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

[Cormcolash]

Hollywood is just another part of the capitalist cultural brainwash machine. Maybe the most surprising thing about Hollywood is that it actually produces the odd good film here and there. Could it be that Ridley Scott is actually some sort of genius for managing to make Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, within that culture?

 

[washingcattle]

Hollywood is just another part of the capitalist cultural brainwash machine. Maybe the most surprising thing about Hollywood is that it actually produces the odd good film here and there. Could it be that Ridley Scott is actually some sort of genius for managing to make Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, within that culture?

Spot on. Obviously there's an issue with this but to take your point a bit further I'm sure the conversation between a sensible racially sensitive executive at the production company would be going

"Eh..... we can't really cast white boys in this can we?"

"Well if you find me an arab who can open a movie to $100 in it's first weekend I'll cast him"

"Oh.... okay but"

"But nothing, fuck off"

That's pretty much how this shit works. A Most Wanted Man get's a pass because it's good and everyones white but Bruno Ganz and Christoph Waltz must be sitting around going "What the fuck ? I am German and I actually speak German, fuck you Hoffman!!!"

Hollywood just gobbles up other cultures and spits out a version of of it with a white man at the centre.

 

[nooleen]

eh yes, the point is to challenge that

 

[hugh]

I completely agree. We are talking about one giant ideology machine here. In one sense it's unfair to lambast Ridley Scott personally as he didn't make the rules of the system in which he works, but at the same time I don't think the nature of the system absolves those who work within it from any personal responsibility with respect to what they do in it. A massive budget epic about Moses is going to be rife with these sorts of potential problems but no-one stuck a gun to Ridley Scott's head and forced him to get involved. There's no reason why he couldn't decline this opportunity and make a different film with a smaller budget and not be as subject to those sorts of pressures. He could try to be Steve McQueen but he chooses not to. The fact that he consistently does this kind of thing leads me to believe that its not an issue for him and that's why I don't like him.

I mean, I would like to think that Scorcese wouldn't do this, right? But then again ....... we could probably accuse him of the same thing with Willem Defoe as Christ

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Will Ridley Scott’s EXODUS Be The Last Whitewashed Blockbuster? | Badass Digest

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Ridley Scott Addresses 'Exodus' Casting Following Whitewash Backlash

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I still wish people could get as outraged as this about racism that directly affect the lives people live, like housing and employment.

Given the stakes and how close to home it is, shouldn't we all be angrier about kids in Direct Provision than Ridley fucking Scott's casting choices?

1,600 kids in Ireland whose mothers can't cook them a meal.

 

[Unicron]

I still wish people could get as outraged as this about racism that directly affect the lives people live, like housing and employment.

Given the stakes and how close to home it is, shouldn't we all be angrier about kids in Direct Provision than Ridley fucking Scott's casting choices?

1,600 kids in Ireland whose mothers can't cook them a meal.

I've been to Mosney for work a few times for work in the past few years, kids there looked happy enough in a "kids will always find a way to play" sort of deal but jesus it's a shitty place to grow up in.

 

[hugh]

Given the stakes and how close to home it is, shouldn't we all be angrier about kids in Direct Provision than Ridley fucking Scott's casting choices?

Who says we're not? And anyway, this thread is about Ridley Scott. If it was about the Direct Provision situation there wouldn't be much to discuss as I'm sure there wouldn't be anyone jumping up and down to defend it.

I do take your point, but just because the one is more direct, local and immediate doesn't mean the other is not worth getting angry about or discussing. Surely what's at stake here is how popular culture might be shaping perceptions and attitudes in such a way as to allow more tangible forms of racism to flourish? Maybe the reason not enough people are getting angry about the Direct Provision situation is because deep down they don't regard African immigrants as worthy of the same rights as themselves, and maybe they've been taught to feel this way because of how Africans are represented and portrayed in news, media and films?

In fact, now that I think of it, maybe the whole bloody thing is Ridley Scott's fault!!

And by "whole bloody thing" I obviously mean racism, war, injustice, famine and possibly global warming as well.

 

[Cormcolash]

That's pretty much how this shit works. A Most Wanted Man get's a pass because it's good and everyones white but Bruno Ganz and Christoph Waltz must be sitting around going "What the fuck ? I am German and I actually speak German, fuck you Hoffman!!!"

Yeah totally, A Most Wanted Man is good but I was literally sitting there watching it thinking "Why didn't they just fucking get Bruno Ganz and subtitle it, instead of this fucking stupid accent nonsense?"

 

[Cormcolash]

eh yes, the point is to challenge that

Watch Ghana cinema instead

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[nooleen]

I still wish people could get as outraged as this about racism that directly affect the lives people live, like housing and employment.

Given the stakes and how close to home it is, shouldn't we all be angrier about kids in Direct Provision than Ridley fucking Scott's casting choices?

1,600 kids in Ireland whose mothers can't cook them a meal.

Fallacy of relative privation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Fallacy of relative privation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's the same problem though; racism.

I think people prefer to play Gotcha with celebs rather than talking about the real every day problems people face.

Like this summer everyone had a shitfit over Donald Sterling. What some old guy says on the phone to his mistress seems like very small beans to me compared to what people of colour face every day. But let's yell at an old bigot instead.
Black men have to get choked or shot to death on the street for us even to begin having that conversation.

The criticism of Exodus is valid, but I think if you're going to talk about racism there are more urgent conversations to have.

Just trying to broaden the scope.

 

[nooleen]

i seriously doubt that anyone irish who would have a problem with this would be less concerned about direct provision.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Well, someone should start a thread on it then

 

[nooleen]

the 'direct provision is bad, mmmkay' thread

 

[therealjohnny]

Well, someone should start a thread on it then

@rgossip @atkin @callomfox

 

[jonah]

Its all important to talk about imho, I just happened to read this online and it incensed me. But by all means make the thread 7, I'm sure everyone will have a billion things to say. No one really talked about Ferguson here, either, I guess (or if they did I missed it). Maybe its the nature of the forum. Like nooly said though, I don't think there's anyone here that would't have strong opinions on it.

Also just to note, despite the title of the thread and hyperbole, I'm not actually really 100% directing this at Ridley Scott, he's more a figurehead for the entire system as a lot of you guys have pointed out, in far clearer terms than I have. But he does have a responsibility and at the end of the day, he's the one thats going to have to deal with the flak/decisions that were made.

 

[Cormcolash]

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[7 - No tomorrow]

I was all set to write to my TD at the weekend, then I remembered that I don't have one.