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

[Neurochick]

8 hours ago, vibeology said:

I agree with this. My only point was Sam could have said this without also dismissing that Black Brits also experience a different type of racism. I don't imagine John Boyega has gone through life blissfully unimpacted because he grew up in the UK and dismissing someone else's experience isn't the way to go here. The people who need to be challenged are the white studio heads making the casting decisions, not the Black actors coming to Hollywood looking for a big break.

I felt that Boyega was the one who dismissed Sam's experience.  The truth is that Black Americans have experienced a totally different type of racism.  Slavery, Jim Crow, etc.  Black Americans were never left alone (see Tulsa riots, NYC draft riots, Rosewood, etc).  

Jackson was talking about the racism experienced in the US, not in the UK.

Quote

 

To be honest, after a few decades of asking and being ignored, I would either:
a. find a different person (preferably with shovel) to help me or
b. build my own shovel / other kind of tool for digging
Yes either option is still slower than a bulldozer, but it is still faster than mere bare hands. 

 

But, what if no one with a shovel wanted to help you or

You couldn't afford the tools to help you build your own shovel.  That's the issue.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Neurochick

[Kel Varnsen]

20 hours ago, xaxat said:

The action takes place in Britain, but his character is from LA.

That movie was awful. 

It was a terrible movie, i remember seeing it in theatre. I obviously don't remember much because i thought he spoke with a Scottish accent or something. Although between the kilt and his charactet being named Elmo McElroy i suspect it was written for a British actor.

11 hours ago, Neurochick said:

That movie was made a while ago.  I think all Jackson is doing is saying, "let's have a conversation about this."  I'm sorry but it does feel like black American actors are being replaced in movies.  I mean, a black American actor couldn't be found to play the lead in "12 Years a Slave?"  SMH.

I get what it is saying i am not sure what kind of advantage being american brings. He specifically called out Selma and 12 years a slave. No actor old enough to play MLK would have experienced the kind of racisim and segrigation experienced during the civil rights movement in the 60s and prior. And absolutely no one auditioning for 12 years a slave has ever actually been enslaved. So american or british i am not sure any actor in either of those roles would be able to understand what those people went through. Even if he may not have actually said it i really believe the Lawrence Olivier quote "It's called acting". 

Not to mention what Sam Jackson is saying, really sounds a lot like the actor version of "immigrants are taking our jobs" to me.

As far as British people being upset about an America playing Bond i am not sure how Brits would handle that. But i do know that the most famous Canadian super hero is played by an Aussie and no one cares. Although at the same time probably the biggest american super hero movie character is being played by a Canadian so it probably all evens out.

[TigerLynx]

To me, Tyler Perry is part of the problem.  I have never watched any of his movies all the way through.  I tried one, and the way the women were written was horribly offensive.  I do know he has several movies where women get abused, and even had a movie where a wife was abused and cheated on by her husband for years.  The ending originally had the wife forgiving and reuniting with her husband, but the test audience did not like that at all so the ending was changed.  He had another movie where the wife cheated on her husband, got AIDS, and the husband went on to happily marry and have a family with someone else.  Women get punished, men get rewarded.  This guy is not doing women of any color any favors with his movies.

[Silver Raven]

Guy Ritchie and Disney claim to be holding an open casting call for Middle Eastern actors to play Aladdin and Jasmine in the live action Aladdin movie.

 

http://uproxx.com/movies/guy-ritchie-aladdin-casting/2/

[vibeology]

7 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

Guy Ritchie and Disney claim to be holding an open casting call for Middle Eastern actors to play Aladdin and Jasmine in the live action Aladdin movie.

http://uproxx.com/movies/guy-ritchie-aladdin-casting/2/

I think there's enough public pressure, especially after some of the pushback for Mulan, that Disney knows it has to cast this properly. I really do assume that Aladdin and Jasmine are the only priorities though and we'll probably see white men as Jafar and the Sultan. And I'm confident Genie will be whatever famous comedian is big at the time and brave enough to step into those totally unfillable shoes. Plus, if they don't just get Gilbert Gottfried back for Iago, I would be shocked. (After all they are bringing back James Earl Jones for The Lion King.)

[xaxat]

32 minutes ago, vibeology said:

And I'm confident Genie will be whatever famous comedian is big at the time and brave enough to step into those totally unfillable shoes.

My money is on Kevin Hart.

[aradia22]

Quote

 I really do assume that Aladdin and Jasmine are the only priorities though and we'll probably see white men as Jafar and the Sultan. And I'm confident Genie will be whatever famous comedian is big at the time and brave enough to step into those totally unfillable shoes. Plus, if they don't just get Gilbert Gottfried back for Iago, I would be shocked. (After all they are bringing back James Earl Jones for The Lion King

I wouldn't be totally against a white man as Jafar. In the musical they cast Jonathan Freeman, who was the original voice actor, and it also neatly avoided the unfortunate implication that seems to plague Disney movies where the villain is darker skinned than the hero (Aladdin, Lion King, Princess and the Frog, etc.) Though, as one of the few people who is watching Emerald City, I think the actor who plays Eamonn looks the part. He was born in Egypt but I don't know what his actual heritage is. 

James Monroe Iglehart won the Tony for playing the Genie but I agree that they'll probably go for someone more famous, especially to back up the box office if they are going for two unknowns for the leads. Also, he's going into Hamilton so he's busy.

Iago is interesting. They could make him a real person or do a CGI bird voiced by Gilbert Gottfried. They've said it's going to be a musical so it's not like you need hyper realism. 

[dusang]

12 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

To me, Tyler Perry is part of the problem.  I have never watched any of his movies all the way through.  I tried one, and the way the women were written was horribly offensive.  I do know he has several movies where women get abused, and even had a movie where a wife was abused and cheated on by her husband for years.  The ending originally had the wife forgiving and reuniting with her husband, but the test audience did not like that at all so the ending was changed.  He had another movie where the wife cheated on her husband, got AIDS, and the husband went on to happily marry and have a family with someone else.  Women get punished, men get rewarded.  This guy is not doing women of any color any favors with his movies.

I've never seen a Tyler Perry movie either but I've heard from several sources that, in addition to the misogyny, there's a tonne of colourism in all his films too.

[DarkRaichu]

19 hours ago, Neurochick said:

But, what if no one with a shovel wanted to help you or

You couldn't afford the tools to help you build your own shovel.  That's the issue.

If even the poc with money (this is 2017, there are such things as poc with money) refuse to help then perhaps:
a. the whole poc discrimination in movie industry is not a big deal in a big picture since poc movie makers could not appeal to the heart of poc with money.  Not saying they are heartless necessarily, but maybe the rich poc are focusing their money on other priorities like helping to improve education in inner cities, etc. 
b. the movies with poc casts are not as lucrative business as some here think, otherwise the entrepreneur types (regardless of race) would jump on the opportunity to make money out of the niche market.  In a way this supports the Studios' casting decisions.

[thuganomics85]

Quote

I really do assume that Aladdin and Jasmine are the only priorities though and we'll probably see white men as Jafar and the Sultan.

I can see Sir Ben Kingsley being either one of them.  I just have a feeling he's Hollywood's go to guy for any movie set in the Middle East, so he'll be there.  It probably won't happen, but I can totally picture Oded Fehr as Jafar.

While no one can top Robin Williams, for some reason, I can see Dwayne Johnson doing a decent version of The Genie.

[Neurochick]

43 minutes ago, DarkRaichu said:

If even the poc with money (this is 2017, there are such things as poc with money) refuse to help then perhaps:
a. the whole poc discrimination in movie industry is not a big deal in a big picture since poc movie makers could not appeal to the heart of poc with money.  Not saying they are heartless necessarily, but maybe the rich poc are focusing their money on other priorities like helping to improve education in inner cities, etc. 
b. the movies with poc casts are not as lucrative business as some here think, otherwise the entrepreneur types (regardless of race) would jump on the opportunity to make money out of the niche market.  In a way this supports the Studios' casting decisions.

I have a bit of an issue with the whole POC trope.  POC are not a monolith.  Black people in the USA are in a unique situation.  This video is a bit long but it addresses this POC issue.

[DarkRaichu]

1 hour ago, Neurochick said:

I have a bit of an issue with the whole POC trope.  POC are not a monolith.  Black people in the USA are in a unique situation.  This video is a bit long but it addresses this POC issue.

Hmm poc was the term used by many posters here.  I could appreciate the difference pointed in the video but I am not going to pretend I understand the nuances resulted by that destinction

[slf]

On 3/9/2017 at 3:10 PM, DarkRaichu said:

Hmm, that is hard to achieve when money is not the main motivation behind their casting decisions

Not the main reason, no, but greedy people don't generally like to lose money.

Quote

Sorry, but this makes it sound like it is ok to spend years / decades asking the big studios to change their ways but it is not ok for poc to spend time and money pursuing alternative routes to success. 

Well it's always ok to demand studios to do better, no matter what poc are doing or being asked to do. And no one is saying it's not ok for poc to spend time and money pursuing alternative routes to success, just that it's not as simple as saying "go build your own." 

Edited March 11, 2017 by slf

[Neurochick]

On March 9, 2017 at 7:31 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

I get what it is saying i am not sure what kind of advantage being american brings. He specifically called out Selma and 12 years a slave. No actor old enough to play MLK would have experienced the kind of racisim and segrigation experienced during the civil rights movement in the 60s and prior. And absolutely no one auditioning for 12 years a slave has ever actually been enslaved. So american or british i am not sure any actor in either of those roles would be able to understand what those people went through. Even if he may not have actually said it i really believe the Lawrence Olivier quote "It's called acting". 

Well, Black Americans to this day are still affected by slavery and Jim Crow, which happened in the past.  So I don't get this at all.

Please don't say something like, "well, Oprah ."  Oprah and Obama are only TWO people.  If things were equal, there would be fifty Oprahs.  Oprah isn't the only smart black woman out here.

[Zuleikha]

Plus, if they don't just get Gilbert Gottfried back for Iago, I would be shocked.

Iago is a parrot, so I don't see an issue with that if Gottfried is willing to do it. 

I don't like to see rumors turned into fact, so I didn't like that the article referenced casting controversy over Mulan  in a way that made it sound that Disney ever considered casting white actors for Chinese roles. There is no reason to believe they ever did. For some reason, people were afraid they would and started a petition, but that was never likely. Disney has been typically matching up their voice actors with character's ethnicity for years now, and they put a lot of effort into making Moana respectful. Disney's only public statements confirmed that they had no plans to racebend Mulan.

And honestly, I'm not so worried about Disney casting white actors as I am about them casting Indian actors or Latinx actors. There is a history of treating Indian/Latinx actors as close enough to Arab. The worst was Naveen Andrews as Sayid on Lost. Naveen Andrews is a great actor, but he doesn't really look any more Arab than Gyllenhaal looks Persian, and Andrews could not speak Arabic at all. It was painful every time he had to try.

[Silver Raven]

I'm waiting for a live action remake of Finding Nemo.

[Kel Varnsen]

4 hours ago, Neurochick said:

Well, Black Americans to this day are still affected by slavery and Jim Crow, which happened in the past.  So I don't get this at all.

Please don't say something like, "well, Oprah ."  Oprah and Obama are only TWO people.  If things were equal, there would be fifty Oprahs.  Oprah isn't the only smart black woman out here.

Of course they are affected by it, but affected by it doesn't mean experienced it. And I am not sure being affected by the results of something makes someone a better actor. I even don't think directly experiencing something makes someone a better actor. I mean Samuel L Jackson was never a hitman, nor has he experienced an alien invasion of NYC, nor does he have brittle bone disease.  To me acting is all about having the skills to pretend to be someone you are not.

[twoods]

Nazanin Boniadi from Homeland is a stunning Middle Eastern actresss- she would be perfect as Jasmine. Oded Fehr is doing a good job as Jafar on Once Upon A Time (with what little we saw) so would like to see more of him. 

[aradia22]

I love Oded Fehr from Charmed. I didn't realize they'd cast him as Jafar on OUAT. I thought they had another actor... wasn't there a spinoff of OUAT that got cancelled that featured Jafar? Anyway, I think that kind of counts him out. People rarely get bumped up from TV. For instance, if you're a TV superhero, chances are good that you won't get called up to the big leagues when it's time to cast your character in a movie. 

[thuganomics85]

Quote

I didn't realize they'd cast him as Jafar on OUAT. I thought they had another actor... wasn't there a spinoff of OUAT that got cancelled that featured Jafar

Yeah, that was Naveen Andrews who played him in the Wonderland spin-off.  I totally forgot about that.  And, hilariously, I spaced out and forgot Oded Fehr is already playing Jafar on Once Upon A Time, even though I've seen every episode of that show.  He's just been used so little on it.  But I sadly suspect that means he will be out of contention.

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 hours ago, aradia22 said:

For instance, if you're a TV superhero, chances are good that you won't get called up to the big leagues when it's time to cast your character in a movie. 

Oded isn't just known for his tv roles-he was a part of the Mummy movies, so I don't see why he wouldn't be considered for a movie version of Jafar, or HELL! Dr. Fate!

7 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

He's just been used so little on it.  But I sadly suspect that means he will be out of contention.

Do you mean he'd be out of consideration? Because the word contention means something different and nowhere near what you mean, I think.

Contention means disagreement, heated argument.

But like I said above, I don't think he should be ruled out just because he's been doing television in recent years.

But that's just me.

[Jazzy24]

10 hours ago, twoods said:

Nazanin Boniadi from Homeland is a stunning Middle Eastern actresss- she would be perfect as Jasmine. Oded Fehr is doing a good job as Jafar on Once Upon A Time (with what little we saw) so would like to see more of him. 

I think they want someone younger to play the role of Jasmine and I read they are looking for new talent and someone who could sing. 

But this actress is beautiful. 

[aradia22]

Quote

Oded isn't just known for his tv roles-he was a part of the Mummy movies, so I don't see why he wouldn't be considered for a movie version of Jafar, or HELL! Dr. Fate!

I don't think he can't do movies, just that he probably won't play the same character in the movie. For example, Stephen Amell got cast in the TMNT movie but if they ever put Green Arrow in the movies, I don't think he'll get the part. Grant Gustin didn't get the call when it was time to cast The Flash for the DC movies. 

[vibeology]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Contention means disagreement, heated argument.

It also means to vie in a contest or rivalry so it works as it was used above.

As for who is going to be cast in Aladdin, I would be surprised if Disney double-dipped and cast a TV Jafar as a movie Jafar. I think they don't want the general audience at all concerned that the movie might be connected to a TV show. Disney wants as big a box office as they can possibly guarantee and if even a small audience doesn't buy a ticket because they think the movie is directly connected to the show and it'll be confusing that probably isn't worth the risk for someone like Fehr, who I love, but who isn't on his own a big enough draw to off-set the risk.

I assume that's the same reason why there is a TV Flash and a Movie Flash. I wouldn't go see the movie if I had to catch up on several seasons of TV to understand what was happening.

As for Aladdin and Jasmine, I too got the sense they would be looking hard for new-ish faces. The need to sing and act so I think it's more likely we'll see someone none of us are expecting. That's why earlier I figured they'd go with the biggest name they could get for Genie to balance out the leads.

[Neurochick]

CNN's take on Samuel L. Jackson's comment

 

Another take on black American actors disappearing in Hollywood.  Makes me wonder if in the future if they'll be black American actors like Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Neurochick

[xaxat]

These set photos from Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time make me smile.

[raezen]

4 hours ago, Neurochick said:

CNN's take on Samuel L. Jackson's comment

 

Another take on black American actors disappearing in Hollywood.  Makes me wonder if in the future if they'll be black American actors like Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

 

I would keep an eye on the Moonlight cast. If there's any justice in this world  they'd all become huge stars IMO.

[angora]

Absolutely, xaxat.  I'm so pumped for "A Wrinkle in Time."  The set photos make me smile, the shots of the kids in costume make me squee, and it just makes me feel so warm to see PoC Meg and Charles Wallace.  Bring on 2018 any time!

Edited March 14, 2017 by angora
clarity

[Silver Raven]

Man, Corey Hawkins is having an early career.  Broadway - he played Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and will be starring this spring in Six Degrees of Separation.  Starring in "24:Legacy", and has appeared in "The Walking Dead".  And has starred in movies like Straight Out of Compton and Kong:Skull Island.

[JBC344]

7 hours ago, xaxat said:

These set photos from Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time make me smile.

I can't believe they just wrapped filming.  I didn't know it was even shooting yet.  Those set photos and tweets from Ana are so heartwarming.  No wonder everyone wants to work with this woman.

[twoods]

On 3/13/2017 at 9:02 AM, Jazzy24 said:

I think they want someone younger to play the role of Jasmine and I read they are looking for new talent and someone who could sing. 

But this actress is beautiful. 

Damn, I forgot that singing had to be involved. I'm hoping they find someone good because Aladdin was my favorite Disney movie. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

"Get Out" has passed 100 million dollars on a 4.5 million dollar budget.

Not a sequel, not a franchise, no drag racing, no fancy cars - a black male star - how will people explain away its success and pretend that people of colour cannot carry movies or make money at the box office?  I can wait to hear it.

I appreciate Samuel L. Jackson's thoughts on the industry.  He definitely makes me think about these nuances in Hollywood.  I'm not an actor myself, and neither American or British, so I have no real personal stake in it.  But I think it's interesting.  Less interesting to me is telling him to "sit down".  Why should he not speak on his own industry?  

Edited March 14, 2017 by Ms Blue Jay

[slf]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

"Get Out" has passed 100 million dollars on a 4.5 million dollar budget.

Not a sequel, not a franchise, no drag racing, no fancy cars - a black male star - how will people explain away its success and pretend that people of colour cannot carry movies or make money at the box office?  I can wait to hear it.

You and me both. Get Out has performed phenomenally and there's no built-in excuse for it (or Hidden Figures). People saw the trailers, heard the hype, and came up out of pocket to see a movie written by a black man and starring another. And audience demographics have leaned heavily poc with whites accounting for around only 36% of the audience; black ticket buyers are 39%. (Hidden Figures saw something similar with whites being 43% of the audience).

[ChelseaNH]

Assuming Hollywood decides to learn its lesson this time, instead of the last umpty-zillion times a small, original movie has performed extremely well, they'll probably just remake the successful movies instead of looking for new, small movies to make.  Because that's what they do.

[VCRTracking]

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Gavin Polone: Why Women Really Make Less Money in Hollywood (and How to Fight Back)

At first I didn't understand women underselling themselves in negotiations. Then I think of how Robert Duvall didn't do The Godfather Part III because they weren't going to pay him as much as Pacino. Even though not having him forced Francis Ford Coppola to change his original plan of having the movie be about the conflict between Michael Corleone and his adoptive brother Tom Hagen, people still respect him and go "The studio should have given him the money! It could have been as great as the first two movies!" If a woman, say Diane Keaton had refused because she wanted a higher salary, people would be like "That greedy bitch ruined the movie! She's already getting over a million dollars, now she wants more?"

Edited March 16, 2017 by VCRTracking

[slf]

7 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Gavin Polone: Why Women Really Make Less Money in Hollywood (and How to Fight Back)

At first I didn't understand women underselling themselves in negotiations. Then I think of how Robert Duvall didn't do The Godfather Part III because they weren't going to pay him as much as Pacino. Even though not having him forced Francis Ford Coppola to change his original plan of having the movie be about the conflict between Michael Corleone and his adoptive brother Tom Hagen, people still respect him and go "The studio should have given him the money! It could have been as great as the first two movies!" If a woman, say Diane Keaton had refused because she wanted a higher salary, people would be like "That greedy bitch ruined the movie! She's already getting over a million dollars, now she wants more?"

Definitely. Despite all the urging that women should "lean in" reports have since shown that when women do they are not hired. Women negotiate this way for a reason and that's because we know we're not going to get paid what we're worth.

[aradia22]

I feel like that's happening with Jennifer Lawrence... especially after she talked about the wage discrepancy. But to be fair, Robert Downey Jr. also gets accused of being greedy. But to be fairer, it kind of seems like he is. I know he has to pay a whole team but do you really deserve that huge paycheck for being Iron Man?

Of course, it's hard to fight the wage gap battle with multi-million dollar actor paychecks. On the one hand, you have a platform that lets you speak but on the other hand, you're earning so much more than the average person that it's hard to focus on the gender pay gap and easier to find it all pretty unsympathetic. And acting is still perceived as kind of easy or... superficial. I'm too tired to think of the right words right now. But it would be interesting as far as the movies go to see the conversation extended to screenwriters and directors whose work is a little more tangible. Though outside of movies, I think it's still more important to have this conversation around careers where a wage gap can make a difference in financial stability and the ability to support a household.

[In2You]

The Boondocks summed up Tyler Perry movies perfectly

 

[methodwriter85]

I just had this horribly cynical thought...

Gugu Mbatha-Raw is rising right now as an actress. Does this mean Zoe Saldana's reign as the top-billed light-skinned biracial actress that gets to be the love interest to a white man is coming to an end?

Maybe this is just horribly cynical of me, but it really does seem like there's only allowed to be one. Before Zoe, it seemed like Rosario Dawson, and before Rosario, it was Halle Berry.

Gugu has even done the interracial romance parts that seem like a requirement for that particular typecast.

But no, am I just imagining this, or does it really seem like there's only allowed to be one black light-skinned leading lady who actually gets to be in big mainstream movies at a time?

Edited March 18, 2017 by methodwriter85

[Zuleikha]

But the top end is also where income transforms into political power and the ability to sponsor other creative works. I think it's really important there, too, and I get cranky when I see people dismissing the pay discrepancy in Hollywood because actors are so highly paid anyway. 

[topanga]

4 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I just had this horribly cynical thought...

Gugu Mbatha-Raw is rising right now as an actress. Does this mean Zoe Saldana's reign as the top-billed light-skinned biracial actress that gets to be the love interest to a white man is coming to an end?

Maybe this is just horribly cynical of me, but it really does seem like there's only allowed to be one. Before Zoe, it seemed like Rosario Dawson, and before Rosario, it was Halle Berry.

Gugu has even done the interracial romance parts that seem like a requirement for that particular typecast.

But no, am I just imagining this, or does it really seem like there's only allowed to be one black light-skinned leading lady who actually gets to be in big mainstream movies at a time?

Interesting point. Hollywood does usually allow only one black "It" girl at a time. But I'd also like to see a medium- or dark-skinned woman have that same shot at being a leading lady and a romantic interest. 

[methodwriter85]

I thought it was kind of hilarious that they updated Bridget Jones's gay best friend so that he wore a beard, was married, and was about to adopt a kid. For whatever reason that seems to be the ideal now for gays.

[methodwriter85]

I've never seen Crossroads (because honestly Britney overload was just ridiculous during that year between her post-Opps period and Toxic one), but I'm currently obsessed with the Nostalgia Chick and she did a take-down of the movie.

Are you kidding me? Taryn's character gets date-raped, gets pregnant, decides to give the baby up for adoption, then miscarries the baby but then of course declares after all that she would have kept it and that she would have been a good mother? What the fuck? The under-lying anti-adoption messages in so many movies that touch upon teenage pregnancy just enrage me. I wasn't that keen on Juno but I loved that it had a pro-adoption message. Even better, it had a pro-single mother message, too!

[In2You]

Zoe Saldana is not light skinned. Black people come in more shades than just light and dark and she falls in the medium spectrum.

[VCRTracking]

When a person knows they're valuable to a huge money making machine they now have the leverage to negotiate for more and do so. If something is making millions and even billions of dollars mainly because of you and you're only getting a (relatively) small percent of it you're going to go "Hey, waaaaait a minute!" It's something that the casts of really popular hit shows realize after a few seasons and it's why they renegotiate they're contracts. To get leverage though you have to be confident that you're irreplaceable and I think that maybe why actresses don't ask for more because they're afraid the filmmakers will go "Well if we can't get you we'll get somebody else. Somebody younger and prettier and less a pain the ass!"

Edited March 19, 2017 by VCRTracking

[topanga]

19 hours ago, In2You said:

Zoe Saldana is not light skinned. Black people come in more shades than just light and dark and she falls in the medium spectrum.

I would consider Zoe Saldana light brown rather than medium brown. But it's all subjective. My overall point was that Zoe Saldana, Zoe Kravitz, or Gugu Mbatha-Raw are more likely to get mainstream movie roles than darker-skinned actresses who are just as talented: Teyonah Parris, Tichina Arnold, or Tika Sumpter. 

So it was a pleasure to see Taraji P. Henson (whom I would consider medium brown) have a love interest in Hidden Figures. 

And even though 1992's The Bodyguard wasn't a great movie, it was nice to see Whitney Houston being the object of desire. 

[Bruinsfan]

I'd dearly love for some of those roles to be going to Lupita Nyong'o. It's not that I don't enjoy getting to hear her performances in voice work, but I'd like to see her onscreen as well.

[UYI]

A record opening weekend thanks to women and Beauty and the Beast!

http://jezebel.com/women-pushed-beauty-and-the-beast-to-a-record-opening-w-1793439300

[Bruinsfan]

Too true. I feel sort of left out that I'm ambivalent about one of those and another will be a Hell-freezing-over eventuality.

[aradia22]

It is nonsense that (particularly American) women have been trained their whole lives to be consumers (often of things that reinforce a harmful ideal... makeup, household items, diet fads, etc.) and yet we're shocked when someone targets something towards women and it makes a ton of money. This is what we've been programmed to do. Of course it works.

And yet the studios keep expecting us to just show up to watch movies targeted to men because supposedly women will watch movies with a male protagonist but men won't do the same. Everyone should want to watch a movie if it's good. Make good movies. Tell stories about different kinds of people. Not that difficult.