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BTDT
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11 Mar 2019, 11:27 am

Last year Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians did really well at the box office.

Captain Marvel just opened with $153M US!

Do you think this is good for our society?



kraftiekortie
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11 Mar 2019, 11:30 am

I feel diversity is better than non-diversity.

I love watching old game shows----but I wish there were more diverse people in positions of relative "power."



CockneyRebel
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11 Mar 2019, 11:50 am

I like the idea of diversity in movies. It shows that Hollywood is willing to change with the times.


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11 Mar 2019, 1:23 pm

It's at best a non-issue, and at worst a non-concern for me. As in, if there is diversity of sex and ethnicities (because that's usually the only diversity that matters, see the examples in OP) it's not something I pay attention to or place value in, and if there isn't much diversity it's not something I'm likely to react to unless it's really, really jarring i.e. "why is this scene set in downtown Kashmir full of europeans with no adequate an explanation?".

Promoting diversity as something with inherent value and something that should be deliberately strived for to the detriment of other qualities, I think is very much a bad thing.


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kraftiekortie
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11 Mar 2019, 1:39 pm

Obviously, you can't have a bunch of Europeans walking the streets in a place like New Delhi....but a place like the US, especially in urban areas, is more diverse.

Common sense is what's required.



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11 Mar 2019, 1:53 pm

I am not bothered by it unless it is a period piece where they would not fit in historically. It's very distracting and forced. Also, when films are nominated/win simply because of the diversity factor. I find that unfair to everyone involved in the film industry when the award seems to have become more of a consolation prize rather than one representing true merit.
Most advertisements and commercials have become predominately diverse as well, but this seems a rather good thing as it opens up more doors for minorities in that industry.



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11 Mar 2019, 2:30 pm

People should be cast based on their ability, not racial characteristics; this latter philosophy is consummate racism.



BTDT
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11 Mar 2019, 2:46 pm

The casting of Crazy Rich Asians made it possible to include cultural references that are usually missed when you replace the characters in the book with actors/actresses of a different race. The movie had a perfect example of how a Chinese person accepts an invitation by initially saying no.

It's like those annoying mistakes when they do period pieces. They include stuff from a totally different era. Yes, its fiction but it is still annoying that they didn't get it right.



Last edited by BTDT on 11 Mar 2019, 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wolfram87
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11 Mar 2019, 2:49 pm

I rather like Idris Alba as an actor, but he made no sense whatsoever being cast as Roland Deschain, a character explicitly stated to look like Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name.


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Antrax
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11 Mar 2019, 6:02 pm

I think there is nothing wrong with movies like Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians having mostly minority casts. In fact I think its a good thing that Hollywood is willing to broaden their horizons a bit.

I also don't see anything wrong with casting Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter or Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury (traditionally white roles) as both actors did great jobs in those roles. Similarly in the Battle Star Galactica reboot I saw nothing wrong with making Starbuck a woman, and indeed Kara Thrace is one of the most iconic characters of the franchise (along with Admiral Adama, Capricorn 6, and Gaius Baltar).

What I do have a problem with is people saying things like: "We need a black James Bond" or "We need a female Doctor." For the record I think Idris Elba would make a great Bond and it sounds like the new doctor (I've forgotten the actress's name, and stopped watching Doctor Who at the end of the Matt Smith era) is well liked by the fan base. There are very few characters where their race is critical too their character (usually only in period pieces is this the case). There are more characters whose gender is essential to their character, but many others can be swapped without difficulty. Casting characters as a certain race or gender for "diversity's sake" is dumb and counterproductive. Nowhere is this more hilarious than in the controversy concerning the casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in Doctor Strange. Tilda Swinton did a good job as the ancient one, but most of the discussion was whether hollywood was progressive for making her a woman or regressive for making here white. The only thing that should matter is how she played the character.

People need to be more accepting of actors and actresses playing roles that they are not. Whether that's minority's being cast in white roles (the hate for some of these castings is ridiculous) or white actors being cast in roles where a minority race in not a character requirement, all that should matter is how well the actor/actress portrays the character.


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11 Mar 2019, 6:26 pm

Diversity is fine, perhaps even good.
I don't like when it is shoved in when it doesn't make sense, I get sick of stereotypes, I hate it when they make the minority characters perfect (Boring), and I hate when the make the one minority character that either is the only minority but is as many as they can in one or just gets killed off.


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shortfatbalduglyman
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11 Mar 2019, 7:54 pm

Diversity is better than no diversity

But diversity for the sake of diversity, overrated


Diverse movies like "crazy rich Asians" give Asian actors jobs

But whatever



enz
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11 Mar 2019, 7:57 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-e5bptEFIM

but there does need to be more black or asian lead characters



shortfatbalduglyman
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11 Mar 2019, 8:09 pm

Some roles call for specific races, sex, age

That is not "discrimination"



Movies are not real life and movies can only influence real life so much



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11 Mar 2019, 10:31 pm

We shouldn't be pushing for more diversity or less. It should simply be whoever is best suited.

Sometimes the part calls for a specific race or sex or age or height or something else, something arbitrary. This is okay. You can't make for instance a Hercules movie and have a woman play the role or a small man or an old man or a guy from Asia.

I'd say ideally if making a movie, you want to cast as wide a net as possible. If your lead role for instance was a detective who would do detective work and get in gunfights, you could cast a wide but not perfect net. Children, the really old and infirm couldn't do it, but other than that male, female, any race could get the part. Let them all come and find the best one.



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12 Mar 2019, 4:13 am

I don't really watch films so don't know what is in these but on the whole diversity is better than no diversity.

Things are rarely perfect from the off and we usually see a 2 steps forward 1 step back situation in life, but as long as more steps are in the correct direction then it takes a proper miserable sort to have a problem with it