How The New 'Ms. Marvel' Is Making A Difference

The reign of Marvel may be in the midst of its golden age — Winter Soldier dominating the box office, etc. — but here's something else to keep in mind as you're betting on its future: The reign of Kamala Khan is hopefully just beginning. Because, as this new video explains, Kamala Khan and her Ms. Marvel are taking some much-needed steps for the entertainment world.

I talk a lot about the importance of representation in my writings for Bustle. In fact some might say I won't shut up about it. That would be correct; I won't. As someone with an investment in the impact our entertainment can have over our society I have (I would argue understandable) trouble shutting up when I see representation done "wrong." On the flip side, I have just as much (if not more) trouble shutting up when the representation is done "right."

Which is why I'm slightly in love with PBS Idea Channel's video about the importance of Kamala Khan: It encapsulates a lot of those things I won't shut up about in one eleven-and-a-half minute video. It explains some of the history of gender and race representation in media's past, and it explains what Ms. Marvel is doing to try to move forward from that past.

One of my favorite things about Kamala Khan is that — whether or not one is Muslim or Pakistani or American or a woman — her position is utterly relatable for so many people reading comics or paying attention to Marvel. She loves superheroes. She just has to figure out how to be one as herself, and not one based on the strange beauty ideals of the ones who came before her.

Image: Marvel