I don’t have anything to add, but I did want to point out that Steve Jobs’ biological father was Syrian.
Yes, because all it takes it get a movie made is desire to be in Oscar consideration :dubious:. Additionally, if such tokenism is inevitable, why weren’t there any nominations this year despite many worthy candidates? It’s not as if this is the first time this issue has been pointed out.
First, Fassbender doesn’t have much of an accent in any interview I’ve heard of him. Second, even if he did, changing it would be just as baseless. That’s my point. He’s playing make beleive. Everyone knows he’s not really Steve Jobs just like they’d know Denzel Washington wouldn’t be. The difference is people seemingly cannot imagine suspending their disbelief along racial lines, but can with regard to almost every other characteristic or physical attribute. And I say seemingly because most people get over after a few seconds when it’s tried (eg. Louis CK’s ex wife in Louie). The issue is most people never even try.
As I said initially, I get it. But appreciating that fact should in theory make conversations like this much easier given everyone should hopefully acknowledge how big a factor race plays in even basic things like casting a role. And not just for real people; people bitched when both Roo from the Hunger Games and Fin from Star Wars were played by Black actors. People even complained when the ideas were floated about James Bond and Spiderman being played by Black people. The fact that race is so prominent in this realm should make it harder for people to dismiss the idea that race plays a role in there being no nominations for actors of color, yet we still have the usual suspects claiming the idea is baseless and that even raising the issue will lead to tokenism.
I don’t think brickbacon was necessarily talking about having a black actor play Steve Jobs. Asians, Hispanics, Indians,etc. are perfectly capable of passing as white. Nothing has stopped white people from “passing” as these groups. If Sigourney Weaver can convince people she’s Egyptian, why not the reverse?
I’m sure Denzel Washington will eventually portray Martha Stewart when her biography gets filmed. If by some injustice he does not get nominated for the role, I promise I will share your outrage.
Hilarious! Please tell me you have a newsletter I can subscribe to.
“It’s a good thing, I promise you that; I guarantee you that.”
Next on the agenda: Barbra Streisand biopic starring Mariah Carey?
I wonder if there are many Americans who wouldn’t consider a half-Arab to be entirely white.
Sorry, you just hear it that way a lot in race discussions. I was actually going to say “jews” without the “people” but remembered some get touchy about that. I had no idea some were touchy about “blacks”.
I like Jackson, but I can’t say I see much variety in his performances. He’s got one basic (albeit good) character down pat and plays slight variations on it, kinda like John Wayne did.
And like Wayne, I can see Jackson getting thrown an Oscar in the final stages of his career.
“people” being ignorant asshole racists whose opinions should not matter in the slightest and not be taken into any kind of account.
For one thing, Rue in the Hunger Games book was clearly black so the movie was accurate to the book. For another, who other than ignorant racists would care that Finn is black? And why should their opinion matter?
What’s important here is not the conclusion, but the conversation. There are and always will be different perspectives on what role plays in what stories we tell, how achievements are recognized, etc. individual positions on this are somewhat beside the point.
The real value is that we are continuing to think about and discuss our culture, rather than sitting back and letting it wash over us.
The fact that corporate structure works that way, for Hollywood studios as well as other corporations. Stockholders and investors give their money, assuming that the corporation will use it to earn money. The Board of Directors exists to ensure that the company is run along correct, money-making principles. The executives must show that they are making smart decisions. If they don’t, the Board of Directors will oust them and appoint others. The question of whether they’re earning enough money to satisfy the stockholders is what keeps CEOs in any industry up at night.
The theory that executives in Hollywood discriminate against blacks or any other race just because they want to doesn’t make any sense. If there were a large and largely untapped market for movies with all-black or all-Hispanic or all-Chinese casts, the studios would move in to tap that market to make money, bolster profits, and gain an edge over their competitors. Like all conspiracy theories, the theory that Hollywood executives are blocking minorities from making movies just for the heck of it doesn’t make logical sense.
No, it doesn’t. It shows nominations as under, but awards as over:
9.67% of the nominations (29 of 300) and 15% of the wins (9 out of 60) have gone to black actors over the past 15 years.
Those numbers do not convince me at all that black actors are underrepresented at the Oscars.
Well, unfortunately their opinions do matter because those people see movies, and in response, studios take their opinions in to account when deciding what movies to make. This is why you hear studios execs openly make asinine, broad statements like, “black actors don’t play well overseas” as a rationale for not casting any in lead roles in big budget films.
Ah, the old, “the market will cure racism” trope. The fact is that it doesn’t at all, and we have decades and decades of evidence that it doesn’t.
Even if this were 100% accurate, making money isn’t always theoretically perfectly aligned with not being racist.
So I should trust you rather than my lying eyes and multiple insiders who actually work in the field who state directly that the above is not true? We should just assume that Hollywood, unlike almost every other industry that has been studied, is uniquely free of discrimination against Blacks and other races?
And yet, they don’t despite their being plenty of evidence there is plenty of money to be made. Why do you think the domestic movie industries in India, Nigeria, and China are growing so rapidly? Why couldn’t Tyler Perry get his movies made? Hell, why were there basically only 2 networks who would hen light his TV shows despite them getting more viewers than most standard fare? why are there almost no major nation pictures written for a Hispanic audience despite their numbers in this country, and the success of Spanish TV networks and shows?
Even if you want to assume it’s a less malicious rationale like benign neglect, or a lack of experience, know how, or ability to make these films, it’s very clear they aren’t being made DESPITE the clear feedback that a market exist for them.
I have not seen all 20 people who were nominated. I’ve only seen a few so I cannot say if any black actors this year were better than all those nominated. I did not see a lot of movies in 2015. The main black actor I recall was the young scientist from the Martian and he did a good job. Donald Glover is the actor.
Ok brickbacon, you’ve convinced me. Hollywood studios have access to the full data concerning costs and earnings for every single movie that they make, they keep detailed dossiers about all the actors and actresses in Hollywood and their expected salaries and so forth, they have entire departments who put vast amounts of effort into studying what succeeds and what doesn’t succeed and why, and to predicting how successful a particular movie will be. You, meanwhile, have read a few articles on the internet. That clearly makes you more qualified than Hollywood studios themselves to determine what the market is calling for.
The only question is, since you understand the success and failure of movies so much better than everyone in Hollywood, why haven’t you founded your own studio and put your knowledge to work? With your unrivaled understanding of what the market wants, you would easily outcompete all those stodgy racists in the other studios. Look out Steven Spielberg, 'cause there’s a new game in town!
Nothing like sarcasm as cover to avoid having to defend your ignorant and unfounded statements. Par for the course for you though, so I am not particularly surprised.
Touchy? Not wanting to be called something in a way that lends itself to being a pejorative? In my extremely bigoted neck of the woods, I never hear anyone throw around the color of someone’s skin as a noun unless their a racist. And since I’ve never seen you to be one, there’s a data point to let you know that many do and it’s not just an issue of being too sensitive.
As to the subject at hand; I think there needs to be a more diverse Hollywood and I thin the lack of same is exactly why we’re having this conversation now. Which I believe is important.