Social and Political Agendas - do they belong?
On one hand, it's good for representation, whether it's a female lead, ethnic minority or any other form of diversity. However, depending how it effects the story, this can cause a lot of friction. I first became aware of this trend whilst watching The Force Awakens and I had no issue with the fact that the main character was a woman, it was more to do with how her character was handled throughout the trilogy. Then more and more films were being released and it felt as though female leads in particular were on the rise, whether that was in films or TV shows and I started to wonder, "why are studios pushing for this so heavily?".
I embraced the idea of female characters taking the lead, no longer are they damsels in distress, they can kick ass and hold a film themselves if the script will allow it.
A good example of this would be Wonder Woman. When she first appeared in BvS, she was given a very strong screen presence that didn't cause her to outweigh Batman and Superman, rather, it put her on the same level as them. Her solo film was excellent and Gal Gadot did a great job in portraying the Amazonian warrior and the film is full of these pivotal moments that make you realise that she's as much a hero as any of the male characters. This is further highlighted in Justice League where she's able to go toe to toe with the Man of Steel.
A contrasting example of a bad female lead film for me, would have to be Ghostbusters. The idea of this comes off as very cheap and it feels almost like the message coming from the characters is "see, we can do it too." It's a desperate attempt to try to pander to the audience who never asked for the film in the first place. As funny as Melissa Mccarthy can be, she generally plays the same type of characters and after a while, it gets rather stale and simply not entertaining.
This idea of these social agendas being addressed so prominently on our screens is a quick way to turn people off from that level of escapism. Even when it comes to TV shows, we still have a very similar issue. CW shows like the Flash, Batwoman and Supergirl make a point of showcasing diversity, however it's to the point where it actually effects the storyline massively.
Now while I appreciate Supergirl obviously has a female lead, it's the side characters they feature and the way the stories are structured that cause the issues. We have some characters that are in same sex relationships and some are trans and none of these cause a major issue on their own. However, it feels as though it's done for the sake of it and the show tries to draw the parallel between the persecution of aliens on earth next to the persecution of ethnic minorities and other forms of diversity. I personally find this a bit too heavy on the politics for a superhero show and it ends up taking itself too seriously.
There's nothing wrong with conveying a message but it comes off as very preachy and condescending and this is in a universe full of flying aliens that can shoot lasers from their eyes.
The main problem with this emphasis is that it implies the audience isn't aware of such diversity and this is completely false. We're all aware of a multicultural world, we live in it, unfortunately it's the studio heads like Kathleen Kennedy who are pushing this stuff down people's throats and forcing us to accept it when the truth is we already do. All we want is a good story, good character development and good films and TV shows. It doesn't matter if the actors are a different race to their onscreen counterparts or different sexuality or even gender all together.
There are plenty of great writers, actors and directors out there, so hopefully we'll see less lecturing and more movie making. There are several more examples of female leads within film and TV. Agatha Harkness from Wandavision, she steals the show with her charisma and screen presence, Harley Quinn became the focal point for the Suicide Squad movie, Ripley from the Alien franchise, Black Widow, Lara Croft, the list goes on. The reason they worked is because we didn't care about their gender, we were invested in the story and the character arcs that developed. Similarly with actors that play characters of a different race, I don't care if we have a black man playing Jim Gordon or that Rose from The Last Jedi is Asian-American as long as they play their part and do the characters justice.
So to answer the question, do social and political agendas belong on our screens? I would ultimately say that it's ok as long as it doesn't compromise the story or the characters. We're there to be entertained and not lectured, so while it's good to have a message, there's a defining line between fantasy and reality and while it's good to cross it on occasion, doing it too much will lose the audience.
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