Race, Gender and Static Shock

Static Shock is back on TV. You can catch it on Disney XD Monday-Thursdays. Since its return, there has been a slight resurgence of art and fanfics for the fandom. I've also seen the reappearance of my least favorite slash pairing in the series: Hotstreak/Richie. I don't typically care who people slash, but this pairing has always rubbed me the wrong way. A few years ago I got in a discussion with someone over at the Live Journal Static Shock community The Gas Station about Hotstreak/Richie. Five years later I still agree with our analysis on how race and gender played a role in the creation of this pairing.

There are people who don't agree with this. One girl who slashed the two teens wrote that she did so because she liked the whole bully/geek pair. She somehow ignored the fact that Virgil is a total geek. They both are. Virgil more so than Richie. Great proof of this is the fact that Richie was able to run a successful campaign for president at his school (elections are always about popularity and geeks rank low on the popularity chart). With that argument blown out of the water, what other reason is there to pair Richie up with a character he hardly comes in contact with? Because it's safe and comfortable.

If you grow up seeing white people with white people, black people with black people, and so on and so on, you're going to probably stick with this pattern, especially if you grew up in the white community. Don't believe this? Go to Amazon.com and type in interracial and be amazed by the amount of books about black females in relationships with white men. Although this doesn't in any way mirror reality (black females are very unlikely to date outside their ethnic group) it's done for the same reason you see so many stories about lower class females being swept off their feet by upperclassmen. It's all about climbing that ladder, and marrying white is about marrying up.

So how does this relate to Static slash? Because you're going to have people who subconsciously (or consciously) follow the stay with your own kind rule. So Static, who interacts with Hotstreak more, and shares many slashy moments with him gets passed over. But it's not because there's anything wrong with the him. Fanfics and fan art will have you believe Richie is just more desirable. There are many a story that have Virgil lament over his friend and the narration tends to paint him as this blue eyed wonder (even though his eyes are as black as Virgil's). In fan art Richie tends to make very feminine poses. And lets not forget he is the notorious uke of the Staticverse. Why is that? Doesn't this kill my whole theory about white people having power if Richie takes on a more feminine rule? No, in fact, it strengthens it.

I bet if you look through the Static Shock fan fiction you'll find Richie paired with a variety of people: Ebon, Shiv, Hotstreak and of course Virgil. Look again, and this time focus on who Virgil is paired with. I bet you're noticing his pickings are pretty sparse because again and again he's with Richie. Richie is valuable, so everybody wants him. This goes right along with what I stated above about "moving up". No, these fanfics are not about characters trying to make it, no romance overtly is. But, the fact that Richie is wanted more than his friend shows that he is worth more. This is how things work in the world. If everybody wants an item it because valuable. And Richie, it would seem, is quite valuable.

But what about him being an uke? Doesn't that downgrade his status? No. This also relates to the monetary system. In our society, women carry value. Although, this is an old system that is slowly deteriorating (depending on your location), it still remains with us to this day. Endowing Richie with female traits also endows him with value. And although, this is pretty much how I deem this to work in the majority of seme/uke relationship, it becomes even more complicated when you throw race into the mix. What you have in Static Shock is a bunch of minority characters longing for something better. Richie represents that something better. Even in the case of Hotstreak who comes off as a lower class white male. Despite the fact he's getting his butt pounded, obtaining Richie is obtaining the ability to move up a bit in the world. Ever play monopoly with someone outside your family and the way they play is completely different then how you usually play? Well, the same goes for slash. Although Richie's role as the effeminate uke would usually carry negative connotations with it, when you change the players to a different ethnic group the rules change. All of a sudden his role is elevated.

This is getting a bit long, and my allergies are killing me, so I think I'll break this up. Next time I want to focus on how black males fit into the seme/uke spectrum and then finish off with why I slash Hotstreak/Static and why more people should follow suit (other than the simple fact that it's super hot).