Crazy Good Actors: Diversity in Film
This past May, just before Havergal’s exams, Marvel released Black Panther, a movie with a predominantly black cast that garnered a grand total of $371,367,531 in its first weekend. The film’s success landed it a spot on the list of the biggest worldwide openings on record and, in the United States and Canada, it ranked 16th and 6th respectively. It’s also the world’s ninth-highest-grossing film of all time. Just a couple of months later, Warner Brothers released Crazy Rich Asians, the biggest romantic-comedy since 2009. Similar to Black Panther, the film had a cast that was nearly all Asian. The successes of these two summer blockbusters shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. Diversity in film has long been heavily requested, and finally, Hollywood has delivered.
This year has been a momentous one for the world of film in terms of racial diversity. As of 2017, there have been huge successes with 20th Century Fox’s Hidden Figures, Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, and even Netflix’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. While this progress is definitely something amazing, let us hope that, for Hollywood, this year truly marks the beginning of a change in racial representation. In TIME magazine, Jamil Smith writes, “In the midst of a regressive cultural and political moment fueled in part by the white-nativist movement, the very existence of Black Panther feels like resistance.”
Though there is no doubt in my mind that this quote has a ring of truth, there is also a very cynical part of me wondering if all these movies were simply a chance for rich companies to get richer by capitalizing on our feelings. Crazy Rich Asians, for example, is the first movie with a basically all Asian cast to be on the big screen since The Joy Luck Club, which first hit theatres 25 years ago. Yep, it took Hollywood a quarter of a century to take a chance on Asian actors and, clearly, they did not disappoint. Even then, the author of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han, found herself turning down multiple film offers because producers wanted Lara Jean (the main character who is half-Korean and half-American) to be played by a white actress. Fortunately, she eventually found and chose Will Smith’s production company, Overbrook Entertainment, and later Awesomeness Film, who did not see Lara Jean’s Asian heritage as a liability but, in fact, something they were excited about.
I really hope this craze is more than a money-making scheme, something more than a fad, and the reality really does look hopeful. In Elizabeth Olsen’s new T.V. Show, Sorry for Your Loss, the protagonist’s best friend is Asian-American actress Kelly Marie Tran and, based upon what I am aware of, her casting wasn’t something super-publicized. Kelly just seemed like the right fit for her role, and her ethnicity obviously wasn’t exploited— and that’s exactly what we should strive for. The last thing we need are companies making sure they hit all the “checkboxes”: a single black character, asian character, gay, female, etc. That’s my main hope for what comes out of this year—that the movie industry continues to be a more inclusive and diverse place. Also, it’s important to note that diversity is about more than simply race; it’s also gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, and more.
As 2018 comes to an end, hopefully Hollywood will continue to work towards diversity in film so it becomes something that is natural for casting directors to choose. Then, the casts of movies like Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians can be loved for not only their roles in the cultural shift, but also because they’re all crazy great actors who are crazy great at acting.
If you’re interested, one upcoming movie to watch for is Marvel’s Captain Marvel. It’s their first superhero movie with a female lead, and it’s coming out in March!
Link to Captain Marvel trailer : https://youtu.be/Z1BCujX3pw8