Hi, I hope all of you are doing well.
As the title says I want to know your opinion on the trend of changing the race of a well known character.
I'm not referring to adding or replacing characters, like, for example, having Miles Morales as a new Spiderman. I am referring to changing a character that historically always has looked certain way.
I think that character re-design has room for imagination and characters can be reinvented radically, but in the end, it must represent the same person. So, if changing their race reinforce who the character is, it's totally fine because in some cases the change makes more sense to their history and personality.
But I'm not on board with changing their race just for the sake of doing so. The premise is that it doesn't matter how the character looks like because they are still the same on the inside, or that "anyone should be able to play this character".
Well, but your appearance does matter, it does help shape the way you are, it is not like you can wake up and be a different person now. Skin and features are not an accessory!! Who you are as a whole is precious. If I had to redesign a character I would respect their race, core values and shape/silhouette .
I also, don't get when an artist redesigns a character as a completely different person, and then bash whoever dares to notice that it doesn't look anything like the character it is supposed to be. Yes, characters are not "real" but still culturally they are entities that you have known for years and you know their characteristics at heart. It is hard to discuss this peacefully without getting called racist beforehand (at least with my colleagues) In my opinion it is worst to give a redesigned character a personality that betrays their essence, than to change the looks, but the personality topic gets less hate when it is discussed. I hope nobody gets offended by this thread, my point is not to rant about "how much I hate diversity", this is not the case.
So, share what you think. And, if your comic became a franchise and another artist took over and changed your characters races, would you like it? Yes, no? Depends?
Take care, stay safe.