On Stereotypes and Representation: The Portrayal of Riri Williams
Promotional image of The Invincible Iron Man featuring Riri Williams. Art by Jeff Dekal.
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Representation matters. There is something really special about that moment when you encounter a fictional character, be it in a book, on TV or in a comic, and you think: “This could totally be me”. Especially for teenagers and children, it is important to have role models they can identify with. For many people of color though, experiences like this are still relatively rare, at least concerning mainstream media. When it comes to representation of women of color in superhero-comics, there still is a lot that needs to be done. Black female characters are rare, black superheroines are even rarer. The ones that do exist oftentimes struggle with racist writing that reduces them to stereotypes, or fails to accurately depict their cultural roots. Although this is an issue that affects all characters of color, it seems to be even worse regarding young black women: in addition to racism, they often face sexism as well. Despite the growing amount of criticism over the years, the issue still hasn’t lost its relevance. In a recent attempt to diversify their universe, Marvel Comics introduced a number of new characters of diverse ethnicities and gender. One of these characters is Riri Williams, a fifteen year old black girl who was announced to be succeeding Tony Stark as Iron Man. Even before the actual comics featuring her were released, there already was a heated debate over her character. Mainly two groups of people took an interest in this topic: On one hand there were those who were upset by the fact that Tony Stark would apparently no longer be Iron Man and argued that there had been no need for diversification. On the other hand were those who seemed concerned about her becoming just another stereotyped and sexualized character. The first official cover pictures only contributed to these concerns. On them, Riri Williams could be seen in extremely tight pants and a crop top. Even now, after the release of a few issues centering on her, opinions differ greatly about her portrayal. In this blog post, I am going to take a closer look at the portrayal of Riri Williams. To support my thesis that Riri is indeed a character who accurately represents black girls, I will be focusing on three questions that determine whether representation is done well or not: Do any stereotypes apply to her? Is she portrayed authentically? Is the portrayal too sexualized? As Howard and Jackson as well as Harris-Perry point out in their works, the portrayal of people of color in media often goes along with the use of certain stereotypes that degrade and humiliate them. Although many of these date back to the colonial era, some of the most common today are modern ones that fit better into our society and are thus a little harder to recognize. To name a few, there is the Mammy, the Tragic Mulatto, the Jezebel and the Angry Black Woman. They are designed to portray black women as asexual obese mother figures, biracial women struggling to pass as white, overly sexual and amoral beings or constantly complaining and aggressive women. For our example, the Angry Black Woman is the most obvious to look out for. This stereotype emerged from the myth that black women are sassy and quick to anger. The first panel featuring Riri Williams seems to match with this: Taking place at the dorm rooms of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the narrative follows two female students knocking at a door to a dorm room, complaining about loud noises coming from within. The door opens and we see a young black woman: Riri Williams. After the students convey their complaint, she simply slams the door shut without replying. The next panel shows her in her room, surrounded by pieces of metal, cables and various tools. The object she is working on so late at night is a nearly complete Iron Man suit. Although she is the one that is too noisy in the middle of the night, she acts as if the other students were disturbing her. Admittedly this is only one short scene of many to come, but the first impression does tend to leave a mark on the reader. The Riri we get to know in these first panels is a person who clearly is extremely intelligent and skilled, but doesn’t care about other people. Moreover, she seems to become angry easily, even when the fault is clearly on her side. As the story unfolds and the character becomes more detailed, this character trait becomes less prominent. There are many scenes where she could have turned angry, but faced the situation with intelligence and consideration. However, sass and self-confidence, sometimes easily mistaken for arrogance, stay a consistent part of her character. She often argues with other characters, especially Tony Stark. This does not automatically make her the Angry Black Woman, though. In fact, I would argue that the existence of this stereotype makes it almost impossible for black women to be self-confident and quick-witted without getting classified as this specific stereotype. Riri Williams is a smart character, probably even smarter than super-genius Tony Stark, so why shouldn’t she be sure of herself? This being said, there also are plenty of scenes where she does doubt her abilities. One might also come to the conclusion that she is portrayed this way to match the personality of Tony Stark. Whether this was intended or not has not been commented on by the creators. Jumping back once more to the first page featuring Riri, something else immediately catches the eye: she doesn’t look at all like someone who is supposed to be fifteen years old. Her body as well as her face are those of someone in their early or mid-twenties. Her clothes don’t really seem to fit the situation either. She is wearing dark shorts, a tight black top that reveals her belly button and boots. It is an outfit that would fit well into a “Lara Croft” storyline, but seems misplaced for a teenager working in her room late at night. Shouldn’t she at least be wearing pajama pants and socks instead of tight shorts and boots? This seems to confirm a concern voiced by online-writer Kristen Pellot that Riri would fall victim to “adultification”. Prior to the release of the comics, the writer argued how because of the common sexualization of black women, Riri might not be portrayed as a typical teenager, unlike other young superheroes. With a change of the main artist for Volume 3 however, Riri’s overall appearance becomes more age-appropriate. Instead of tight and revealing clothes, she is mostly seen wearing casual outfits like jeans, loose-fitting shirts or hoodies and sneakers. More noticeably, her physique changes as well. Her body looks less mature; she seems smaller, skinnier and generally more child-like. Even her face seems younger and more fitting for a fifteen year old. Another rather delicate matter is the topic of violence. It is a common stereotype that black people grow up and live in rather poor neighborhoods where gang violence and crime are daily issues. Riri Williams’ backstory consists mainly of the fact that the lost her father, her stepfather and her only best friend in shootings induced by criminal gangs. In a flashback, the reader is shown how Riri witnessed their deaths first hand as their peaceful neighborhood picnic was interrupted by the shooting. On one hand, statistics show that gang violence and shootings in Chicago occur in exceptionally high numbers. So if Riri grew up there, it is likely that she is familiar with these kinds of incidents. Secondly, the issue of gang violence, like other issues, needs to be addressed. But did it have to be the backstory of a young black girl? Couldn’t she have grown up in a safe and happy neighborhood in another city, with both her parents alive and well? As important as it is to raise the awareness of gang violence; in connection with Riri, it only promotes the common stereotype that black people always grow up with violence and crime. As already mentioned in the beginning, a very important aspect regarding the portrayal of black girls and women is authentic and accurate representation. People can only relate to characters when they seem real. This realness of a character is typically achieved by adding small details to the comics that make them seem human. When it comes to black characters, there is a phenomenon that Howard and Jackson describe as being black “in color only, while operating in an all White cultural context and worldview”. This means that many black characters have the looks of a black person, but are not rooted in their culture at all. Since there were no women of color involved in the process of creating Riri Williams, there was a high risk that the creators would get certain things wrong, like the physics of natural hair or everyday struggles of black women. Surprisingly, the creators did quite well on this subject. As the writer Olivia Stephens points out, “Black hair is a pillar in the foundation of Black Cool”. Her call for the appearance of a hair bonnet, an item any black women use to protect their hair from tangling or losing its shape, seems to have been heard by the creators. There is a scene which shows Riri during her morning routine, featuring said object. Small details like this make her “Black in consciousness” instead of being “White in Black face”, and thus relatable for black girls and women reading the comics. To draw a conclusion, I think it is fair to say that considering all the concerns people voiced beforehand, the creators did fairly well with the portrayal of Riri Williams. Of course, there are still some aspects that might be considered stereotypical about her character. These things could have easily been avoided by simply including a woman of colour in the process of creation. But in terms of representation, I think Riri should be considered as a step forward, into the right direction. There are people on the Internet who find something to criticise in every comic that comes out, no matter how small. I believe, however, that we should focus on the things these comics did well: Riri Williams is incredibly smart and talented, has a complex personality that can’t easily be reduced to a stereotype and is authentic in her blackness. Generally, there is always the question of who the target audience is. And in the case of Riri, it might just not be middle-aged white men who want to hold on to their old heroes but black women, especially young ones, who can now see themselves represented in the new superheroine. She is someone a little black girl can look up to and see as a role model. Works consulted: ABC News. “"Hidden America: Don't Shoot I Want to Grow Up": Statistics surrounding gang violence in Chicago”. http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/fullpage/chicago-gang-violence-numbers-17509042. Accessed 3 July 2017 Bendis, Brian Michael. Invincible Iron Man Volume 2. Marvel Comics, 2015-2016. Bendis, Brian Michael. Invincible Iron Man Volume 3. Marvel Comics, 2017-2017 Entman, R. M., & Rojecki, A. v. The black image in the white mind: Media and race in America. Chicago, Ill.: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2004. Harris-Perry, M. V. Sister citizen: Shame, stereotypes, and Black women in America; [for colored girls who've considered politics when being strong isn't enough]. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 2011. Howard, S. C., & Jackson, R. L. Black comics: Politics of race and representation. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. Pettot, Kristen. “The “Adultification” of Riri Williams”. The Radical Notion, 3 Sept. 2016, http://www.theradicalnotion.com/the-adultification-of-riri-williams/. Accessed 3 July 2017 Stephens, Olivia. “Mantles, Crowns, and Knowledge: What RiRi Williams Needs”. Women Write About Comics, 22 Aug. 2016, http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2016/08/22/mantles-crowns-and-knowledge-what-riri-williams-needs/. Accessed 3 July 2017
