When it comes to who are cast in the lead roles for movies, it is clear that men, particularly white men, are favored. This is because Hollywood does not believe that minorities or women are bankable as the leads in movies unless they are telling a specific story.
Usually women are cast in chick flicks or romantic comedies, which is not bad because those genres are popular, but it implies that women are not capable of more.
Minorities, especially black people, often get cast in big Hollywood movies only if those movies are about slavery, prostitution or gangs.
It is nice that Hollywood wishes to tell those stories, but it implies that we cannot be more than our race. And if minorities are cast in blockbusters, we are cast as the sidekicks or funny and loud best friends in blatantly offensive stereotypes.
In 2021, Marvel Studios released “Eternals,” a superhero film directed by Academy award winning director Chloe Zhao, and starring an ensemble of talented actors such as Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayak, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden and Kumail Nanjiani. The film was released exclusively to theaters on Nov. 5, 2021, and was met with mixed reactions from critics.
While audiences reviewed the film more positively, critics either hated it or liked it. There seemed to be no middle man between the two opinions. Critics gave the film a score of 48% on the website Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave the film a more positive rating of 78%.
The film itself was very bold, with a diverse cast of characters including a deaf actress playing a deaf character, and the first same sex kiss ever done in a blockbuster superhero movie. It stunned me the first time I saw the movie, because I did not think Marvel Studios would be that bold, but they proved me and others wrong.
Films such as “Black Panther” (2018), “Captain Marvel” (2019) and most recently “Shang-Chi” (2021) proved how popular and successful it can be to dip, even just a small toe, outside the expected norm.
“Black Panther” is the 13th highest grossing film of all time, having peaked at number nine due to its massive box office gross of $1.347 billion.
I remember the entire world, particularly the world’s Black community, being excited for the film. I also remember that the Black community was judged for our excitement, and Black Panther was called overrated because of it. I believe people said this because they do not understand where said excitement comes from.
When it comes to Black led superhero movies, the first commercially successful movie happened with Wesley Snipes’ “Blade” (1998). The next big blockbuster superhero movie was Will Smith’s “Hancock” (2008). After that and many years in development, we got “Black Panther” in the year 2018.
There are 10 year gaps between movies starring minorities. While when it comes to movies starring caucasian males, no matter the genre, they are released weekly. Production of “Shang-Chi” only began in earnest due to the success of “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018).
Hollywood seems to refrain from making these types of movies often, and will elect to wait in the shadows to see how other studios with the actual courage to make them perform first. They think that successful movies starring minorities must have some sort of secret formula to follow rather than just being good movies that people of any race can enjoy.
“Rush Hour” starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker was released in 1998 and went on to become a massive success spawning two sequels, consisting of two of the least represented minorities in the leads. Movies like “Rush Hour,” “Shang-Chi” and “Black Panther” show how amazing it can be when Hollywood takes a chance.
Recently, more diverse stories starring diverse people have taken off and been successful due to the care that went into telling their stories.
Whether it be diversity regarding skin tone, sexuality, or personal belief, a broader variety of life is being shown in the media that we consume.
The greater variety of characters we see on the big screen, the wider variety of excellent stories we can see. It begins with an audience receptive to change and a studio brave enough to initiate it.