Diversity and Representation in Media

Nominations all over the board.

You can claim that Will Smith was overlooked because he was a black guy, but Concussion isn't nominated in any other category either, and there were a lot of white people working on this. And best movie or best actor is always about the movie as a whole, too. It is not just the Oscars where Concussion didn't get only love, it got barely nominated at all, not even outside of the academy award. That an actor gets a nomination for a movie which isn't nominated anywhere else, that only happens in the female actor categories from time to time. As I said, slim pickings there.

Working on a screenplay right now (and being a very white guy), I initially was writing a white male protagonist before I was like, "You know what, nah. I should focus on the black female private investigator" because I realized it was a more interesting character. And now my original vanilla protagonist, who in any other story would be the lead, is a hilariously incompetent idiot. Writing's kind of a natural process, you write who you think is interesting, and sometimes you accidentally stumble on something more "unique" or "diverse." Trying to force it I've found often ends up backfiring.

Write Who You Know also played into it for me personally, as I've based the character on an actress I really enjoyed working with back in high school drama club. I try to maintain a diverse group of friends or people I vaguely know just to get ideas from...which sounds kind of creepy, but it genuinely helps to expose yourself as a writer to different people.

Swanpride, I never claimed Will Smith was overlooked because he was a black guy. And besides making me address a claim I didn't make that whole post is just a more wordy version of two points I said don't hold weight in this debate.

That's it, I'm done with it. If someone one else wants to continue fine but I'll let it fizzle otherwise.

Very interesting. Happy writing!

Mya Taylor just became the first transwoman to take home an acting award at the Independent Spirit Awards.

That's awesome!

And Abraham Attah took home the best actor award.

"that only happens in the female actor categories"

"Actress"

They do still call it that, after all.

Remember a few months ago when Jennifer Lawrence was criticizing pay gaps in Hollywood between actors and actresses? It turns out that her costar in American Hustle Amy Adams was well aware of it and has been keeping silent, until now. She speaks here about her silence and other topics, such as that she feels Lawrence is stronger than her and that her experience on-set of Hustle was a nightmare she didn't want to bring home with her.

So now they've actually cast Beat Takeshi as Aramaki in Ghost in the Shell after the backlash.

edited 3rd Mar '16 12:07:36 PM by comicwriter

So he'll be one of the leads? Cool. I hope to see him in more stuff in the West.

He's already been in a couple of movies made in/for the West throughout the years: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Johnny Mnemonic.

Being in stuff like Johnny Mnemonic is probably why he's not too well known in the West.

True, true. I'm mostly remembering the riffing sessions we've had on that movie in the Synchtube Coven.

In any case, some of his Japanese movies are also well known in Europe (Violent Cop, Brother).

Is Takeshi's casting really due to the whitewashing backlash?

Because if so, then so long as Johansson, Asbaek, and Pitt are still involved, this move does nothing.

I'm inclined to doubt that this is due to the backlash (at least, not entirely), partly because I don't think the Hollywood shot-callers really give enough of a shit to make a move like this in response. I haven't been following the project (because of the whitewashing), but I'd guess this was something that was planned from the get-go - throw in a token Asian actor or two to try to deflect some of the criticism, while still stubbornly keeping Scar-Jo as the main character.

If they actually have Scarlett Johansson playing a character named Motoko Kusanagi, I am going to throw something.

edited 3rd Mar '16 5:21:50 PM by RBluefish

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up with a cast which is totally mixed. Throw in someone from every race!

'If they actually have Scarlett Johansson playing a character named Motoko Kusanagi, I am going to throw something.'

Dominant and recessive genes can produce interesting results. You never know. I'll bet you that there's a Scar-jo-looking asian walking around right now........somewhere out in the world.

edited 3rd Mar '16 8:22:26 PM by nervmeister

It's true that genetics can lead to many surprises (one of my high school classmates had Asian features but bright red hair and blue eyes). But which is simpler: "Movies are showing the wealth of genetic diversity by casting characters with racially unique features", or "movies are white-washing characters so that they won't have to cast non-white actors"?

The movie Aloha tried to pull to that excuse ("she's a Hawaiian-Chinese woman who just happens to look Caucasian and is based on a real person") and nobody bought it.

edited 3rd Mar '16 8:37:39 PM by Tuckerscreator

Exactly. Executives and casting directors aren't thinking "we should cast a white woman as this Asian character in order to showcase the wide range of potential complexions made possible by genetic foibles." They're thinking "yellow people don't sell tickets, get me a white person." The rest is all excuses and flimsy justifications.

Also, with Aloha, if they wanted a woman who had Asian heritage but looked white, it wasn't as if there weren't plenty of actors who fit that broad description and also had the proper heritage. For example, did you know that Hailee Steinfield is part Filipino? But no, they cast Emma Stone.

edited 3rd Mar '16 8:41:51 PM by RBluefish

How about, "the big studios are sissies who are too afraid to take risks and thus fall back on the most recognizable actors/actresses of the era almost every time"?

Lucy Liu sold tickets and still has a good deal of name recognition.

edited 3rd Mar '16 8:46:38 PM by nervmeister

If you ask me, it's primarily a mixture of both. Yes, executives are notoriously cowardly when it comes to anything remotely new or different, and yes, racism is endemic in the film industry. Shot callers fall back on big-name actors to sell their movies (which always puts me off, because it makes me suspect they aren't confident in the movie's actual quality, but I digress), but the fact remains that there are very few big-name actors of color compared to the number of white ones. And that is not coincidence.

Even so, however, it isn't as if there are no major actors of color. But time and time again, they're passed up for roles, or the roles are actively whitewashed, always with some excuse.

I know she does - funny you brought her up, because I was considering doing so. I'm not saying that Asian people can't or won't sell tickets - very much the opposite. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm very vehement about the portrayal (or lack thereof) of Asian people in media. I'm just saying that this is the kind of fallacious logic that executives tend to operate under.

edited 3rd Mar '16 8:50:32 PM by RBluefish

Dude, it's because execs think only white people sell tickets.

I mean, it's not even in question, everyone who talks to them say it's explicitly what they're saying.

Sadly, the big film budgets aren't going to the indie filmmakers, the ones more likely to introduce some new blood into leading roles and, more importantly, aren't bound by "suits" telling them what they can and cannot do. Maybe crowdfunding or something could change that.

The real problem is just Hollywood being by-the-numbers and predictable as all f**k. The overreliance on white actors is merely a symptom.

edited 3rd Mar '16 9:35:37 PM by nervmeister