If you’re surprised, you don’t see enough black people in major roles

March 2, 2018 6:46 AM

People walking around Brixton, south London, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning noticed a very unusual photo campaign on the bus stops. Posters advertising films and tv shows recast with black actors.

The posters were created by Legally Black, four young activists from south London whose goal is to "combat the way black people are portrayed in the media."

But they were installed on the bus stops (without Legally Black's knowledge) by Special Patrol Group , who describe themselves as "A shadowy subvertising organisation".

posted by Just this guy, y'know (25 comments total)

First link is dead.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:49 AM on March 2, 2018

Mod note: Fixed first link.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 6:54 AM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I would watch the hell out of Dr. Who with a Black woman in the lead.
posted by filthy_prescriptivist at 7:30 AM on March 2, 2018 [15 favorites]

Brilliant. Also, scrolling down on phone - "huh, they could surely have done better than these four scrubby teen- oh, it's the inbetweeners, carry on"
posted by ominous_paws at 7:45 AM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

I would watch the hell out of Dr. Who with a Black woman in the lead.

I'll admit, I'd feel a bit torn on whether I was enjoying it solely on the merits of the lead (My head-casting is Gina Yashere because she's an undeniably great comedian, and to check off the black/female/queer boxes all in one go) or just because it would make all of the middle-aged conservative socks-and-sandals man-children in the audience FREAK OUT.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:48 AM on March 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

I actually think the Bridget Jones one works best because those films are SO WHITE (except for that cringy bit in the Thai jail).

This is a fab project.
posted by threetwentytwo at 7:55 AM on March 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

...or just because it would make all of the middle-aged conservative socks-and-sandals man-children in the audience FREAK OUT.

Given the absolutely apoplectic reactions to Jody Whittaker from that crowd, I think their head-assploding response to a black woman would be......delicious.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:58 AM on March 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

Compelling concept, but wish they'd committed a bit more wrt costumes, hair and makeup. How are you going to recreate the Titanic poster in matching white t-shirts.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 8:01 AM on March 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

Few things make me realize my own privilege like not giving a shit about what color or gender an actor is. I understand the importance of representation, and the pitfalls of cultural appropriation, but a black Bond is fine by me. I can even think of three or four actors I'd love to see in the role. Same with Batman or Cpt. America. I have a hard time understanding why people get bent out of shape when they genderbend a role or racially recast one. I know I get to not care because of the color of my skin. What kills me is why more white people don't care. If you can go watch a movie about a radioactive green monster and a Norse god going up against a CGI demon made of fire, you can deal with a Chinese lesbian Swamp Thing. If we embraced more of this, I think people would have fewer problems with roles being whitewashed. I go to movies so I can get experience I would otherwise not be able to have. If all I want is to see a charismatic handsome white dude dashing about saving the day, I can stay home.

We are seeing more POC in TV and movies. It kills me though when these are well-done, but they still fail. I still don't understand why Rosewood failed to catch on. Black male lead, hispanic female lead, interracial lesbian romance, diverse supporting cast, funny as fuck, and mostly all likable characters and stories that didn't suck. I can name quite a few series with mostly black casts, and same with movies, but these have almost all come in the last few years. We're making strides.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:06 AM on March 2, 2018 [12 favorites]

> I can even think of three or four actors I'd love to see in the role.

Idris Elba, Idris Elba and Idris Elba?
posted by Leon at 8:11 AM on March 2, 2018 [21 favorites]

If all I want is to see a charismatic handsome white dude dashing about saving the day, I can stay home.

You win the internet today.
posted by chavenet at 8:26 AM on March 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

Idris Elba, Idris Elba and Idris Elba?

The answer to most questions worth asking.
posted by thivaia at 8:47 AM on March 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

Idris Elba

Why would he blow all the goodwill he earned from his measured and complex, yet sympathetic breakout character Stringer Bell by going off to play a callous mercenary killer like James Bond?

(Yes, I will never not make this joke when the circumstances call for it. Partly because it was revelatory to me when I saw how much truth there was in it.)
posted by ambrosen at 9:42 AM on March 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

I would watch the shit out of all of these. Also an all-African-American Ghostbusters needs to happen.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 10:04 AM on March 2, 2018

I would watch the shit out of all of these. Also an all-African-American Ghostbusters needs to happen.

It needs a token white guy who's a bunch of redneck stereotypes.
posted by acb at 10:17 AM on March 2, 2018 [8 favorites]

one thing I liked in Insecure (well I liked a lot of things) is that they kind of leave the white characters as one-dimensional stereotypes. as a white person I found it funny, because we never see that (unless they're like, gay or something) a world that focuses on the black characters and the white ones are just props in the background. its refreshing to see that imbalance addressed.
posted by supermedusa at 10:57 AM on March 2, 2018

Brilliant.
posted by medusa at 11:10 AM on March 2, 2018

> I can even think of three or four actors I'd love to see in the role.

Idris Elba, Idris Elba and Idris Elba?

So Jordan Peele just directed a photoshoot for W Magazine starring Janelle Monae as a dapper lady Bond, and omggggggggggg it's everything I never knew I wanted and needed in my life. Janelle Monae for Bond, please. Especially since Idris has said he does not want to be Bond, hasn't he? I love me some Idris but I think he's doing okay picking his own roles. Can we stop assigning Bond to him? There are other black actors.
posted by palomar at 12:46 PM on March 2, 2018 [15 favorites]

I actually think the Bridget Jones one works best because those films are SO WHITE (except for that cringy bit in the Thai jail).

This is a fab project.

Yes! I never realised how much I wanted that movie until now. Bridget Jones would work so better.
posted by daybeforetheday at 2:13 PM on March 2, 2018

palomar: Jordan Peele just directed a photoshoot for W Magazine starring Janelle Monae as a dapper lady Bond

Jordan Peele Reinvents the Hitchcock Heroine, with the Help of Janelle Monáe (W Magazine)

Tangentially related on various fronts: Report: Some Older Oscars Voters Are Snubbing Get Out Without Even Watching the Film (io9)

While discussing some of the more non-traditional movies up for Oscars this year like Get Out, the young Academy voter was dismayed to learn that many of the older voters were wholly uninterested in even considering them:

“I had multiple conversations with longtime Academy members who were like, ‘that was not an Oscar film,’ and I’m like, ‘that’s bullshit. Watch it.’ Honestly, a few of them had not even seen it and they were saying it, so dispelling that kind of thing has been super important.”

It’s not at all uncommon for Academy members to have not seen every single movie that’s up for an award in any given year, but it is rather disheartening to know that a film that’s up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor is apparently being given the cold shoulder because it’s unconventional by Oscars standards. The Vulture report also raises concerns about just how effective the Academy’s recent push to diversify itself may actually be.

We Polled New Oscar Voters: How Are They Changing the Way the Academy Thinks? -- We asked the younger, more diverse voters how they feel about this year’s nominations — and the results will surprise you. (Vulture)

Of the 14 new members we talked to, who span several of the Academy’s branches, more than half were women, and more than a third were people of color. All of them spoke anonymously and with great candor, and it was fascinating to see where their opinions lined up with the conventional wisdom — and where they diverged and forged a more surprising, gutsy path. One new member, who joined in time to vote on last year’s winners, has already detected a tangible change in what the Academy decides to reward. “When Moonlight won,” said this voter, a young director, “it felt like the new members of the Academy, myself included, really had made a difference.”

Related: Oscar Voters: 94% White, 76% Men, and an Average of 63 Years Old -- Older and more dude-heavy than just about any place in America and whiter than all but seven states (The Atlantic, March 2, 2014 -- the most recent article I could find, and here's this in-depth article from the L.A. Times, from 2012).

Winning a golden statuette can vault an actor to stardom, add millions to a movie's box office and boost a studio's prestige. Yet the roster of all 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a closely guarded secret.
...
The academy is primarily a group of working professionals, and nearly 50% of the academy's actors have appeared on screen in the last two years. But membership is generally for life, and hundreds of academy voters haven't worked on a movie in decades.

Some are people who have left the movie business entirely but continue to vote on the Oscars — including a nun, a bookstore owner and a retired Peace Corps recruiter. Under academy rules, their votes count the same as ballots cast by the likes of Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Three white people, two of them men. Just sayin', L.A. Times.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:14 PM on March 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Re: Bond, they could just as well give a double-o license to Naomie Harris as Moneypenny. It is time.

Also we need more Richard Ayoade everywhere.
posted by sukeban at 2:22 PM on March 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

How about we leave Bond a white guy and do a movie about all the diverse people people around him who have to do all the work to resolve these situations while he is off gambling and drinking bad martinis with sex workers in Macau?
posted by Megafly at 3:50 PM on March 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

Did they do any of the Bourne movies? Because I just tried (again) to watch (ie get through) those again and, Jesus Christ, is there even one non-white person in those films?
posted by sexyrobot at 6:53 AM on March 3, 2018

Boyega as Bond, Idris Elba as 006.
posted by gucci mane at 7:35 PM on March 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Severine in "Skyfall" is specifically that. The tattoo on your wrist is Macau sex trade" is the line Bond says.
posted by Megafly at 3:16 PM on March 9, 2018