TV/Movies Megathread

[The Brain]

Love the Thor movies.

[viper37]

Thor (2011)

The greatest white supremacist film since "Birth of a Nation". 

This is your best post-1930 film review in a long while.
Btw, does it mean you don't consider Jud Süß as a white supremacist movie? Just anti-semitic is not enough for you? No question about Birth of a Nation being a major milestone.

I was going to write Jud Süß; but, this being Languish, I thought someone would immediately point out the Natalie Portman is Jewish.

Anyhow, after seeing "White Christmas" I think that maybe "Thor" is an example of how racially progressive Hollywood has become in the past 60 years.  Sure, there's only one token African-Asgardian and he has to stay in the gatehouse, but that's positively integrated as compared to Vermont.

Allright, I will bite.

Not being American, and being from a small town, all these talks of racial diversity sound weird to me.

What is the importance of having a black/asian/female character for the sake of it?
How does the lack of a supportive black/asian character makes a movie white supremacist, even as a joke?

I just don't get this importance of having minorities represented for the sake of having a representation.  Should a biopic movie about Abraham Lincoln represent a black general as top advisor to the President?  Should Gettysburg have had a black regiment fighting for the South?  Should Star Trek recast Kirk as a black female?

I don't get it at all.

[Valmy]

Well it would make sense in Star Trek. They are supposed to have complete equality and stuff.

[Eddie Teach]

What is the importance of having a female character for the sake of it?

I don't get it at all.

Ok, Marty. 

[Savonarola]

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

The funniest part about this movie is going to IMDB and reading the "Anachronism" section in the goofs.  Nazis with laser tanks and jet powered cars are A-OK, but a record that can hold the complete "Ride of the Valkyrie"?  PREPOSTEROUS!

While Iron Man remains my favorite of the Marvel films I've seen thus far; this one is a close second.  This one owes a great deal to serials and movies inspired by serials, like "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones."  (In fact there was a "Captain America" serial in the 40s.)  Fun, fast paced and episodic; all this is missing was a few cliff-hangers.

I read Hayley Atwell's reaction to Chris Evans coming out of the machine was unscripted.  (I really need to hit the gym.)  Fortunately her acting throughout the rest of the film was more subdued than Natalie Portman's in Thor.

[Savonarola]

Allright, I will bite.

Not being American, and being from a small town, all these talks of racial diversity sound weird to me.

Understandably; this, I think is a uniquely American issue, given our history.  The language politics that you Canadians go on and on about is equally alien to us.

What is the importance of having a black/asian/female character for the sake of it?

I think there's a number of different ways to answer this:  Provide opportunities to minority actors; present the audience with possibly a broader perspective; present the audience with a more ideal society that we should aspire towards; Hollywood in the past presented an incredibly prejudiced view of blacks that, maybe, they should try to make up for.  Other people will have different answers.

How does the lack of a supportive black/asian character makes a movie white supremacist, even as a joke?

In addition to lack of minorities; Thor is also a 9 foot tall aryan; plus the Fritz Lang films Siegfried and Kriemhilds Rache (also based on Norse mythology) were favorites of the Nazis.  Though really it was just a joke.

I just don't get this importance of having minorities represented for the sake of having a representation.  Should a biopic movie about Abraham Lincoln represent a black general as top advisor to the President?  Should Gettysburg have had a black regiment fighting for the South?  Should Star Trek recast Kirk as a black female?

I don't get it at all.

In the Captain America movie the Captain fights with an integrated unit, something the United States didn't have until 1948.  (Although, once again, it is in a movie with flying cars in 1942.)  I think it would be a disservice to have an ahistoric racial make up in a period piece.

[celedhring]

Got to ep 4 of Westworld. Very good, very intriguing, some great ideas in it. My only "but" is that the show is a bit cold and distant, more cerebral than emotional. I like a good mix of both.

[Habbaku]

The emotional comes later.

[Liep]

Black Mirror season 1. Woah.

[celedhring]

The emotional comes later.

Good to hear. 

[viper37]

What is the importance of having a female character for the sake of it?

I don't get it at all.

Ok, Marty. 

I like to see strong women in tv shows and tv series.  I loved the character of Starbuck.  I loved Xena.  I have a lot of appreciation of Joss Whedon shows&movies.

But casting a women for the sake of having a woman?  Still don't get it.  Thor is a white man in the comic books (those I remember, at least ), so why should he be casted as black female?  Mind you, the movie could have used a lot more of Lady Sif, but it's called "Thor", not "Sif".

[viper37]

Black Mirror season 1. Woah.

Everyone here seems to rave about it.
Is it that good?
What is it about?

[celedhring]

Thor is a white man in the comic books (those I remember, at least )

Well, you're in for a surprise if you buy Thor comic books again, then 



My answer to your question is simple: why not? I have seen so many stories with white men, that I find exploring new angles and sensibilities more interesting and engrossing, as a viewer.

[Oexmelin]

Not being American, and being from a small town, all these talks of racial diversity sound weird to me.
What is the importance of having a black/asian/female character for the sake of it?

It's not uniquely American - Quebec shows are also highly problematic in this regard.

To Sav's brief answer, I'll only add this:

Fiction shapes powerfully the collective imagination. If certain characters, certain archetypes are always portrayed as white, and others as, say, others (white princesses, black thugs, latina maids, etc.), the range of expectations of what a "proper" X (proper princess, proper thug, proper doctor, proper rich guy) looks like narrows considerably. It's is true for works of fiction (i.e., only hire black actors when you want to portray thugs), but it also has an impact in society at large (e.g. my friend being denied actually helping a man suffering from a stroke on an airplane because she was *gasp* an African-American physician: the flight attendant couldn't actually register the fact that such a person may exist). It's not the only factor, to be sure.

You can see it even among little kids: my nephews were ecstatic that a "proper" superhero, at last, was black - Black Panther (they don't care much for Green Lantern). And there has been studies showing (alongside some experience I can corroborate) that little girls deem black girls dressing up as princesses as "incorrect" - because all of their models were white princesses. 

Think of it this way: you complain (rightly) that so many Quebec TV shows are centered around Montreal, and that no show seem to take place in a region you may recognize as yours. It sends a message: your stories are not important / not interesting enough to be shown. And if, in TV shows, people from the Bas-du-Fleuve were *always* shown as the typically retarded rural cousin, you may think that, at some point, it would be nice if they showed rural tech savy entrepreneurs in a positive, serious light as opposed to constant comic relief or as a foil for the sophisticated Montrealer. Now, even in those shows centered in Montreal, we are light years away from having 30% of the characters being "non-white", yet, that is the proportion of Montrealers who self-identify as "visible minority". (I am aware the analogy is not perfect).

[katmai]

In the Captain America movie the Captain fights with an integrated unit, something the United States didn't have until 1948. (Although, once again, it is in a movie with flying cars in 1942.) I think it would be a disservice to have an ahistoric racial make up in a period piece.

It did?

Or do you mean the brief attempt in beginning of film?