This is seen frequently in politics (formerly taboo ideas becoming "mainstreamed") and social issues (gay marriage going from some lunatic fringe idea to something, today, very real). And it can happen in literature, specifically comics.
I was honestly skeptical (and, in some dimensions, still am) about Marvel's decision to move the title of Thor to a woman (yeah, it gets complicated), alongside the more recently mentioned announced shift to have Sam Wilson, the black man who is the Falcon, become the new Captain America. Yeah, nice, representation and diversity, but it's only temporary, a stunt, and all too soon, just like everyone rises from the dead, the "normal" characters will be back.
But +Curt Thompson notes, rightly, that it's not just about permanent change, but that even temporary changes can (as I'll frame it) move the Overton Window. That there has been a woman warrior goddess worthy of the power of Thor, even if it's just temporary, means it becomes that much more reasonable for another powerhouse character in the comics pantheon (so to speak) to, in the future, be a woman. That a key Avenger, one of the main characters in the Marvel universe (comics and cinematic) could be a black man means that maybe, in time, we'll see a permanent black man of that prominence (comics and cinematic) in the Marvel Universe (Luke Cage and Black Panther notwithstanding), someone who's not seen just as a publicity stunt. The Overton Window can shift, and, when it shifts in a direction you think it should, that's a good thing.
Reshared post from +Curt Thompson
After having watched the usual fanboy rants over the past couple of days, it seems like the most common argument about the new Thor is this:
It's a stunt! They'll just change the character back to a man in time for Avengers 2!'
To which I would submit the following response:
No sh!t, Sherlock. We know that. Everybody knows that. It's always a stunt. Comic publishing houses are businesses. Primarily IP mines these days but actually selling books is nice too, I'd imagine.
But here's the deal. With every character who flips gender, with every character who is represented by somebody who isn't white when the original version was, with every LGBT character who comes out, the dialog moves just a little farther towards inclusion.
If for no other reason than most people don't want to sound like the guys yelling about stuff like this these days, the same way everybody uncomfortably ignores it when the drunk, racist relative starts getting loud at Thanksgiving.
The world has moved past that point. And slowly, ever so slowly, fandoms of various kinds are making their glacial way to catch up with the times.
So yeah. It's a stunt. And yeah, nothing in comics ever lasts forever. So what?
I don't think it's so much that people are "just figuring out" that it's a stunt….we've all known that much.
I think it's the realization, for some, that the comics companies are worried more about the bottom line than telling good stories with interesting characters.
Love the classy "If You're Not On Board You're A Racist, Misogynist, Homophobe….Whatever Else Can Be Said To Help Silence Opposition" comparison to the "drunk uncle", as well.
Falcon became Cap? I stopped reading after Winter Soldier was in the role for a while.
Yeah, well, a horse-skull-faced alien was still Thor before a woman was, so, y'know…
+Mark Means I think it's possible to object to this particular story line for reasons that are not (for example) misogynistic. But I also think a lot of the objections do boil down to "Thor is a white dude, he can and should only be a white dude, because only people who are white dudes can ever be Thor, and that's what I'm comfortable with."
And I don't think anyone can yet say this is not about telling good stories with interesting characters (yes, in a way that makes money). Jason Aaron, the guy who has been killing it (in a good way) with the current run of Thor (I will put it up against anyone else's work since Simonson) is the writer on this. I have amazing faith that we will see good stories out of this.
Hmm. I gave up on Thor long ago. In fact, I never liked him, except when Simonson was writing him. His book was the only one I didn't collect when I started buying back issues in '78. A big part of it is that I want Thor the super hero, not Thor the Asgardian. I want to see him take on the Wrecking Crew, not giants and elves.
+Scott Randel Whereas I tend to prefer Thor as Asgardian who occasionally fights crime (or helps defeat alien invasions), rather than Thor the super-hero who occasionally goes to Asgard. Plenty of other supers policing the streets of NYC.
"Thor is a white dude, he can and should only be a white dude, because only people who are white dudes can ever be Thor, and that's what I'm comfortable with."
As someone who's never been a big Thor fan, did people express those same concerns over Beta Ray Bill or when they turned Thor into a frog?
My recollection (the original books are boxed and bagged somewhere) that it was both more "shocking" and less "controversial" in the case of Beta Ray Bill — there was no big Internet for folks to get into a tizzy over, and there was no real sense that it was likely to be permanent or long-term.
Also, BRB was clearly a guy. True, he wasn't a white guy, but he wasn't a human guy who wasn't white.
The toad transformation really doesn't count, because it was still the same Thor, only a toad. There was controversy over it, largely because it was thought to be too silly.