L.A. 2010: Two scenes with Chassidic Jews (appeared to be Lubavitch). One brief encounter with a Hispanic housekeeper, another with a veterinarian. Everything else, if I remember correctly - white. Neurotic, psychotic, stoned, anxious, miserable, drunk, medicated... but all Caucasians. If I am correct (my vision was blurred due to the sheer awfulness of this film), what gives?
shareConsidering Noah Baumbach is a well-known bigot...
"Wisdom begins in Wonder"
-Socrates
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Not questioning possible motive(s). Just wondering if anyone else made the same observation.
shareThis world he lives in is largely populated by Caucasians. There's no reason to add folks of color just because there isn't enough. Who cares? I don't wanna see Spike Lee's Greenberg. I don't relate to that.
share@Kickables:
Who cares? Most American's do care. They are similar to you in that they cannot relate to the experiences of people who do not look like them; even if the experiences are very much similar. As you note; you would not watch Greenberg if there were predominately "folks of color" in the movie. You would assume the movie is specifically for "folks of color".
Perhaps you might consider that you are not limited to one extreme or the other. Thinking that you have only two options: all white (to which you assume you can only relate) or all black (to which you assume you can't relate) may cause you to miss some good art and patronize some bad art. Btw, imo, Greenberg falls into the later category.
I saw a couple. Older black gentleman at the second vet facility waiting room.
shareDo you think that black people are any different than any other skin color when it comes to being with "their own kind" and not "understanding other people that are not like themselves"? It's natural. That's why large cities have "Chinatown", "Little Italy", and many other ethnic neighborhoods.
shareYou've been to a "blacktown"? I know I haven't. I have to go into mixed neighborhoods if I want soul food.
sharethere was one sitting on the porch towards the end. wearing a red sweater.
share@nikkiandtim
Yes, I think most minorities (black and other) are used to seeing cinema that features all or predominantly all white people because that's mostly what's on offer in widely-screened movies and in big-name theatres. So for them, the mere fact that a movie features an all-white cast is not an issue in the way that Kickables describes above.
Above, Kickables indicated s/he would not watch Greenberg if there were predominately "folks of color" in the movie. I responded that s/he might miss out on some good art if s/he filtered out movies based solely on whether or not the characters were all or predominately white. That is merely my opinion of course; but I find it hard to believe any reasonable person would disagree with me.
Imagine, for example, that the characters in Greenberg were actually "folks of color". For those people who appreciate the film, would the message/impact of the film be any less significant? Imagine that those people chose never to view said film merely because they applied Kickables' criteria? That would be rather silly, wouldn't it?
it's not natural to be a racist moron. black people don't refuse to watch white movies just because the characters are white. black people can watch anything as long as it's entertaining. they don't have to ''relate'' to it
i've got feelings too, ya know - inbetweeners
You've got to be kidding!!! Now if a film doesn't have any black characters it's a racist film??? I've had enough political correctness and affirmative action to last 1,000 years. I enjoy some of Spike Lee's work, but I wouldn't give two cents for anything that the cow Oprah has anything to do with. Getr a life!
sharefunny because affirmative action goes to white people. ''political correctness'' aka i don't want to see certain races as human beings
i've got feelings too, ya know - inbetweeners
you people are bunch of racists. why do you want to see a black person in every hollywood movie ? just because it was produced in the hollywood there has to be a Black person ?
look im a country called Bangladesh. its close to India. i was really touched and moved by this film.
This film has very little to do with black white chinese asian arabs all races. stop finding races in films. you havents watch this film. bunch of thickheads. the only reason i loved this film is because its totally different... something new... new in taste. and i can relate a lot to the main character in this film.
well done Noah Baumbach
Does anyone care?
shareDoes Tyler Perry put many white people in his movies? Baumbach and Perry both direct movies about experiences they are familiar with. So what? Baumbach and Perry are not being racist by not including certain races.
sharePoint well taken - then why two scenes with Chassidic Jews - it seems improbable that they are part of the lives of the writer / director or of the characters in this disaster of a movie. Just adding to the Jewish attraction factor - name it Greenberg, show a few Chassids and "they will come"
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This is not a complaint - merely an observation. Seemed odd to me, that's all. Just wanted to verify. I am at a loss about the Chassids. Guess it was just to make the movie "more Jewish" thereby validating the very Jewish title "Greenberg".
shareL.A. has (according to some estimates) the second largest Jewish community outside of Israel (other estimates put Miami/Dade County 2nd because of all the retired Jewish people) and you will very easily see Chassidic Jew, Persian Jew, and Ethiopian Jews in the Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, L.A. area. It's not that uncommon. Seeing that this story is about affluent people of Jewish descent it's probably going to focus on that demographic.
(¯`i´¯)´·¸.)‹^›
Naughty - wrong. New York has more than three times the number of Jews than LA.
South Florida (not just Miami) has 1/4 the number living in the NY metro area. The only thing that was Jewish in this movie was the name Greenberg. That, and the two instances of including Jewish stereotypes (black garbed Chassidim)are cheap, shallow attempts to make this a cultural saga. The movie was so bad, I can't figure out what the film really is trying to say, nor do I really care.
What am I wrong about again? I stated that L.A. may or may not have the 2nd or 3rd Largest Jewish community outside of Israel. New York City would be number 1.
Black garbed Chassidic Jews can be seen in L.A. regardless of this movie, so I don't know what your griping about.
(¯`i´¯)´·¸.)‹^›
You sure are reading a lot into one shot of some Chasidim walking by. First they're stereotypes, then they're "shallow attempts to make this a culture saga." They're window dressing, for Christ's sake! A couple seconds in a long shot and suddenly Baumbach is pandering to the Jews. As if the largely secular American Jewish population will flock to a cinema by the millions if they hear they can catch a glimpse of a Chasid in it.
shareYou sure are reading a lot into one shot of some Chasidim walking by. First they're stereotypes, then they're "shallow attempts to make this a culture saga." They're window dressing, for Christ's sake! A couple seconds in a long shot and suddenly Baumbach is pandering to the Jews. As if the largely secular American Jewish population will flock to a cinema by the millions if they hear they can catch a glimpse of a Chasid in it.
You are an idiot and a prick. If it didn't bother you in some way, than why the hell would you make a post about it. You are an idiot and obviously are still mad that your people were slaves hundreds of years ago. Let it go buddy, let it go. Just because someone makes a movie without a black character doesn't make them a racist.
shareNoah Baumbach is a very self-indulgent filmmaker. My guess is he sees those Hasidic Jews in his own day-to-day real life (I know the area where it was shot -- they walk around there all the time), so he put them in his movie.
shareHmm, sounds like you've been reading a little too much of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It is ironic, and very sad, that you have chosen to speak out against racism in hollywood only to turn around and spout anti-semitic statements. C'mon!
shareDoes Tyler Perry put many white people in his movies? Uhh... Yes. In fact they have been central characters in one of his moves...
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tyler perry doesn't have to put whites in his movie, since the other 99.9% of the industry caters to whites
i've got feelings too, ya know - inbetweeners
Being of African ancestry myself, I don't deem it necessary for a film to have a contrived or "token" Black presence for it's artistic merit, entertainment value or present-day realism.
If you're not living on the edge, you're picking up too much space.
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How am I supposed to know if they're of African extraction?
What we have here is failure to communicate!share
They keepin' the brotha down.
shareConsidering this was a chief complaint of Woody Allen's films of the late 70s on..i'd say Baumbach is in good company.
shareTypical wanker New Yorker making a typically non-LA flick about... LA. The city has a majority Latino population with Whites, African-Americans and Asians all about equal after that. With a large Armenian population in Glendale and Burbank. The scene at the Silverlake Lounge should have been Latinos, gays and hipsters - and not weenie geek hipsters like in the film -
I don't know what supposed LA these folks were living in, the "I'm a rich snobby New Yorker and I order my food in to avoid living and breathing in the city where I get paid way too much to lose money for the industry I live in" - LA.
Dying ain't much of a living, boy.
Josey Wales
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There was a black woman in the vet waiting room with a small dog, a black woman waiting outside the grocery store when Roger bought things for his 'party', and a black male sitting on the steps of Florence's apartment when Roger dropped her off after the hospital stay.
How many more need to be in the movie before this passes muster for the NAACP?
the point is very simple - Baumbach's films are all whitey white white - it's weird to set films in big cities and not have any minorities in the films - LA isn't like that unless you go out of your way to only hang with white folks -
Dying ain't much of a living, boy.
Josey Wales