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kateelliottImagine a cool science fiction show with an ensemble cast. The lead and captain is a black guy (stick with me here, it could happen) and the XO is female. There's another competent female, and two more male PoCs. The most prominent white guy is not a hunk but a good character actor who happens to be married to a woman of Asian ancestry, and the two obvious "aliens" in the main ensemble group are disguised white guys, also not hunks.
Now imagine that show was on the air in the 90s, and perhaps you will understand why I am getting discouraged these days, since it seems we have slid backward and that the sliding is getting worse.
It seems to me that the reboot of Battlestar Galactica was an attempt to revision the old show, complete with a far more diverse cast and a new thematic angle. I grant you that the new BSG had flaws, but only five years on even its problems look, well, like ones I could almost wish we were having now, especially after the reboot of Star Trek which, as far as I could tell, was probably a true reboot in that it just restated the computer with the same program only with better CGI and young actors.
Don't shake your head. I know what the answer to my question is. But I have to ask it anyway:
There are so many much more interesting stories to be told that why do we still keep getting the one we're getting? The one that must be told through the lens of the white guy?
If I had had a hand in X-Men First Class, I might have suggested the filmmakers--eager to tackle racism only of course through the lens of white guys standing in for PoC--really tackle it. For instance, they could have made it explicit that all the non-Anglo mutants, and all or most of the women regardless of ethnicity or race or religion, are so discriminated against in the institutional milieu of the time that they really can only function and be accepted if they join "the bad guys." Or how about a major character who has the same role Jackie Robinson took on in major league baseball, and see how that plays out? Memo: It is not hipster ironic to have the black guy die. How about not introducing female characters as strippers (or prostitutes) or (as in the tiresome Iron Man II) party-girl hangers-on? Or just put clothes on the women unless there's a really good reason not to? Or don't kill almost all of th powerful women off (as per the appalling X-Men III)? And what about exploring the idea that there should be as many female as male mutants? And the obstacles placed before the girls/women even though they are powerful and different?
I know . . . I know . . .
So what would you do? How would you reboot your classic pet peeve rebooted film or tv show if you had a hand in it?
Now imagine that show was on the air in the 90s, and perhaps you will understand why I am getting discouraged these days, since it seems we have slid backward and that the sliding is getting worse.
It seems to me that the reboot of Battlestar Galactica was an attempt to revision the old show, complete with a far more diverse cast and a new thematic angle. I grant you that the new BSG had flaws, but only five years on even its problems look, well, like ones I could almost wish we were having now, especially after the reboot of Star Trek which, as far as I could tell, was probably a true reboot in that it just restated the computer with the same program only with better CGI and young actors.
Don't shake your head. I know what the answer to my question is. But I have to ask it anyway:
There are so many much more interesting stories to be told that why do we still keep getting the one we're getting? The one that must be told through the lens of the white guy?
If I had had a hand in X-Men First Class, I might have suggested the filmmakers--eager to tackle racism only of course through the lens of white guys standing in for PoC--really tackle it. For instance, they could have made it explicit that all the non-Anglo mutants, and all or most of the women regardless of ethnicity or race or religion, are so discriminated against in the institutional milieu of the time that they really can only function and be accepted if they join "the bad guys." Or how about a major character who has the same role Jackie Robinson took on in major league baseball, and see how that plays out? Memo: It is not hipster ironic to have the black guy die. How about not introducing female characters as strippers (or prostitutes) or (as in the tiresome Iron Man II) party-girl hangers-on? Or just put clothes on the women unless there's a really good reason not to? Or don't kill almost all of th powerful women off (as per the appalling X-Men III)? And what about exploring the idea that there should be as many female as male mutants? And the obstacles placed before the girls/women even though they are powerful and different?
I know . . . I know . . .
So what would you do? How would you reboot your classic pet peeve rebooted film or tv show if you had a hand in it?