Representation gets talked about a lot, especially when it comes to the superhero movie genre. Now this isn't a discussion of whether or not representation matters, because it does. If representation doesn't matter to you, that's probably because you're not a member of an under represented group (and hey, I'm a white dude, so neither am I), so that representation isn't for you, but there are more than enough testimonials from fans and creators alike that attest to the fact that seeing someone like yourself represented (well) in a prominent and powerful role can make a lasting positive impact on your life. Because of this, people want to see more female heroes, they want to see more heroes from different races and cultures, and they want to see heroes coming from other disadvantaged or often overlooked sections of society. Well what if I told you there's one movie that gives you a little taste of all of that, and even managed to do so in a completely organic way all while not tooting their own horn about how progressive and inclusive they're being (perhaps largely because doing so would spoil a major moment of the final act, so I'll go ahead and toot it for them): that movie is Shazam!
(There's gonna be a lot of plot spoilers coming up; I think that should be pretty obvious by now).
Lets start with our main character: Billy Batson/Shazam. Yes, Billy/Shazam is a white male protagonist as we've seen countless times before, but he's also a foster kid. Now adopted/orphaned heroes aren't really anything new, but while Superman was raised by his adoptive family the Kents, he only came into their care because he was rocketed away to escape an exploding planet. Billy isn't the last surviving member of some powerful clan or royal bloodline that has been all but exterminated, and his parents didn't die in some mysterious accident or horrible disaster with future plot implications; it turns out his dad just walked out on them when he was a baby, and his young mother decided to leave him in the care of the police after losing track of him and coming to the realization that she is unequipped and ill-prepared to be a good mother. Now I'm not adopted myself, but something tells me this comes a whole lot closer to the typical foster child experience than the much loftier backstory of a surviving Kryptonian, and the fact that Billy comes to terms with and rises up from these rather humble beginnings helps to make him more grounded and relatable.
Now onto Billy's new foster family: Billy is taken in by Mr and Mrs Vasquez, a Hispanic couple who were also former foster children that have built a chaotic but loving foster home/family of their own. The other children in the house (listed from oldest to youngest) are Mary Bromfield (white), Freddy Freeman (white), Pedro Peña (Latino), Eugene Choi (Asian), and Darla Dudley (black). Even when you add Billy into the mix, that still leaves you with 3/6 of the kids in the house (all of whom are foster kids) representing different racial minorities, all living together as a family. Before anyone can gripe about tokenism or hollow representation for representation's sake, a quick googling found a survey taken in 2017 which shows that only about 44% of the children in foster care in the United States are white, so this mix is actually fairly realistic. Now, you could certainly make the argument that some of these characters (namely Pedro and Eugene) are given significantly fewer lines, less screentime, and less to do (and even Darla to an extent), and you'd be correct, but I want to get back to that point later.
Before I get back to that point, I want to talk some more about Freddy. Freddy is the kid who is closest to Billy's age and over time becomes Billy's best friend. Freddy is also a self proclaimed "cripple" who can only walk with the aid of crutches, but far from a one-note character whose personality is entirely focused on his struggles with his handicap, Freddy's biggest defining characteristic is that he's a huge nerd, in particular for all things superhero. Freddy's handicap is just a part of his life and character, it isn't used to completely define who he is as a token character, but it is used (rather well in my opinion) to help inform who he is as a person. When accused by Billy of being jealous of his newfound powers, Freddy responds by saying something to the effect of "you're damn right I am. I can hardly walk, you think I wouldn't give anything to be able to fly?" Freddy is seen being bullied multiple times in the movie (perhaps for his handicap, but almost certainly also because he is a nerd or "loser") and states that he often feels overlooked or invisible. He gets excited when he is able to live out his power fantasies vicariously through Billy/Shazam and gets upset when he feels Billy is wasting it because he doesn't fully grasp the privilege he lives with both as a superpowered hero, and a regularly-abled kid. Freddy's disability is used in this way to create a meaningful character moment without having it overshadow or dominate his personality; he isn't a pandering disabled posterboy, he's a fleshed out character who has a disability. This interaction also makes it even more impactful when...
All of the kids become superheroes. Billy/Shazam grants power to each of his foster sibling's, in the movie's final act, turning them into grown up superpowered versions of themselves, just like him. The "crippled" Freddy finally gets to fly on his own, the motor-mouthed ball of energy Darla gains super speed, the heftier Pedro becomes super strong, and the tech wiz/gamer Eugene gains the power to shoot lightning (which he uses to fire off his own version of a Hadouken). Of course, Billy/Shazam is still the star of the show and is the one to take down the bad guy, but while the total screentime of these hero versions of the kids only adds up to a few minutes, they each get to have their own unique hero moment within the movies climax, and the low screentime is more a product of their appearance being a last minute surprise rather than them being neglected (a sequel to Shazam sequel is in the works, so I don't doubt that we'll be getting to see much more of them in future appearances).
While reactions to Marvel's first openly gay character in Endgame (the frenzy over which I suspect is caused moreso by online publications juicing up clickbait titles than Marvel's own publicity strategy) are going nuts on both sides, not long ago, Shazam! Just quietly dropped 2 female superheroes, one of whom is also black, an Asian super hero, and a latino superhero with little to no fanfare. That's just something I wanted to take a moment to highlight and celebrate a little.
(My apologies over the wording of "crippled" vs "handicapped", I'm honestly just not sure what the accepted terminology is and wasn't sure where to find out as it may even be a matter od case by case personal bias, but I hope I haven't offended anyone with any possible accidental misuse)
Submitted May 08, 2019 at 09:56AM by TransPM http://bit.ly/2PUQWMr