|
The fact that people like The Rock, Will Smith, Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy are some of the most successful entertainers of all time - and are WAY more successful than most of their white counterparts - sort of ruins the whole "Black people are invisible in pop culture and don't get their due compared to white people" narrative.
Even in the realm of voice acting, Kevin Michael Richardson probably gets more voice work than anyone in the industry except for maybe Tara Strong. Like that dude voices almost every black cartoon character in existence, to the point where in THAT arena, if anyone is keeping black voice actors from getting work, it's him, simply because he gets every single available role.
Pretty sure Cardi B and Nicki Minaj are way more successful than most of their white contemporaries, as well, despite an aggressive lack of talent. And so on and so forth.
I mean, Barack Obama got to serve two terms as President despite having zero record to speak of AND not really doing much of note during his first term, nothing that would've guaranteed a second round. We really can't claim in good faith anymore that the system is so very evil and discriminatory. That was probably true once upon a time but it hasn't been true for a very, very long time.
It's easy to argue that "white people have a stranglehold on pop culture" simply because they exist in greater numbers, sure... but the most successful black entertainers still stand to be way more successful than the majority of white entertainers end up becoming. So the idea that black entertainers either don't get opportunities or can't become as successful (or MORE successful) than their white peers is patently and provably false.
In cases like this, though, I even see plenty of black people opine that "You don't create equality by taking a chair away from a white person and giving it to a black person. What you need to do is set more chairs at the table, period, and make sure there's enough room for everyone." I feel like that's a bit more fair way of handling such things going forward. I'm very much against race-flipping as a general rule because I just find it very lazy and disingenuous, and almost never done for any reason besides creating an Outrage Conversation. They never do it because they SINCERELY want to "make things right" with any group of people, they do it because it generates conversation when there otherwise isn't anything to talk about.
In this case, "Yet another live-action Disney reboot nobody asked for. Yawn." There IS no conversation to be had. Nobody cares about it, but it's already a given that despite not caring that everyone and their grandma will end up seeing it anyway, "Because Disney". However, in today's culture it's not just about money, it's about "buzz", and without it your movie may as well not exist. So what's the easiest way to "create buzz" out of thin air nowadays, when there's really not much else to discuss? Race-flip someone. Now your project is no longer "just another dumb remake nobody wanted", it's the latest shot fired in the Culture War. Now your movie is part of a Very Important Conversation, when just yesterday it was a "Who cares?"
In the end, it's all just another marketing tool. "Cheap heat". And it works every time, unfortunately. Which is why they keep doing it. To me, though, it will never NOT be annoying.
|