Maybe I’ll get shit for this, but I really hate the whole “remake a movie but make the character black” purely because it’s lazy and makes it so you’re giving a black character a white story.
I’m white af so I tend not to comment on stuff like this but I agree. It always makes me think, like wouldn’t it be more productive to make a new character?
No, because that’s risky, and lazy race/gender swaps allow them to play the “It’s not a bad product, you’re just racist/sexist” to both gaslight consumers, as well as explain to investors why they keep having massive critical and/or financial flops.
“It’s not our fault (Large Studio Remake of a classic IP) lost millions of dollars, we made a great movie! It’s the consumer base being bigoted! Please keep giving us money.”
I was thinking this. I don’t think other cultures even want media where it’s an existing story but the races are swapped. They want original stories that connect to who they are and their experiences.
One of the best recent examples I can think of is Everything Everywhere All At Once. That movie was steeped in Chinese culture, not just a story in new york in a bland city block apartment with Chinese faces.
And it worked. The Chinese heritage and how it evolved into the American-Chinese hybrid that many first-generation Chinese families in the US live through was a central theme of the movie. The movie would not have been the same without it.
Isn’t Marvel (or was it DC?) known for having it out for gingerheads? If character has ginger hair and white skin, there’s mighty chance they’ll switch to black actor in movie lol.
I’m white af so I tend not to comment on stuff like this but I agree. It always makes me think, like wouldn’t it be more productive to make a new character?
No, because that’s risky, and lazy race/gender swaps allow them to play the “It’s not a bad product, you’re just racist/sexist” to both gaslight consumers, as well as explain to investors why they keep having massive critical and/or financial flops.
“It’s not our fault (Large Studio Remake of a classic IP) lost millions of dollars, we made a great movie! It’s the consumer base being bigoted! Please keep giving us money.”
I was thinking this. I don’t think other cultures even want media where it’s an existing story but the races are swapped. They want original stories that connect to who they are and their experiences.
One of the best recent examples I can think of is Everything Everywhere All At Once. That movie was steeped in Chinese culture, not just a story in new york in a bland city block apartment with Chinese faces.
And it worked. The Chinese heritage and how it evolved into the American-Chinese hybrid that many first-generation Chinese families in the US live through was a central theme of the movie. The movie would not have been the same without it.
Isn’t Marvel (or was it DC?) known for having it out for gingerheads? If character has ginger hair and white skin, there’s mighty chance they’ll switch to black actor in movie lol.