system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Raceswapping is not representation

I know this is very controversial in the media right now but I thought I would come on here, explain my point of view, and see others outlooks on the subject to maybe even change my view. 

Raceswapping has been growing a lot lately and the most recent ones I’ve seen include the Last of Us series, Little Mermaid, and Velma. The way I see it is people have been asking for diversity and representation for a long time (and that’s a good thing) and now the media is not only taking advantage of that, they are not really listening. 

To me, it’s nothing more than slapping a POC onto a known character in a blatant cash grab from POC consumers. I feel the same way about changing pre-established characters sexualities and genders. If these media companies really cared about representation, would they not put their hearts into making an original amazing character that is a POC or LGBTQ+?

Are Joel and Ellie the only survivors in the apocalypse? Is the Little Mermaid the only mermaid in the sea? Is mystery inc the only crime fighting/ghost hunters they can come up with? They didn’t make Peter Venkman black, they introduced Winston Zeddemore and he’s the best! Lee Everett is one of the best video game protagonists made and he’s not Rick Grimes. Raceswapping is not how you handle diversity. This is how you make easy money from using known and loved characters to keep people intrigued before making unnecessary changes. People have been told it’s racist or homophobic to not support these changes and the media is milking it. 

I’ve heard people ask “why do you care? It’s a cartoon/video game etc?” I could ask the same about these creators. Why do they care? Why change the race or sexuality of a character people already know? Why raceswap the white characters in the last of us and not the POC? What is the point? It becomes confusing but it seems pretty obvious. I have no problems and encourage diversity and representation when done right and respectfully. But all I’ve taken from these recent changes is they know how to pander and milk money from it. 

I read a comment earlier today, “Well Velma was Hispanic in Scoob (2020) and now she’s Indian? That’s offensive to the Hispanic community.” Confusion. There is no reason for this other than money and now what should be a love for diversity is simply turning into more hate and separation. To me it’s insane so many people are falling for it and going along with it but maybe I am thinking all wrong. I think they could do better and originality goes a long way, especially nowadays. Change my view.
gpt
The people who care about representation aren't the people making the decisions of which show to make.

The people who make the decisions about which show to make want stuff as low risk as possible. They want reboots, remakes, adaptations, and sequels of previously-popular media in order to guarantee an audience. Then, after they make the decision of which show to make, they give that decision off to other people, who, amongst other decisions, choose who to cast. But for a variety of reasons, 'previously-popular media' is overwhelmingly white. So the people, who cannot choose which show to make, either have the choice of having a majority-or-all-white show or raceswapping. Raceswapping is representation if there is no other choice in the matter. It'd be nice if they were making new shows, but they're not, so.

Not to mention, like, two of your examples are live action TV shows. Why is it not possible that the actors that were best for that role just happened to not match their old races? Why is the only possible reason they would hire a PoC actor as a cash grab?