Diversity and Representation in Media

I enjoyed Sens 8. But I enjoy pretty much anything with telepaths in it.

Not enthused about another Matrix film though.

Edited by Galadriel on May 10th 2019 at 4:57:45 AM

Have the Wachowskis themselves said anything about it? Because the article's update seemed to backpedal.

Still haven't watched the finale film, but I would assume Sense 8 had the problem of 'Season 2 set up a dozen or more world-expanding plot points that we suddenly have to wrap up and just can't do that in 90-120 mins.

Anyway, Gentleman Jack started on HBO, an adaptation of the secret coded diaries on Anne Lister; landowner, industrialist, and lesbian in 1830s England. They're about 3 episodes in now (new Episodes on Mondays) of around 8 and it's pretty good. The actors are charming, in particular their lead with Suranna Jones giving Anne a level of wit, stubborn strength, and charm that might wind up grating or polarizing in a less talented lead's hands. The writing is on point. And the production values are outstanding! BBC was also involved in the production.

I would HIGHLY recommend.

Edited by InkDagger on May 10th 2019 at 2:19:25 AM

Jupiter Ascending has some impressive special effects, but story-wise.... not well executed. And Jupiter herself wasn't an appealing character.

Doug Walker said it best, in his review of the film: "All she does in this movie is get herself kidnapped!"

Man, do you think the Wachowski's regret bringing the whole "red pill" sequence to the world after it got co-opted by the alt-right? They have to feel really terrible that something they created is used as a calling card by people who resent their very existence.

I wouldn't be surprised (in fact I think I might welcome suck a chnage) if the pills got replaced by another analogy (Like doors, or maybe Mirrors given the Alice Allusion in a certain phrase of the scene) were The Matrix is to be remade.

I wouldn't recommend it. It's too iconic a scene to not put in the movie.

I don't know, they might rather want to reclaim the concept to restore its initial meaning.

Because yeah, the alt-right using an image from a movie made by two trans women where a black guy and a woman teach the truth of the world to a white guy is either comical or sad depending on how you look at it. It would be too bad if the "red pill" ended up tainted forever like the swastika.

Edited by Lyendith on May 10th 2019 at 2:31:48 PM

I remember a former friend that does "jokes" about the Wachowski. Unsurprisingly, I stopped talking to him.

There's a movie called Loqueesha about a white man pretending to be a sassy black woman on his radio show

Edited by ComicFan on May 10th 2019 at 7:39:02 AM

...uhhh...

I want to live in this world white dudes in media seem to think they live in where people of color get lots of great jobs and dominate the industry.

Pua Magasiva, Samoan actor who played the character Shane in Power Rangers Ninja Storm, has been found dead.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2019/05/shortland-street-actor-pua-magasiva-dies-aged-38.html

R.I.P.

He joins Thuy Trang in the Power Rangers stars that left us too soon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuy_Trang

In hindsight, how much non-white characters do Power Rangers—as a whole franchise—have?

And of couse..Goodbye Shane

Edited by KazuyaProta on May 11th 2019 at 12:54:34 PM

Too many to count and that's just if you're focusing on Ranger actors alone and not villains and supporting characters.

Yeah, Power Rangers has always been a diverse series.

Admittedly the original Power Rangers did screw up big time when they cast a black person as the black ranger and an Asian as the yellow ranger.

To be fair, that one actually was an accident apparently.

They usually have at least two girls and two non-white characters. Some do better than others, usually depending on if the sixth ranger is also non-white (Time Force is quite diverse, Jungle Fury less so). Factoring in villains and side characters, and going on yearly resets for 20 years you certainly can't say it's Monochrome Casting.

And the black/yellow mix up was always a bit overblown, certainly bad implications but reportedly Walter Jones requested to be the black ranger because he thought the helmet looked cooler than the blue ranger, and the original pilot had a Hispanic girl as the yellow ranger before Trang was cast, and so it was a combination of outside factors.

That the first one made its missteps is a case of First Installment Wins because but the subsequent series have all been quite diverse and good at avoiding that kind of casting. Including the second season of the original MMPR, since Johnny Yong Bosch who is half-Korean and visibly of nonwhite heritage got his start as the successive Black Ranger then.

Mind you, the original black and yellow ranger castings were not the last time the franchise would have some blunders regarding race. In season 3, Tommy was revealed to be Native American despite his actor not being Native American and the show's depiction of the one character who was played by a Native American was pretty offensive.

Operation Overdrive had the black Ranger played by an Afro-Briton. Which might not have been an issue if they hadn't made that character a thief.

The franchise also has an issue of being rather-father centric. If a character is going to be raised by a single parent, nine times out of ten, it will be a dad with the mom missing from the picture. To date, the following characters have been shown as being raised by single parents:

• Kat Hillard, Rito Revolto and Rita Repulsa from MMPR.

• Justin Stewart from Turbo.

• Trakeena from Lost Galaxy.

• Ryan and Dana Mitchell from Lightspeed Rescue.

• Wes Collins and Nadira from Time Force.

• Cam Watanabe from Ninja Storm.

• Trent Mercer from Dino Thunder.

• Mack Hartford from Operation Overdrive.

• Scott Truman from RPM.

• Jayden Shiba from Samurai.

• Tyler Navarro from Dino Charge.

• Brody and Aiden Romero and Preston Tien from Ninja Steel.

That's eighteen characters in total. Of those sixteen, only with five did we get any explanations for why their mothers weren't around ^note  Cam, Justin, Trent and Preston's mothers died, while Mack never had a mom as he was revealed to be a robot built by Andrew Hartford . And even then, of those five it was only two that we got full detailed explanations. We have no idea how Cam, Preston and Justin's mothers died.

The current season, Beast Morphers, somewhat balances out. The Red Ranger is raised by a single father and the Blue Ranger is raised by a single mother. The Blue Ranger's mother is also the Big Good of the season.

Edited by windleopard on May 11th 2019 at 8:17:15 AM

So yesterday I went to a screening of Merata, a documentary film about Māori filmmaker Merata Mita. It’s directed by her son Hepi and now on Netflix, so check it out if you want to see a cool film about Merata’s life and activism filming Māori resistance in New Zealand.

And I got to meet Ava◊ DuVernay◊, Taika◊ Waititi◊ and Hepi Mita◊ there too so that was neat.

Some brief thoughts on the acquisition of comics publisher Lion Forge by Oni Press. Basically, it reads as a troubling portent when the largest all-Black comics distributor is purchased, has its award winning writers fired, then is moved to one of the most gentrified cities in America.

Something for the “animation pilots from under-represented areas” folder is ''The Mighty Grand Piton'', a short proof of concept from a British/Caribbean creator about a girl in St. Lucia who finds a giant robot buried there.

Now I could point out how seeing stuff like this really points out the fairly narrow definition of diversity in a lot of media fields, especially Western animation (where white and female = diversity) when there are so many under-represented groups with unique visual or audio spins on existing archetypes, or I could point out the Soca-infused theme song from composer Rina May, which even the creator admits is a rare thing to hear in concepts like this.

I have no idea why they were trying to paint the merger as part of growth in the industry. It clearly speaks to the opposite.

Edited by Beatman1 on May 13th 2019 at 1:30:22 PM

Steven Spielberg and his production company have parted ways with the t.v. show Bull, following the Eliza Dushku's accusations of sexual harassment from Michael Weatherly.