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‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Series Reboot With Black Lead In Works From Monica Owusu-Breen & Joss Whedon

Breakage

Member
That’s pretty much the core of the issue. The reason we object to minoritywashing is not because we don’t like minorities; it’s because it’s done for transparent political reasons. If they were genuinely doing it for altruistic reasons, they would either do a spin-off or write a new show altogether. That would give the minority character a chance to develop and do its own thing instead of existing under the specter of the original. Instead, they just want to memoryhole the original and send a message that it wasn’t done right the first time, so now they’re going to fix it.
Yeah, I agree. It's just superficial and lazy and doesn't achieve anything for the minorities in my view. The fact that they have to do gender and race swaps on established franchises just demonstrates a lack of confidence and originality.
 
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prag16

Banned
"Hey, we cast "xyz" as the new slayer in this reboot." (xyz happens to be black)

Cool. (Though I'd prefer to see this done via a new lead character than race swapping an established one, ideally.)


"Hey, we're rebooting Buffy. No casting done yet, but social justice is really super important so we're gonna make Buffy black now."

Weak.
 
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Yeah, I agree. It's just superficial and lazy and doesn't achieve anything for the minorities in my view. The fact that they have to do gender and race swaps on established franchises just demonstrates a lack of confidence and originality.
But it is also common that character swaps that have nothing do with gender or race happens from time to time. Are you bothered by that too? Look at Dick Grayson as Batman. He was not a permanent replacement as Batman, but people did like him as Batman. Or Terry Mcginnis as Batman. Who knows maybe one of these days we might get Dick Grayson as Batman in a live action movie. I am not sure if WB would have the balls to do it but I wouldn't rule it either. Maybe Bucky Barnes could become the next Captain America if Steve Rogers dies and if Marvel wants more Captain America movies. Would you be okay with that as opposed to Falcon, maybe?
 
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Breakage

Member
But it is also common that character swaps that have nothing do with gender or race happens from time to time. Are you bothered by that too? Look at Dick Grayson as Batman. He was not a permanent replacement as Batman, but people did like him as Batman. Or Terry Mcginnis as Batman. Who knows maybe one of these days we might get Dick Grayson as Batman in a live action movie. I am not sure if WB would have the balls to do it but I wouldn't rule it either. Maybe Bucky Barnes could become the next Captain America if Steve Rogers dies and if Marvel wants more Captain America movies. Would you be okay with that as opposed to Falcon, maybe?
I don't think those swaps are comparable. They aren't making a vacuous political statement. Why is a character who was for the entirety of her existence depicted as a white woman in popular culture now a black woman? Is it wrong to continue depicting her as a white woman? And if it is, then why is it wrong?

If black and other minority girls only like Buffy now because she is black is that not a form of racism? It seems that making previously white characters black is the new cool thing to do (same goes for swapping males for females).
 
I don't think those swaps are comparable. They aren't making a vacuous political statement. Why is a character who was for the entirety of her existence depicted as a white woman in popular culture now a black woman? Is it wrong to continue depicting her as a white woman? And if it is, then why is it wrong?

If black and other minority girls only like Buffy now because she is black is that not a form of racism? It seems that making previously white characters black is the new cool thing to do (same goes for swapping males for females).
I get what you're saying and I agree that if do it then you have the right to say it is racist. I personally feel if you're going to give white roles to non-whites, then it is only fair for the exact opposite. Like people shouldn't complain if there was a White Luke Cage while having no problem with a Black Buffy. I do however partially disagree with your opinion on swaps being political statements. Maybe nowawdays, but I don't anyone saw that reason for the multiple Green Lanterns there that wasn't Hal Jordan. For why they don't make a new character, that usually lies with the comic creators to do. They could try to make a new superhero and maybe that superhero could become the next Batman or Spiderman in terms of popularity. But they may also not be successful and if they are not successful, they won't become the next Batman or Spiderman.
 

haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
I think some of you are making too big a deal out of the fact that the new Buffy might be black. Buffy is a character that lasted a long time on TV. If a new show is going to be interesting or successful, it has to change up the formula. It doesn't mean they are doing it for political purposes.
 
I hope its a different Slayer in from 2010 onward, an actual reboot is silly. Having said that Angel was the superior show

landscape-1466698922-angel-season-5-promos-spike-22409607-1948-2560-1.jpg
 

Spheyr

Banned
I think some of you are making too big a deal out of the fact that the new Buffy might be black. Buffy is a character that lasted a long time on TV. If a new show is going to be interesting or successful, it has to change up the formula. It doesn't mean they are doing it for political purposes.
In a void, no.

In the reality we live in, it sure does.
 

haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
In a void, no.

In the reality we live in, it sure does.

Maybe some people can't help but see it that way. As a long time Buffy fan, I'm more interested to see what they would do with a black lead instead of just writing the whole show off as SJW pandering.
 

Ke0

Member
"Hey, we cast "xyz" as the new slayer in this reboot." (xyz happens to be black)

Cool. (Though I'd prefer to see this done via a new lead character than race swapping an established one, ideally.)


"Hey, we're rebooting Buffy. No casting done yet, but social justice is really super important so we're gonna make Buffy black now."

Weak.

Eh the problem is no one simply says "cool" to the first example, because even when no one involved in a project says anything about "social justice" idiots will still cry about the "agenda" being pushed.

Quite simply many people just really don't like POC occupying these spaces, even if these studios create new franchises a high number of idiots still cry about "pandering" and the like. There literally is no approach that doesn't result in basement dwellers crying about these things, so at some point it becomes pointless for companies to be contortionists to make them happy.
 
Well of course the original creator is on board, he's not gonna pass up a chance to virtue signal, plus he'd be labeled a racist if he refused. And my statement wasn't really about white culture, but anything being remade for no good reason, if they remade Beverly Hills Cop with a white Axel Foley I would be just as against it, but that never happens so I had to work with examples that exist.
Wow, nice projecting in this post.

It was far right by modern standards.
lol, we all know if Willow's storyline happened today in the same identical way you would all complain about "pandering to SJW" to "forcing the LGBT agenda" not to mention" virtue signaling".

Not that the actress that didn't play Tara didn't receive shitons of harassment and hate mails back then.
 
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Mahadev

Member
"Hey, we cast "xyz" as the new slayer in this reboot." (xyz happens to be black)

Cool. (Though I'd prefer to see this done via a new lead character than race swapping an established one, ideally.)


"Hey, we're rebooting Buffy. No casting done yet, but social justice is really super important so we're gonna make Buffy black now."

Weak.


You explained simply what always annoyed me about these fucking idiots. I fully expect the show to be ruined by shoehorned politics and obnoxious preaching to the viewer.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
You explained simply what always annoyed me about these fucking idiots. I fully expect the show to be ruined by shoehorned politics and obnoxious preaching to the viewer.

Look what happened to The Flash and Supergirl. I enjoyed them both, especially The Flash, but after reading some people's commentary on the most recent seasons, I have had no urgency to watch them when they hit Netflix. I will eventually, but they have been sitting on my watch list, where as otherwise I am on it instantly. Supergirl especially is not a shocker considering how the actress is IRL, and it seems that is being pushed into her character/show now.

Sometimes we want a damned escape from the real world, not have it pushed/shoehorned into that escape. But the "TV Programming" never fails at it's job I suppose.
 
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Spheyr

Banned
Fuck I hate the social justice shit in Supergirl so much, but it's a great show to watch muted
 
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For those who know the show and its lore, why not just reboot it with the Original Slayer? She was black. Or the one who
died
?

No issues with black lead (or asian, or caucasian, or alien), but making her play the character of "Buffy Summers" is some bullshit.
Give her a new character FFS.

This. Doing it is just another example of pandering.
 
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If they make Buffy a black person in the reboot, then I have a problem with it (just like I would hate having a Blade reboot with a white or asian person playing a reimagined Blade). But if it's just some other person that happens to be named Buffy, that's their own character, then I'm fine with it (preferably not a full reboot, but kind of opening up the storyline to allow for the original Buffy to be a presence, but not limiting the position other slayers can take). Though I'd prefer if they just went "The Slayer" route and could possibly switch slayers depending on reception, allowing for more flexibility. I mean, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" kind of got dependent on Buffy and it caused a bit of drag at times in the original one. Would be better if they didn't limit themselves and instead let the new black character be her own character with a unique name and that they could keep it ongoing and fresh and let the actress move on from the franchise (allowing them to rise up) and still continue it with a new slayer afterwards. Kind of like Doctor Who in that regard.
 

DESTROYA

Member
I think some of you are making too big a deal out of the fact that the new Buffy might be black. Buffy is a character that lasted a long time on TV. If a new show is going to be interesting or successful, it has to change up the formula. It doesn't mean they are doing it for political purposes.
I think most fans of the show couldn’t care less if they cast the new show with a Black lead, it’s more they don’t want the lore or history being thrown out the window.
What I’m getting from reading all these posts is more people want a continuation of the series more than a retelling of the original series.
 
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prag16

Banned
Eh the problem is no one simply says "cool" to the first example, because even when no one involved in a project says anything about "social justice" idiots will still cry about the "agenda" being pushed.

Quite simply many people just really don't like POC occupying these spaces, even if these studios create new franchises a high number of idiots still cry about "pandering" and the like. There literally is no approach that doesn't result in basement dwellers crying about these things, so at some point it becomes pointless for companies to be contortionists to make them happy.

I wasn't speaking for 'people'. I was speaking for me. Yeah there are a few loud idiots no matter what you do. The internet/twitter/etc makes the vocal minority seem enormous. As Mahadev said representation is fine/great but ideally there's no shoehorned agenda. I don't mean a "shoehorned agenda" as charged by the few aforementioned morons. I mean an actual shoehorned agenda, e.g. Druckmann and apparently this.
 

Dunki

Member
Sakesian uses the sme argumentation people used during Ghostbusters and co. Its pretty funny


 
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If they make Buffy a black person in the reboot, then I have a problem with it (just like I would hate having a Blade reboot with a white or asian person playing a reimagined Blade). But if it's just some other person that happens to be named Buffy, that's their own character, then I'm fine with it (preferably not a full reboot, but kind of opening up the storyline to allow for the original Buffy to be a presence, but not limiting the position other slayers can take). Though I'd prefer if they just went "The Slayer" route and could possibly switch slayers depending on reception, allowing for more flexibility. I mean, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" kind of got dependent on Buffy and it caused a bit of drag at times in the original one. Would be better if they didn't limit themselves and instead let the new black character be her own character with a unique name and that they could keep it ongoing and fresh and let the actress move on from the franchise (allowing them to rise up) and still continue it with a new slayer afterwards. Kind of like Doctor Who in that regard.
It's still going to happen rather white roles go to non-whites and non-white roles that go to whites (though we are seeing more of the former in large quantities.). Hell, I think they should still do it for the latter.
 
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kunonabi

Member
If they make Buffy a black person in the reboot, then I have a problem with it (just like I would hate having a Blade reboot with a white or asian person playing a reimagined Blade). But if it's just some other person that happens to be named Buffy, that's their own character, then I'm fine with it (preferably not a full reboot, but kind of opening up the storyline to allow for the original Buffy to be a presence, but not limiting the position other slayers can take). Though I'd prefer if they just went "The Slayer" route and could possibly switch slayers depending on reception, allowing for more flexibility. I mean, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" kind of got dependent on Buffy and it caused a bit of drag at times in the original one. Would be better if they didn't limit themselves and instead let the new black character be her own character with a unique name and that they could keep it ongoing and fresh and let the actress move on from the franchise (allowing them to rise up) and still continue it with a new slayer afterwards. Kind of like Doctor Who in that regard.

A different black slayer who had a family and a job would be a cool direction to go with instead of this lazy, pandering approach. The teenage girl killing vampires is just completely played out at this point.
 

Papa

Banned
I think some of you are making too big a deal out of the fact that the new Buffy might be black. Buffy is a character that lasted a long time on TV. If a new show is going to be interesting or successful, it has to change up the formula. It doesn't mean they are doing it for political purposes.

I think you’re missing the point that they could’ve made a new character or a continuation with one of the existing minority characters as the lead. As it stands, they’re making a vacuous political statement, likely influenced by Whedon’s need for wokeness in light of the accusations from his ex-wife.
 

Papa

Banned
Eh the problem is no one simply says "cool" to the first example, because even when no one involved in a project says anything about "social justice" idiots will still cry about the "agenda" being pushed.

Quite simply many people just really don't like POC occupying these spaces, even if these studios create new franchises a high number of idiots still cry about "pandering" and the like. There literally is no approach that doesn't result in basement dwellers crying about these things, so at some point it becomes pointless for companies to be contortionists to make them happy.

Not true. I didn’t see any complaints about Luke Cage or Blade.
 

DESTROYA

Member
Rebooting the series is just lazy and gives the impression that the writers have run of ideas and just regurgitating old plots.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Buffy is a product of the nineties, she was "clueless" type typical "whatever" blonde cheerleader turn vampire slayer
The chosen one due to her bloodline.
I'm curious how they'll approach this, if at all.
 

Ke0

Member
Not true. I didn’t see any complaints about Luke Cage or Blade.

We saw a shit load about Black Panther though, complete with "they already have blade." We saw people crying for simply having POC characters in movies even when their race was never brought up within the confines of the movie (Star Wars) people literally complain about ANYTHING that deviates from their sense of the "norm" and they feel roles are being taken away. It'd be hard to complain about Luke Cage since being black is a central pillar of his character (always funny how most comic book black characters only exist specifically because of their blackness...). Personally I completely get why they're calling it Buffy. Buffy as a franchise is still popular so using the name to bring back interest is smart from a marketing standpoint versus trying to market a new character within a franchise that hasn't been on air in like 20 years.

It'd be interesting from a marketing standpoint how you inform viewers it's part of the Buffy world. Like do you call it "Alexis - The Slayer" with the subtitle "Part of the Buffy Universe."?

Hell Whedon said something similar about Faith spin off after Eliza finished Dollhouse, so much time had passed that it would be hard to market "Faith" and to let people know she was of the Buffy universe to the broader audience. This is why spinoff shows always launch either right after the mainshow is over or along side it to use the popularity of the main show using the mainshow as the springboard (Buffy -> Angel)
 

TrainedRage

Banned
Member this....?



God I love that show. Thanks Hulu for having the entire series. I'm half way into season 2 re-watching them from my younger days. The nostalgia is strong.
 

Papa

Banned
We saw a shit load about Black Panther though, complete with "they already have blade." We saw people crying for simply having POC characters in movies even when their race was never brought up within the confines of the movie (Star Wars) people literally complain about ANYTHING that deviates from their sense of the "norm" and they feel roles are being taken away. It'd be hard to complain about Luke Cage since being black is a central pillar of his character (always funny how most comic book black characters only exist specifically because of their blackness...). Personally I completely get why they're calling it Buffy. Buffy as a franchise is still popular so using the name to bring back interest is smart from a marketing standpoint versus trying to market a new character within a franchise that hasn't been on air in like 20 years.

It'd be interesting from a marketing standpoint how you inform viewers it's part of the Buffy world. Like do you call it "Alexis - The Slayer" with the subtitle "Part of the Buffy Universe."?

Hell Whedon said something similar about Faith spin off after Eliza finished Dollhouse, so much time had passed that it would be hard to market "Faith" and to let people know she was of the Buffy universe to the broader audience. This is why spinoff shows always launch either right after the mainshow is over or along side it to use the popularity of the main show using the mainshow as the springboard (Buffy -> Angel)

Personally, I hope they go with Shadynasty the Vampire Slayer.
 
the only problem I have with this announcement is that it isn't Firefly. Of all the shows that needs to be retold or remade it is that one. Put the guy who plays Luke Cage as the lead as Mal for all I care. Just do it!
 

Ke0

Member
You can clearly tell who watched/remembers Buffy, and who is just complaining just to complain. I feel like half of you wouldn't have liked Buffy or Angel when it aired.
 
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Papa

Banned
You can clearly tell who watched/remembers Buffy, and who is just complaining just to complain. I feel like half of you wouldn't have liked Buffy or Angel when it aired.

Easy. Back when it first aired, social justice hadn't been weaponised. Different time, different political agendas, different context.
 

BraveOne

Member
So are you posting absolute nonsense in this thread and moving goalposts to get a certain reaction people so you can sit back and amuse yourself? Cause that is call shit posting. I can't tell with you anymore.
i also think it is pretty funny when you cheer for a black actress who will have no chance to live up to the legacy Buffy and will endanger her career.

601.gif


I've said my peace I'm just watching y'all in denial
 
I like Duncan as much as the next guy but his Kingpin was just as bad as everything else. Not that I blame him since the material was awful.

Daredevil was a fine movie and Duncan's performance as Kingpin was amazing you take these heresies back.

I think they've found a new actor to play Angel in the reboot...
roland-deschain-coat-850x1300.jpg

I could see it, either way though nobody will top Boreanaz' performance. He is the most iconic vampire in TV history imho.
 

Hayfield

Banned
You kinda have to respect the entertainment industry for playing people like the BraveOne like a fiddle. All they have to do is add a black lead and the racists who are obsessed with colour eat it up.
 

Dunki

Member
601.gif


I've said my peace I'm just watching y'all in denial
Denial of what? You already agreed with me. that the wil be hold up to an impossible standard the new show will never be able to reach. So yeah the actress who ever is stupid enough to take the role will be destroyed career wise of course.
 
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