This week we had 2 online readings and one praxis reading assigned to us. Both online readings had to do with the racial insensitivities that we a4re currently having in Hollywood. While reading these articles, I tried an exercise to see how many film stars I could name, and what their ethnicities are. And as it turns out, most actors I have seen in film and in movies are mostly white men. White men tend to fill the main role and there are characters around the main character who can sometimes be non-white men. I don’t watch a great deal of T.V. or movies, but most of the T.V. While I was thinking about the characters in the movies I have seen I couldn’t help but notice that I watch almost exclusively American T.V. shows and movies, all of which I think pander to a largely white male audience. There are some women, and other minorities on T.V. and they have done great things, but I think that most people who have a reputation for sitting around and watching movies are middle aged white guys after they get home from work and have nothing better to do. People throughout all of history have liked seeing people like themselves do things, and people have always been slightly put off by people who were like them doing things that they were watching. By the number of actors who are non-white men I would have to say that Hollywood is at least trying to include people from different occupations, even if they are doing a terrible job at it. Hollywood, actors, and movie production studios are all businesses, all of them, and all of Hollywood must make money to keep going and to keep producing stories that entertain the American people. In business, a good strategy to stay profitable is to follow the outline that has done well by other people before, kind of that whole if it isn’t broke don’t fix it idea. Consistently throughout history the highest grossing movies have been movies that were filled with whites, or at least focused on whites. Avatar the highest grossing movie of all time had a main character who was a white guy. Titanic, the movie that is second for highest gross of all time had a cast filled with white men, and some white women. Game of thrones, breaking bad, and walking dead have all had casts that were mostly white, and more so than not male. Some of this leads me to believe that Hollywood directors aren’t intentionally racist or sexist, but rather just intend to sell. I think if we are ever going to fix the issue of a racist Hollywood, we must first fix the issue of a racist and sexist American population.
I agree with much of what you said. It is very hard to think of many actors or actresses from other ethnicities. Hollywood has been focused majorly on white men since movies and television shows have become so relevant in society. It is extremely common to see entirely white casts in all sorts of productions. I also agree that Hollywood is a business, and they do need to do what is necessary to stay profitable. I do not, however, agree that all white casts are a part of these profits. Cooper says that “consistently throughout history the highest grossing movies have been movies that were filled with whites, or at least focused on whites”. While this is true, that does not mean these films needed to be mainly white in order to be successful. Films with actors of different ethnicities could be just as successful. The winner of the best picture in the academy awards was, Moonlight. This movie has an entirely black main cast. The color of the cast really sets it apart from the historically white movies and proves that different ethnicities can still be just as successful as an all white movie.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with where you are coming from upon my initial reading of your post. However it got me thinking, could it be true? Could it possibly be predominately white males in Hollywood. And when you begin to look at the movies yes almost all of them have a male actor in one of the lead roles. However I think Hollywood is moving towards a more ethnically diverse outlook on America. American people are beginning to look at life in a different life then we did back when titanic or even avatar came out. I do have to agree with you on the fact that it is a business ad that strategically they will appeal to the views. America is a predominately white population and therefore it would only make sense for the movies to reflect as such. I believe Hollywood is doing the best they can until the public can fully appreciate the many different cultures present. Until that time Hollywood will continue to focus on the white male population as for that may be the main viewers. The best example I can think of for how Hollywood is paying attention to its viewers is how women tend to watch more movies around the holidays so T.V. plays more Hallmark type movies. Hollywood is a business and they are doing what they can with what they have.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying. I also did the exercise to see how many actors I could name, but instead I tried to strictly name minority actors to see how many I could come up with. I was kind of disappointed with myself that I struggled to name just seven minority actors. However, after reading your blog post, I was not entirely surprised as to way I could not name as many as I would have liked. I think Hollywood is a business-incentivized place. I think that a lot of directors are not going to cast a large sum of minority actors when they see the profits trends of predominantly white casts compared to that of cast with a fair number of minorities. I’m sure that there are actually directors out there who do not want to cast minority actors because they are racist, however I feel as though that number is small; most directors, in my opinion, cast predominantly white cast so they can make more profits, and in turn hopefully become a more well-known name as far as directors go.
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