What does the future hold for diverse casting in hollywood?

[Anonymous]

Snow White is literally the first child of the reining monarch so by definition the future Queen, leader of the kingdom.

Her narrative isn’t dissimilar to Simba in the Lion King who is constantly groomed through the movie to be King of Pride Rock.

Snow White in the original movie, however, is never even given lip service of being the future Queen it is all about her beauty and finding a man.

The difference between the two movies is 60 odd years and a gender difference.

[Anonymous]

I think Hollywood will tone down over the top diversity hamfisted into period pieces like in Bridgerton. In that case, considering it was a Shonda Rhimes production, the diversity made a lot of sense and made for a really interesting production, IMO. But movie adaptations of Jane Austen will stay more true to history, is my guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CNN did a segment on the movie and lead actress this morning (“Disney’s snow white sparks discourse on race, identity).

The guest (Patricia Alfonso Tortolani) pointed out that “skin as white as snow” was a historical reference to nobility (not an anti-bipoc thing).

The guest also pointed out that Disney has a diverse catalogue of princesses.

Perhaps much ado about nothing?

The reason for the diverse princesses is strongly tied to changes in American demographics.

Little girls love to see that people who resemble them can be princesses.

This is not just woke DEI ideology. It's actually part of the great consumerist, capitalist American melting pot dream.

Disney is still remaking its European fairytale classics. But may also start doing more films like Mulan.

It mainly depends on what sells.

White children are less than 50% of the 0-18 population group now. That is why diversity and inclusivity are important to toy and entertainment sellers. It would be overtly discriminatory not to try to be representative.

Also fairytales are pretend. It's a bad look for American people to be obsessed with racial correctness with European fairytales. Many cultures all over the world have adopted the mannerisms of American rap...from Korea to Russia. Nobody whines about how Koreans should stop pretending they are "straight out of Compton". It's completely normal in many ways to recast parts and even to do a bit of "cultural appropriation" out of admiration for art forms that have cross-cultural appeal.

Here are stats on US demos for K-18:

https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/children-by-raceethnicity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in sort of the middle ground on this. I love to see movies and shows with all types of racial / ethnic / social / international source material and actors.

What I don't like is ham-fisted and distracting attempts to forces diversity in roles when it doesn't make sense.

Clearly trump is on the warpath against DEI - so what does that mean for hollywood, which I think at least some would say, has over done it?

Could you say a bit more about what you mean? Is this a Santa Claus-is White complaint? A reaction against Hamilton? Something else? Without examples, we’ll each use our own interpretations of things like “ham-fisted” and “distracting “ as well as “DEI” and “overdone it”. If your intentions are something other than trolling, an example or too might help illustrate your concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in sort of the middle ground on this. I love to see movies and shows with all types of racial / ethnic / social / international source material and actors.

What I don't like is ham-fisted and distracting attempts to forces diversity in roles when it doesn't make sense.

Clearly trump is on the warpath against DEI - so what does that mean for hollywood, which I think at least some would say, has over done it?

Could you say a bit more about what you mean? Is this a Santa Claus-is White complaint? A reaction against Hamilton? Something else? Without examples, we’ll each use our own interpretations of things like “ham-fisted” and “distracting “ as well as “DEI” and “overdone it”. If your intentions are something other than trolling, an example or too might help illustrate your concerns.

Sure, OP here. For example, I'm fine with something like Bridgeton, which is clearly intended to be mixing up historical racial roles by design. But I find something like casting of Rings of Power distracting when you throw in a few token black elves and harfoots - it just doesn't make sense and breaks the illusion of the fictional reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in sort of the middle ground on this. I love to see movies and shows with all types of racial / ethnic / social / international source material and actors.

What I don't like is ham-fisted and distracting attempts to forces diversity in roles when it doesn't make sense.

Clearly trump is on the warpath against DEI - so what does that mean for hollywood, which I think at least some would say, has over done it?

Could you say a bit more about what you mean? Is this a Santa Claus-is White complaint? A reaction against Hamilton? Something else? Without examples, we’ll each use our own interpretations of things like “ham-fisted” and “distracting “ as well as “DEI” and “overdone it”. If your intentions are something other than trolling, an example or too might help illustrate your concerns.

Sure, OP here. For example, I'm fine with something like Bridgeton, which is clearly intended to be mixing up historical racial roles by design. But I find something like casting of Rings of Power distracting when you throw in a few token black elves and harfoots - it just doesn't make sense and breaks the illusion of the fictional reality.

Hollywood is not doing DEI out of the kindness of their hearts. It’s always about money and it always will be. They want to get more people interested.

Audiences have spoken and they are interested in different things. I was the poster that made the point about it all being niche now aside from the Super Bowl where you want 100 million eyes on the same screen, people are going for different audiences. It’s why we’re seeing a lot more stories with older actors and actresses featured, people of color, gay, and trans.

It really has nothing to do with politics. They want eyes on screens.

It would be like getting angry that there are not enough white people in football and basketball and saying they only hire Black athletes cause they’re woke. I mean you can start that fight certainly but I don’t think 10 years from now there’s going to be a dramatic difference in demographic. There are a lot of talented Black athletes. But hey you can always watch golf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Snow White is literally the first child of the reining monarch so by definition the future Queen, leader of the kingdom.

Her narrative isn’t dissimilar to Simba in the Lion King who is constantly groomed through the movie to be King of Pride Rock.

Snow White in the original movie, however, is never even given lip service of being the future Queen it is all about her beauty and finding a man.

The difference between the two movies is 60 odd years and a gender difference.

Also consider the origin material. Many fairytales were designed to warn kids off of/mentally handle conflicts with stepparents and to prepare girls for (arranged) marriages. The source material is no longer relevant to our modern day relationships. Why not reinterpret it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in sort of the middle ground on this. I love to see movies and shows with all types of racial / ethnic / social / international source material and actors.

What I don't like is ham-fisted and distracting attempts to forces diversity in roles when it doesn't make sense.

Clearly trump is on the warpath against DEI - so what does that mean for hollywood, which I think at least some would say, has over done it?

Could you say a bit more about what you mean? Is this a Santa Claus-is White complaint? A reaction against Hamilton? Something else? Without examples, we’ll each use our own interpretations of things like “ham-fisted” and “distracting “ as well as “DEI” and “overdone it”. If your intentions are something other than trolling, an example or too might help illustrate your concerns.

Sure, OP here. For example, I'm fine with something like Bridgeton, which is clearly intended to be mixing up historical racial roles by design. But I find something like casting of Rings of Power distracting when you throw in a few token black elves and harfoots - it just doesn't make sense and breaks the illusion of the fictional reality.

That’s interesting. I don’t know Rings of Power, but if my imagination can go with elves and whatever harfoots are, it doesn’t seem to be that big of a step to take in the possibility that such fictional beings could be racially or ethically diverse — or diverse in other ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Snow White is literally the first child of the reining monarch so by definition the future Queen, leader of the kingdom.

Her narrative isn’t dissimilar to Simba in the Lion King who is constantly groomed through the movie to be King of Pride Rock.

Snow White in the original movie, however, is never even given lip service of being the future Queen it is all about her beauty and finding a man.

The difference between the two movies is 60 odd years and a gender difference.

Also consider the origin material. Many fairytales were designed to warn kids off of/mentally handle conflicts with stepparents and to prepare girls for (arranged) marriages. The source material is no longer relevant to our modern day relationships. Why not reinterpret it?

Call it something else then. Own it. And own up to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Snow White is literally the first child of the reining monarch so by definition the future Queen, leader of the kingdom.

Her narrative isn’t dissimilar to Simba in the Lion King who is constantly groomed through the movie to be King of Pride Rock.

Snow White in the original movie, however, is never even given lip service of being the future Queen it is all about her beauty and finding a man.

The difference between the two movies is 60 odd years and a gender difference.

Also consider the origin material. Many fairytales were designed to warn kids off of/mentally handle conflicts with stepparents and to prepare girls for (arranged) marriages. The source material is no longer relevant to our modern day relationships. Why not reinterpret it?

Call it something else then. Own it. And own up to it.

You're out of step with modern thinking. Everything gets remixed, redone, mashed up, and given a million sequels. Why did we need Lego Batman? Batman was never intended to be a 2" tall minifig!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Hollywood will tone down over the top diversity hamfisted into period pieces like in Bridgerton. In that case, considering it was a Shonda Rhimes production, the diversity made a lot of sense and made for a really interesting production, IMO. But movie adaptations of Jane Austen will stay more true to history, is my guess.

I sincerely hope so!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Snow White is literally the first child of the reining monarch so by definition the future Queen, leader of the kingdom.

Her narrative isn’t dissimilar to Simba in the Lion King who is constantly groomed through the movie to be King of Pride Rock.

Snow White in the original movie, however, is never even given lip service of being the future Queen it is all about her beauty and finding a man.

The difference between the two movies is 60 odd years and a gender difference.

Also consider the origin material. Many fairytales were designed to warn kids off of/mentally handle conflicts with stepparents and to prepare girls for (arranged) marriages. The source material is no longer relevant to our modern day relationships. Why not reinterpret it?

Call it something else then. Own it. And own up to it.

Why? It's not like the first Disney Snow White movie is some kind of authoritative version. It has lots of differences from the first Grimm Brothers telling which has differences from older stories. Fairy tales are combined and rewritten and retold, that's part of how the genre works. Sometimes titles change, sometimes they don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in sort of the middle ground on this. I love to see movies and shows with all types of racial / ethnic / social / international source material and actors.

What I don't like is ham-fisted and distracting attempts to forces diversity in roles when it doesn't make sense.

Clearly trump is on the warpath against DEI - so what does that mean for hollywood, which I think at least some would say, has over done it?

Could you say a bit more about what you mean? Is this a Santa Claus-is White complaint? A reaction against Hamilton? Something else? Without examples, we’ll each use our own interpretations of things like “ham-fisted” and “distracting “ as well as “DEI” and “overdone it”. If your intentions are something other than trolling, an example or too might help illustrate your concerns.

Sure, OP here. For example, I'm fine with something like Bridgeton, which is clearly intended to be mixing up historical racial roles by design. But I find something like casting of Rings of Power distracting when you throw in a few token black elves and harfoots - it just doesn't make sense and breaks the illusion of the fictional reality.

Lolol that your examples are about imaginary beings. Breaks the illusion of fictional reality. Hahaha!! You must really struggle through all the complexities that life throws at you. So idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in sort of the middle ground on this. I love to see movies and shows with all types of racial / ethnic / social / international source material and actors.

What I don't like is ham-fisted and distracting attempts to forces diversity in roles when it doesn't make sense.

Clearly trump is on the warpath against DEI - so what does that mean for hollywood, which I think at least some would say, has over done it?

Can you give examples of the bolded OP? Are you offended by a character named John Smith being played by an Asian person? Because a name is just a name, nobody cares. Or Caucasian parents having an Asian or African-American child? Because people adopt, you know?

[Anonymous]

Ugh. There is already a thread on the Snow White actress, we don't need another one: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1240462.page