spirit of Daredevil in this series and slavish devotion to every last detail from the comics, is not in of itself a positive quality. I don't mind if this adaption makes some changes, as long as the spirit of the work is retained in this series.

[thomam]

I don't think we need a word for word adaptation of the books. I never said that. For example if they did some of the Waid run I would hope quite a bit got changed I just commented that I want actors cast to resemble their characters.

[The Overlord]

[theunrealstudios]

First off, i am an advocate for staying as close to the source material as possible in any adaption because the material worked enough in popularity to warrant a tv show in the first place. Media always has a very short and small window of opportunity to bring characters to life and should honour old fans that kept the spirit of the stories alive but also for the new fans to get an idea of what the love is about.

It's about picking the best actor for the role possible instead of being politically correct or making the choice for some other motive. But here's the thing, i know whoever they cast will be talented as an actor. Perhaps not perfect but good enough to portray the characters essence. What i want to see is someone cast who is larger than life in a medium as close to real life as possible. You're not supposed to pick and choose what you want to exist like the negatives do not matter, especially with a character as likable and dislikable as Matt Murdock. You take the whole package as is and highlight perspectives but you don't make the other perspectives look like they never mattered.

The problem is that while in the 21st century it's important to be culturally and racially diverse (because yes the past is very white washed) i look at the perspective that it may seem rather insulting to make it a handout to an actor of another race. If racial and cultural representation was very important, than we'd see an original character of another race without being defined by a unique culture, they would just stand on their own as being enough. John Diggle from CW's Arrow is one of the best cases because the character is original, became my favorite by sheer character attributes alone and has been popular enough to be a regular now in the comics. This is how you treat racial diversity in media for supporting characters. Gender diversity? Fish Mooney in Gotham is an original female POC mob boss that is going toe to toe with famous batman characters and comes from a stance of power, awesome. Create original content as protagonists and supporting roles with unique stories. I don't actually care that Urich is another race, he'll be good but it feels like a handout compared to original content to represent if representation is important in this age, which it is. You literally could have an original rival POC lawyer in the DA office who is a villain to Murdock and a conversation like this would be unnecessary.

and no, i will not accept daredevils cultural and religious background as an excuse for safe from racial change. Say what you will about Cap and Panther, but being of Irish decent is never talked about, only subtly hinted and was primarily sourced by Miller as part of the born again "Irish catholic guilt" interview, that's about it in all these years of stories. And the catholic practice is seldom in the past 15 years of modern daredevil stories with the end of Smiths run. Once in a church basement of Bendis, virtually none in Brubaker off the top of my head, twice in Diggle, and Waid never touches upon it because there's more to the character than talking to a priest for moral guidance during confession. We've had the most secular Matt we've ever seen for years and past what a ninja and a boxer raised him with this mix of new age american/ adopting traditional japanese bushido values. He is so new age undefined by a single culture that race would be fair game for Matt too. I admit i have bias to a blue eyes, red hair Murdock but that doesn't make me racist to say i have a problem if his race was changed because it's an unnecessary change to a character of 50 years just to please other people when the character is not old fashioned and out of touch with modern times.

This issue is way too hot, uncivil and mostly affects supporting cast rather than protagonists (Johnny Storm is a rare exception) so it's very pointless to get up in arms. We all just want a great netflix series to call in sick the day of premiere and it's been long overdue.

[The Overlord]

[james castle]

[theunrealstudios]