Tuesday, February 23, 2016
John Oliver's Attack on Hollywood Whitewashing Is Both Sad and Hilarious
io9.gizmodo.com: Sometimes you sit in front of your TV and realize you’re watching something important. It happens quite often on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Sunday’s episode was no exception. In addition to an incendiary piece about abortion laws, Oliver attacked Hollywood whitewashing.
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6 comments:
I think this commentary on white-washing really helps to identify the core of the issue. The fact that every acting nominee at the Oscars this year is white is disgusting, but I don't think that the academy is completely to blame. During her historic acceptance speech for the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Viola Davis said, "You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there". Her words really reflect the problem that almost all actors and actresses of color have to face. White people have significantly more leading roles written specifically for them, while everyone else is shoved to the side. Like this video showed, even roles that should go to people of color will be given to white people instead. It's both ethically wrong and stupid casting to try and put someone like Tom Cruise as the last samurai. In order to fix this Hollywood has to both stop white-washing and start creating more roles that either don't specify race or aren't for white people.
I am a huge John Oliver fan and actually saw this video on my facebook feed before coming across it on the PTM news blog today. I was able to see John Oliver live a year or two ago and he is a great comedian and political commentator. His show “Last Week Tonight” almost without fail makes points that just “get it.” I think it this really important for people like John Oliver to be making these arguments about the entertainment industry from within. It is much harder for an industry to ignore its problems when entertainers are calling out and drawing light to the issues. This method of attacking a system from within is very important, and I’m glad it also involves some entertaining television. I think the biggest takeaway about this issue is that whitewashing in film is not only an industry problem, but a cultural one. Just look at the anger that came from casting black actress Amandla Stenberg (who has made a couple of commentary videos herself online which are worth watching) as Rue in the Hunger Games, or recently when John Boyega was cast as Finn in Star Wars 7. If the industry can continue to say “we’re just giving people what they want,” they aren’t 100% culpable – the people paying to see these movies are contributing to the problem as well. If one thing is true, entertainment industries in America (especially film and music) are extremely slow to adapt to changing social norms and progress. Hopefully continued attention to these issues from people like John Oliver and the public alike can promote progress.
This video definitely makes anyone who watches it want to take a long, hard look at the Hollywood and figure out how and why discrimination like this is still allowed to happen. I am a big fan of attacking serious issues like this with humor and I’m glad this video is getting a lot of attention because I feel like it’s a really good way to encourage discussion. Like Scott I saw this video circulating Facebook before I saw it on the blog, which I was really pleased about because I’m a big fan of John Oliver. But I think that even this video and its reception go to show how whitewashing is much more than just a problem in our movies, but bleeds into our culture itself. I mean, as big a fan as I am of John Oliver, it’s kind of sad that the video about this issue that is getting a lot of attention is made by a straight, white man from Britain while there are numerous videos made by people of color addressing the same topic that have gotten much less attention.
This video is definitely eye opening. There is a lot of talk about how there is no diversity at the academy awards but no one really points out that there is not really any diversity in movies. John Oliver always has great content but this video has really made it big. It brings to light a major issue in Hollywood that a lot of people don’t realize is a problem. I think we are in a time where diversity is becoming more abundant but that needs to translate. I do think this video, since it has become spread so much can make a difference. Maybe it will not make direct change but by exposing these issues to the general population, we are better educated and won’t let Hollywood white wash movies. John Oliver, by making the video funny, has an advantage in this fight against white washing because he is not just lecturing people, he is making a video that is entertaining to watch that has a strong message.
Damn, John Oliver you comedic genius. I've always thought of John Oliver to be a very sharp and perceptive person when it comes to social and political commentary. Like Scott, I've also seen John Oliver perform live. He's charming, wonderful and absolutely hilarious. In the context of this video from "Last Week Tonight," I feel like it does bring up several controversial and contrasting points involving race. One argument for the whole "not enough racial diversity in Hollywood" is that there simply is not enough ethnic roles written in scripts for actors to fill. The other argument is that there isn't enough good talent who are ethnic. That the talent pool does not equal the number of script roles necessary. That statement sounds sort of absurd because out of the almost 320 million people living in the United States, you're telling me that there aren't enough talented ethnic actors to play characters in scripts written with specifically ethnic parts?!?! Now that just sounds like a big fat lie to me! It does continue to blow my mind that this is an issue and yes, some people will say that those who get offended and irked by other ethnicities playing ethnic roles but take this into consideration-- you'll never see an ethnic person trying to play the role of a "white dude." Never could an Asian actor or actress pass for someone who was Caucasian, so why should it apply the other way around?
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