MovieChat Forums > Shazam! (2019) Discussion > Why the continued diversity casting with...

Why the continued diversity casting with blacks?

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
49 replies | jump to latest

I might understand diversity casting if it were done simply to make more money. I could understand why you might want to cast a minority simply to try and get a bigger audience. But why do they continually throw in the black or a diversity cast member? If money is the reason and they want to appeal to the greatest number of minorities then they should be throwing in a Hispanic actor when they want diversity casting... if they are just doing it because of some guilt over past discrimination then why are they not throwing in a mix of Hispanics, blacks, Asians and Native Americans with equal abandon? What drive the push to simply use blacks when they want diversity? Is it that Hollywood is showing just how racist they are in using blacks as they think they are the only actors that people will see as a minority? I just don't get it.

[–] FilmBuff (6684) 5 years ago

They cast based on who is best for the part.

[–] mitzibishi (1616) 5 years ago

yeh, ok. Im sure they have a calculator out at every audition.

Committee meetings with graphs, pie charts, flow charts connecting the dots, putting in the chess pieces as to what makes the most money for the studios right now.

You may think it's sarcasm but it's not.

I like non white actors in the better roles. But you can see Hollyweird moving the chess pieces around putting certain demographics in place, putting actors, especially young actors in a pigeon box based on thier race and look, which according SJWs is racist in itself.

I know because is I used the "SJW" term you wanna go alll nuts and crazy, but hear this out.

If Hollyweird were so adament about bringing who is best for the job to the screen, why has there been no live action Spiderman who was "not white" and only have "his" school friends "minorities". Especially when they have been banging the drum about diversity.

So its about diversity or who is best for the job or about having a white in the lead and diversity character actors, comedic supporting actors who are non white to give a film "flavour".

Its all about calculators in a boardroom. Simple as that.

Math is not racist. only the art and marketing can be racist.

[–] FilmBuff (6684) 5 years ago

Back in Hollywood's studio days what you wrote may have been accurate, but today's producers and directors are given far more leeway when it comes to making decisions about their films, including casting, then before. I don't think many directors get carte blanche, though some do, but the idea of a room full of studio execs deciding who gets what role based on mathematics is absurd.

As an aside, why do you think I "wanna go all nuts and crazy" because you used the term SJW?

[–] mitzibishi (1616) 5 years ago

How do you explain all the Chinese actors slotted into parts. There are plenty of decisions influenced by statisticains looking at demographics and percentages

[–] FilmBuff (6684) 5 years ago

What Chinese actors are you talking about?

[–] mitzibishi (1616) 5 years ago

http://time.com/4649913/china-remaking-global-film-industry/

Claims to be a filmbuff, claims to know inside details of hollyweird that they dont make decisions based on moving beans up and down an abacus.

They place actors which appeal to demographics and even change locations that were originally in the script or tailor the writing of the script to have these actors in cameos or supporting roles and feature certain locations to appeal to a demographic, just like in Transformers 4 when they suddenly popped up in China.

Before a film can be released in China it has to go through the Chinese censoring board so films are tailored for that market if they dont go through reshoots to include China only scenes.

[–] FilmBuff (6684) 5 years ago

I've made no claims as to knowing any inside details about the inner working of Hollywood. I merely asked what Chinese actors you were referring to. After reading your response it seems like you've moved quite a distance from your original claim. You initially claimed that all the "diversity casting" that you perceive is not being done to make money. You then claimed that all casting is done using complex formulas to maximize money, and have no used an example of casting Chinese actors, or setting films in China, in order to make money. Which is it?

[–] mitzibishi (1616) 5 years ago

>I've made no claims as to knowing any inside details about the inner working of Hollywood.

>Back in Hollywood's studio days what you wrote may have been accurate, but today's producers and directors are given far more leeway when it comes to making decisions about their films, including casting, then before.

hmmmmm

>and have no used an example of casting Chinese actors, or setting films in China, in order to make money. Which is it?

Again......

http://time.com/4649913/china-remaking-global-film-industry/

I dont need to make a list because Time wrote a lengthy article doing just that for me. Looks like you ignored it.

A lot of films are being tailored or changed to give more appeal to Chinese audiences, to avoid the strict cencorship certain story areas will not be touched. Like I said if you watch Transformers 4 and are scratching your head as to why the story suddenly transports to China and then claim the script has not been changed to appeal to a Chinese audience you are not as smart as you think you are.

[–] galahadfairlight (414) 5 years ago

I must have had my eyes open the entire movie, but there was other ethnicities other than white and black in Shazam!

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Who know whether the background characters were diversity hires or not...but when the wizard Shazam who was white in the comics turns up black you know it was a diversity hire. Which is why I wondered why they only seem to make these diversity hires with blacks and not other minorities. I get the marketing reasons for doing diversity but when there are almost 40% more Hispanics in the country than there are black you would expect them to be sticking Hispanics in those roles yet oddly they just don't seem to ever do that.

[–] galahadfairlight (414) 5 years ago

Hispanics to my eyes don't look much different from white people.

By all accounts, lots of Americans had a problem with Jessica Alba in the role of Sue Storm in both Fantastic Four movies because she has Mexican heritage.... the rest of the world just thought she was white!

I could understand if the Wizard Shazam played a major part in the movie, but he was merely there as a passing of the torch device.

As the character had no meaning in the movie other than that device, does it really matter what colour the actor is who is playing him? I mean, why not?

I can see the point about Michael B Jordan in the Josh Trank trainwreck of Fantastic Four, whilst he is a very good actor, changing Johnny Storm to black made no sense bearing in mind his sister was white in the movie and for some reason, someone thought that edgy casting was better than working on a better movie.

I just don't think the wizard part in Shazam was all that major to be worrying about.

[–] ExTechOp (2741) 5 years ago

More to the point, the Wizard Shazam's ethnicity had no bearing on him as a character. There's no reason for him NOT to be black.

Johnny and Sue Storm, however, are siblings. Making them different ethnicities requires explanation outside the standard narrative, and that makes all the difference

[–] Strazdas (2328) 5 years ago

Hispanics in general are descendant on white migrants, so they dont look much different to most people because they mostly arent. Less than 10% of hispanics are mestizo (mixed with natives). Theres actually quite a large population of blacks in south america too by the way.

[–] NorrinRad (5017) 5 years ago

I get the marketing reasons for doing diversity but when there are almost 40% more Hispanics in the country than there are black you would expect them to be sticking Hispanics in those roles yet oddly they just don't seem to ever do that.

1st, Are you sure your percentages are correct? There are 40% more Hispanics in the USA than African-Americans?

Also within the USA what percentage of Hispanics also identify as Black?

2nd, Diversity doesn't mean what you think it means in terms of Hollywood and it certainly doesn't carry all the alleged negative baggage that you ascribe to it.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Well blacks are 12.3% of the US population, Hispanics as 16.7%.... So if you do the math is come out to 36% which is almost 40% and in a few more years given the growth rate of Hispanics vs blacks it will be 40%.

As for Diversity in Hollywood, it seems they are simply looking for the visual diversity. I've seen this time and time again in corporations where I've worked when the only C-level executives that are minorities are always black, not because they were the most qualified but simply because in the photos for the annual reports the blacks stand out and there is no question that they have a minority executive. I just get the feeling that this is the same reason we get blacks as the token diversity hires in movies, it isn't because they are the best fit, the best actor or anything else it is just because they standout and are easily recognizable as a minority which shows that Hollywood is only doing it for show and nothing more. Otherwise you would have more Hispanics.

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 5 years ago

There are four leads in the movie. Zachary Levi, Jack Dylan Grazer, Asher Angel, and Mark Strong. All of them are white. If they truly went for "visual diversity" then they would diversify the leads. Instead its the support cast that is diverse. And as it turns out the field of Hollywood actors that go on auditions are indeed diverse. Its not just white people out there seeking roles. So companies are going to hire who auditions. Everyone who got the role in this movie showed they worked for the part. In fact the worst actor in their role seemed to be Asher Angel as he acted nothing like a kid with superpowers.

So please spare us the faux rage bullshit that there's an agenda thats taking work away from white people.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Oh you ignorant turd. You didn't even get my race correct. But hey what does one expect from someone like you that can't even follow the thread without throwing in what you wanted to hear instead of what was said.

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 5 years ago

You call me ignorant for getting your race incorrect yet I never specified your race. Ignorant turd.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

You're right I didn't specify my race you just assumed it because your ignorant assumption that I was upset about non-white actor being cast could only make sense if I was white. So the fact remains you were an ignorant turd. Not to mention I never said I had a problem with them casting a non-white, I simple didn't understand why they went for a black when the better option from a marketing standpoint would have been a Hispanic. Learn to read what is written and not what you want to see.

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 5 years ago

What is wrong with you? I never specified your race. It doesn't matter if YOU specified your race or not. I cannot possibly be wrong about your race when I made no mention of your race.

The black actor worked for the part. If you're going to exchange a black actor for a Hispanic actor just on the grounds of race with no examination of skill then you are engaging in forced diversity. Your point would only work if you had an honest critique of the black actor's performance. But I see none of that from you. In fact I don't see anything analytical from you. Just irrational nonsense on top of ignorance.

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 4 years ago

I know this is a old conversation, but....well played.

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 5 years ago

[deleted]

[–] HarlemEagle42 (16150) 5 years ago

Oh well.

[–] ace2 (543) 5 years ago

So what do you think about when it goes the other way... like iron fist, or The Ancient One (Dr. Strange)? Clearly both foster parents were Hispanic.. so I think they were covered.

Ultimately its probably about getting big names, which is why it is unlikely they will get an Arab to play black Adam too.

[–] Destinata (2600) 5 years ago

It's Hollywood. If they had to cast for a story about the Amish, now, they'd multi-colored Amish rather than stick to the facts about the Amish.

BTW, I hear transgenders are the coming thing. So expect to see biological men in women's roles in the near future. No, it's not about the best person for the role -- it's about Hollywood's idea of "diversity."

[–] Moonglum9 (10709) 5 years ago

So expect to see biological men in women's roles in the near future.

Well that's nothing new. I remember in Shakespeare's time male actors always played female roles in the theatre. Oh how we laughed at seeing the burly men in women's clothes and speaking in a high-pitched voice.

[–] Strazdas (2328) 5 years ago

yeah but thats mostly because in Shakespeare's times people were sexist and did not allow women to be actresses, not because the men were transgendered.

[–] Olivergbyrne (685) 5 years ago

You obviously did not read the new 52 Shazam! comics by Geoff Jones and Garry Frank. They just followed the way the characters are in the comics. In that comics the wizard was black too.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

You are correct I haven't read the newest comics, though I have seen them and it isn't clear the new wizard is actually black. Given the way they draw the hair he would be better cast as a person from India or an aboriginal from Australia as the long flowing hair doesn't really look like an African American unless Wizard use straightners.

[–] Olivergbyrne (685) 5 years ago

Yeah, I was thinking he was black in the comics but I see your point as well that it depends on the way you look at it. I actually liked their choice for the wizard, I felt he was perfect in the part, the perfect match of weird/scary/wise

[–] Frogarama (12942) 5 years ago

All you post on this site is racist trash, you trashy racist POS.

[–] TylerAArse (2654) 5 years ago

You beat me to it. Thanks.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 5 years ago

No prob.... I also reported his post on the Dumbo board where he said black people are rapists and murderers.

[–] Olivergbyrne (685) 5 years ago

And me who replied thinking he was just talking about comic book accuracy lol Now that I re-read his post I can see there is actually more to it...

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Not a thing about this post was racist. It was simply asking a question about the racist actions of Hollywood that seem to believe that the only way to have diversity is to use blacks. There is a lot more diversity in the world than simply black and white. But you seem to think even daring to question why they only use blacks for their diversity hire that I am racist. I can only guess that you are the racist, probably black and wants to exclude any notion of another minority being hired in place of the the token black in a movie.