Interesting Links for 13-01-2012

[andrewducker]

• George Lucas says Hollywood won't support black films‎
  (tags: racism movies money usa )
• Are smart people ugly?
  (tags: beauty intelligence )
• A brief history of facials (the NSFW kind)
  (tags: pornography sex )
• What would happen if they made it possible to pay to skip ads?
  (tags: advertising funny comic )
• Israel puts Godwin's Law on the books.
  (tags

Comments

[bart_calendar]

George Lucas is such a fucking douchebag. This story has been kicking around for about a week now and every time it comes up I have the same reaction

[andrewducker]

The words "George Lucas Production" at the start of a film have roughly the same effect on audiences today as "A M. Night Shyamalan Film" does.

Name a George Lucas Production that didn't make a staggering profit.

Edit: Found a list.

Last flop looks to be Radioland Murders, in 94. Everything recent has made hundreds of millions of dollars.

[bart_calendar]

Did you notice that all of the films that made a profit had the words "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones" in the title?

If he was pitching "Star Wars Episode 7 - Lando Strikes Black" and set the entire story on Lando's planet with an all black cast he would have had financing in a second.

[cartesiandaemon]

I know very very little about it so maybe I shouldn't guess, but my WAG is that both are right: that Hollywood is inclined to massively overestimate the (admittedly already large) tendency of average viewers to play it "safe" and see films with white male lead, white female love interest, etc, etc. But also that this specific Lucas idea may not be much of a pull for wider audiences.

[bart_calendar]

Except that Will Smith is the most highly paid actor in Hollywood. And Halle Berry is one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood.

[cartesiandaemon]

I was thinking of http://www.cracked.com/article_19549_5-old-timey-prejudices-that-still-show-up-in-every-movie_p2.html, which is not exactly very accurate, but I thought they were probably right about the incidence of non-white-male leads (that yes, Will Smith definitely made it to the top, but he's essentially the only one). I'd be very very very happy if you can persuade me I'm wrong...

[bart_calendar]

Denzel Washington.

And before he became a weird insane tax exile Wesley Snipes.

Samuel L. Jackson.

All three of which are considered A List enough to "open" a movie.

If there seem to be more white male leads then people of color leads recently I think it's more a matter of the fact that over the past five or six years Hollywood has been basing their blockbuster movies on comic books and Young Adult Fiction - two genres that heavily skew white. But they haven't done that for racism it's just that people seem to like comic book based movies and Harry Potter/Twilight/Hunger Games. I.e. they are guaranteed money in the bank.

[a_pawson]

Not forgetting Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr or Eddie Murphy. Halle Berry aside, I can't name any A-list black actresses though.

It's possibly also down to numbers - 72% of the US population is white.

[bart_calendar]

Beyonce.

[bart_calendar]

Angela Bassett. Pam Grier. Jennifer Hudson. Vanessa Williams. Queen Latifa. Whoppi Goldberg. Oprah.