Representation in Art/Entertainment/Media • Page 29

So, when I boycott something like Doctor Strange for the subtle racism of its whitewashing, I'm a pc sjw crybaby snowflake, but when Netflix makes a Dear White People series that's blatantly anti-racist, the people deleting their Netflix accounts are...? And by the way, when it comes to Netflix original programming, Master of None and Sense8 are subtly anti-racist with their diversity, but those people didn't have a problem with that? Oh no, this time they're calling out white people by name, so it's serious now, it's the last straw. Liberals are so intolerant of differing opinio--HEY I DON'T LIKE THAT! THAT'S TARGETING ME!

 

@xkhiemster white people logic is something else

 

Well terms like white people logic are dumb, but I get what you mean by stupid people knee jerk reaction logic. Imo both Dr Strange and Dear White People situations are knee jerk reactions. Strange came out great and their reasoning for gender swapping instead made sense and she stole the movie and if the series is as good as the White People film then it'll be more of a good look at issues on both sides instead of a biased pov.

 

Boycotting the whitewashing of Doctor Strange is stupid people knee jerk reaction logic because the movie came out great?

 

Well you overlooked the gender swap aspect of it to make your point more vaild lol

 

Is giving a role to a white woman better than a man of color? Is there like a hierarchy of representation tho. Idk how that makes it any better honestly

 

Whitewashing is okay as long as another form of diversity is taking place?

 

I don't think that gender instead of race makes it better per say, but I'd say it makes it better than a God's of Egypt situation. When I read the article about how they decided to gender swap instead to get the person they wanted for the part it didn't seem so bad to me. It's totally cool if you feel differently though.

 

White feminism doesn't make racism any less garbage. Their reasoning was trash and came from a place of privilege and irresponsibility. (I do give Derrickson props for having literally the best long term response possible as far as apologizing without excuse and genuinely listening and learning. Swinton, on the other hand, proved herself to be selfrighteous poop uninterested in accepting fault.)

They could've cast an Asian woman if they really wanted a woman with that much power. And, the excuses that they wanted to avoid Dragon Lady or whatever else don't work because they reimagined Wong wonderfully without whitewashing him. Why couldn't they do that with the Ancient One.

People can wrestle with their own decisions in what they will or will not tolerate in terms of media consumption. I personally saw and thoroughly enjoyed Doctor Strange in spite of that egregious error. Ethics within capitalism are a messy thing to navigate. Not considering it at all is inappropriate, but there's no clear answer that applies to everyone. However, it is completely inappropriate to ridicule someone else for their personal decision to boycott something like this, ESPECIALLY when that person is a POC boycotting over whitewashing.

 

I'm Asian, but I should be okay with whitewashing because a white woman got the role, so it's not as bad?

 

Someone is bring ridiculed? That's not ok.

@xkhiemster no one ever said you should be ok with anything that you aren't comfortable with.

 

So my knee jerk reaction regarding the whitewashing in Doctor Strange, which I'm just not "comfortable" with, is the same as that of someone deleting their Netflix account because of Dear White People? And it doesn't have anything to do with the long history of oppression of Asians in the media?

 

My knee jerk reaction comment was aimed at the outrage media state in general. I see people's hate filled reaction to Fantastic 4, Dr Strange, Dear White People ect until the next outrage article comes out and people forget about it and move onto the next.

My blanket statement wasn't meant to belittle your cause, sorry about that.

 

I'd say neither are knee jerk.

One is informed by a long history of orientalism and the other is informed by a long history of white resistance to diversity.

Well, perhaps those two things are intertwined.

 

I would def call Dear White People a knee jerk reaction because its an uneducated reaction due to the title and a 30 sec tv spot. If any research was done or anyone had seen the movie, they would know its not an anti white premises at all.

 

I mean, if you can call something that has an already existing precident knee-jerk, then sure.

 

I mean, everyone's over reaction would prove it right? I doubt those people even know a movie exists. They just saw the trailer or read a headline that said "new racist series coming to Netflix" and had the knee jerk reaction to freak out. This is a weird hill for me to die on though, so I'm not going to push it any further lol.

 

the reaction is exactly what they wanted though no? The people who made Dear White People can't honestly be surprised by the reaction and i think Netflix has to have been prepared for this (and knew what they were doing).

 

#GrammysSoWhite Came to Life. Will the Awards Face Its Race Problem?

 

I'm not sure why the awards shows always get the hit for the diversity problems. Easy target that has the most eyes on it I guess? The award shows just vote on the best of what came out that year. The real blame is on the studios themselves to give more opportunities which makes it a more level playing field come award seasons. I feel bad for the Oscars and stuff always having to take all the heat.

 

While it's not incorrect that studios need to diversify both behind and in front of the camera, and they need to take chances on non-white projects, they also do ignore most of the pool of non-white films year after year. This year's crop of nominees was slightly better than most in terms of diversity, but La La Land is still going to steamroll over everything, so it's not exactly cause for celebration. A lovely, if slightly weightless/derivative musical about straight white people is going to win over a much stronger film about a black, queer man.

Not that the Oscars are ever truly indicative of quality, or that the winners are actually better than the films they "beat". They focus so singularly on American, mainstream studio fare that they're basically going to the beach, filling a cup with water, and declaring a drop from that cup better than all the rest of the water. But even within the American studio fare, they tend to stick to nominating white films, and when nominations are extended to non-white films, they are almost always about slavery or civil rights, non-white films about non-white people just being who they are so rarely get nominated (Moonlight and Lion are rarities).

Ultimately awards don't matter in terms of impact: no one talks about Driving Miss Daisy or Forrest Gump as much as they talk about Do the Right Thing or Pulp Fiction. But award shows do bring more attention to the films they nominate, they make some more money, more people see them, and studios are more likely to try and make films like them. So yes, award shows do technically matter, as much as they consistently fail to award true quality.

 

Really weird that someone would feel bad for the Oscars and Grammys when their systemic racism gets called out.

Like, maybe it'd make just a little more sense to feel bad, for example, for the POC actors who aren't given the same opportunities as white actors in an industry that the Oscars have a clear influence on? Just a thought.

 

All I know is that when my knee jerks, it's due to my history of jumper's knee.

Just like how my criticism of representation in entertainment is due to a history of representation in entertainment.

 

Poor Trump keeps getting called a racist. He doesn't deserve to be insulted so much by the dishonest media.

 

probably should have been Jennifer Yuh Nelson or another Asian woman but at least a woman is directing, and Whale Rider was about POC

Mulan Director: The Whale Rider's Niki Caro to Helm