Am I wrong for feeling disappointed that Tom Swift is a gay character? I don’t have a problem with gay people. They should be able to do and be anything the rest of can. Without exception. End of story.
But, I feel like straight black males, who have supported the sci-fi/fantasy genres (and often ostracized in the black community for it) for decades, have been given nothing back in return. We’re aloud to be the villain, sidekick, father figure, young recruit forever in the main white guy’s shadow, the redeemable criminal or gay (there may be a few more, but you get the picture). What we can’t be in those genres is the classic lead. You know? The kind of hero every girl wants and every guy wants to be. No, we are, always, in some way, what society deems as less than then what the heroic white male leads have been. Hell, lately, we are erased altogether and in our stead stands a black woman (probably because black women can be bounced around between various white male leads and hardly anyone, but hardcore racists, bats an eye).
I was so hyped when I saw the trailer for the new Tom Swift show. I vaguely remember the books from when I was a kid and I thought finally, we’re getting a young black male, who isn’t hood, but a bonafide billionaire, tech genius, charismatic, heart throb, adventurer who saves the day. And, on top of it all, even though he isn’t from the streets, he still gets to be “black” with all the swagger that comes with it. This was the kind of show I’d been waiting to see since I was a pre-teen nerd getting teased because I wasn’t into sports, still read comic books and spoke reasonably proper English.
Imagine my surprise when I turned Tom Swift on for the first time, tonight, and realized the show is just another brick in that very high wall of stereotypical portrayals of black men in the sci-fi/fantasy genres.
