The Portrayal of *X*

[Arkaine]

Sorry, I couldn't think of a more apt thread title.

I was just thinking about a few of the boards I'd frequent, of the fandoms I had in the past and topics such as this always get started for whatever topic the board was on, rather than a general scope. Basically, what I'm trying to say in the title is: How important is the accurate portrayal of an interest/hobby/religion/sex/orientation/etc. etc to you in the entertainment industry.

I guess I'll give an example based on two of my old past fandoms that a few members here will be familiar with. I enjoyed by Charmed and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. In both these series magic featured predominantly and a lot of negative critism came from the fact that these shows didn't feature Wicca in the right light and would often gloss over the more important part for a more stylized approach.

For example, in Charmed, you have the demons and witches. Both have powers, one is inherently evil, the other bad. Wicca doesn't teach about "powers" and thus, to them, calling them "witches" isn't really apt. Likewise when those who practise witchcraft on the show are shown to be mortal (or Wiccans) they are often done so in a ridiculing light (Ms. Hellfire, anybody?). Likewise in Buffy those who practise Wicca were put forward as a teen sterotype.

However, if we take ANY computer game which features magic, from Final Fantasy, to Legacy of Kain, through comics: Dr. Strange, Santana, Daimon Hellstrom, (and I'll be shot if I don't mention) Magik, etc. there is *very* little complaints about the connection to witchcraft despite the fact that they feature "magic" quite a lot.

Does differing genres and mediums allow for more lee-way when it comes to portraying a certain something?

This can apply to almost *anything* but I specifically want to keep off the topics of gender, race and sexual orientation. These, I believe, are too broad and would require each their own indiivdual topic.

So, after all that, it boils down to: How Important is it that things that we hold a particular interest in be properly conveyed in the entertainment mediums (tv/movies/plays/video games/etc)?

I'm not going in depth with my own answer yet because I think I rambled on a lot on the topic. However, to sum up my opinion in a simple suggestion: Realism should always take a back-seat to story.

 

[Lawless]

I think it less of 'general' public granting leeway inso much as that same public's exposure to computer games and comic books. Only a fraction of the general populace pays any attention and/or expose themselves to comics, D&D, and computer games. I myself like comics, sci-fi shows and movies but I'm not a big computer gamer I don't even have an X-Box or Play Station, so I know next to nothing of all the games out there, only the big name one that get a lot of TV air time like GoW, Halo II, X-Men, etc. Only about 5 other people I'm friends with know anything about comics, the rest are into golf, poker, and whatever else there is. Of the few Wiccans I have met, mostly female, none of them were into comics or games, with a general lack of knowledge of what out there in those mediums they're less likely to be insulted by general lack of misrepresentation. Versus damn near everyone has a television of it's almost impossible to not stumble across some show or find out about some movie that my not be portraying things in a more accurate light. My 2 cps.