Not entirely but it’s a big part of it imo. Black Panther and Wonderwoman are two recent examples. I big part of the marketing was inclusivity and finally a film for us type narratives. You had so many people saying how inspirational it was to see x do x and how apparently this was impossible before I saw this Marvel/DC film. Like there was never a black or female badass portrayal in film before this monumental day.
It honestly felt good to see a movie like that get the funding that the "other" movies get. And then to see its success only felt that much better.
What is the roadblock to a film like that getting funding? Because in a free market economy there is absolutely nothing preventing black people or women funding it and creating it themselves. Not that I’m denying that a Hollywood establishment exists, whitewashing etc, but to me it goes back to infantilization. We weren’t ever going to get a movie from Marvel or DC.. Ok then create your own Marvel or DC.
...who cares? Your real life experience isn't the same as someone else's real life experience isn't the same as Spiderman's fictional life experience. You're using your own anecdotal experiences to judge a work of fiction and how its creators choose to create it. Just because it doesn't match your own life experience doesn't mean it would never match anyone else's.I mean this is getting more obvious everyday, but the latest Spiderman trailer really hit it home for me.
So in this Hollywood reality, a white teenage has a best friend who is Asian, a rival who is Indian, and 2 girlfriends who are black.
The only white person he seems to interact with in his life regularly is his aunt.
I mean this is just an example, but stuff like this is pretty common now in every "mainstream" Hollywood movie. A hero must have XX percentage of minority/female friends/associates/enemies/etc.
So I know what their agenda is, but don't people find it strangely unsettling, or even annoying, when the agenda is so transparent and forced these days and worst of all, does not really depict reality but instead if trying to push a certain type of "desired" reality?
I mean I am a minority, and when I grew up, I had very few friends outside my race. And I didn't date anyone outside my race. And this held true for 95% of other people in my high school and college. From what I observed, asians hung out with asians, blacks hung out with blacks, etc. There is very little cross-race social activity in the real world. So when I see Peter Parker hanging out with all these minorities, it feels strange and unnatural, and a bit unbelievable. He would be the 5% unusual case, not the norm. And note that I did grow up in very diverse societies, not unlike New York City where Spiderman is. So I know how things are even in "diverse" places.
As for just creating a new Marvel or DC, I mean, cmon man. That sounds great on paper and everything but, really?
Disney is the worst!I don't get mad if everyone isn't a white man. In fact, Denzel Washington is my favorite actor. I would go see a movie solely because he is the lead. That name is a stamp of quality to me.
What is out of place though, is when I see a movie like the new Beauty and the Beast. They captured the time period perfect in just about every essence. Stayed very true to the original. Then they added interracial and gay couples (and gun violence). Clearly out of place agenda push. Disney is the worst at this. I never once thought about political agenda when I was watching Star Wars. With Solo, it became unbearable.
I don't lose any sleep over it, but it's interesting to me how much they push it. Like in that Gillette commercial, at the end the scene where they show each race of child in turn, I literally lol'ed while calling out which race would be shown next. Black kid! Asian kid! White kid! Indian kid! Redhead!
I was shocked at how little diversity was in The Ballad of Buster Briggs, I would assume Netflix has a quota you must meet but damn, that movie is as white as a ghost.
It helps that both of those movies were good. People really did feel that way too. I know I did when it came to Black Panther. Blade was really good too, but that was a badass black dude in a movie. Black Panther was blacky black! Not only was it directed and written by a black guy, but all the lead roles and secondary roles were black. BUT not only that. There were things within the movie that happens that's blacky black black.
It honestly felt good to see a movie like that get the funding that the "other" movies get. And then to see its success only felt that much better.
What is the roadblock to a film like that getting funding? Because in a free market economy there is absolutely nothing preventing black people or women funding it and creating it themselves. Not that I’m denying that a Hollywood establishment exists, whitewashing etc, but to me it goes back to infantilization. We weren’t ever going to get a movie from Marvel or DC.. Ok then create your own Marvel or DC.
Growing up, I absolutely loved this movie, and I still think it's a lot of fun:
You literally CAN'T be serious! Why do people fight so hard about this type of stuff? Why are you acting as if Hollywood doesn't have the most money on Planet Earth to make blockbuster movies? And how would black people just create their own characters from scratch and then have $250 million to make a movie about it? With no legacy and no decades-long history of people knowing the character at all. It was always going to be easier doing it through established characters that are known and we created 40 years ago. Everything worked out the way it should have. All parties did the right thing to a "T".
The Last Dragon was one of the best classic movies of its era. If the Internet "existed" back then, it would have created 100 memes. It had so many quotable lines. And the music! "The glow, when you got that glow, the feel the power, when you got that glooooow!!! The power of imagination!!!!" AAAAHHHH!!!!! So good!!!!
I feel back for the youngins born in the mid 90s and later. They missed out.
In the same post I find it pretty funny that you mention The Last Dragon, a film that literally did exactly what I suggested. If you’re contending that Wonderwoman and Black Panther were valuable characters before these films, maybe you could cite why, because other than the mediocre Wonderwoman tv series from my childhood I’ve never seen anything beyond their comic book stuff.
And there are black people with a lot of money. Oprah has funded and promoted films in the past, why do black people need to rely on Marvel and Hollywood? How did white people create and fund these characters? You may see this as ridiculous or that I can’t be serious but to me it’s a legitimate viewpoint. Are you going to tell me Aquaman was really valuable as well, and that the established character sold the film?
So black people just need another 80 years (or however long Marvel has been around) to establish a pool of creative IPs on par with what Marvel currently has, instead of just being excited about Black Panther getting an enormously successful movie now?
I don’t see what point you’re getting at with the Aquaman question?
Marvel has a lot of characters. I’m fine with going through existing characters until you contend that black people cant do this without Marvel. The point I’m trying to make is that there isn’t some inherent value to Marvel that is impossible to replicate.
I used Aquaman because to most people he was a joke character. Nobody is checking for an Aquaman film, and it would have been no surprise to anyone if it tanked. The film essentially completely re-worked and updated the character and got a really popular sex symbol/actor to play him. I don’t think anyone was going because of the storied history of Aquaman.
If this doesn’t make sense or seems like a bizarre perspective we’d probably have to agree to disagree because I don’t know of any other way I can explain it.
J.K Rowling seemed to do ok creating a great character and world without the help of Marvel or any other established character/universe.
Do you realize how many movies don't get $250 million budgets? And also a marketing budget of $100 million? Like most movies on Earth don't get that kind of financing. I wasn't just saying black people can't do it. 99% of the Planet can't do it.
And there's been a push in Hollywood for many years that black leads can't sell movies overseas. And on top of that J.K. Rowling got a $125 million budget back in 2001 (that's equal to $170 million in today's money with inflation) by Warner Bros. That's Hollywood! She didn't do it all her self.
The diversity is kind of a joke still. They’re forcing diversity but how is still still no male Asians.
I would argue that she created the value in the popularity of her books that made Warner consider it a good investment. Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Idris Elba come to mind as highly successful black leading men that have sustained pretty long careers starting in the 80s. I wouldn’t argue that blacks weren’t receiving prime studio production stuff 30-40 years ago, but in 2019 I’m not seeing that as being an issue.
The bolded is 100% right. It's not as much an issue now and the Black Panther movie has only made things even better. These are all good things. We should all be happy to see everyone get a shot. Crazy Rich Asians is an all Asian cast that had no martial arts fighting scenes in it and it still made $240 million. That's awesome and I found the movie funny.
if Hollywood isn’t giving you a shot for whatever reason create value that’s demonstrable or bypass Hollywood
The diversity is kind of a joke still. They’re forcing diversity but how is still still no male Asians.
Henry Golding getting bigger and bigger by the moment so at least there’s thatThe diversity is kind of a joke still. They’re forcing diversity but how is still still no male Asians.
The diversity is kind of a joke still. They’re forcing diversity but how is still still no male Asians.
Crazy Rich Asians is an all Asian cast that had no martial arts fighting scenes in it and it still made $240 million.
i might have bought a ticket to see it if it had martial arts fighting scenes