There’s a weird trend starting up in Hollywood, as if someone higher up in the chain hates redheads. People are starting to notice that redheaded characters from comics and cartoons are being replaced by blonds, brunettes, bald people, and even people whose skin color doesn’t have redheads so they don’t even bother. There are exceptions. Amber Heard went red to play Mera in Aquaman and Scarlett Johansson plays Natasha Romanoff with her proper shade of hair but this is becoming the exception rather than the rule. At least that’s what you hear.
For the record I don’t count Zendaya as MJ in the Spider-Man MCU movies. As part of Sony insisting Marvel Studios ditch as much of Spidey’s iconography as possible in case they want to go back to ruining the series (until Into The Spider-Verse they hadn’t made a well-received Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2) Zendaya doesn’t play Mary Jane Watson but Michelle Jones, a new character who shares the initials of Joe Quesada’s hated Mrs. Parker. The original April O’Neil is a brunette and became a redhead in the first cartoon. In fact when looking up characters being replaced, some of the lists I found got their hair color wrong or was just complaining that the actress wasn’t redhead. (Though I could have sworn Mystique wasn’t a redhead in live-action I was wrong.) I don’t mind if they change their hair color. Gwyneth Paltrow and Kirsten Dunst both did so to play Pepper Potts and Mary Jane Watson respectively, and the girl who played Gwen Stacey in the more recent Amazing Spider-Man is naturally a redhead but dyed her hair to play the blond Gwen. However, while the trend may not be as serious as it looks people are noticing a trend.
BW’s Daily Article Link: The Great Lie
I like good stories. I like the stories I grew up with. They were important to me and part of my life. I am not afraid to point out flaws in things I like, whether for fun or to improve my own skills as a storyteller. And as a critic I will point out bad works by people I usually enjoy or in franchises I love because I want to be better myself and hopefully get them to be as great as they usually are. Nobody’s perfect and we all have an off story or some committee comes along and forces changes. It’s a fact of life and the creative world. In this article the writer makes the case that it’s okay not to like everything tied to your favorite genre, franchise, or creators and the term “true fan” is a lie to shut up any detractors who don’t toe the party line. I’ve never toed the party line because I think for myself. I’ve had to just to keep my sanity in check.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on January 7, 2021 in Uncategorized and tagged commentary.
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