Home Opinion Midweek Mouth-off: Equality in the Movies

Midweek Mouth-off: Equality in the Movies

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Fair or equal representation of minority groups is a thorny issue in real life at the best of times. Today we want to know what you think about its place in the movies? Is it politically correct “Castle Lager ad” overkill that stands out on the screen like a sore thumb? Or should be striven for whenever possible; whenever it “fits” or even when it is a daring choice to recast a character as a minority (non-white and/or woman)?

Thor 2: The Dark World spoilers ahead…

How did you feel about the fact that in this high profile sequel, it was the lone Asian character, a black henchman and a woman who made up three of the five high profile deaths/departures from the series? Blatant whitewashing? Commentators making a mountain out of a molehill… or did you not even notice?

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: November 20, 2013

4 Comments

  1. Mike

    November 20, 2013 at 11:32

    **SPOILERS**
    **SPOILERS**
    **SPOILERS**
    Well most of it’s supposed to be set in Norse mythology. So you could also complain about Heimdall being black. Even if he was the coolest character there and deserves his own movie. As for the Asian. His departure fit. He didn’t just leave. He wasn’t from Asgard originally. Frigga’s death also worked as a motivator for Loki. He wouldn’t have cared if it was Odin.
    So…
    “Commentators making a mountain out of a molehill”

    Reply

  2. Kervyn Cloete

    November 20, 2013 at 11:51

    I’ll be 100% honest, unless a movie goes out of it’s way to belittle or undermine a minority (See: Riddick), the demographics of a film does not bug me in the slightest. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I simply never “see” the demographics, unless somebody/something points it. The character is just a character, and their gender or skin colour is way down on my list of variables to determine whether its a good character or not.

    In the case of Thor, I had a problem with Hogun being sidelined, but not because he was Asian, but rather because the writers seem to have no idea what to do the Warriors Three as a whole, in particularly his character who is not very well known and doesn’t really have much personality to work with.

    As for the gender discrimination, I wouldn’t have minded if the women that were in there, weren’t. But that’s purely due to the fact that most of them were either pushed into the plot in the most contrived manner possible, or were completely superfluous to the actual story. Not the fact that they have lady parts.

    Ironically, I felt that the one female death gave the best representation of a “strong female” – and I know some people have a problem with that term, but this is for lack of an alternative – out of the entire principal female cast. None of the other principal male cast’s deaths would have resonated as well, or provided the impetus the story/characters needed at the time.

    Yes, entertainment media is still shamefully populated by white males as the majority, and we really shouldn’t forget that or stop trying to change it, but we also cannot just assume that every minority character being killed, written poorly is because they are a minority character.

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      November 20, 2013 at 12:54

      I can’t decide if I should say I agree 100%, because I do, or just say tl;dr to be annoying 😉

      Reply

  3. James Francis

    November 20, 2013 at 12:25

    Much as I think the matter can be taken a bit too far, there is definitely a gap in movies and especially television. Go count how many non-white characters there are/were in Breaking Bad, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Suits, Modern Family, Game Of Thrones… I could just go on and on. Ditto for movies – non-white characters are usually rare and often typecast or representing a minority position (for example, slavery). And in many occasions a lighter-skin minority will be used. You can count the number of black leads on one hand and the number of other non-white leads almost on one finger.

    So yeah, there is definitely a big gap. And much as I’d like to think Hollywood casting is colour blind, it very clearly isn’t.

    Reply

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