I disagree with you, I think it's paramount that representation of minorities is inserted into existing stories. I don't understand the concept of "forced representation", because I read it as intentional representation, and all representation and all art production are intentional. It's not being forced, it's being given.
Even when it undermines historical or factual accuracy? Or alters the source material without adding any new facet to it's meaning?
@duwen please, age is just a number. I've seen countless movies from all USA/Europe/Asia from all ages, there was a clear predominance of white people and man/woman couples, most representations of minorities were marginal and prejudiced. If it weren't so, society would be past this constant consternation about different ethnicities and homossexuals being represented in the pictures. You can point movies? How nice, from that perspective I can also point that the main character of this show is a white male and that somehow nullifies all the rest. But do tell, which specific representations of minorities ruined this series in particular?
The Endless in the Sandman comics are literally beyond ethnicity, and are almost alien in how devoid of colour their skin is. And as was the case in the comics, they took on the ethnic appearance of those that viewed them (as seen in the scene with Nada in hell). Yes, they're white, but white in such a way that makes them as ethnically different to you or I as if they were green.
And to answer your question, there is no specific representation of minorities that ruin this series... it's an accumulation of many changes to the source material that ruin this series.
As I said in my first post on this thread, "Most of the 'woke' changes didn't bother me" - even when I initially thought that they might. I was fine with the ethnic changes of Cain and Abel, the Walker family, the Hecate, and even Death. And the LGBTQ+ casting of Mason Alexander Park as Desire is perfect.
If I have to point the finger at some of the 'woke' choices that are part of the accumulation that makes this adaptation bad, it's the previously mentioned "write a male, cast a female" gender swaps that were nonsensical and pointless, and the historically inaccurate representations of minorities in the scenes that are set a century or more ago. Add to that, the only straight white couples depicted in the show are depicted as either abusive or out and out evil, compared to the queer or mixed race (or both) relationships only being depicted positively.
...but those things alone aren't why it's not a good adaptation. Most of it stems from the adapted structure undermining the story beats, and it's self-distancing from all the ties the source cleverly weaves with a wealth of DC comic history.
I'd advise anyone that thinks they may like it to go and read the comics first, as watching the show first definitely reduces the impact of how the initial pair of story arcs unfold.
