Thing is you've always had DEI in some form or other in lots of war movies and SF movies. For example, war stories have always had several "types" in a platoon--the wet behind the ears college boy lieutenant, the grizzled "lifer" sergeant, the "tough guy" hoodlum, the resourceful scrounger, the terrified kid, and the radio operator from Brooklyn. In classic 1950's Sci-fi "we go there" movies you have the middle aged rocket scientist, the young sexist pilot, the hottie female who's usually a biologist/medical doctor, and the radio operator from Brooklyn. It just a convention to have these "types" in these kinds of movies. The idea of having certain stock characters in certain kinds of literature goes all the way back to Classical literature runs through Medieval drama, and continues with modern novels and into contemporary cinema.This criticism is particularly absurd given that the show relocates the book’s main present day action from China to the UK. Whitewashing would be more of a valid criticism than the argument you’re making here (though to be clear I’m not making that criticism, and Cixin Liu gave his blessing to this locational change).
The story is supposed to be a global one about humanity’s encounter with the “dark forest” of intelligent life in the universe, and so it makes perfect artistic sense to have a cast that reflects a decently wide swath of the human family. But you only see DEI box-checking and simply assume that the artistic standard has been compromised by it (based on your evidence-free assertion that they didn’t pick the best actors for the characters).
The location has been moved from a country where 95% of the people are of a single ethnicity to one of the most globally diverse cities on the planet. If you don’t like the ethnic diversity of the cast then don’t travel to London. But that’s got nothing to do with the artistic integrity of the show.
What changes are the "types" of stock characters presented in each of these forms of story telling as the art adapts to the era. When literature first started, all the characters were gods and heroes, later it came to include the nobility, then it came to include the middle class, then the lower strata of society, then women. Now, it's including people of different ethnicities, skin pigmentation, and sexual orientations. Anyone who's studied literature would understand that's just the natural progression. Everyone reads books and watches movies, and they want characters who look and act like them. So inclusion of these diverse individuals is now a convention of storytelling in 21st century art. Nothing to get excited about. Just make a space for everyone, that's all.
Last edited: