Race & Ethnicity On TV

[jhlipton]

I love this quote from Justin Simien, the creator of Dear White People:

Quote

"Equality feels like oppression to the privileged, and thus, three benign words send them into a fight for their very existence, which happens to it actually not [being] in any real danger"

Ain't that the truth! 

[phoenics]

19 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

The new "Dynasty" reboot will have Cristal as a Latina woman who's Blake Carrington's second wife.

So far she's the only interesting part about the new trailer - that actress they have playing Fallon is AWFUL.  I mean - wow - how did she get that part?  She's honestly terrible.  Nathalie playing Cristal is the only thing to look forward to and I'm not sure that will be enough.

All I know is that I need Alexis and Dominique to show up if they plan to really do this.  Fallon ain't cutting it.

Edited June 4, 2017 by phoenics

[DearEvette]

On 5/24/2017 at 10:30 PM, Dee said:

Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Get Down’ Canceled By Netflix After One Season

I knew a second season was a longshot, but this is still painful.

Honestly, I tried with this show.  Really tried.  I couldn't connect to it.  It did not have the sort of intimacy of the story I think it needed to feel really authentic.  It had a very -- I dunno -- auteur's appreciation of Hip Hop culture that felt distancing to me.  There was a recent documentary on the origin of Hip Hop called Hip Hop Evolution (also on Netflix) which had the kind if intimacy I would have liked to have seen in the The Get Down.  Of course my biggest beef with Hip Hop Evolution is its total erasure of women (with the exception of Sylvia Robinson) but that is another issue for another day.

I do think The Get Down's cancellation probably had a lot to do with its insane price tage as someone upthread mentioned.  Also my understanding is that there was a lot of behind the scenes upheaval so that Baz Lurhmann had to be the showrunner and he was overwhelmed by the realty of running a tv series.  Also he was distancing himself a bit from season 2.  It sounded like he wanted to the be the ideas guy and not really the hands on guy.  So all that, coupled with lukewarm critical reception may have been the reason it didn't even make it to season 2.

I am more surprised by Sense8 not being renewed, but I understand that show is also really expensive.  Each ep supposedly costs more to produce than an ep of Game of Thrones and doesn't have nearly the following.  But at least they got a season 2.

 

2 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

The new "Dynasty" reboot will have Cristal as a Latina woman who's Blake Carrington's second wife.

The Colbys are also supposed to be an African American family in this reboot.  Feels like Riverdale marketing all over again.  I'd be positive about this except the trailer looks like a ball of flaming cheese and the actress who plays Fallon is ...not great. And well, the Riverdale thing which made all these promises of diversity but ...yeah that didn't turn out so great.

[Silver Raven]

3 minutes ago, phoenics said:

So far she's the only interesting part about the new trailer - that actress they have playing Fallon is AWFUL.  I mean - wow - how did she get that part?  She's honestly terrible.  Nathalie playing Cristal is the only thing to look forward to and I'm not sure that will be enough.

All I know is that I need Alexis and Dominique to show up if they plan to really do this.  Fallon ain't cutting it.

Elizabeth Gillies, who plays Fallon, has been on Broadway (alongside Ariana Grande) in the musical 13.

[phoenics]

6 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

Elizabeth Gillies, who plays Fallon, has been on Broadway (alongside Ariana Grande) in the musical 13.

Well perhaps she needs to go back to Broadway - she's terrible in this, imo.

I also find it terrible that Nathalie is the LEAD actress on the show, but that trailer put out by CW features Elizabeth much, much more.  The CW really just cannot help itself can it?  I'm so sick of "diversity" like this, where they shove the lead woc actress to the background.  It's exhausting.  Even if the show doesn't do it - the PR department did.  Just like they did in S1 and part of S2 on The Flash.

Edited June 4, 2017 by phoenics

[phoenics]

12 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

 

The Colbys are also supposed to be an African American family in this reboot.  Feels like Riverdale marketing all over again.  I'd be positive about this except the trailer looks like a ball of flaming cheese and the actress who plays Fallon is ...not great. And well, the Riverdale thing which made all these promises of diversity but ...yeah that didn't turn out so great.

Agreed!  And worse - look at the PR centering Elizabeth over Nathalie (who is the actual lead actress).  Heck - they centered all of the other males over Grant Snow too - so maybe it's more ageism than racism (even though Nathalie looks years younger than 32).

[jhlipton]

59 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I am more surprised by Sense8 not being renewed, but I understand that show is also really expensive.  Each ep supposedly costs more to produce than an ep of Game of Thrones and doesn't have nearly the following.  But at least they got a season 2.

The weird thing about cancelling Sense8 is that the "cluster" was all in one city -- no more flying the actors all over the world.  The intense choreography of sensate interaction would still be there (They showed how it was done in a behind-the-scenes video after season 1 and it really has got to be seen!), so that might up the cost. I just think the CEO wanted it gone, for whatever reason, and so it was gone.

[Dee]

On 6/4/2017 at 6:03 PM, DearEvette said:

It did not have the sort of intimacy of the story I think it needed to feel really authentic. 

I've seen this a lot in reaction to The Get Down's narrative and it feels very problematic because, imo, equates oppression with authenticity.

I could see if the rest of the season was in line with the pilot, which suffered from Baz's usual 'everything and the kitchen sink' approach to writing/directing, but it doesn't.

Once the overstuffed pilot is out of the way, The Get Down settles into a pretty good rhythm that balances a large cast, and a tricky tonal palette, fairly admirably, especially during the second half of the season when things grow considerably darker.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Dee

[jhlipton]

On Dark Matter, Nyx (played by Melanie Liburd) was possibly dead (but they've brought other characters back...)  According to the showrunner, her fate is less important than the android's wardrobe.  If she's out, so am I, along with anything else on Syfy except Z Nation (and they'll probably kill off Warren this season).

Systemic racism at it's finest.

===============================================================

ETA: Melanie Liburd is out; Ayisha Issa is in.  I'm hoping the decision to leave was Liburd's, because black women are not interchangeable!

Edited June 8, 2017 by jhlipton

[Jaded]

Fox Cancels ’24: Legacy,’ Will Explore Future Versions of Franchise

[tennisgurl]

I really liked The Get Down, and I would have loved to see another season, but I can totally see why it never really landed with a wider audience, beyond race related issues. Its a really weird show, full of surreal musical and animated sequences, and over the top campy villains and millions of subplots and characters, pointless flash-forwards, and all kinds of quirk. I liked it, but I can see how it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea beyond its mostly minority cast. That being said, I think that was possibly also a factor (especially being about the origins of hip hop, which a lot of people feel snobby towards) and what was definitely sketchy was the lack of promotion on the part of Netflix. They pushed the hell out of 13 Reasons Why, but just kind of forgot about The Get Down.

The promotion thing was also an issue with Sense8, which had its second season just kind of appear randomly without any fanfare from Netflix, even though its second season was amazing and its loss has literally broken my heart. Like, I was sad about The Get Down, but Sense8 being cancelled is still causing me pain. The thing is, I know people online kind of jumped at people not watching it because of the diversity, but, when I was selling the show like some kind of TV crack dealer, lots of people were interested and ended up liking the show, its just that they never heard of it. Its like Netflix wants to greenlight all these ambitious, diverse shows to look good at first, but if they aren't immediate cultural icons like Orange is the New Black, they get scared and back out as fast as possible. I think these cancellations are on them.

[ApathyMonger]

I missed it when it was first announced, but Lifetime have an upcoming TV movie about Colombian crime lord Griselda Blanco... starring the Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. http://deadline.com/2017/06/cocaine-godmother-catherine-zeta-jones-lifetime-movie-cast-jose-julian-jenny-pellicer-raul-mendez-1202109732/

She played Spanish in Zorro, so I guess she can keep doing it?

HBO were developing their own movie starring JLo, but there's been no update since it was first announced last August.

[DearEvette]

1 hour ago, ApathyMonger said:

I missed it when it was first announced, but Lifetime have an upcoming TV movie about Colombian crime lord Griselda Blanco... starring the Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. http://deadline.com/2017/06/cocaine-godmother-catherine-zeta-jones-lifetime-movie-cast-jose-julian-jenny-pellicer-raul-mendez-1202109732/

On Drunk History she was played by Maya Rudolph.

[JustaPerson]

Why is Catharine Zeta-Jones doing a Lifetime movie?

[HunterHunted]

On 6/4/2017 at 5:01 PM, phoenics said:

So far she's the only interesting part about the new trailer - that actress they have playing Fallon is AWFUL.  I mean - wow - how did she get that part?  She's honestly terrible.  Nathalie playing Cristal is the only thing to look forward to and I'm not sure that will be enough.

All I know is that I need Alexis and Dominique to show up if they plan to really do this.  Fallon ain't cutting it.

I thought they were specifically choosing to not to feature Nathalie because she was part of the disastrous Vampire Diaries final season plot about Sirens. The writing was terrible, but Nathalie made it so much worse. She was so bad that just seeing brief glimpses of her in the trailer completely put me off Dynasty. I watched her on UnReal. She wasn't terrible there, but she was awfully one note.

[In2You]

On 6/4/2017 at 6:08 PM, phoenics said:

Well perhaps she needs to go back to Broadway - she's terrible in this, imo.

I also find it terrible that Nathalie is the LEAD actress on the show, but that trailer put out by CW features Elizabeth much, much more.  The CW really just cannot help itself can it?  I'm so sick of "diversity" like this, where they shove the lead woc actress to the background.  It's exhausting.  Even if the show doesn't do it - the PR department did.  Just like they did in S1 and part of S2 on The Flash.

I think they're trying to appeal to people who liked Liz  on Victorious  however her last show was a flop so they really  don't need to market her that hard.

[JustaPerson]

Elizabeth Gillies was on Broadway for like 3 months in 2008. Don't pawn her off on broadway!

[callie lee 29]

Other than Grant Show I don't know who the hell any of these people are; judging by the one trailer I would have said Fallon was the focus, but knowing OG Dynasty it's really Krystal/Cristal (well actually it was Alexis...). Of course this may be one of a few trailers.  Personally, I though they all acted at about the same level. 

[HunterHunted]

On 6/10/2017 at 9:29 PM, callie lee 29 said:

Other than Grant Show I don't know who the hell any of these people are; judging by the one trailer I would have said Fallon was the focus, but knowing OG Dynasty it's really Krystal/Cristal (well actually it was Alexis...). Of course this may be one of a few trailers.  Personally, I though they all acted at about the same level. 

I remember reading an review of some CW show years ago that called the CW affirmative action for attractive people. The reviewer said it didn't matter how terrible the person had been in their last CW role or if the show tanked, the same actors show up season after season. I have literally watched a decade of Katie Cassidy be terrible on the CW--Supernatural, Melrose Place, Gossip Girl, and Arrow. However, the thing that always seems to be true about the CW promo department is that they have a hard time showing PoC in their promos. The Originals has always had PoC as major cast members, but they've often done a terrible job of highlighting that in their promos.

[callie lee 29]

4 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

I remember reading an review of some CW show years ago that called the CW affirmative action for attractive people. The reviewer said it didn't matter how terrible the person had been in their last CW role or if the show tanked, the same actors show up season after season. I have literally watched a decade of Katie Cassidy be terrible on the CW--Supernatural, Melrose Place, Gossip Girl, and Arrow. However, the thing that always seems to be true about the CW promo department is that they have a hard time showing PoC in their promos. The Originals has always had PoC as major cast members, but they've often done a terrible job of highlighting that in their promos.

yeah, I get this. I haven't watched a whole lot of CW shows (Whose Line Is It Anyways and a some episodes of The Originals) but I can see this. I watched a few show of The Originals but the promos I saw for it never really featured Rufus (?) who after I watched seemed kinda important. I mean the main focus was the three siblings (I think) but I would not have known that two important POC characters are the sister's ex-boyfriend/one of the brother's protégée and a female witch(?). 

I do remember the Dallas reboot (same company but different network) showing the POC cast (Latino) though they coded them, at least in my opinion, as white in the promos.  In the actual show they tried to differentiate but they weren't great at it. 

 

Warner Brothers doesn't seem to have a great track record at giving proper due to POC cast.

 

I wish Undergrround had been renewed, It sounds like a show I would have really liked, but I suck at remembering Netflix so I'm not sure if I would have watched. Thought if it was really $5 million an episode I can understand why.

[HunterHunted]

It's Marcel, but it's completely ridiculous how they've downplayed the PoC in the Originals. The show starts with the 3 viking vampires siblings coming to New Orleans. They rescue a slave boy, Marcel, from his father and master. They raise him, he falls in love with the viking sister, they turn him into a vampire, and they flee New Orleans. He manages to keep the peace in New Orleans for 100 years until the 3 siblings come back and create chaos. At varying times, the siblings deceased family have possessed characters played by Sonja Sohn, Yusef Gatewood, and Maisie Richardson-Sellers. There is now a black lesbian werewolf in the cast. The show has always made a point that witches are PoC. So it's always shown Black, Latino, and Vietnamese witches, but you would never get that from the 30 second spots.

[jhlipton]

11 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

 There is now a black lesbian werewolf in the cast. The show has always made a point that witches are PoC. So it's always shown Black, Latino, and Vietnamese witches, but you would never get that from the 30 second spots.

If I had known that, I might have watched!

[callie lee 29]

So I may have missed this bein brought up, but as anyone seen the pilot for Claws on TNT? I just re-watched I thin I can get into, IMO the main characters are the 4/5 women are running the salon  and they also ran the pill mills scam for Roller. Now that he's dead... Thus far the main cast is : Niecy Nash, Jenn Lyon, Judy Reyes, Carrie Prestion, and Karrueche Tran.  There's also Harold Perrineau as Nash;s brother.

The Dixie mafia can be handled by the Russians, but I'm not sure either would be good.

[In2You]

On 6/14/2017 at 11:13 PM, jhlipton said:

If I had known that, I might have watched!

A main problem with TVD and The Originals was the constant killing off of the black female witches. I gave up both the shows because they did a terrible job showcasing diversity despite casting so many non white actresses.

[xaxat]

19 hours ago, callie lee 29 said:

So I may have missed this bein brought up, but as anyone seen the pilot for Claws on TNT? I just re-watched I thin I can get into, IMO the main characters are the 4/5 women are running the salon  and they also ran the pill mills scam for Roller. Now that he's dead... Thus far the main cast is : Niecy Nash, Jenn Lyon, Judy Reyes, Carrie Prestion, and Karrueche Tran.  There's also Harold Perrineau as Nash;s brother.

The Dixie mafia can be handled by the Russians, but I'm not sure either would be good.

I don't know if I will get around to watching it, but I'm glad for Niecy Nash.

[Dee]

31 minutes ago, xaxat said:

I don't know if I will get around to watching it, but I'm glad for Niecy Nash.

ITA. She's certainly paid her dues and her awesome work on Getting On proved she wasn't afraid to play against type.

[jhlipton]

On 6/18/2017 at 0:11 AM, callie lee 29 said:

So I may have missed this bein brought up, but as anyone seen the pilot for Claws on TNT? hus far the main cast is : Niecy Nash, Jenn Lyon, Judy Reyes, Carrie Prestion, and Karrueche Tran.  There's also Harold Perrineau as Nash;s brother.

That's a nice and diverse cast -- I'll give it a look.

[DearEvette]

Claws, imo, is the perfect summer show. It is in turns campy and serious and saturated with sunshine. 

Like I said in the show's forum, it is as if an Elmore Leonard book and a Carl Hiaasen book had a tv baby.  Sprinkle in a little trashy southern Gothic and a pinch of Black Girl Magic and then give a passing nod to Breaking Bad and you have Claws.

Niecy Nash is a revelation.  I have always liked her as a personality and have casually followed her career, but never really watched anything she's been in so I am loving her as the center.  Actually I am enjoying all of the actresses in this, they each bring something really different.

[callie lee 29]

I'm so used to Nash in comedies, so this is a bit different, but she's been fantastic! It's definitely summertime fare, but a couple of episodes in and I'm enjoying it. I do think Tran's character may be a little stereotyped, but that might change.

[jhlipton]

Wrecked, the Lost spoof, is back with a new character: The Barracuda, head of a group of pirates, played by Ebonee Noel. She is HOT and funny, and works well with the cast  (I didn't recognize her as Livia from Stll Star-Crossed -- what a co0mpletely different role!)

.

Edited June 22, 2017 by jhlipton
SSC

[topanga]

17 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Wrecked, the Lost spoof, is back with a new character: The Barracuda, head of a group of pirates, played by Ebonee Noel. She is HOT and funny, and works well with the cast  (I didn't recognize her as Livia from Stll Star-Crossed -- what a co0mpletely different role!)

I saw the picture of Ebonee Noel and thought, "Hey, it's her! I've seen her in stuff." Then I looked at her IMDB page and realized I haven't seen anything she's in. She just has one of those faces that should be all over TV and the movies. I hope she's a good actress.

 

Are any of you watching 'The Handmaid's Tale?' Interesting discussion in the episode thread. While the show (and the novel it's based on) deal mostly with gender inequality, the book also deals with race and racism. In the novel, people of color are segregated to an undesirable part of the country, and the main character doesn't directly deal with anyone other than white people. In the show, however, the city where the action takes place is racially diverse. The protagonist's best friend his black, her husband is black, and there are other people of color scattered throughout the cast. 

But some people are really pissed off that race isn't an issue in this society because it certainly would be in real life. They feel it was a PC effort to diversify the cast and violates much of the spirit of the novel. 

But I, as a woman of color, am actually happy that race isn't portrayed on the show as it is in the book. I like seeing characters of color with lines, and story arcs, and character development.  And I like that on the show, injustices for women are based solely on gender--and socioeconomic status, to some extent--but not race or ethnicity. The scary plausibility of this world seems especially relevant in light of the current U.S. Administration. 

I like this version of color-blindness more than that of popular TV shows that pretend no black, Asian, or Latino people live in New York City. 

[jhlipton]

8 hours ago, topanga said:

I saw the picture of Ebonee Noel and thought, "Hey, it's her! I've seen her in stuff." Then I looked at her IMDB page and realized I haven't seen anything she's in. She just has one of those faces that should be all over TV and the movies. I hope she's a good actress.

Are you kidding me?  I'm sorry, but are you kidding me?  Watch 5 minutes of Still Star-Crossed and 5 minutes of Wrecked... No need to hope -- she's one of those who becomes a role.  I sincerely did not recognize the Barracuda as the same actress as Livia. At all!!!!! When I went to her IMdb page to see what else she was in, I was like "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat??????"

She is definitely a talent to look out for.

 

ETA:

Malcolm Goodwin from iZombie was on Whose Line Is It this week -- he was a good sport, but improve is not his strong suit!

At one point, he, Wayne Brady, Gary Anthony Williams and Aisha Tyler were all on stage -- four black people -- causing Gary to say "Legally, we probably have to move to another network!"  LOL

Edited June 23, 2017 by jhlipton
Whise Zombie Is It?

[DearEvette]

14 hours ago, topanga said:

But I, as a woman of color, am actually happy that race isn't portrayed on the show as it is in the book. I like seeing characters of color with lines, and story arcs, and character development.  And I like that on the show, injustices for women are based solely on gender--and socioeconomic status, to some extent--but not race or ethnicity. The scary plausibility of this world seems especially relevant in light of the current U.S. Administration. 

I like this version of color-blindness more than that of popular TV shows that pretend no black, Asian, or Latino people live in New York City. 

I so agree.  I love that the producers and Margaret Atwood made a conscious decision to not make race as issue.  When asked about it, they make a compelling point when they say:

“When you think about a world where the fertility rate has fallen precipitously, fertility would trump everything,  And we’ve seen that: When fertility becomes an issue, racism starts to fall because people adopt kids from Ethiopia and Asian countries and from everywhere.”

 

I also loved this quote by them:

“What’s the difference between making a television show about racists and making a racist television show?”

Besides all that, constantly having to watch tv shows & movies that must always include the struggle is exhausting.  It is nice to include black people in issue-oriented shows where the issue isn't about them being black all the time.  And it is especially welcome when the show isn't necessarily straight fiction but is closer to being speculative fiction.  As someone tweeted yesterday "sometimes you just want to watch black folks out in space fighting dragons and shit."

[Kel Varnsen]

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I so agree.  I love that the producers and Margaret Atwood made a conscious decision to not make race as issue.  When asked about it, they make a compelling point when they say:

“When you think about a world where the fertility rate has fallen precipitously, fertility would trump everything,  And we’ve seen that: When fertility becomes an issue, racism starts to fall because people adopt kids from Ethiopia and Asian countries and from everywhere.”

 

Also sort of a main part of the show is that the ruling class has basically gone to war with people who don't agree with them. This included independant thinking woman, gay people, catholics, Jews, along with anyone who agrees with any of those groups. And the ruling class won that war. If you told me they were also at war with racial minorities, including ones who might otherwise agree with them, and they still won, it would really hard to suspend disbelief.

[Dee]

Vulture recently produced a pretty good thinkpiece about race and racism re: The Handmaid's Tale

[Trini]

Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim leaving Hawaii Five-0

Wanted to post this here because Hawaii Five-0 was one of the few network shows where the majority of the regular cast are minorities. (5 out of 7) Variety article says they were seeking more money.

[Miss Dee]

Whereas the two white guys are totally worth it, of course. Gross.

[biakbiak]

13 minutes ago, Miss Dee said:

Whereas the two white guys are totally worth it, of course. Gross.

Especially considering that Scott Caan so clearly hates being on the show because living in Hawaii is such a hardship.

[slf]

36 minutes ago, Trini said:

Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim leaving Hawaii Five-0

Wanted to post this here because Hawaii Five-0 was one of the few network shows where the majority of the regular cast are minorities. (5 out of 7) Variety article says they were seeking more money.

That's fucked up. Grace Park, who played my very favorite Cylons on BSG, and Daniel Dae Kim, who I knew and loved from Lost, were the reasons I started watching that show in the first place. The network doesn't seem to appreciate that the diverse cast is one of the major draws of that show and that both actors brought their own fans with them. 

It especially disappoints me that Grace is leaving, she's such a hard worker. I remember that she filmed a season of BSG at the same time she was filming for The Cleaner (her show with Benjamin Bratt on A&E) as well as filming a season of the Canadian show The Border. 

[Dee]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim leaving Hawaii Five-0

Wanted to post this here because Hawaii Five-0 was one of the few network shows where the majority of the regular cast are minorities. (5 out of 7) Variety article says they were seeking more money.

Who lets a man as attractive as Daniel Dae Kim walk away from their show......willingly?

[jhlipton]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim leaving Hawaii Five-0

Wanted to post this here because Hawaii Five-0 was one of the few network shows where the majority of the regular cast are minorities. (5 out of 7) Variety article says they were seeking more money.

I'm going to reserve judgement until we see how is added to the cast.  Right now, we have 2 white male leads and a black male lead, with a Latino and a Hawaiian as recurring characters.  Frankly, this show has always had more problems with female characters than with People of Color.

[Dee]

2 hours ago, jhlipton said:

female characters than with People of Color.

Those two terms aren't mutually exclusive.

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, Dee said:

Those two terms aren't mutually exclusive.

True, but other than Kono, and one or two ancillary characters, they have been on H50.

[biakbiak]

I will judge if the stories are accurate and it was about pay equity because DDK most definitely and Grace Park arguably have been more present than Caan. Grace was absent due to pregnancy, Alex to rehab and Caan because he missed his family in LA but DDK has stepped up constantly and coming off Lost should have been on par with Alex and Caan from jump. The only argument would have been that he was a secondary character but that hasn't been true for several seasons.

[phoenics]

On 6/23/2017 at 4:08 PM, Dee said:

Vulture recently produced a pretty good thinkpiece about race and racism re: The Handmaid's Tale

This was a really interesting read.  Contrast with Sofia Coppola's new movie (forgot the name, don't care) about a family of women left behind during the Civil War, where Sofia leaves out the black women characters by saying ("they left" -- during the CIVIL WAR!).

You have two shows/movies.  One they go for this color blind casting that erases race (but not without decentering the black characters anyway) so they can focus on "gender issues only"; the other they completely erase the black characters so they can focus on "gender issues only".

Sometimes I think some people think black people are stupid.  In the first case, colorblindness means just ignoring black people or not showing their interior lives to the same degree as white characters - the message is the same:  their lives aren't worth as much as the white characters.  It's still upholding white supremacy.  For once I wish someone would tell these writers about themselves and simply say that maybe it's time to write better stories that deal with these issues - all of them.  Nevermind the fact that the entire "scare" about the entire show The Handmaiden's Tale is LITERALLY what black women experienced during slavery.  Yet it's presented in THT as a reflection of an America in the future - some impossible future where nothing like this has EVER HAPPENED before!  Excuse me while I gag.  Apparently the horrors of slavery as perpetuated on black women is only impactful to people if they replicate the experience for white women (with a few color blind black tokens tossed in).

The other case (Coppola) just erases the black people altogether - from the freakin CIVIL WAR - just to avoid race and make it solely about "gender issues".

Every time some of these producers/directors open their mouths, they completely betray their own white supremacist thought.  Because if you claim you are either erasing race or making it "colorblind" so you can "only focus on gender", you are admitting that in your worldview, gender only consists of white women.  Meaning every other woman is "othered" and not "the norm" the way they think of white women.  For them, women means white women - or that white women's experiences are meant to be representative of all women - when they simply ARE NOT.

I'm glad folks are standing up and calling this out - but it's sad how much these people still don't get it.  I'm sick of it actually.  This is why 53% of white women voted for Trump.  It all comes from the same damn well.

Edited July 3, 2017 by phoenics

[Neurochick]

1 hour ago, phoenics said:

Sometimes I think some people think black people are stupid.  In the first case, colorblindness means just ignoring black people or not showing their interior lives to the same degree as white characters - the message is the same:  their lives aren't worth as much as the white characters.  It's still upholding white supremacy.  For once I wish someone would tell these writers about themselves and simply say that maybe it's time to write better stories that deal with these issues - all of them.  Nevermind the fact that the entire "scare" about the entire show The Handmaiden's Tale is LITERALLY what black women experienced during slavery.  Yet it's presented in THT as a reflection of an America in the future - some impossible future where nothing like this has EVER HAPPENED before!  Excuse me while I gag.  Apparently the horrors of slavery as perpetuated on black women is only impactful to people if they replicate the experience for white women (with a few color blind black tokens tossed in).

Yes, to this.  I agree that these "filmmakers" and I used that in quotes deliberately, think black people are stupid, and won't go to the movie anyway.  But Coppola IMO is an idiot anyway; this is a woman who made a movie about Marie Antoinette ignoring the political issues that basically cost her her head.

[Ohwell]

2 hours ago, phoenics said:

This was a really interesting read.  Contrast with Sofia Coppola's new movie (forgot the name, don't care) about a family of women left behind during the Civil War, where Sofia leaves out the black women characters by saying ("they left" -- during the CIVIL WAR!).

Sofia Coppola's movie is The Beguiled, a remake of the 1971 movie starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page.  In the original, there was a black woman named Hallie who also formed a relationship with Clint's character.  So it boggles my mind why Coppola would leave out this black woman.  I definitely won't be seeing the remake for that reason, along with the fact that I doubt it's better than the original.

[slf]

A bit more info from Vox on the situation with Dae Kim and Park:

Quote

The final offer made to the actors from CBS was reportedly 10 to 15 percent lower than co-stars Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan earn, according to Variety.

O’Loughlin and Caan also have back-end deals, which allows them to earn a cut of the show’s profits. It’s not clear whether that was on the table for Park and Kim, or what higher — or lower — offers CBS had presented to the actors prior to that last potential deal.

Edited July 4, 2017 by slf

[Neurochick]

 

Interesting commercial.

[Kel Varnsen]

4 hours ago, slf said:

A bit more info from Vox on the situation with Dae Kim and Park:

Good for them for taking a stand if they felt they were worth more. It seems like too many actors take the deal offered to them only to later complain they aren't or didn't make as much as a costar. But its a negotiation and it is up to the actor to try and get what they want, not the studio to just give it to them. And a big part of that is being prepared to walk away if you don't get offered what you want.