Forgive my shitty attitude in regards to these new film trailers…it’s not my fault but Hollywood’s. I don’t think diversity will be something that is on the forefront of Hollywood execs and studio heads for the seeable future. Well maybe only one time a year when the #OscarsSoWhite hash-tag resurfaces during award season.
What I find interesting is that these supposed pro-diversity self-identifying white liberals, still manage to be in and create films that are mostly white.
Even when characters in the films are of obvious non-white ethnicity; Hollywood still white washes. Regardless if subject matter and visuals seem appealing in some of these trailers below…I couldn’t stop wondering, where was the African American, Asian and Latino faces or voices?
Star Wars: Rouge One – Leaked Teaser
Much respect to the new crop of Star Wars films. Beginning with Episode 7 in addition to the one shot stand-alone films like Rouge One. We not only see what a diverse sci-fi action cinematic universe looks like but also witness non-white actors in leading roles.
Kubo and the Two Strings
The setting for this stop motion 3D animated film takes place in ancient Japan. Wait…so an obvious Asian film with obvious Asian appearing characters doesn’t have one Asian voicing the lead characters….REALLY??? Just who are the all white leads? Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara, Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes and Art Parkinson. Yes there’re Asians voicing in supporting characters roles like Michael Sun Lee, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and George Takei BUT not in the lead roles of an Asian film. Got it.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Well this is to be expected. Tim Burton has always been allergic to Negroes in his films so no surprise here. However we do have a token Black by way of the villainous evil bad guy played by Samuel L Jackson. So I guess an evil Negro is better than no Negro right? Or maybe the invisible boy is Black also but we just can’t see him. At any rate, the film still does seem interesting Burton is a great director.
SAUSAGE PARTY
What’s a Seth Rogan film without his bros James Franco, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Danny McBride? Oh and don’t you dare forget their Hot Tub Time Machine token “one of my best actor friends is black” Craig Robinson. First off, I’m sure the concept for this film came about during a weed induced “creative” session. This looks like it would be okay for a 30 minute short but not for a full length feature film. I do want to add out of 17+ cast members; Salma Hayek also stars, but get this…SHE VOICES A FUCKING TACO! That’s right, the Latina is the voice of a taco. Anywho…tell me again why an animated movie could only squeeze in two people of color?
Kill Command
You may not be able to tell by this UK trailer but the cast is pretty diverse. With David Ajala, Deborah Rosan, Bentley Kalu and Osi Okerafor in supporting roles. Nonetheless the movie still gives me a Michael Bay feel which is kinda a turn off.
Guardians: Soviet Union Superheroes
This is Russian film produced by a Chinese production company, is being called the Russian “Avengers”. Viewing the trailer it appears there is at least one Asian actor in a leading role. Viewing pics of the cast, I think he is the only one.
It’s almost as if there is a maximum allowed 2 people of color per film, if any. Do these Hollywood execs think anything over that quota would be to “ethnic” or “urban” and audiences will think it’s a reboot of Boyz N Da Hood? I don’t know but please feel free to share your opinions.
Well, you can better blame American Culture, because they're the one's that have infected the world overall with a negative/ undesirable view of anything non-white, therefore movies featuring non-white leads, supporting characters, and basically any black person that's not killed off within the first 30 mins are not marketable to foreign audiences. Hollywood has pigeonholed itself into a (albeit very profitable) corner, featuring majority white casts and white washing where applicable. The only ones truly offended are the American minority, because the foreign minority (for the most part) has been conditioned to accept and praise the system of exclusion, even if they themselves are the excluded.
I watched the Hunger Games because it was a date night thing but I refuse to believe that Becky McWhitcaster would rise to the occasion in these Divergent Fifth Wave Maze Runner deals.
Diversity in films is a pet peeve of mine. In this day and age (2016), lily white casts are unacceptable. I grew up watching movies in the 1950s and '60s and beyond. Lily white casts were the norm, that is all we had, so that is what we had to deal with. Now, not so much. I saw the trailer of the movie "Hail Caesar" not a person of color to be seen either in the trailer or when I went online and looked up the complete cast. The movie had a cast of hundreds. "Hail Caesar" flopped at the box office. The same with "Gods of Egypt",it flopped also. I think people are getting kind of tired of just seeing whites onscreen and are realizing that all white worlds depicted in the movies are unrealistic. "Gods of Egypt",is a movie that had whites playing Egyptians. My tolerance for movies that are lily white is extremely low. I am not saying Blacks or people of color of other races have to be the stars, but when you see a big city street scene, and everybody walking on the street is white, and every Extra in every other scene is white, it has become absolutely intolerable. Hollywood is full of slow learners, they do not want to change or they don't know how. The irony is that Hollywood is suppose to be full of Liberals. It seems they are a bunch of Liberal Racists.
You nailed the reaction to 'Sausage Party', same as mine. I thought come on Seth you just got all your white buddies that you smoke weed with and made a move and could not even use various POC as various foods??? That is so not cool bro, I am so pissed I should smoke another one;)
^^^All this here^^^
:kermit::babylawd::lawd:
of all of the movies listed, Miss Peregrine's disappoints me the most.
I know like @Ockydub said, Tim Burton has never been big on casting of the coloreds and I know this and enjoy his works but I always foolishly hold out that hope that he'll come around to recognizing his non-ethnic casting choices. Here he does cast a big name and great actor like Samuel L. Jackson and it's another one of his solo faces of color that also happens to be the villain roles.
I refuse to ever watch eve for free, white gods of Egypt and Exodus: white gods and white kings because of the short sighted and then defensive stance on the terrible Euro casting choices.
So being that you seen @ControlledXaos comments about Sausage Party and seen my comments, what do you think?
Sausage Party is exactly what I expect from them and doesn't really surprise me. Salma Hayek playing a taco does slightly surprise and disappoint and I'm not even going to look and see what food Craig Robinson or any of their other usual checked off minority pals are playing.
A movie like this, I'd actually rather see a lack of diversity rather than groan inducing ethnic embarrassments.
I think this continueous dilemma on not being included in "major" motion pictures is so layerd I'm always not sure where to start. I definitely see the points of view for us as "minority" groups wanting shear opportunity whether acting roles or otherwise. However it just puzzles me that after years and years and years and years of this going on, what do we expect to happen? Yes, I know it should start with a dialouge and we should not just sit quiet and don't say anything. But it just seems like we should do more. That is the ones in the our "minority" groups that are truly offended. A lot of people talk about its a shame there are no blacks in the movie, etc, yet many of us go opening night and see it. And watching it at home counts as well. And also, when you have a movie/television industry where the directors, writers, producers, assistants and so on are all white, its pretty much a given that they hire the reflections of themselves. Or even more so hire the friends, social circles, etc who are also white. Should there be an affirmative action clause set in the entertainment industry? Should every movie or television show be sure to cast equal racial groups or it is not distributed? Should we take a stand and boycott the "white" movies and extend it to the companies that advertise/support those movies? (film companies that produce such films?) even extend it to the actors who participate in those movies by boycotting all of the movies they act in? Race is indeed an issue, but the true color that matters now more than ever is GREEN. Maybe if they feel the hit of the disappearance of the black dollar there would be some changes. I don't know. When these kinda conversations start I just have questions and try to get clarity from all perspectives.
If white people/non blacks didn't think all movies starring black folks were only for or could only be enjoyed by black people…
Even though I'd be pressed to really put my hope and faith into Becky McWhitcaster being the heroine if there's some major ish going down, I never had this issue with Ripley from Aliens. That character was believable. I just don't think someone who was taking Algebra II a year ago is going to be much of a savior when the time comes.
Animation of definitely one of the areas where diversity could be used more but I admit, the minute I found out Rihanna was in Home, it hit the Maybe I'll Netflix It One Day list. I just feel someone else, a different black person, could have voiced that character better and she was probably cast to appeal to a wider (whiter) audience.
Ah, the final girl syndrome.
Aside from Ripley or Xena, she's always white passibly attractive and barely out of adolescence but always so much more intuitive and resilient than everyone else. The ultimate survivor.
I think animation has a lot of untapped potential for people of color trying to sell their stories and get their talents recognized.
Some of the best voices in film, animation, television, and video games…
Keith David
Cree Summers
Morgan Freeman
James Earl Jones
Michael Dorn
Sam Jackson
Phil LaMarr- John Stewart (Justice League)
Kevin Michael Richardson
CCH Pounder
Well, the token "Black" friends could've been represented by a container of Chitlin's. or a Pig's Foot, or even a piece of Fried Chicken. SMH. I'm pretty sure they'de have LOOOOVED to have gone that route, but opted out on the backlash.
"Should there be an affirmative action clause set in the entertainment industry? "
I don't think anyone would be able to pull this off even if it was a thought. If Im not mistaken, doesn't Movie/Film industry fall into artistic expression, and therefor exempt from any type of "Affirmative Action"? It's like trying to influence someone's personal, artistic vision.