Super Social Analysis: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and LGBT in Movies

[arc]

Speaking of white people cast in white-but-not-specifically-the-exact-right-kind roles, why did Emma Roberts and Hayden Christensen land the lead roles in “Little Italy”?

[memememe76]

What is Emma's ethnic background? I am not sure if Eric (he's her dad, right?) is Italian but I wouldn't be shocked if someone told me he is. And Julia played a Portuguese character in Mystic Pizza (and I think maybe Wonder?). 

[Raja]

I just saw a trailer for J.J. Abrams new movie Overlord. As with Captain America The First Avenger going in they have a hurdle to jump to get me. I feel it is disrespectful towards those who lived under Jim Crow and segregation to do a feature set in 1944 with an integrated US Army. If you want a black soldier all the rest of those soldiers should be black

[Dee]

On 8/23/2018 at 5:36 PM, starri said:

Apparently, the role of Ariel is Zendaya's if she wants it.  I've only seen her in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but I did like her in that.

I'm assuming that the usual corners of the internet will be howling over casting a biracial actress in the part.

After the producers finalize things with Zendaya, they need to move on to casting Titus Burgess as Ursula!

[starri]

1 hour ago, Dee said:

After the producers finalize things with Zendaya, they need to move on to casting Titus Burgess as Ursula!

Oh God, I hope so.  Ursula was basically a drag queen to begin with.  If nothing else, he absolutely needs to voice Sebastian.

I posted this in the remakes thread, but it's always worth seeing again.  He just needs to send this in has his audition tape.

[Spartan Girl]

Ursula or Sebastian, either way, he's got my vote!

Zendaya isn't even official yet, and already these morons are throwing tantrums on Twitter, ranging from flat-out racist to "gingers are underrepresented by movies". Seriously, someone actually wrote that. JFC.

Edited August 25, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[Ms Blue Jay]

22 hours ago, arc said:

Speaking of white people cast in white-but-not-specifically-the-exact-right-kind roles, why did Emma Roberts and Hayden Christensen land the lead roles in “Little Italy”?

That was also my first thought, and I Wikipedia'd this to discover that Hayden is actually 1/4 Italian.  Emma though, I don't think so.

Edited August 25, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[SnoGirl]

5 hours ago, starri said:

Oh God, I hope so.  Ursula was basically a drag queen to begin with.  If nothing else, he absolutely needs to voice Sebastian.

I posted this in the remakes thread, but it's always worth seeing again.  He just needs to send this in has his audition tape.

Damn. I got goosebumps watching that. I totally want Titus as Ursula now.

[angora]

10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Ursula or Sebastian, either way, he's got my vote!

Zendaya isn't even official yet, and already these morons are throwing tantrums on Twitter, ranging from flat-out racist to "gingers are underrepresented by movies". Seriously, someone actually wrote that. JFC.

And Zendaya's already been MJ in Spider-Man - she's coming for all the redhead roles!  I think she'd be a fun Ariel.

[Silver Raven]

Tituss is amazing.  His "And I Am Telling You ..." takes my breath away.

[methodwriter85]

On 8/7/2018 at 7:05 PM, Dejana said:

And I hope this isn't taken the wrong way, but is it bad that I kind of wish this is been made 10 years ago with, IDK, Maya Rudolph and Rashida Jones?

Ruby (as in Mattthew) Modine  is also bi-racial-but-could-pass-for white like those two, although in her case it's just a quarter black. However, that would still pretty much quality her for a "passing" movie given the good ol' "one drop" rules of the Jim Crow era.

Not sure she has strong acting chops, though. I've only seen Happy Death Day, and she was okay in that but nothing that blew my socks off.

Edited August 26, 2018 by methodwriter85

[topanga]

On 8/20/2018 at 4:14 AM, arc said:

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before didn’t get traction at first because nearly every prodco wanted to whitewash the lead character: 

I loved the movie and enjoyed seeing an Asian-American lead and  love interest. But I’ve also been reading criticisms online, specifically,

1. Why none of LJ’s love interests were Asian-American. There were reasonable arguments on both sides, but I do have to agree that the movie had the opportunity to refute the stereotype that Asian-American men are not romantically desire. 

—Then I remembered the novel’s author Jenny Han having to fight the producers not to make the main character white in the mo

I loved the movie and enjoyed  seeing an Asian-American love interest. But I’ve also been reading criticisms online, specifically:

1. Why none of LJ’s past crushes were Asian-American. I read reasonable arguments on both sides, but I do have to agree that the movie had the opportunity to refute the stereotype that Asian-American men are not romantically desirable. 

—Then again, having TWO Asian-American characters in a movie might’ve been too much for TPTB *insert eye roll here.*

2. The only time Lara Jean’s Korean culture is mentioned is when her white father tries to cook Korean food or when LJ and her sister drink Korean yogurt drinks that come from a Korean grocery store across town. 

[Lugal]

They've sold the film rights to the Earthsea books:

https://deadline.com/2018/05/jennifer-fox-film-earthsea-novel-1202397673/

Despite Ursula Le Guin's son being a producer on it, I don't hold out much hope that they won't whitewash the characters.

[Silver Raven]

3 hours ago, Lugal said:

They've sold the film rights to the Earthsea books:

https://deadline.com/2018/05/jennifer-fox-film-earthsea-novel-1202397673/

Despite Ursula Le Guin's son being a producer on it, I don't hold out much hope that they won't whitewash the characters.

There's already been a whitewashed miniseries, starring Shawn Ashmore as Ged.

Edited August 27, 2018 by Silver Raven

[proserpina65]

On ‎08‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 12:53 PM, Zuleikha said:

I'm not on Twitter and none of the articles  I read about it actually quoted any examples of harassment. So  I don't know if she was actually harassed, or if the fact that there was pushback is being deemed harassment.

And even if there was some actual line crossing harassment that is still no justification for invalidating Jewish feelings about our own identities and representation or lesbian 's feelings about the same.

She said she was harassed, but I'm also not on Twitter so I can only take her at her word.  Whether it was really what I'd call harassment or just criticism, it did seem to concern her being cast as a lesbian when she doesn't identify as one.

17 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

There's already been a whitewashed miniseries, starring Shawn Ashmore as Ged.

Given how terrible that turned out to be, maybe it'll encourage the film's producers to not whitewash it?  One can always hope.

[Lugal]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

21 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

There's already been a whitewashed miniseries, starring Shawn Ashmore as Ged.

 

Given how terrible that turned out to be, maybe it'll encourage the film's producers to not whitewash it?  One can always hope.

We can only hope.  Personally, I'm holding out for a Native American actor for Ged (when I read the book, I saw the people of Earthsea as Native-looking)

[starri]

I think EarthSea would work better if they did it Game of Thrones style.

[Ms.Moon]

On 8/23/2018 at 5:36 PM, starri said:

Apparently, the role of Ariel is Zendaya's if she wants it.  I've only seen her in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but I did like her in that.

I'm assuming that the usual corners of the internet will be howling over casting a biracial actress in the part.

Zendaya can sing, manages to have chemistry with everyone on the screen and looks good as a redhead so if she wants the role she's going to be a great fit.  One thing about working for Disney and I'd said this in another thread if you do not mess up and are smart about your personal life messing up your career Disney will take care of you.  

[Silver Raven]

19 hours ago, starri said:

I think EarthSea would work better if they did it Game of Thrones style.

Killing everybody off?  :D

[methodwriter85]

12 hours ago, Ms.Moon said:

Zendaya can sing, manages to have chemistry with everyone on the screen and looks good as a redhead so if she wants the role she's going to be a great fit.  One thing about working for Disney and I'd said this in another thread if you do not mess up and are smart about your personal life messing up your career Disney will take care of you.  

Yeah, Especially now that Disney's Marvel doesn't seem like it's going anywhere. Hell, Hayley Mills got a bit of a resurgence in the 1980's thanks to Disney and the fact that she didn't piss them off.

[mattie0808]

Good for Viola! (And Ava Duvernay.)

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5b99196ce4b0162f4732d131

The Help INFURIATED me. What foolish, insulting, history-rewriting schlock. Never begrudged Viola or Octavia any success they had or leveraged from it, of course. But it’s good to hear her say this. Here’s to POCs (especially WOCs) not being limited to these kind of roles, for real.

Edited September 14, 2018 by mattie0808

[andromeda331]

58 minutes ago, mattie0808 said:

Good for Viola! (And Ava Duvernay.)

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5b99196ce4b0162f4732d131

The Help INFURIATED me. What foolish, insulting, history-rewriting schlock. Never begrudged Viola or Octavia any success they had or leveraged from it, of course. But it’s good to hear her say this. Here’s to  POCs (especially WOCs) not being limited to these kind of roles, for real.

I thought the same thing when I was watching the movie. When everyone raved about it I thought maybe I missed something. In the end the movie never really did feel like it was from the prospective of the maids. That was the voice I really wanted to hear.

[NUguy514]

I read The Help the week the movie came out and went to see the film that opening weekend.  I adored the book, but the movie infuriated me because there was no sense that what these women were doing, telling their stories, could get them killed; the book was filled with that danger, I thought, and was told much more clearly from Aibileen's and Minny's (in addition to Skeeter's) perspectives.  Also, Bryce Dallas Howard's "Southern" accent was painfully bad, and I spent most of her scenes wanting to rip her vocal cords out (seriously, there's a scene where she has to say "Oh, it's fine," and it comes out of her mouth "Oh, it's foooine" – I. can't.).  I've come to appreciate the movie for the light entertainment it is, and I love a number of the non-BDH performances, but I don't think Viola is off the mark at all.

[PepSinger]

Viola, Octavia, and Jessica were the saving graces of that movie, IMO.

[Mabinogia]

I wish The Help had focused more on the lives of the maids because some of their scene's were damned powerful, but kind of got pushed aside by the story of how living in a racist southern town affected a rich white girl. I wish we had gotten more of Minnie and her family. It was heartbreaking seeing her eldest daughter being sent off to work rather than school because the family needed the money, basically condemning her to life as a maid because she wasn't going to get the education to get out of that life. I wish the show had focused more on how these women were trapped, not just how they were treated badly by their bosses but how they had very few if any options. Sure, Minny got lucky and ended up in a wonderful household, but we never really saw how this affected her or her family. 

I agree that Viola, Octavia and Jessica were the best thing about the movie. The friendship between Abileen and Minnie was my favorite thing and the friendship that developed between Minnie and Celia was my second favorite thing. And though I adore Emma Stone I actually wish they hadn't focused so much on Skeeter's story. 

It's a movie that could have been amazing but chose to focus on the wrong parts of the story, IMO. 

[raezen]

On Wed I watched the film Indian Horse at my local indie film series. It is based on the book by Richard Wagamese by the same name and it is a brutal depiction of the residential school system that Canada had in place to aggressively assimilate Indigenous children.

While it was not near as expert a film as Moonlight (okay that might be a bit of an understatement ) I couldn't help comparing the two in terms of themes(where they are the same, where they differ), the character's journey and structure of the film. It is also told with 3 different actors playing the main character at different ages and they were all three the best parts of the film. The one playing the teenaged version of the Saul was Forrest Goodluck, who is also in The Miseducation of Cameron Post. While I can't wait to see him in that as well I also want to see him in a role where he is not institutionalized. Ajuawak Kapashesit and and Slade Peltier as the adult and child versions of Saul were also amazing. 

Eta: While the film has many producers and executive producers they were really trying to advertisethat Clint Eastwood was an Executive Producer. 

Edited September 14, 2018 by raezen

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

I wish the show had focused more on how these women were trapped, not just how they were treated badly by their bosses but how they had very few if any options.

Yeah, I will watch The Help sometimes when it's on TV because of the performances and because it got a lot of the relationships right, but I'm frustrated every time I do because it did a terrible job of establishing the reality - and the systemic nature of that reality - in which they lived.  There are hints at the perpetual danger of violence, the disenfranchisement, etc. but that sense of being trapped in the Jim Crow South should permeate the film, not just touched on via a few select scenes.  And, fundamentally, as Davis and others said, the film - via Skeeter's stated motivation for the book - purports to tell the maids' stories, but it doesn't actually do that.  Instead, it's the tale of a rich white woman's impressions of/reactions to their lives.  And Skeeter is a fine character, to be clear, but it's offensive to center her (and to then pat yourself on the back for telling a story about the maids).

[Mabinogia]

I think the bus scene is one of the most powerful scenes in The Help. It told the story the whole movie should have told, that despite the pretense of civility, black lived in this constant state of fear and despite being told they were free and equal, they weren't. That scene breaks my heart every time. Abileen is just trying to get home from a long day of work and she has to run home for fear that she, too, will be attacked, raped or killed. 

But no, by all means, let's focus on poor white Skeeter as she deals with her racist friends and racist mother.

Another scene that breaks my heart is when Celia's husband comes home and Minnie runs from him, fearing she was going to be in trouble but when he reaches her he helps her pick up the groceries and it turns out Celia had made a meal for her. Because this shows just how horribly Minnie has been treated by white folks her whole life. That this was the first time a white person had done anything nice for her. 

There were a lot of great scene's in the movie but I think overall the lighthearted stuff took away the power of these more emotional, important scenes. And of course framing it all as the story of a privileged white girl trying to help the poor, downtrodden black maids kind of, well, sucks. 

[Spartan Girl]

*sigh* Yeah, Viola and Ava weren't wrong. The Help could have been a lot better in that department. I love Emma Stone and her character meant well, but yeah, they could have cut more of her scenes and focused more on Abileen and Minnie.

Edited September 15, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[aradia22]

I'm sorry. I hate the Zendaya as Ariel idea. I'm not opposed to a non-white actress. Just not Zendaya. 

I'm obviously biased but I feel like Asian men are plenty romantically desirable. I question to what audience they are perceived as not romantically desirable. First of all, I have long suspected that the online dating numbers that repeatedly show that Asian men and black women are the least romantically desirable are affected by lumping all Asian men together. Is it just East Asian or also South Asian? And where do "Middle Eastern" men end up in this categorization? I think traditionally handsome East Asian men have a lot of choice. And like their white counterparts, they tend to prefer thin, lightskinned women. It's the non-traditionally handsome men who are perceived as nerdier or less masculine who fare worse. And the media has not been that interested in trying to sell those men as romantically desirable. To clarify... yeah, it's easy to sell Vincent Rodriguez III (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and Henry Golding and Jason Momoa and James Shigeta as viable romantic leading men. But where are my Asian counterparts to Michael Cera and Seth Rogen and Timothee Chalamet?

[Silver Raven]

A Simple Favor has a Muslim school teacher (with a head scarf), an East Indian mother who is one of a trio of Greek chorus who discuss the action in the film, and Henry Golding as Blake Lively's English husband named Sean Townsend, with no comments at all on the ethnicities.

[slf]

Viola Davis was interviewed by BAFTA A Life in Pictures and she really dug into the issues she had with The Help. Two excerpts:

"Like I said, I absolutely love the premise, absolutely love it, I love the fact that Skeeter said ‘I am going to write a story from the maids’ perspective of what it feels like to work with these white women’. Operative term meaning the maids’ perspective. I don’t feel like it was from our perspective, that’s the problem I had with it. I had it from the very beginning. Now there were a lot of things in the book that I did like, and then there were some things in the book that I had issues with, number one meaning, or being, that Skeeter would offer the women money to tell their stories, knowing that it’s dangerous for them, knowing that they’re meeting late at night, in their homes, and I think at one point she offered someone $38. And in the book the response with all the women were, “No Miss Skeeter we don’t want the money, we just want to tell our story.” They would take the money. They would take the money. I mean look at Aibileen was not even eating in the book. She’s eating preserves given to her by her neighbour. She is barely making a living wage, they would take the money! That’s number one. Number two, the anger, the vitriol, and the hatred that they would have towards these white women if they were asked, if they were put in a situation where they were isolated, would have been vocalised. You didn’t see none of that! You saw Minny putting the shit in the pie, but to be perfectly honest I think a huge part of that, which I am so thankful it was in the book, but a huge part of that is comedic in nature, so it’s an easier pill to swallow. But in reality, if you were to isolate those women, and there was actually one scene where this one woman did express her anger, it was removed from the movie. These black women would hate these women."

"It wasn’t in there, there was a scene with Minny and Aibileen where they’re in, it’s the big scene where they’re dancing, all the people are dancing, and that’s when they’re doing the bunny hop and all of that, and Minny and Aibileen are in the back, and they’re preparing the food and they’re laughing about all the clothes that everyone is wearing and Minny says , “Well I’ve got to go out there and serve some food”, and I say “Yeah, you serving crackers to the crackers!”. And you know, cut. And it was cut because they felt it was too mean.

But, there was no problem with the white characters saying ‘n*gger n*gger n*gger’. "

Edited September 16, 2018 by slf

[Scarlett45]

12 hours ago, aradia22 said:

I'm sorry. I hate the Zendaya as Ariel idea. I'm not opposed to a non-white actress. Just not Zendaya. 

I'm obviously biased but I feel like Asian men are plenty romantically desirable. I question to what audience they are perceived as not romantically desirable. First of all, I have long suspected that the online dating numbers that repeatedly show that Asian men and black women are the least romantically desirable are affected by lumping all Asian men together. Is it just East Asian or also South Asian? And where do "Middle Eastern" men end up in this categorization? I think traditionally handsome East Asian men have a lot of choice. And like their white counterparts, they tend to prefer thin, lightskinned women. It's the non-traditionally handsome men who are perceived as nerdier or less masculine who fare worse. And the media has not been that interested in trying to sell those men as romantically desirable. To clarify... yeah, it's easy to sell Vincent Rodriguez III (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and Henry Golding and Jason Momoa and James Shigeta as viable romantic leading men. But where are my Asian counterparts to Michael Cera and Seth Rogen and Timothee Chalamet?

I know what you mean. If an actor of color (for example an Asian male or a black female) fits some traditional western boxes of attractiveness (height, body tone, weight, waist/hip/shoulder ratio etc) they are sold as attractive and it isn’t questioned despite their ethnic background. No one ever doubts that Hallie Berry is attractive (not saying she isn’t!!) due to colorism and western ideals of beauty. She gets to be an attractive woman not an attractive BLACK woman.

White men get to not check all those boxes (facial symmetry, height, body tone etc) and are still sold as “attractive” due to being “quirky”, or “intelligent” or “adorable”. 

[Bastet]

5 minutes ago, slf said:

Minny says , “Well I’ve got to go out there and serve some food”, and I say “Yeah, you serving crackers to the crackers!”. And you know, cut. And it was cut because they felt it was too mean.

Oh, come on, Tate Taylor.  The power differential means a black person referring to white folks as "crackers" is never something ears should be shielded from, but a black maid in '60s Mississippi saying it to her friend who is also a black maid is "too mean"?  That's some deep-fried bullshit right there.

Add in the lack of anger and the (from the book) "Oh no, Miss Skeeter, we won't take money for this" attitude, and it indicates a belief that if these characters responded to their situation with the anger and frustration that is entirely their due, they'd be Angry Black Women with whom the audience would not supervise.  Films are built around white male protagonists losing their shit over the bad deals life has handed them, but let a black woman express herself and, oh no, audiences will be turned off (and, yeah, some of the audience will, because look what happens in real life when women, particularly women of color, speak up for themselves).  It's not enough for their employers to demean them, they have to be self-sacrificing as well.  This is keeping the characters under thumb, and then bragging about giving them a voice.

[mattie0808]

All the applause for Viola. Keep telling it, girl!

[Mabinogia]

11 hours ago, slf said:

“No Miss Skeeter we don’t want the money, we just want to tell our story.”

I agree with Viola, there is no way anyone, black white, male, female, living in that kind of poverty would turn down money for something they were willing to do anyway. These women had absolutely no job safety (no life safety either, but a few dollars wasn't going to help that situation). They could be fired at any time for any reason. Hell, they could be arrested at any time for any reason. I seriously doubt they had 401ks or pensions to fall back on. So they would want every cent they could get. It is selling the audience short to think we wouldn't still side with them if they were getting paid to tell their stories. 

And I hadn't thought about it but yes, they weren't allowed to show the kind of rage and anger they should have. Minnie came the closest, but I agree, that pie thing was done for laughs which took away from the danger of such an act. It was an act of pure defiance that could have gotten Minnie a lot worse than fired. 

I wish they would remake the movie, with the same cast (seriously, the cast were AMAZING) but actually tell what it was like for these women. I would still be 100% on the maids' side even if they dared to really let their rage show because they totally earned the right to feel rage against those bitches who treated them like property. 

[angora]

20 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

A Simple Favor has a Muslim school teacher (with a head scarf), an East Indian mother who is one of a trio of Greek chorus who discuss the action in the film, and Henry Golding as Blake Lively's English husband named Sean Townsend, with no comments at all on the ethnicities.

Plus, there's the Black detective leading the case and, of course, Blake Lively and Henry Golding's son being mixed.  I loved seeing that the kids' teacher wore a hijab - it's a little thing, but it's important to have these positive images.  For a different aspect of the film's low-key inclusion, I also liked that there were no comments made about Andrew Rannells being the one dad in the "mom group" - he just was.  It reminded me a little of Spider-Man:  Homecoming in that, while the story is definitely focused on the white protagonist(s), the movie takes care to show that those characters live in a diverse world.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 9/15/2018 at 10:26 AM, aradia22 said:

I'm obviously biased but I feel like Asian men are plenty romantically desirable. I question to what audience they are perceived as not romantically desirable.

I'm from a major metropolitan city that is 50% visible minorities, 70% of which are Asian.  And yet, I know many many females, of all races but especially Asian, who have made it clear to me that they are not attracted to Asian men.  ALL ASIAN MEN.  The more they look like them, the worse it is (self-hatred).  I hate it, I express that I hate it, and that it's silly and it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't matter.  The bias against Asian men definitely exists.  I know a few women who will date Asian men, but they seem to be the exception, not the rule.  So, that's just one example, but I see it everywhere and I feel like the bias is incredibly strong in North America.  If it exists in one of the most so-called diverse/multicultural cities on the planet, I would venture to guess it exists in other places too.  Hollywood is partially to blame for perpetuating this.  

Edited September 18, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[festivus]

13 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm from a major metropolitan city that is 50% visible minorities, 70% of which are Asian.  And yet, I know many many females, of all races but especially Asian, who have made it clear to me that they are not attracted to Asian men.  ALL ASIAN MEN.  The more they look like them, the worse it is (self-hatred).  I hate it, I express that I hate it, and that it's silly and it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't matter.  The bias against Asian men definitely exists. 

Oh it definitely does. My son's girlfriend who is half Chinese herself is not attracted to Asian men. Meanwhile I'm over here not getting it. I've always thought Asian men attractive.

[aradia22]

I don't know. I see plenty of Asian couples. And if you ever watch youtube channels from Asian creators like leendadproductions, they predominantly feature Asian couples or Asian love interests.

[Scarlett45]

3 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm from a major metropolitan city that is 50% visible minorities, 70% of which are Asian.  And yet, I know many many females, of all races but especially Asian, who have made it clear to me that they are not attracted to Asian men.  ALL ASIAN MEN.  The more they look like them, the worse it is (self-hatred).  I hate it, I express that I hate it, and that it's silly and it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't matter.  The bias against Asian men definitely exists.  I know a few women who will date Asian men, but they seem to be the exception, not the rule.  So, that's just one example, but I see it everywhere and I feel like the bias is incredibly strong in North America.  If it exists in one of the most so-called diverse/multicultural cities on the planet, I would venture to guess it exists in other places too.  Hollywood is partially to blame for perpetuating this.  

 

I believe you. 

But people often say “xyz Group” (usually an ethnic minority) isn’t attractive (or they wouldn’t date them etc) but from a pure numbers game there are only so many white people to date! (If we are going with white Americans being the most desirable ethnic group) Never mind that white people date each other a lot of the time. So why x group of people might not be a sexual ideal (like fat women for example) this does not mean this group of people isn’t having sex or healthy romantic relationships. Because numbers. 

 

When we talk about representation in media and film, often we only see minority actors with white love interests because film makers want at least one white protagonist in the film. Which is a problem in and of it self, but does anyone think minority groups aren’t dating, having sex, falling in love etc?

Edited September 19, 2018 by Scarlett45

[methodwriter85]

Well, we do have Crazy Rich Asians introducing us to Henry Golding's hawtness, so there's that. He still pretty much falls into Western beauty standards for men, though.

[Silver Raven]

50 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

Well, we do have Crazy Rich Asians introducing us to Henry Golding's hawtness, so there's that. He still pretty much falls into Western beauty standards for men, though.

For some reason, when he was shirtless in A Simple Favor, I was surprised to find he had big tattoos.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 9/15/2018 at 6:46 PM, Silver Raven said:

A Simple Favor has a Muslim school teacher (with a head scarf), an East Indian mother who is one of a trio of Greek chorus who discuss the action in the film, and Henry Golding as Blake Lively's English husband named Sean Townsend, with no comments at all on the ethnicities.

Henry being the Asian male love interest and the mixed kid were huuuuuuuuuuuge representation to me.  It is EXTREMELY huge.  Kids today will grow up with totally different movies than I did.  It's kind of like how Cassandra was in Wayne's World.  It was so nonchalant, but she was definitely the love interest.  But she was just one example in a sea of a million movies with white female love interests.  I really appreciate Paul Feig for this.  It's honestly revolutionary for him to do that.  A little less so after CRA (LOL), but still.

@Silver Raven I personally assumed that the tattoos were just a character thing. But I could be wrong.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[JessePinkman]

He actually has a lot of tattoos.

It was nice in my theater when Henry Golding showed up in A Simple Favor, a group let out a loud gasp of recognition when he came on screen.

[kiddo82]

 

These two guys are kind of genius.  Even though what they did was silly in the grand scheme of things it's proof how much representation matters.

Edited September 20, 2018 by kiddo82

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 8/26/2018 at 7:23 PM, topanga said:

I loved the movie and enjoyed seeing an Asian-American lead and  love interest. But I’ve also been reading criticisms online, specifically,

1. Why none of LJ’s past crushes were Asian-American. I read reasonable arguments on both sides, but I do have to agree that the movie had the opportunity to refute the stereotype that Asian-American men are not romantically desirable. 

—Then again, having TWO Asian-American characters in a movie might’ve been too much for TPTB *insert eye roll here.*

2. The only time Lara Jean’s Korean culture is mentioned is when her white father tries to cook Korean food or when LJ and her sister drink Korean yogurt drinks that come from a Korean grocery store across town. 

As a mixed person I thought it was so exciting to actually have a biracial character onscreen.... but the actor who is playing Lara Jean is NOT biracial.  She's full Vietnamese.  The actors playing her sisters definitely look biracial, and I feel like she doesn't look related to them at all.

It would have been easy to solve this problem.  Either hire a biracial actor, or simply make the character fully Asian.  I don't know why they insisted the movie be this way.

No Asian male love interest, and just on a personal note, no Asian mother or ASIAN PARENT figure whatsoever, definitely made me sad.

The author talks about how it's so important to her that her character is Asian-American, yet it misses all these nuances..... so weird to me.

In contrast, A Simple Favor casted very well.  I could totally believe that kid that they got to play Nicky was Blake and Henry's son.

Edited because Lana Condor is Vietnamese not Korean.

Edited September 21, 2018 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 9/15/2018 at 6:46 PM, Silver Raven said:

A Simple Favor has a Muslim school teacher (with a head scarf), an East Indian mother who is one of a trio of Greek chorus who discuss the action in the film, and Henry Golding as Blake Lively's English husband named Sean Townsend, with no comments at all on the ethnicities.

I was not a fan of the movie Blockers, but I was definitely a fan of how the movie handled race.  There seemed to be SO many Asian love interests, and interracial relationships, and it was nonchalant about it.  Also, John Cena is married to a beautiful Indian woman and they have a mixed kid.   All of that representation was very realistic and cool.

[paulvdb]

5 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

As a mixed person I thought it was so exciting to actually have a biracial character onscreen.... but the actor who is playing Lara Jean is NOT biracial.  She's full Korean.  The actors playing her sisters definitely look biracial, and I feel like she doesn't look related to them at all.

It would have been easy to solve this problem.  Either hire a biracial actor, or simply make the character fully Asian.  I don't know why they insisted the movie be this way.

No Asian male love interest, and just on a personal note, no Asian mother or ASIAN PARENT figure whatsoever, definitely made me sad.

The author talks about how it's so important to her that her character is Asian-American, yet it misses all these nuances..... so weird to me.

After watching the movie I read the books. They followed the story from the book with a white father and a dead Korean mother. But the books do mention more of the character's Korean background and there are some Korean relatives (not in big roles, but there are some family visits on holidays).

[JessePinkman]