So Ridley Scott's a racist now, gee great (1 Viewer)

the fecker

he keeps scurrying off just when i'm anticipating a few laughs

you could call him a ...prick tease

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I do agree with this, but I don't think its that simple either. There's a relationship between studios and audiences and not all of what is put on screen is purely audiences feeding into studio, and seeing their demands met. It works both ways, and in a lot of ways they're creating that demand and people think its what they want to see. How are people supposed to go see movies with POC leads if there are none being made? None that are getting the same blockbuster and mass-effect treatment?

Hollywood is straight up, historically, a bigoted system, and thats that. Yes it represents largely what its mass audience "wants to see" but there is DEFINITELY a huge growing young audience for alternative storytelling - and not just white indie male directors telling their stories - and there's no output for them. Its the same way there are no roles other than HOT YOUNG WOMAN for female actors. There's a plethora of talent, and they're fighting it out for a minute amount of non-hideous roles.

BUT YEAH JESUS THIS SUCKS.

Well, women are getting more lead roles in blockbuster franchises, albeit mostly in the YA category.
Twilight, Divergent, Hunger Games etc.
Less so beautiful Creatures and the Mortal Instruments.
I don't know if After Earth bombed because the leads were black or because it sucked, but if it had been a hit you'd be seeing nothing but Jaden Smith movies released for a year.

I see more and more of movies that are made specifically for black audiences, like Best Man Holiday and Tyler Perry movies. And they're in their own stories, The Butler, 12 Years, 42, Mandela from the last year.
I want to say that this represents how we live, segregated. We don't watch the same TV shows (in the US) and we don't always go to the same movies.
The only thing blacks and whites do together to any serious degree where I live is sports. Everyone watches the NFL, and to a degree baseball. Even then, the NBA is considered a black league, and the NHL a white one.
I don't have an answer as to why this is the case.

I get more angry and outraged at the lack of economic opportunities for people of colour here. I live in a white enclave of a majority black neighbourhood. A lot of the people here have not had one half of the opportunities I've had, and I grew up poor in a bad neighbourhood. I volunteer some time helping these kids at the Boston Scholar Athletes program - your heart would go out to these kids, doing everything the system tells them to do, and you still know that it's stacked against them biggo - but even a program like that is nowhere near enough to address the scale of the problem.
Black people are under represented in the things that make communities strong, good employment and educational prospects, and they continue to be discriminated in housing. That's what gets me angry.
I think the movie role argument is a worthy one, and I agree when everyone flips out when an NBA owner uses the n-word.
But no one seems to have any outrage for what is happening on the ground; education, employment and housing.

Apologies, I've gone off on a stream of consciousness rant there.
And put myself into the story. I do that.

Anyway, I can't see Hollywood putting a black Rhamses on screen, especially when they're going to be playing brother card with him and Moses. It would confuse too many stupid people.
It would probably have made a far better movie though.
 
Persians aren't Arabs you big racist OMG

Unintentional, I was kinda referencing the Egyptian bit, but yeah sorry. Either way it was a stupid word to use, because Egyptians are even 100% Arabic either, though I guess its the most widely spoken language? Should have used a different word in that context anyway. My error.
 
And if people don't talk about it, challenge it and call it out on its shit then it'll never change. Its a melting point right now and people need to give a shit about the fact that entire races of people are still being represented as only slaves in their own stories or thought of as not good enough to represent themselves.

Fact is it doesn't surprise us, but it SHOULD. We should be outraged every fucking day.

I get your point, you are right.

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I agree with the general sentiment of this thread but have to say that Ridley Scott, in general, is kind of rubbish so like, what would you expect? I know, Bladerunner and Alien, but most everything else is shite and Gladiator is the worst film ever so ... screw Ridley Scott ... Most over-rated film director ever. And, of yeah, Kingdom Of Heaven ... he's almost as bad as Cameron.
 
Yeah okay, fair enough. That was just a fairly pointless tirade from me and I should try and elaborate. But I suppose what I am grasping at here is that my reasons for disliking Ridley Scott's work are to do with what seems to me to be an orientalist worldview (particularly thinking of KOH here). Arabs are exotic/noble etc. I think the content of his films demonstrates a simplistic view of the world and of history and of Europe's relationship with the rest of the world. It's not surprising to me then that he would fail to see a problem with his casting decisions with this latest film.

This is not a particularly well-thought out position here by the way (I'm thinking out loud) but my point really is that the content or merits of his work are relevant to this. I agree about Phil Spector but this is different.
 
Yes. By the way, I've just remembered that he also made Black Hawk Down. If you really wanted to construct a case that he's a racist you need look no further than there.
 
As much as I have an affection for a bunch of Ridley Scott's movies, he has long been a production line director.

He develops screenplays to a point of adequacy and then jumps into production with two dimensional characters and a linear by the numbers plot.

I'm sure he just wants to get in and out of this project (like all projects from the second half of his career) as quickly as possible and casting caucasians in the place of people of colour is just him being the business man above film-maker that he has always been (see every production from Blade Runner on for examples of this).

In short he's made some classic movies and some good-great movies but has gradually progressed into an old hack of a director slowly stacking of a pile of rotten stinker movies.
 

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