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John Oliver - Hollywood Whitewashing

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SlimySnake

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Thought this was a hilarious segment. Points out the hypocrisy in the argument that there just weren't many good black performances this year that deserved an Oscar.

Well, thats because they keep hiring white actors for roles for minority and black characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJy_OU1DPcg

Some hilarious examples here. I lost it at Marlon Brando and the marketing power of Joel Edgarton.
 
When I saw Breakfast at Tiffany's on TV years ago, I wasn't sure if that guy was a costume joke, it was so bizarre and out of place. Some of those other examples like Marlon Brando, wow.

So spot on about the Ridley Scott film, who the hell is this white guy defeating the point of big white hollywood names.
 
He's doing stand-up in DC in August. I went to try and get tickets the day after they went on sale and every single show for 3 days is sold out. Fuuuuck.
 
Fixed2BeBroken said:
the majority of Asian roles get white washed all the time....
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3In8dh5.jpg
 
Oliver is batting 1000 with this new show, it's quite amazing.

I like Trevir Noah but the added runtime dedicated to issues combined with the HBOness and quality of writing makes this feel like an evolved Daily Show
 
Brilliant!

Loved how it called out the double standard of people saying the lack of diversity is because minorities need roles that fit them despite white people being able to play literally anything.
 
grandwizard said:
Brilliant!

Loved how it called out the double standard of people saying the lack of diversity is because minorities need roles that fit them despite white people being able to play literally anything.
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And when a minority actor plays a traditional white role, backlash city
 
Great vid,
It's really a shame the official channel doesn't have the whole show I mean it's one of the 2 things I would actually get HBO for....guess that work out great for HBO...
Well that explains why I'm getting more and more tired of the usual Hollywood flicks and hover more towards animated movies or really anything else.
 
Good ice cold shit right there.

I really should be watching this show, I dropped cable so I should do the HBO app sometime soon.
Kinyou said:
But Tom Cruise isn't meant to be the Last Samurai, that's Ken Watanabe :/
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I thought that was the prince dude he gave the sword to at the end.
 
That 'Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai' joke. First: Dave Chappelle/Paul Mooney already said that ten years ago on Chappelle's Show. Second: 'Samurai' is plural, and the title isn't (necessarily) referring to Tom Cruise. It's certainly not exclusively referring to him.
 
AstroNut325 said:
I knew it was bad.... Just not that bad! Wow! What can we do to improve things?
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Make sure to call people like Ridley Scott out on their bullshit and don't see movies like Gods of Egypt. Most important part is calling shit like Aloha and Exodus out. Too many in Hollywood are ready to let that shit slip by and excuse it later with, "it wouldn't sell over seas" or "nobody would see a movie with minority X in the lead". Let Hollywood know you don't believe that bullshit otherwise they'll keep feeding it to you.
 
Kinyou said:
But Tom Cruise isn't meant to be the Last Samurai, that's Ken Watanabe :/
Click to expand...

Really? The movie makes it very ambiguous. He's the only survivor of the battle as all the samurais have been killed. He was annointed as a Samurai and served the Emperor.

Ket Watanabe, oh yea. A samurai, whose last words are "Perfect" in English, even though the guy beside him understands Japanese.
 
EdibleKnife said:
Make sure to call people like Ridley Scott out on their bullshit and don't see movies like Gods of Egypt. Most important part is calling shit like Aloha and Exodus out. Too many in Hollywood are ready to let that shit slip by and excuse it later with, "it wouldn't sell over seas" or "nobody would see a movie with minority X in the lead". Let Hollywood know you don't believe that bullshit otherwise they'll keep feeding it to you.
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I still can't believe Ridley Scott said what he said in that video.
 
If what Ridley says is true, and I dont know if its true, but if you cant get high box office films made if you dont present white actors in the forefront of roles that are not white, what can actually be done about that?
 
Darkwater said:
That 'Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai' joke. First: Dave Chappelle/Paul Mooney said that ten years ago on Chappelle's Show. Second: 'Samurai' is plural, and the title isn't (necessarily) referring to Tom Cruise. It's certainly not exclusively referring to him.
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That's beside the point.
The film is titled "The Last Samourai" and it was heavily promoting Tom Cruise over the rest of the cast.
It may not be a case of white guy taking the role of a minority but it's certainly a case of white guy being in a prominent role where he shouldn't be because you really have to put a white guy front and center
like that
rs_634x885-131227122201-643-12-years-slave-brad-pitt.jpg
.
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Mr Cola said:
If what Ridley says is true, and I dont know if its true, but if you cant get high box office films made if you dont present white actors in the forefront of roles that are not white, what can actually be done about that?
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I'm guessing that quote was a while ago because the Fast & Furious franchise has shown that to be decidedly wrong.
 
Fixed2BeBroken said:
I still can't believe Ridley Scott said what he said in that video.
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It's all the more insulting because it just exemplifies how he has such little regard for the setting as much as the spectacle. He didn't give Egyptians the respect of at least casting brown actors in the main role and he doesn't even respect their own stories enough to give up an actual Egyptian name to talk about why he is excluding them from a movie set in their country. It's insane.

Mr Cola said:
If what Ridley says is true, and I dont know if its true, but if you cant get high box office films made if you dont present white actors in the forefront of roles that are not white, what can actually be done about that?
Click to expand...

Like SpideySenses said, it's decidedly not true. Hell, Star Wars just proved how untrue it was with its movie as well. It's just an excuse people continue to use without much to back it up. They get to place the blame on the audience and foreign market saying "Well they didn't respond to the POC in the main role" to justify their own lack of effort in not choosing POCs for starring roles. And either way, the only way to combat it at all is to include POCs in the films. The people who say they won't see a movie because a person of color is in the main role, don't make up the bulk of the audience. If you get an audience used to something, they'll deal with it. Make more diverse casts and people will still come to the movies and they'll become more accepting of diverse casts in general. This particular video is about games but the point it makes can extend to all media in general: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7pjxXQ6va8
 
Of course the message of the segment is 100% correct, but I really hate that they used the tired Prince of Persia example.
 
Hilarious stuff; and quite sad. I've been citing those examples back at IMDB whenever a racial "issue" comes up. Fantastic 4 boards, Star Wars, and even DC television shows like The Flash and Supergirl light up whenever there's a casting announcement of an African American actor joining the stage. But the commentators become tight lipped when I bring up Prince of Persia or Exodus.

They exclaim a sudden swell of "being politically correct" as if it's a bad thing. As if there's less merit in actually depicting a balanced cast of all races - or depicting a POV that's different than the typical tropes of white actors. A female latina scientist is much more interesting than an aryan guy - and quite instantly, tells us that she probably had to endure untold sexism and discrimination to get to where she is.
 
EdibleKnife said:
It's all the more insulting because it just exemplifies how he has such little regard for the setting as much as the spectacle. He didn't give Egyptians the respect of at least casting brown actors in the main role and he doesn't even respect their own stories enough to give up an actual Egyptian name to talk about why he is excluding them from a movie set in their country. It's insane.



Like SpideySenses said, it's decidedly not true. Hell, Star Wars just proved how untrue it was with its movie as well. It's just an excuse people continue to use without much to back it up. They get to place the blame on the audience and foreign market saying "Well they didn't respond to the POC in the main role" to justify their own lack of effort in not choosing POCs for starring roles. And either way, the only way to combat it at all is to include POCs in the films. The people who say they won't see a movie because a person of color is in the main role, don't make up the bulk of the audience. If you get an audience used to something, they'll deal with it. Make more diverse casts and people will still come to the movies and they'll become more accepting of diverse casts in general. This particular video is about games but the point it makes can extend to all media in general: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7pjxXQ6va8
Click to expand...

Comparing Star Wars and Exodus isnt fair. It is entirely possible that Studio Execs wouldnt have green lit Exodus without an A list start in the leading role.
 
ShadowSwordmaster said:
You mean the Emperor of Japan right?
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Yeah, it's been like ten years since I've seen it so I could be off.
Senoculum said:
Hilarious stuff; and quite sad. I've been citing those examples back at IMDB whenever a racial "issue" comes up. Fantastic 4 boards, Star Wars, and even DC television shows like The Flash and Supergirl light up whenever there's a casting announcement of an African American actor joining the stage. But the commentators become tight lipped when I bring up Prince of Persia or Exodus.

They exclaim a sudden swell of "being politically correct" as if it's a bad thing. As if there's less merit in actually depicting a balanced cast of all races - or depicting a POV that's different than the typical tropes of white actors. A female latina scientist is much more interesting than an aryan guy - and quite instantly, tells us that she probably had to endure untold sexism and discrimination to get to where she is.
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IMDB boards are embarrassing, got bored earlier and looked at The Dark Tower one, god awful bunch of fools.
 
If the majority doesn't have a problem with a diverse cast why do they still whitewash?

Is it writers, directors, producers, casting people just being white themselves?
 
Nerfgun said:
Oliver is batting 1000 with this new show, it's quite amazing.

I like Trevir Noah but the added runtime dedicated to issues combined with the HBOness and quality of writing makes this feel like an evolved Daily Show
Click to expand...

weird that it's compared to Trevor Noah as opposed to Jon Stewart
 
Mael said:
That's beside the point.
The film is titled "The Last Samourai" and it was heavily promoting Tom Cruise over the rest of the cast.
It may not be a case of white guy taking the role of a minority but it's certainly a case of white guy being in a prominent role where he shouldn't be because you really have to put a white guy front and center
like that
Click to expand...

it's not that you put a white guy in front and center, you put brad pitt in front and center. of course you could have put Chiwetel Ejiofor there and the marketing team would have kicked your asses and fired you
 
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