90% of ‘representation’ problems could be answered with just more variety. “This rep is BAD because a gay guy being femme is stereotyping”/”no it’s important, femme gays exist and deserve representation” – sounds like we need both kinds. “Queer stories shouldn’t be focused on sex”/”sex is important to the queer experience and should be represented” – sounds like we need both kinds. “Hypercompetent disabled characters like Toph and Daredevil don’t represent me and suggest that disabled characters are only valuable if their disabilities aren’t ‘disabling’ them”/”hypercompetent disabled characters like Toph and Daredevil are empowering” – sounds like we need both kinds.
Most of the Problems of Bad Representation TM aren’t problems at all, except when they’re the only Representation available. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with gay or disfigured or mentally ill villains… except when it’s a pattern across media, and there’s no variety. There’s nothing wrong with stories where the character who happens to get killed off is the minority and all the cishet white abled people make it through and live happily ever after… except when it’s a pattern, and it’s always the minorities getting killed off, rather than teh frequency you’d expect in a random distribution. There’s nothing wrong with a walking stereotype (people who are walking stereotypes do exist!), except when the stereotype is the only kind of character we’re given.
Expecting anything with a diverse cast to act as a PSA that fully explored the nuances of every race, sexuality, gender or subculture it includes and decrying it as ‘problematic’ if it doesn’t meet (your idea of) Perfect Representation is shooting ourselves in the foot. 1 piece of Perfect Representation is so, so much less valuable than 100 pieces of kinda fucked up representation that are fucked up in different ways.
Artist: I’m not sure my take on this is as good as this other take.
Audience: Holy shit, two takes!