media matters part 2 (older)
DESCRIPTION
Civil Rights Team Project media power pointTRANSCRIPT
Whitewashing
He’s Just Not That Into You
Baltimore, MD65% black, 31% white population
He’s Just Not That Into You
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
• Original: Sinbad is Arab, grows up in Bagdhad
• Disney: Sinbad is Greek, grows up in Syracuse and sounds a lot like Brad Pitt
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince Dastan Jake Gyllenhaal?
Making Angelina Jolie black:
Mariane Pearl and Angelina Jolie
21
From Asians to white guys…
Can you tell these men apart?
“Believe me, I would have loved to cast Asians in the lead roles, but the truth is, we didn't have access to any bankable Asian American actors that
we wanted… If I had known how upset the Asian American community
would be about this, I would have picked a different story to film.”
-DANA BRUNETTI, 21’s producer
Just about every single Asian American that you see on screen on American movies or tv shows today is there for a very specific asian reason
(yes, i do know there are exceptions…but they are very, very few). They don’t exist as most
Asian Americans exist in America today: as real, three dimensional, everyday people… Yet when
it comes to American media and those who create it, the asians on screen have to be
justified through some sort of asian reason.
Asian-American actor Roger Fan
Can you think of some “Asian reasons” why Hollywood casts Asians in films?
A reason like this?
Challenge Question:
• Come up with a movie where one of the main characters is Asian or Asian-American and does not do martial arts.
Controversy in Avatar casting
“I think it’s one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan,” he said of the
transformation he’ll go through to look more like Sokka. “It’s one of those
things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit.”
-JACKSON RATHBONE
Suspend disbelief?
Avatar and the Lost Airbender cast:
Good vs. Evil
Avatar and the Lost Airbender cast:
Challenge Question:
• Name a movie where the good guy is foreign and the bad guy is American.
“Bad Guys” in The Hangover
Disney’s Aladdinboth characters from Arabian city of Agrabah
GOOD EVIL
Xerxes gets a makeover for 300
Bond villains
Accents in Ratatouille
• Rats and Linguine have no accent
• Everyone else does!
• They’re ALL French
War movies
Changing nature of bad guys
• In 1984 it’s the Russians
• In 2010 it will be the Chinese
Recent Films with Foreign Bad Guys:
• Quantum of Solace• Hancock• Watchmen• Hulk• Angels and Demons• Taken• G.I. Joe• Star Trek
Us vs. Them!
The Ultimate Us vs. Them!
The Ultimate Us vs. Them!
Where are the nice aliens?
“Aliens?”
Xenophobia?
Challenge Question:
• Name a movie with Arab, Muslim, and/or Middle Eastern characters who are not evil.
Casting of Arab/Muslim characters:
• There are about 400 million Arab people in the world today.
• There are about one billion Muslims.
• Most are not terrorists… except in Hollywood.