The Flash Getting Representation Oh So Right

Say what you want about The Flash TV series, it isn’t as dark as Arrow or have the same feel of Smallville (thank god it doesn’t. I’m sorry Smallville did not get it right in my eyes. It ain’t the bible for comic series) but The Flash as a TV series has come into its own. Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen encompasses the silver age of comics that The Flash dominated. While we get that old boy scout approach for our main hero rooted in that era of tradition, we are also given changes for today. The move to make Flash’s love interest Iris West a black woman (Candace Patton) was different and so needed. I’ll admit I thought they would just be playing the role trope/ trend of the white male lead and black female lead that has been noticeable on a lot of shows. There is a big difference in how this was handled. Yes, we know Barry ends up with Iris down the line (comic-book wise and possible future timeline wise at least) but the extra mile brought into the show where Barry’s father is framed for murder and he is raised by Iris’ father Joe West… this small detail makes everything so much more genuine as the show progresses.

There are a million stories where we’ve seen the white savior narrative in plenty of films from Dangerous Minds, to The Blind Side (Sandra Bullock you were so bae till that movie) now the inverse of this could have happened on The Flash but they didn’t beat us over the head with Joe West coercing Barry out of believing what he saw the night his mother was murdered….