themuse.jezebel.com: Despite some incremental and largely cosmetic victories, Hollywood is a hostile place for women, particularly women of color. Here’s one recent example: According to the Hollywood Reporter, Crazy Rich Asians co-screenwriter Adele Lim left the forthcoming sequel when she found she was making nearly eight to 10 times less than her fellow co-writer, Peter Chiarelli, a white man.
9 comments:
This to me, is highly unsurprising and highly disappointing to hear in todays day and age. There is a serious issue in terms of gender pay and blatant discrimination in our industry, but to see this on a project that is centered around race and gender and is supposed to highlight women of color. Crazy Rich Asians has made ripples and waves in terms of how people look at Asian people and women of color are viewed on the big screen. What needs to happen is people needing to view the writers of shows as being just as important as the stories that they are telling. From the very beginning with the original movie, the movie had a great issue of attempted white washing in terms of the designers and in terms of adding characters that are white into the plot when the movie is supposed to be centered around the Asian experience.
Dang. This is really disappointing. I thought, and still think, that Crazy Rich Asians was an incredible film of our time that was demonstrating the kind of representation that we have been lacking for so long in our industry. It seemed like this film was the ideal of what we should be working towards, but I guess it was not so behind the scenes. It is hard for me to figure out how a studio that is creating a piece specifically meant to be inclusive and representative of minorities in our community would act this way towards their creative team and especially their writers. If they are literally equals in job and rank, which it seems they most definitely were, I really do not think precedent due to experience is relevant. Who cares what your company has historically paid people. When you are trying to change the way your industry works, you actually have to change it! Not just with the public appearance, but on paper and from the bottom up too.
This is a real disappointment. The movie was not only really well done and enjoyable, but it actually gave hope for better representation. Sadly, it still wasn’t equating that representation appropriately. While this doesn’t surprise me, it is still a shock that the response to the discrepancy in pay was terrible. It was just an excuse, nothing else. A sequel would have been really great but by saying no to effectively cancel such sequel is worth more. The response should have been about using the precedent they set as a good thing not a bad thing. Setting a precedent for equal pay is what you should be doing. Especially for a possible franchise like this, where it is definitely worth doing not just for the industry but for the movie too. Clearly, this issue was dealt poorly, and I hope that the next time I hear about it, it is progress being made for the better.
Representation on screen while gender discrimination runs rampant behind the scenes is two steps forward one step back. News like this is infuriating and I am apoplectic with the disparity between Lim's salary and Chiarelli's salary. The Crazy Rich Asians franchise was supposed to be by Asians, for Asians, but it appears that Lim's contributions are wildly devalued, which is even more preposterous considering she is the one with the Asian woman's insight, not Chiarelli. As Lim said, equity cannot be achieved through evaluating experience and accolades, because people, especially women, of color have not historically been called upon for their talents in the entertainment industry, therefore they have don't have as extensive a portfolio as a white man may. Even when women break records and rise up in the industry, it is often white women who achieve this level of success, not women of color. Lim's story is not the first, and definitely won't be the last.
This is definitely disappointing to hear. In fact, I am having a hard time understanding how an Asian writer for a movie about the Asian culture is less important to the project than a white writer. A lot of the times, we see representation changing and getting better on-screen, forgetting that there is a lot going on behind-the-scenes that we aren’t hearing about. This is definitely an eye opener; there is still a lot to work on in this industry to overcome decades of representation issues.
Speaking about Adele Lim specifically, I have no words to describe how much I admire this woman. She knew her worth and was able to step down from a position that didn’t acknowledge that worth. This, in particular, was incredibly strong:
“a few months later Chiarelli offered her half of his salary to reach some semblance of parity. She still said no”
Her reasoning for this— that she didn’t want a white man’s generosity to be the reason why she was making what she deserves to make—proves her strength and commitment to changing this cycle rather than cashing out. I think that Lim is a great role model in this regard, and I am hoping that her actions will have a ripple effect that helps create some much-needed change.
The Crazy Rich Asians is an incredible piece, the fruits of many Asians’ labors, which overcome the prejudice of Asian movies would not become the hit. The news of employment discrimination is terribly disappointing. Unfortunately, it is still not surprising to hear that colored women are getting a lower salary than others. However, this time, what makes it worse is that the work they are presenting is supposed to be encouraging Asians. Although Asians seem to be “peaceful” because of their national characteristics than blacks, who enthusiastically fight for #OscarsSoWhite, we do strongly have the spirit more than ‘happy just to be there.’ (Reference to “https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/theater-workers-lets-reject-happy-just-to-be-here”) Incidentally, I had a feeling that the movie did not attract much attention as it did in the US in Asian countries, at least in Japan. I thought by considering the news it might be because the film is presented to non-Asians by non-Asians having their nose in the air, for Asians.
How disappointing. When I first found out about this situation, I read about it on Instagram. There was a comment on the post that basically said it was her fault for not having as much worth as a writer and she should have known that going into the film. I want to know, why was a white man asked to write a story celebrating Asian representation in the first place? This film was groundbreaking for our generation, a piece of Asain pride and victory. The first film in 25 years with all Asian leads since Joy Luck Club. To hear they fell short on such a blatant part of the film is disheartening. This is such a prime example of white male privilege. A movie which comments on privilege ends up contributing to it and discriminating against the exact person the film celebrates. Now that doesn't add up.
This article touches so many of my soul fibers: Tokenizing, Pay gap, White charity. The effort put on the search for another Asian writer, was not par with the amount of money they were willing to pay for it. Which makes me think its another case of “you should be happy you are here, have a bit of money so we can say we paid you.” I understand the value of diversity in the room, representing the minorities you want to put on screen, but that same value needs to be acknowledged with the paycheck. Like Lim says, closing the gap should not come from her male & white counterpart. -it’s a nice gesture from his end, but at the end of the day, he would be recognized as the nice co-worker that did X & Y- It should come from the company. Having the employees fix the salary disparity that the company created is plain wrong. It also feeds the idea of “if they’re here we will have less pie” when in reality, what we want is for our work be paid is worth.
Post a Comment