Let me get this straight;

[mcity]

I just found a post about "Think Like a Man" and how it's successful, and how Hollywood needs more movies starring black people.

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2012/04/what-hollywood-needs-to-learn-from-think-like-a-man.php

Speaking as a black guy; why?

The argument usually goes something like this; black people need black characters to identify with. The assumption seems to be that we are more likely to connect with a character who is the same race as us. The statement is usually in the form "Hollywood needs more minority characters". This is ostensibly different from going "they should specifically cast black people because they're minorities", but that's basically what Hollywood would have to do to relieve the imbalance.

The funny thing is that when someone in the comments points out Fast 5 had a really diverse cast, the retort is that it doesn't count as a summer blockbuster because it came out in April, which means that it doesn't count as a film with a minority on the marquee. They specifically mentioned Thor as the most racially diverse movie, but, um, I seem to recall Idris Elba right on the poster and a major character in the film. You can complain that he's not on the marquee, but neither is anyone else, and that's two goalpost moves already.

I don't need a character to be black before I can relate to them. If one argues that that is the case, then it logically follows that it applies to all races. Which means you have to explain why studios should specifically go out of their way to cast black people instead of just casting the best person for the job, if the role has nothing to do with race.

But, while taking nothing away from the marketers and execs who put this film out there, I want to suggest there's a different factor that's driving this film.... which - by its very nature - is one that Hollywood would most likely prefer to sweep under the rug because acknowledging it would mean acknowledging some unsavory things about their dominant business practices.

This is kind of like how people go "no, I'm only condemning the patriarchy, not men!" They more explicitly castigate the execs later in the article.

That the decisions in Hollywood are made dominantly by white men is far from a new phenomenon. It's been that way from the beginning. It's something that should change and needs to change, though realistically any shifts on that front will be a long time coming. Hell, even getting away from the producing and executive ranks, the directors are overwhelmingly white men. I mean, name a mainstream black director outside of the Hughes Brothers. Or an Asian other than Justin Lin. Or any Hispanics at all. They're all shockingly short lists and addressing that - cultivating talents that can make their way up through the system - is going to be a matter of years, not days. But the casting issue is one that could, and should, be addressed immediately. It would be nice to think Hollywood would do so for moral reasons but, if not, they should at least do so for business ones. There are non-white audiences that want to be served and represented on screen and the producer that remembers this will be rewarded. Representative casting is good business, plain and simple. Just ask the producers behind Think Like A Man.

Wait, you mean this movie?



The one with nothing but black people on the poster? How on earth is that "representative"?

Then again, this is arguably hypocritical, since I've added minority characters based on nothing more than "eh, why not?"