It’s really amazing, how the white guy stans can turn their thinly veiled racism and woobification of a white character, AND hating on the characters of color into Activism(TM)... all the while never actually seeing, or just straight up ignoring how the said white character is problematic and/or has problematic arcs too.
The MCU fandom is gleefully hating on Ayo accusing her of ableism and other horrible things because of that scene with Bucky in 1x04 of TFATWS. They’re turning it into a social justice issue, which is... okay, let’s talk about the topic of writing for the disabled characters, and discuss it becaus it’s an important subject - without hating on the a Black female character.
But it’s qwhite interesting that Activism_TM, no one seemed to be interested in talking about how problematic Bucky’s arc was in the pilot. Let’s talk about how in the opening flashback he shot an innocent Asian man straight in the face. Let’s talk about how that episode aired just three days after the Atlanta spa shootings and in the midst of Anti Asian hate crimes in the US. Let’s talk about how cringey it was when they’d pitted an Asian old man against a Black man, with Bucky, the white guy, being the peacemaker. Let’s talk about how creepy it was to see Bucky stalking that old Asian man. Yes, Bucky has a sad back-story, we know. But it’s really hard to relate to the grief of a white serial killer (Redeemed yes. He’s a victim too, we know, no needt to spam our inbox) right after real massacre and in the midst of the anti-Asian hate crimes. But I guess it’s just me. No one wants to be an Activist_TM when it’s not about the conveniently attractive white guy.
This blatant woobification of a white character at the expense of the character of color, who gets villainized in the process, and that being turned into an Activism_TM isn’t something new. It’s always been happening in the fandom.
One of the recent examples that comes to mind, is how the TUA fandom always accuses Ben Hargreeves of “violating” Klaus’ body in those “possession” scenes in s2. Some even call Ben “r@pist”. And okay, let’s talk the problematic writing and dated tropes of that arc. But funnily enough, no one seems interested in talking about how Klaus was running a cult in that same season. How he profited off of those mentally vulnerable people and how he was having sex orgies with those brainwashed people, thus taking advantage of their bodies. But yeah, Klaus has a sad back-story, so it’s okay. (All the Hargreeves siblings have sad back-stories, but let’s ignore that)
But yeah, returning to the TFATWS fandom. It’s interesting, how the same fans that have been complaining about Sam’s arc being too “sjw” and “boring” for 4 episodes straight are now turning into “Activists_TM” because of that scene with Bucky’s arm.
And it brings the question – would’ve they cared about that scene if Bucky was played by a Black or a Brown actor? (Would’ve the TUA fans cared about that possession scene if Klaus was Black or Brown?) Instead of answering the question, let’s remember that, according to the IMDb, Sam Wilson is the least popular character on his own show, where’ he’s the titular lead.
We all know that if Bucky was played by a Black or a Brown actor, fandom, en masse, wouldn’t have cared about him at all.
