Elle est amérindienne, sourde et amputée d'une jambe : la nouvelle super-héroïne Marvel compte sur son profil atypique pour redynamiser une franchise en déclin chez Disney, au moment même où son patron semble vouloir se retirer du champ des guerres culturelles américaines.
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00:00 She is Amerindian, deaf and amputated leg, the new Marvel superhero relies on her atypical profile to revitalize a declining franchise at Disney,
00:08 at the very moment when her boss seems to want to withdraw from the field of American cultural wars.
00:13 The series "The Echo", which debuts Tuesday on Disney+ and Hulu streaming platforms, follows the adventures of Maya Lopez,
00:20 a former New York criminal who rediscovers her Amerindian roots in her hometown of Oklahoma.
00:25 A pitch that falls at a delicate moment, both for the Marvel universe and for its owner, Disney.
00:31 The general public bears some lack of understanding for the superhero franchise, whose audience figures are eroding,
00:37 while the big-eared firm has become a punching ball for the American right, particularly during the presidential campaign.
00:44 Like the governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, claiming the White House,
00:49 Republicans are suing him for homosexual or non-binary characters, like in Buzz Lightyear or Elementary School.
00:56 Disney has also lost its studio title to the biggest Hollywood business figures, ahead of Universal last year.
01:03 A first since 2016.
01:06 In November, Disney's boss, Bob Iger, seemed to suggest to his creative teams to start a turn.
01:13 Rather than favoring symbols and positive messages, he hammered his desire to "go back to our roots",
01:20 that is to say, to remember that we must first have fun.
01:23 So proud?
01:25 With its many sign language dialogues, subtitled, and its development in collaboration with the Shakta people,
01:31 Echo however claims its inclusiveness.
01:34 The creators have in particular wanted to ensure the authenticity of a sports gathering scene,
01:38 located in America before the European colonists.
01:41 "I am so proud to be able to make the voice of indigenous peoples heard,"
01:45 the star of the series, Alaka Cox, said at a recent press conference.
01:50 The series is about the advent of a trend within the Marvel universe.
01:54 If the superhero franchise based on American comic books debuted in theaters in 2008 with Iron Man,
02:00 it was necessary to wait for Black Panther, the 18th film, to show the adventures of a protagonist other than white.
02:07 Since then, the universe has considerably diversified its characters,
02:11 while at the same time, the box office revenues have declined.
02:15 But nothing indicates that these two phenomena are linked, according to Botany Lassina,
02:19 who studied the demographic of the audience of the franchise.
02:22 Non-white people are more likely to watch Marvel movies than white people.
02:28 In particular, African-Americans and Latinos, explains this professor at the University of Rochester.
02:34 "The greatest inclusiveness of Disney castings brings their films closer to what has always been their audience,"
02:40 she notes, "especially since young Americans are more and more diverse."
02:44 Frustration
02:46 For the university, Mr. Hager's recent speech may be a frustration
02:50 and that Disney's efforts to diversify the screen have not attracted a wave of viewers from new horizons.
02:56 But the inclusiveness promoted by Marvel has not caused any feedback from white viewers, she estimates.
03:03 They also quarreled over Black Panther, a film with mostly African-American castings,
03:08 nominated for the Oscars and still awarded by Disney's boss for its positive impact on the world.
03:13 According to Nick Karn, co-author of a book on the Marvel universe,
03:17 the diversification of the franchise's superheroes comes from both a commercial strategy
03:21 and the history of the comic books inspired by the films.