George Lucas Talks About the Difficulty of Getting A Black Film Made in Hollywood

Jess says:

@Hmmmmmm: “I also believe that showing other races of men in interracial relationship with white women at the same time showing minority women in a bad light or not at all convince minority men to help protect white women. ”

TOTALLY AGREE!

“But then again everyone rooted for “white J” so BW go head with your bad self’s!”

The only reason you see Black women now cheering for the white guy is because we got sick of seeing Black men always cheering for white women. Black men set the stage for this, now Black women feel they might as well look to other options and check for white men since Black men are no longer checking for them. A direct result of some high-profile Black men’s actions and obvious contempt.

*shrugs* What are you gonna do? It is what it is.

apple says:

“If it doesn’t affect them, they don’t care.”
This what I have been saying for years… or forever.. in every situation.. we should care about all issues because just because it doesn’t affect you now doesn’t mean it can’t affect you later..! or at least feel what others feel, i know you can! humanity’s mass lack of empathy makes me full of misanthropy. (whoa that rhymed lol)

Krantzstone says:

I suspect that the black experience in America is somewhat different from that of blacks in other countries, because of their history as descendants of slaves. When a people have been forcibly taken from their homelands and forced into slavery in a foreign land, deprived of their language, culture, history, mores, etc. it isn’t surprising when their descendants struggle to find and/or forge their own identity. Discussions like these are what help a people find themselves, and allow them to define themselves, rather than be defined by those who oppress them.

Even though skin colour may be the same, the average black African who grew up surrounded by those like themselves, educated by those like themselves, governed by those like themselves, policed by those like themselves, generally haven’t experienced the kind of racial oppression that black Americans have faced living as a minority under a white majority rule (with the exception of black South Africans who know it all too well, I’m sure). Thus, because they don’t have that shared context of racism, they may not understand the degree to which it permeates every part of society in North America and why it so greatly upsets those who have grown up as an ethnic minority here.

And personally, as an Asian male in North America I can appreciate the American black woman’s anger at being marginalized by Hollywood, especially in terms of important, pivotal roles, leading roles, and as romantic interests, because a similar thing has been done to Asian males in Hollywood. You’ll find a lot of White Male / Asian Female pairings on TV, in commercials, in movies, etc. but it’s rare to see the Asian Male in any sort of romantic role whatsoever: we’re mostly relegated to stereotypical roles as the Nerd, the Scientist/Doctor, the Martial Artist, all of whom are apparently asexual. Asians are also similarly ‘white-washed’ out of major Hollywood films, often replaced wholesale by white actors, even where the roles clearly call for an Asian actor (and in the politically incorrect Hollywood of the past, were played in Yellowface, complete with yellow make-up and simulated slanted eyes and epicanthic folds). Nowadays, the Asian roles are completely re-written and re-cast with white actors. This happens even in movies like _The Last Airbender_ (2010) where the director (M. Night Shymalan) is himself a visible minority: the roles of Aang, Katara and Sokka (who in the original cartoon are clearly drawn to be Asiatic in appearance) were played by Caucasian actors Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone respectively. This caused a huge uproar in the Asian American community and the movie was boycotted. The few Asian faces in the movie were relegated to background performers, suggesting that Asians aren’t good enough to be main characters, but only good for playing extras.

So yeah, I kind of know how that feels, to so rarely see one’s own ethnicity reflected in the mass popular culture that one consumes, and to feel alienated and marginalized because of that. To not be seen as being worthy of being a hero, a protagonist, a main character, a romantic lead or interest: it’s not a good feeling to have. Some people may just say ‘oh, it’s just a movie’, but kids go see these films. It matters to them to see themselves reflected in the kinds of movies and TV shows they watch, and it matters that they get to see positive role models and healthy relationships of all kinds portrayed which reflect their own ethnic realities.

It’s difficult for me because on the one hand, I really do want to support movies which feature a majority-black cast, in a history-based story which is about black American accomplishment (especially in a time of war): I’d love to see a similarly big-budget blockbuster adaptation of the story of the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_%28United_States%29) because I want to see those of my ethnicity get that same recognition in popular culture based on historical wartime feats. But this marginalization and minimizing of black women in _Red Tails_ really bothers me. I’m starting to think I may not be able to go and support this movie in the theatres because I’ve read so many people here who’ve raised these issues and who feel so strongly about it. And as I said, I too know what it feels like to be marginalized and ‘white-washed’ in Hollywood movies, so I definitely sympathize.

I don’t know. Maybe I’ll ask my friend who is a black woman how she feels about it, and if she’s not comfortable with going to see it, I probably won’t go either. Either way, I’d like to write to George Lucas myself to express my concerns, because I do think it’s an important issue and something worth fighting for.

Krantzstone says:

@Socially Maladjusted:

I was merely stating the fact that the black American experience is different from that in other countries. Of course, the black British experience is different as well, and I wouldn’t compare the two. They may be similar in superficial aspects (eg. skin colour) but that’s really where the comparison ends.

I would like to make it clear that I have no problem with inter-racial romantic relationships of any kind, and that is not what most of these women are against from what I understand. Rather, they are upset at the fact that even though this movie is based on a historical event where there were black women involved and made substantial contributions, they were effectively written out of the story in favour of a fictional inter-racial relationship between a black male lead and a white woman. While it is entirely possible that such an inter-racial relationship may have occurred, it was not the norm (considering it was illegal in America at the time, and would be until 1967) and to place that as the main love interest in the story as opposed to the love and support given by the black wives that these pilots left behind to go to war, is a slap in the face to every last one of those black women who, just like the wives of the white pilots, fretted every day for their husbands and prayed that they’d come home safe.

Also, this article by Ralph Richard Banks (who identifies himself in the article as a black American male; he is also the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law at Stanford Law School) in the Wall Street Journal came out on August 6, 2011: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903454504576486492588283556.html

He says:
“Nearly 70% of black women are unmarried, and the racial gap in marriage spans the socioeconomic spectrum, from the urban poor to well-off suburban professionals. Three in 10 college-educated black women haven’t married by age 40; their white peers are less than half as likely to have remained unwed [ ... ] Black women confront the worst relationship market of any group because of economic and cultural forces that are not of their own making[.]”

With these statistics, you can see why black [straight] women might also feel threatened by black [straight] males entering into romantic relationships with non-black women: with so few suitable black men available in the United States, black male / black female pairings are increasingly rare.

The thing is, I also believe that mass media, popular culture, all affect how people see themselves, and without sufficient examples of black male / black female pairings in the media, black kids are going to grow up without that sort of model for a relationship. While there is nothing wrong with them dating and marrying (and of course, having sex with) people of other races, if there is a societal bias against the black male / black female pairing, it’s only going to compound the problem that black women have, especially if they do want to enter into relationships with black men (for whatever reason).

If you read the WSJ article, it states some interesting facts and figures, as well as Mr. Banks’ theories on what societal factors affected the results of his study.

Perhaps you have not considered the possibility that because you directly benefit from male privilege, you are unaware of it or its deeper implications, especially with respect to how it affects women, and women of colour in particular. Just because one is a member of one minority, doesn’t necessitate that we would necessarily understand what it’s like to be of a different minority. Minority men face racial oppression, but minority women face both racial _and_ gender oppression. I know that being a man, I take for granted a lot of things in society that a woman has to think very carefully about: things like being able to take a walk alone after dark without worrying about my safety (for the most part), being able to voice public objections without being called a ‘bitch’, being able to be promiscuous without being labelled a ‘whore’ or ‘slut’, being able to get mad or upset about something without having people put it down to ‘PMS’ or ‘that time of the month’, to be taken seriously when speaking my mind, to not be restricted or relegated to pink collar employment, to not be paid less for equal work, etc. These are all part and parcel of male privilege, and just because I’m a member of an ethnic minority in my country, doesn’t mean that I have any real clue about what it means to be a woman in my country, let alone a minority woman.

So when a woman, and in this case, a black woman, expresses her concerns about representation in popular media, especially when it’s a classic example of black women being marginalized and their contributions to society minimized, their presence erased, I have to ask myself if these concerns aren’t justified. Just because the presence or lack thereof of black women in _Red Tails_ doesn’t exactly negatively impact me personally, doesn’t mean that it has no effect, because clearly it does. It matters, even if it is just another Hollywood movie, because people of all races go to watch these movies. I know that if I were a black woman, and I knew the true story of the Tuskegee Airmen, and I saw a white producer with loads of cash and influence re-telling the story and purposely leaving me out of the picture, I’d be upset. Never mind that the white producer is dating a black woman, it’s clear that he just doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a black woman in America.

I’m not calling George Lucas an outright racist: regardless of his major gaffes regarding ethnic sensitivity, he’s hardly a David Duke or Pat Buchanan. If anything, his ignorance seems to stem largely from white male privilege, which renders him unable to see the things he does in a racial or gender context other than his own. Also, I’m starting to wonder if he doesn’t have some sort of mild autism spectrum disorder, because he has difficulty writing convincing or realistic dialogue (a complain that’s often been made by the actors in his movies), which suggests some form of deficit in social learning, despite his clear perfectionist (some might call it ‘obsessive’) tendencies and his remarkable ability to develop otherwise fantastic fictional worlds and films.

Anyway, I would gently assert that these are some things that you might be interested in further exploring, because while I am sure you are well-versed in the challenges facing the black male in Britain, that doesn’t mean you have any real understanding of what it means to be a black woman in America. I don’t claim to even come close to understanding what it means to be a black woman in America, but I know that I’d like to try and make that effort, because while I may not know what it means to be a black woman in America, as an Asian male in North America I know a little of the feelings of marginalization and lack of representation, and can definitely sympathize with black women when they make that same assertion that they do not want to be ‘white-washed’ or marginalized in popular media.