Wiscon 31: What These People Need Is a Honky

[oyceter]

Description: Tom Cruise is the Last Samurai. Kevin Costner wins the heart of American Indians with his wolf dancing. Orlando Bloom, in Kingdom of Heaven, goes from medieval England to Jerusalem to teach the Arabs how to sink wells and transport water. Is there anything that can be done about this plague of Orientalist white-guy Mary Sue-ism?

Comments

[oyceter]

That will be awesome!

I wait with baited breath for something about Japan that doesn't include geisha or ritual suicide.

[yeloson]

Right there with "asian people talk about honor then backstab each other" trope of played out bullshit. Gah.

[oyceter]

Oh my gosh, yes! Because we are all so inscrutable or something! Grrr.

[oyceter]

DOH! That completely slipped my mind!

[oyceter]

Well, I think it does count -- she's coded as white. It's sort of like the "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" thing; they picked a half-white, half-Indian character so the white audience would have more to identify with.

[raanve]

There was also talk of the politics and financials of Hollywood, of how there are nearly no actors like Denzel who can draw in a white audience, and of how the system perpetuated itself.

I can think of very few, and I am wracking my brain pretty hard. Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Samuel L Jackson. Those are the three big stars I can come up with. Don Cheadle has been getting really good press lately (for good reason), but I don't think he's of that same caliber, as far as box office clout.

I'm sorry I missed this one -- I think it was scheduled opposite another panel I really wanted to attend (X-Women panel? I can't remember).

[oyceter]

I can think of very few, and I am wracking my brain pretty hard. Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Samuel L Jackson.

Heh, yeah... OMG I can totally see them becoming the "Hopkinson, Butler, Delany, Barnes" chant in SF.

[raanve]

Yeah, and understandably so. The fact that I can't think of anyone else who has that kind of "star power" -- and yet I can probably rattle off a LONG list of white male actors -- just serves to illustrate the point.

And yet, when Crash won Best Picture, Hollywood was so self-congratulatory about "how it deals with race" that if you didn't know any better, you'd have believed that we'd finally gotten somewhere.

[oyceter]

Oh Hollywood... Just... yeah.

white programming guilt moment :)

[pantryslut]

Oh, thank God! That meand I didn't *actually* appoint the lone white person on the panel as the moderator, even by accident.

Re: white programming guilt moment :)

[oyceter]

Hee!! No, you didn't at all ^_^. Though I think the switch made Doselle a lot happier, judging from his reaction ;).

[oyceter]

Cool! And hi!