Brittain fellow Aaron Kashtan is featured in a recent Atlantic article by Noah Berlatsky entitled “The Incoherent Backlashes to Black Actors Playing ‘White’ Superheroes.” The article details recent social media outcry on the part of many white fans in response to the announcement that African-American actor Michael B. Jordan has been cast as the Human Torch in an upcoming Final Four movie. Kashtan, who is quoted for his expertise in transmedia storytelling, argues that this kind of response is often a form of “unconscious or overt racism,” and indeed ignores the fact that faithfulness to traditional portrayals is itself implicated in systemic forms of racism.
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