Character Race

A quick thought this morning... I don't know how many of you are familiar with the show Community, or for that matter, how many of you have had the opportunity to see the movie Mystery Team (I have not seen the movie yet, but I hope to correct that soon). Don Glover is an actor in both of those, and he has recently started, what I assume was, a tongue-in-cheek online petition to be cast as the new Spiderman. Of course, in the mind of the Internet, this was scandalous because you see, while Don Glover might be talented, he is not white.

How dare he, right? The Internet community has riled itself up into a mini furor over past few days at the mere suggestion that a "black guy" wants to be Spiderman. The way I see it though, why not? Why does Peter Parker have to be a white kid? It turns out that the racial divide is still a huge issue in our culture. We all think that progress has been made: Obama is in the White House so everything is as it should be in the world. But the rampant and often undisguised racism that has arisen around this topic is pretty insane.

The thing is, why not have a black Spiderman? Hugh Jackman did a pretty decent Wolverine and while he is white, he is also a tall Australian song and dance man. That didn't make his work as Wolverine any less effective - despite the fact that he is not a short, stocky, hirsute Canuck. Don Glover seems to be a talented guy - he is certainly funny so he could pull off the patented Spiderman quips, and he moves in a naturally fluid and athletic way, so it would be a convincing transition between Peter Parker and the (assumedly) primarily digital Spidey. I think Glover would make a pretty excellent Spiderman.

I don't know how much of his petition is real, but I would have no problem backing the choice. Race should not be a factor in casting a fictional character. Sure, you wouldn't want Tom Hanks to play Nelson Mandela, but Don Glover would probably be a pretty good Spiderman given the chance. The problem is, racism is still very predominant in our society. Unfortunately, it's treated as more of a dirty little secret that nobody likes to talk about. The problem is, even if we don't acknowledge it, racism still exists.

If you want to show your support, head over to Twitter: #donaldforspiderman. You should also follow Don at @MrDonaldGlover, he's a funny guy.

UPDATE:

Devin Faraci over at CHUD has just posted a story about this as well and covers many of the same points I made, in a slightly more succinct manner. It's a good read.