Reply to Lack of representation = systemic racism: Footloose is Exhibit A

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You know what show was racially diverse in the 80's? Fame. [/quote]

That’s because they could dance.[/quote]

Flashdance was racially diverse too.  It came out in 1983.  Footloose in 1984.[/quote]

But Footloose was set in a town and focused on parts of the town's community that probably had very little diversity.  It was telling that story, not another...[/quote]

The film's producers chose to put it in Podunk, Kansas.  They could have had largely the same story in Topeka, Kansas and put in a person of color as acknowledgement that all of America isn't lily white.  Choices.[/quote]

No. Because the whole point was Ren had to move to this tiny, isolated town that had banned dancing. That's a rural, small town story, not an urban story.

The lack of diversity 100% made sense in that context. Perhaps they could have had Ren comment on it as part of the culture shock in moving there from a big city.

My kids go to a very diverse HS and have commented on "why is everyone White" when we watch some 80s-90s teen movies since that is totally not their experience. We talk about why it would be realistic or not for the time and place.

I grew up in an affluent LA suburb and my 2000+ HS had two black students, a handful of Hispanic students, and maybe 10% Asian. I just looked it up and it's still 74% white but larger Hispanic than I recall (13%), 7% Asian, 1% Black.[/quote]

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