Kitschkraft
Member
I'm always happy when fantasy inspired worlds have solid racial diversity and minorities with a history an instead of "those darker skinned people from sothoros/the east".
Really like what Bethesda has done.
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I'm always happy when fantasy inspired worlds have solid racial diversity and minorities with a history an instead of "those darker skinned people from sothoros/the east".
Really like what Bethesda has done.
Fantasy is weird as all hell when it comes to disabilities, mostly because MAGIC. Malazan series has one of the characters has no hands but magic saves the day, he can still manipulate things with invisible hands. I think Heboric was blind too wasn't he? But also MAGIC.
I love Glockta btw, that whole character was really well done. He was some gallant duelist who ended up a cripple and every chapter from his PoV concerned his ongoing battle with handling his disabilities while managing sieges and interrogations. The fact that his greatest enemies in life were a god damn set of stairs was great.
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
I agree, I would give the movie 'producers' more blame. But I think there is at least some inherent racism and sexism involved with consumers picking what they want to watch. Kevin Hart acting like a moron is due to the money offered, the parts offered and the history of movies before him. There are feed back loops to all of that. People go see a certain type of movie, that informs the 'producers', they decide on the next type of movie based on past experience, anything outside the norm is not given the same chances, people don't go see a movie if it's urban, etc. I'll have to go sit down and think of a black female actress I'll go see in a sci fi role. That's partly due to experience (not going to get the same type of script or support as Tom Cruise or Hugh Jackman) and I'm willing to admit that there might be a hint of sexism.
Now, I'm not out here asking for more men's rights. But I paused when thinking about a movie with Jada Pinkett Smith. That pause was enough for me to believe that I buy into some of the bullshit they are selling. She did a pretty good job in the Matrix. I might be gun shy just because of experience or I might not be giving her a fair shake. Put another way, some parts of me overlooks Mel Gibson's flaws to believe his movies will generally be good. And that's what hampers minorities and women. They are not given the benefit of the doubt. Either from Hollywood or from consumers.
Okay, he's white.
DurielBlack
Member
A series based on Drizzt Do'Urden in the Dark Elf trilogy would be bad-ass, but I am sure they would find a way to ruin it. I'd be cool with them doing the Halfings Gem as well. The Drizzt books after that start to get really hit-or-miss though. I've got all of Salvatore's books.
Maybe if you get someone like the dude that did the recent Batman reboot (Nolan Ryan wasn't it?). Instead we would probably get Peter Jackson and have 10 minute interludes of people walking on ridges with spinning camera angles.
Another thing is, Dark Elves have coal-black skin. They would probably just paint white people anyways.
As for the Stormlight Archives, that would be awesome as well. In fact, it's far a far more likely candidate, since the main actors appear to be mostly white and the bad guys are black slaves! They could get Michael Bay to direct, since there is a lot of anime-ish action combat. All he has to do is shake the camera around and add in some random explosions.
Yeah, I'm in a bitter mood today.
Messofanego
Banned
People who like that would like J in Wolfenstein The New Order (not a film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV2xrqRRZVE
Deified Data
Banned
Strange for a genre with roots in surpassing expectations and challenging the reader.
Makes me want a Dark Tower movie even more. With Susannah you're killing three birds with one stone (black, female, handicapped).
Makes me want a Dark Tower movie even more. With Susannah you're killing three birds with one stone (black, female, handicapped).
I've never heard of this and I'm already angry reading the author's response. That's fucked up, yet typical. Can't stand it.
Both. There's a big audience for diverse casts, as evidenced by the fact that Latinos and blacks consume more movies and shows than whites, but neither the creators nor the white audience cares much and wants to keep things the same despite reality.
This is a really shitty post. You deserve more flak or a bad tag for some of the awfully dumb shit you say on GAF. I feel like your reputation/adventures and Euro white boy good looks grant you a lot of leniency.
I've raised the same point before and it's irksome how supposedly creative people frequently default to worlds that are even whiter and more segregated than real life. But hey dragons, elves and magic rings make up for it and are more plausible than a black guy tagging along on an adventure.
Hope this doesn't bother you, because it's not a trend and it's going to continue to become more popular and something you hear about a lot more.
I think so too. Everyone and everything in fictional fantasy worlds has to be white European. If black and brown people even exist, they live on distant islands or way down south or way to the east -- just FAR from where the main story takes place. It's getting really old and tired.
I rolled my eyes at this in the theater. See, that's insulting and pandering.
They did that same shit in X-Men First Class with Darwin.
That -10 intelligence modifier, tho
Messofanego
Banned
Right? Maybe misremembering.Deified Data
Banned
Hardly unique to the Redguards. Makes sense that a strictly martial civilization places less of a premium on learning as opposed to training. They share this trait with the other two warlike races, the Nords and the Orcs.
Sci Fi and Fantasy novels and comics still have a long way to go, but they are far ahead of their film counterparts.
Actually investing in respectful and accurate adaptations of Ursula K. Le Guin's stuff would be awesome. But I imagine if we ever get a The Left Hand of Darkness movie, Genly would be played by a white guy, and so would the rest of the cast. :/
Actually investing in respectful and accurate adaptations of Ursula K. Le Guin's stuff would be awesome. But I imagine if we ever get a The Left Hand of Darkness movie, Genly would be played by a white guy, and so would the rest of the cast. :/
oh dear
This seems a little unfair to me as many of the movies especially the fantasy ones are based on other media including old books.
Others have a straight white male protagonist because they make the best fish-out-of-water everyman in a strange alien world, one that often serves to teach him and us a valuable lesson on a key social issue from ours.
I doubt District 9 is on the list but if it was it would be criticised for it's white male lead even though that's a crucial part of the films metaphor for apartheid, so it would be a film promoting diversity being critised for a lack of it.
Others have a straight white male protagonist because they make the best fish-out-of-water everyman in a strange alien world, one that often serves to teach him and us a valuable lesson on a key social issue from ours.
I doubt District 9 is on the list but if it was it would be criticised for it's white male lead even though that's a crucial part of the films metaphor for apartheid, so it would be a film promoting diversity being critised for a lack of it.
Qwell
Member
Aren't they also doing a disservice by only looking at the Top 100 movies? And I don't know how far back they went. I'm not exactly sure if they fit in with sci-fi / fantasy, but what about the Blade movies, Blankman (more comedy but kind of fantasy, comic book type), Book of Eli as was mentioned, Meteorman, Steel. I remember movies staring Mario Van Peebles, Billy Blanks, and others.
There are lesser known movies with those kinds of leads, and by limiting it to the top 100 you will get movies that may be directed at a larger wider audience only and thus skew the results. A lot of those movies in the list still have a diversity of characters, just not the lead.
There are lesser known movies with those kinds of leads, and by limiting it to the top 100 you will get movies that may be directed at a larger wider audience only and thus skew the results. A lot of those movies in the list still have a diversity of characters, just not the lead.
The Everyman is going to remain a straight white guy as long as straight white guys are the demographic majority and as long as it's the guy's screenplay, I assume.
The demographic majority where? Movies are a worldwide business nowadays.
And that still doesn't explain the fact that the vast majority of protagonists are men instead of women.
Messofanego
Banned
More Chinese protagonists will be coming soon, then!
Unbreakable? Triple points bonus too.
Extra Sauce
Member
I would be curious to get the same stats for the Top 100 budgeted sci-fi and fantasy films. In other words, what amount of diversity the studios actually tried to bring to the table versus what audiences voted for with their dollars.
Latinos Attend More Movies Than Anyone Else But Are The Least Represented On Screen
Latinos Are The Biggest Movie-Goers In The Country
I think we need to viciously kill the "white majority audience" excuse for the bizarre lack of minorities in all media. Whites are only about 50% of moviegoers and yet they're the ones pandered to in practically every movie. It doesn't make any sense.
And frankly, movie buffs are the type to want to get into the industry. It wouldn't surprise me to learn minorities trying to get in and "make their own damn movies (if they want to be represented)" are being met with resistance at every step.
Latinos Are The Biggest Movie-Goers In The Country
I think we need to viciously kill the "white majority audience" excuse for the bizarre lack of minorities in all media. Whites are only about 50% of moviegoers and yet they're the ones pandered to in practically every movie. It doesn't make any sense.
And frankly, movie buffs are the type to want to get into the industry. It wouldn't surprise me to learn minorities trying to get in and "make their own damn movies (if they want to be represented)" are being met with resistance at every step.
Clearly not being represented doesn't hurt the Latino numbers, so why would the bean-counters care?
timetokill
Banned
The real issue is that if movies star a large variety of other races, the film runs the risk of being seen as a "minority movie," or in other words a movie for minorities. So it's not so much that white people are the "majority" (and as seen above Latinos are apparently the biggest movie-goers) but that if the movie becomes a "minority film" white people won't go see it at all. You're cutting out a huge part of the market.
When you see a movie like, say, Barbershop, you say "oh well that's a movie for black people." But if you have a predominantly white cast, it's still a movie for "everyone."
Messofanego
Banned
Whoah, cool finds. Thanks for these.
People aren't born thinking that way; that's just how their expectations have been shaped up til now by Hollywood. Normalizing the regular appearance of minorities in leading roles or as sizable chunks of ensemble casts would help in dispelling the "black product" stereotype and other similar nonsense. Maintaining the status quo because of audience's racist perceptions is not the answer. Otherwise we'd still have blackface, or a scant few black actors stuck playing mammies and house servant because white audiences supposedly can't tolerate anything more significant in their entertainment.
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