windom

Hope no one brings up Short Circuit.

Decker

Wait, I’m confused, though being a Old Boy thread, I guess I shouldn’t be. Why is Hollywood still racist? What is that assumption based on? I couldn’t tell in the word salad that makes up the initial post. Because Maggie Q isn’t John Wick?

Throwing Copper

And you supposedly are highly educated. Med school my ass!


😉

Why So Blu?

Well, instead they got a half-Asian dude like Henry Golding.

Why So Blu?

You beat me to it.

B5Erik

No, the people RUNNING studios in Hollywood are most definitely NOT the average people in society.

Not even close.

Runaway

There are several reasons for underrepresentation. People tend to be drawn to familiarity. To simplify: A white male exec hires a white male director, who hires a white male lead and the movie is shown to an audience which is predominantly white. That's not racist, that's just ignorant in the true sense of the word. The same movie could have been directed by Chloe Zhao and starring Denzel Washington and no one would mind. So in this scenario no one is actively desciding not to have a female asian director or a black lead, it just happens.

Another reason is a projection of "casual" racsicm. Execs thinking the audience won't be drawn to an Asian lead or like Aziz Ansari depicted this in his show, you can have one Indian or Pakistani character in a sitcom, two would be weird.

But there is also a misconception of what is underrepresented, so in a discussion like this one, the focus may shift and people tend to see underrepresentation where there is none. Transpeople make for less than 1% of the population, so if only a few transpeople are shown in movies it's acurate.

kd5

I probably didn't word that as well as I should have. I only meant to suggest that there have been many miscast roles, I just wonder why choices were made to cast an entirely illogical individual to play a role when a better choice could have been made.

I'm probably still not saying it right.

dex14

But is it less confusing than the last time he broached the subject??

fujishig

I mean Hollywood casting is deeply prejudiced... race, sex, age, body, looks, you name it. It's gotten much better in terms of race in recent years mainly because of activism, acknowledgement of the problem, and people of other races becoming directors, producers, etc. And there's this chicken and the egg problem, where society dictates who becomes a star and yet media also influences what we see as beautiful or attractive.

d2cheer

if you go by our commercials (USA) we are the most diverse group on the planet! So there is that...

LorenzoL

I can't believe that I missed his comment back in the summer. WTF! To say that because Bruce Lee was popular back in the 70's, Asians should just be happy and not make a big deal that Simu was cast as Shang Chi. Now this thread makes even less sense...
Chances are that OldBoy didn't even know that Joel Gray played Chiun in Remo Williams...

DeFan

Could you possibly ask a more leading question?

ddrknghtrtns

Warner/DC is also guilty, when they casted an Irish actor in the part of Ra's al Ghul.

Nick Danger

Hmm. Hollywood cast Keanu Reeves as a samurai in 47 Ronin. Was that because the producers are racist, or because they believed that audiences wouldn't go to a movie without a recognizable white star?

Giantrobo

Yes, because Hollywood is well aware of the Racism, Bias, and Tribalism society. It's like Adult Actresses who claim they can't perform with Black Men in films because they know white men will be disgusted and not show up to their shows when they are Stripping on the road where they make a good chunk of their money.

So they cast Keanu, a white presenting man with some Asian heritage, in a role that probably should have gone to an Asian actor.

Kurt D

So, is enabling racism racist?

Also, thread fail, the title asks "why is hollywood still racist?" but the poll asks "is hollywood still racist?"

That's two questions, man ...

fujishig

I think you're expecting a lot out of the OP here. Again, this is the same guy who asked why anyone needed to highlight Shang Chi as an Asian superhero which veered really close to "I don't see color" same as this one.

Kurt D

truth

On a related note, I saw a news story about Idris Elba being a potential next James Bond today! (Runs out of room. Also, the owners of the IP said they would let Craig's clock fully run out before even talking about it, and a few years ago Elba said he was too old anyway.)

devilshalo

I kind of question Destin Daniel Crettin about not seeing an Asian super hero, either in film or on tv, that he could be for Halloween when he grew up. He's from Hawaii. Granted he's 10 years younger than me, but I was Kikaider one year and Kamen Rider V3 for another.

fujishig

What, no Inazuman or Battle Fever J (I always thought it funny that the American representative in that early Super Sentai was Miss America)?

davidh777

Not the first time there’s been a brain fart between titling the thread and titling the poll. I just figured it was par for the course.

devilshalo

I had Inazuman and Diamond Eye t-shirts! If I only had my vinyl figures and die cast vehicles from those days, I'd have a few thousand dollars easily today.

Shannon Nutt

Remo Williams was 1985. I'm far more offended by Tilda Swinton being cast in Dr. Strange in 2016 playing a character that should have been Asian.