Hello, Readers! Clevenger here!

As the resident middle-aged, white, cis-gendered, heterosexual half of this writing duo, representation is an interesting topic for me to tackle. Some will give me grief for just saying that it matters, others will give me grief because it hasn’t mattered enough and “people like me” are part of the problem. But you see, I think this is the problem. On too many sides, people are arguing over the “right” way to deal with representation and losing empathy. Because, in my opinion, empathy is what is needed to move forwards.

When I saw all backlash for casting Ariel with a young black actress, I wanted to say I didn’t believe it… but I did. It was sad. And all of the traditional arguments came out of the woodwork. “Why don’t they just create a princess of color?” or “What if we replaced Tiana with a white princess?” Basically, all the stupid arguments that can only be made from a position of privilege, where the arguer has never had to worry about representation. But the thing that I always think about is that even as early as 5-10 years ago… I may have argued similarly. Empathy is what changed me.

So, what does it matter? Why should we talk about this?

Well, the counter reaction to Ariel was videos of little kids all around the world reacting to seeing a black little mermaid and lighting up because “They could be a princess, too!” Seeing a child instantly connect to a character because they look the same as they do is heartwarming. It’s also vital. Because they not only get to love a character, but they are reminded that their voice matters as well.

When someone argued “What would happen if we replaced Tiana with a white princess? You know people would lose their minds.” I nearly lost my mind. First, while I may have argued some questionable stances in my youth, I would have NEVER went here. The concept of the Disney Princess stretches back to 1937. Tiana wasn’t introduced until 2009. For those of you keeping track, that is 70 years without a black princess. 1992 gave us Jasmine, which was still 55 years in the making. She is also the ONLY black princess from Disney that I’m aware of. So if you “replaced her” then “Yes, people would lose their minds.” Rightfully. You’ve taken away the ONLY representation. This is not equivalent to a re-envisioning of Ariel as there are still 10 other “official princesses” and dozens of other characters that represent other little girls left available.

“Why don’t they just create a new character?” Well, (as above) it took WAY TOO LONG to get here, and we’re still fighting over it. Another example of this is Black Panther. The character has been around since 1966, which is great. But no one was taking a chance on putting a film around this character for a long time. In 2018, Marvel put the movie together as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and it was the biggest deal in superheroes that I can recall for some time. We had seen 9 different versions of Superman and Batman across TV and Film, with 5 of the Superman, and 4 of the Batman being “iconic” takes on the characters. 5 different Spiderman were available, with 3 of those being “legendary” takes. Black Panther had only made animated appearances before the MCU film, by 3 different voice actors. Even Chadwick Bozeman himself stated that he was surprised that Marvel pushed the film, promoted the film, and budgeted the film as a “standard” superhero movie, and not the “lesser” version of superheroes the people of color had been given in the past. So, maybe just creating new characters without pushing those characters to the fore-front and allowing EVERYONE to know them, just isn’t enough.

Now, these are obviously racially motivated arguments (which I still cannot believe we are having in today’s society) but this applies to SO much more. I remember when Battlestar Galactica got shade for gender swapping “Starbuck,” and Iceman “coming out” after decades of being a straight white guy. Basically, anytime a character is given a more modern story-line, they are being attacked as “woke-ness” gone rampant.

So, studios buck them, and introduce “new” characters. That’s the way you want it right? Well, no. Those are “token” characters. The TV shows, Batwoman, Black Lightning, and Supergirl were lambasted for “too many woke characters” because there were lesbian, trans-gender, and characters of color telling their stories. I argue against that, because these stories were told from places of real incidents. So, we need to be telling these stories, and we need to listen to them.

Now, when I see a character in a film, maybe its a new character, maybe it’s a re-envisioning of an existing character, I ask “What does this character bring to the table?” or “Who does this character speak to, that maybe I’m not seeing?” With those questions, I begin listening to their story more carefully, because someone out there is living that story. I learn about my fellow human beings. I empathize with their struggles. I find what I can connect to in their story, and remind myself that while we may be different, and I’ll never truly understand what they are going through, that we are probably more alike than either of us give credit to.

When I announced that I would be writing a book with Graham, several people said, “Well I assume there will be a ‘gay’ character in that book.” At first, I was a bit taken back. Graham is gay and that is a big part of his story, but it’s not the only thing about him. So why would this be such a “sticking” point? What would the problem be? Then, as I processed it, I started to ask “Why would I have a problem writing a book with gay characters in it?” Were they seeing my voice being a problem telling a tale with a young gay character in it? Should this be a problem? Finally, it turned into “Do they have a problem with a story with gay characters in it?” Well, I guess they best get used to it, because I’m not changing it.

We have gay characters, a trans-character, non-binary characters, characters of color, a poly-amoric trio, and a lot more. We have consulted with our friends and family (who represent these characters) and asked them about their stories. Some of those struggles have made it into the narrative, others we are intentionally envisioning a world that accepts them fully so we can see what their stories would be like if the world was as loving as we are trying to make it be. Our hope is that someday, maybe, a reader will read our book and point to a character and say “Yeah, I really understand where they are coming from… they’re just like me.”

Be Kind

-Clevenger