"Avatar:" Highest Grossing, Highest Diversity...Coincidence?

Coming in at #1 on the list of top 10 highest grossing movies since President Obama took office (and also #1 of all time) is "Avatar," the James Cameron directed movie from Fox studios.  Avatar grossed $2.782 billion in worldwide revenues, with a very impressive 72.7% coming from international sales  (boxofficemojo).  Cameron also has the #2 highest grossing movie of all time with the 1997 release of "Titanic" ($2.186 billion).

So what is Cameron's secret?  Both of these movies are based upon original material; both are of epic proportions; both are beautifully shot, transporting the audience to another time/place with extraordinary attention to detail; both feature unlikely love stories; and both have hugely climactic endings.  But does that explain it?  I think a better explanation is Cameron likes to examine our past.  With Titanic, we are captured by the grand scale of the ship and grand scale of its failure.  But we are also captured by class barriers and how love can overcome long odds.  With Avatar, Cameron creates a beautiful alien world (Pandora) to examine exploitive colonialism, reminiscent of Europe's conquests, but more particularly the U.S. war against, and displacement of, Native Americans during the times of "Manifest Destiny."  Cameron not only addresses class and racial barriers, he confronts species barriers.

Avatar has by far the most diverse cast of the Top 10.  A review of the cast list on IMDB shows PoC throughout the cast, with Zoe Saldana in the lead actress role.  While the invading Earthlings are white-dominant, Cameron used enough non-whites among the Earthlings to not make this a blatantly racial conflict.  This film is about greed and lack of respect for the lives and cultures of (apparently) weaker and less developed civilizations.

I'll conclude this blog series on Racism in Hollywood Blockbusters with the following observation: the top 10 movie with the most diverse cast is also the highest grossing movie of all time.  Hollywood can align the goals of profits and diversity by simply paying attention to results.

The Avengers: American Nationalism, with a Just a Pinch of PoC

Coming in at number 2 on the list of the top-10 highest grossing movies since President Obama took office is "The Avengers," the 2012 superhero movie from Marvel and Disney.  The Avengers took in an impressive $1.519 billion, though only a comparatively modest 59% of which came from international sales (boxofficemojo.com).  The lack of international sales could be explained by The Avengers' strong American theme.  In addition to the mostly American Avengers superheroes, the major battle scene is set in New York City.  The only non-Americans are either extraterrestrials or a handful of minor and stereotypically portrayed characters.

The Avengers is an ensemble film, featuring characters introduced in movies that featured them as solo stars.  In addition to Marvel's most popular character Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.),  the Avengers brings together Captain America (Chris Evans), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).  This film is all about star-power.  Even when Marvel/Disney lost the original Hulk actor (Edward Norton), they went with Ruffalo to avoid any fall-off in star-power.

As has been discussed in this blog previously, Disney's other top-10 films have been largely, if not exclusively, white.  While there aren't many People of Color in this film, the good news is the most senior officer in the film, Nick Fury, is played by an African American (Samuel L. Jackson).  Jackson plays Nick Fury as a smart, no non-sense head of SHIELD, who holds the respect of each of the Avenger superheros.  The bad news is there won't be a Nick Fury - superhero movie, effectively shutting-out PoC from starring follow-up roles.

Hollywood is making fewer films, with a higher percentage coming from non-original material.  With Disney and other studios taking very conservative approaches to casting, PoC may continue to struggle to gain heroic roles in blockbuster movies.  As such, PoC may have to turn to television if they want to see prominently featured characters that look like themselves.

Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows Part 2 - The Other White Wizards

Number 3 on the list of Top 10 highest grossing movies since President Obama took office is "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. " ("HPDH2")  As one of two Warner Brothers movies to make the Top 10 ("The Dark Knight Rises" is the other), HPDH2 garnered $1.342 billion in worldwide sales, with a tremendous (but not entirely unexpected) 71.6% of sales coming from international markets (boxofficemojo.com).  HPDH2, the last of 8 movies in the Harry Potter series,  setting numerous records including the highest grossing film of 2011, highest grossing children's adaptation of all time, and pads the record already held by Harry Potter for highest grossing movie series.

As discussed with previous entries in this blog, filmmakers dealing with non-original material are loathe to make casting changes, especially for the prominent characters.  HPDH2 is no exception, returning every key actor/character pair who is still living from even the first productions.  It's truly remarkable that Warner Brothers was able to hold this large of a cast together for 11 years.  But that also spelled curtains for correcting any lack of diversity, and the lacking was plentiful.  Apparently in Great Britain, virtually all those who can speak are white.  A quick check on IMDB shows the first non-white actor is #28.  Not too many lines afforded to the 28th most important character in a film.  Warner Brothers did do a credible job filling-in crowd scenes with more diversity than remembered from earlier films in the series, but absolutely zero diversity in any memorable characters.

On a personal note, I absolutely loved the Harry Potter stories and was irrationally upset when they ended.  With such a gift for writing, I can only hope that J.K Rowling will continue, albeit in a different direction.  Maybe next time she could feature a PoC (Protagonist of Color)!  Now that would be magical!

Iron Man 3: At last a Disney PoC role model

"Iron Man 3" ("IM3") occupies the number 4 spot on our list of highest grossing movies since President Obama took office (boxofficemojo.com).  Like "Frozen," IM3 is a 2013 release and is still adding to its sales numbers, currently at $1.215 billion.  Yet another Disney movie in the top 10, IM3 has taken in an impressive 66.3% of its revenue from international sales, showing that Disney knows how to bring in crowds worldwide.

Disney only returns a few of the "good guys" from the previous two Iron Man installments, principally the hero Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.), his girlfriend Pepper Potts (played by Gwenyth Paltrow), and Stark's best friend and quasi-sidekick Colonel James Rhodes (played by Don Cheadle).  As with most superhero stories, Stark must battle powerful foes.  What makes the IMs so endearing is Stark's personality flaws.  He is a charismatic genius, Playboy, gazzillionaire, but his ego drives him to be a solo act.  Stark has to overcome his desire to be a Lone Ranger in order for his friends to provide him the assistance he always needs.

While not exactly loaded with people of color, IM3 is definitely a departure from the previously reviewed Disney movies on this blog.  IM3's most prominent supporting actor is non-white - Don Cheadle.  In addition to being a terrific actor, Cheadle's character is very bright, emotionally strong, and in a position of authority - Colonel in the Air Force and head of a special weapons program. While he doesn't get a ton of screen time (it's really the Robert Downey Jr. show), what time he does get reflects very well on him and creates a potential role model for a younger generation.

We can only hope that Disney recognizes the marketing power and social impact of strong, diverse characters when planning future Marvel comic movies.

Disney's Frozen: As in frozen in the past

Next up on our list of the 10 highest grossing movies since President Obama took office is "Frozen" from Disney.  A late addition to the list, Frozen is now the highest grossing animated movie of all time, currently occupying the number 5 spot on the list with $1.143 billion in revenue. (Boxofficemojo.com)  Moving up our list with a bullet, Frozen wasn't even in the top 10 when this blog started a few weeks ago.  One key to its success is Disney released Frozen in 41 languages (R. Keegan, "LA Times"), exhibiting their understanding of the importance of international revenues.

First the good: it's a fun film with a strong female protagonist and some beautiful music.  Disney hired Jennifer Lee to adapt the Hans Christian Andersen story "The Snow Queen" for Frozen.  Disney then hired a veteran composer (Christophe Beck) and veteran Broadway singer (Idina Menzel) to give the movie a highly polished musical production.  Casting Kristin Bell in the protagonist role (Anna) capitalized on her star power and showed off her surprisingly strong singing voice.

Now the bad: it's virtually all white, except for the voicing of some non-human trolls.  The movie is set in a fictitious land - Arendelle.  There is a no justifiable reason the movie needed to exclude people of color.  Incredibly, this is a pattern with Disney.  Of the movies reviewed so far for this blog, Disney has had the worst ratios of non-white actors/characters.

Quite coincidentally, this week the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball team was recorded criticizing his girlfriend for "associating with black people." (TMZ)  Apparently Mr. Sterling is also counseling his cross-town neighbors at Disney about their movie casting decisions.

Transformers 3: Mostly White Male Machines

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (T3) marks the third installment in the popular Transformers series.  T3 made $1.124 billion in worldwide sales, placing it 5th on the list of highest grossing movies since President Obama took office (Boxofficemojo.com).  T3 is the only movie by Paramount/Dreamworks to crack the top 10.

T3 brings back almost all of the main characters and actors from the previous two installments.  This leads back to the previously discussed dilemma of non-original work: once a character is cast, it is highly uncommon to recast it with an actor of another race.  But what about new characters?  Is there some ratio of whites to non-whites that is determined in the original work?

For those who have yet to see a Transformers movie, the Transformers are alien machine beings fighting a war among themselves.  Earth becomes just another battleground.  Shia LaBeouf's Earthling character (Sam Witwitki) is befriended by one of the machines, and Witwitki becomes involved in the many battles between the Autobots (good guys) and the Decepticons (bad guys).

So how about cast diversity?  The second iteration of Transformers received an enormous black eye when two of the Autobots - "Skids" and "Mudflap" - were acted out with exaggerated ebonics.  The two characters were labeled as "racist caricatures" (huffingtonpost.com) by some, leading director Michael Bay apologize and strike the characters from the theatrical release of T3.  Unfortunately, T3 swings so far in the other direction as to eliminate all but one non-white Transformer. There are still no female Transformers.

To be fair, there are some non-white live-action actors in the movie.  But their numbers are few and certainly none of these actors are top-billing or represent characters in positions of authority.  That is unless you count Leonard Nemoy as a Vulcan.

Skyfall: The Old Dog Learns Some New Tricks

The latest in the long-running James Bond series is "Skyfall," garnering #6 on the list of highest grossing movies since President Obama took office.  As Sony's lone entry in the top 10, Skyfall earned $1.109B (Boxofficemojo.com), with an impressive 72.5% coming from international sales.  Could cast diversity have played a part in Skyfall's very strong international appeal?

In this, the 23rd episode of "shaken, not stirred," Daniel Craig plays the part of James Bond for the 3rd time.  One of the key tenets of the Bond series is its namesake character womanizing his way around the world on behalf of the British secret service (MI6).  However, since Daniel Craig took over in 2006 (IMDB), women have played much more important roles.  For example, Judi Dench reprises her role as "M," the leader of MI6, a role previously only played by men.  The character of Eve Moneypenny is also a strong and competent woman.  Skyfall's women are a far cry from the many weak and incompetent women portrayed in early Bond films.

But this blog is about racism; how does Skyfall stack-up?  There is far more racial diversity throughout this cast than in the other movies reviewed on this blog.  While the leading actor and actress are both white, the characters that might be best described as co-supporting actresses are non-white.  The "Bond Girl" is played by Berenice Marlohe, whose father is Asian.  The biggest breakthrough, however, is Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny.  Harris is of African descent.  The role of Moneypenny has only previously been played by white women.

Sony deserves a great deal of credit for breaking prior conventions with non-original material.  Was this why Skyfall did so well internationally?  It's hard to say.  What can be said is Sony took some chances other studios didn't and enjoyed a tremendous financial success.

The Dark Knight Rises: Diversity Not Rising

Number seven on the list of highest grossing movies since President Obama took office is "The Dark Knight Rises" ("TDKR"), the 2012 release from Warner Bros., which earned $1.085 billion in worldwide box-office revenue.  TDKR is the latest in the highly successful "Batman" series, and the 3rd movie in the series to feature Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman.  TDKR is, of course, non-original work.  And, like the other non-original movies reviewed in this blog thus far, the casting department at Warner Bros. remained consistent to the level of diversity, or lack thereof, of the previous Batman movies.  Even Morgan Freeman, the most prominent non-white actor in the series, stayed at number 7 in the IMDB cast list, the same position he occupied in the last film: "The Dark Knight."  While there are other non-whites in the cast, they play very minor characters - most with names like "SWAT in Dive Bar" or "Analyst #2."

So why care about this issue?  After all, the point of business in a capitalist society is to return an investment to the shareholders.  TDKR certainly did that.  But could it have done better?  According to a study performed at UCLA's Bunche Center for African American Studies, television shows with diverse leading cast members and writers draw larger audiences than those with less diversity.  The Bunche Center analyzed 1,000 shows across 67 cable and broadcast networks from the 2011-2012 season.  According the Bunche Center Director, Darnell Hunt, the study is one of the first of its kind.

TDKR ended with a teaser that, despite retiring Christian Bale and his character Bruce Wayne, the Batman series will continue.  Hopefully Warner Bros. reads the Bunche Center study before they go into production with the next Batman installment.

Toy Story 3: Another Disney White-out

Number 8 on the list of highest grossing movies since President Barack Obama took office is "Toy Story 3" (TS3).  As the name suggests, TS3 is the 3rd installment in the very popular Pixar/Disney "Toy Story" series.  TS3 earned $1.063 billion in worldwide revenue.

Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the whole toy gang face the crisis of their human Andy growing up and going off to college.  While they want to remain loyal, the toys are unhappy with the prospect of being packed into the attic.  When they are accidentally placed at the curb as trash, the toys decide (despite Woody's objections) to stow away in a donations box heading for a daycare center.  Instead of finding a play paradise, the daycare center turns out to be a dangerous place, ruled by an authoritarian stuffed bear.  The balance of the movie is an adventure for the toys to escape the daycare center and return to Andy's house.

As has been discussed previously, when it comes to bankrolling a blockbuster, Hollywood is more likely to bet on non-original material.  With respect to racial diversity, sequels tend to limit casting flexibility for the recurring characters.  Toy Story is no exception, bringing back almost all of the previous toys with their original voice actors.  The only new toys are a villain (Lotso), a Ken doll, and a bunch of very minor characters - virtually all voiced by white actors.  The only notable exception is Stretch, an octopus with almost no lines, who is voiced by Whoopi Goldberg.  Even a young human girl (Bonnie), who is clearly non-white, is voiced by a white actress.

As noted previously, Disney has enjoyed huge success with other movies featuring nearly all-white casts.  But with 61% of its revenue coming from international audiences, could it have done even better with a racially-diverse cast of characters? Apparently Disney thinks white equals green(backs).

Pirates - Stranger Tides: Are Spaniards White?

This week I am analyzing the 9th highest grossing movie since President Obama took office (boxofficemojo.com): Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" ("PCST").  PCST is the 4th and most recent movie in the highly successful Pirates of the Caribbean series.  PCST grossed $1.045 billion; an astonishing 76% of which came from international sales.  The international sales could be due to its international cast, though the cast is principally from the U.S., U.K., and Spain.

PCST marks the first of the Pirates movies without Keira Knightley or Orlando Bloom.  Captain Jack Sparrow, perennially played by Johnny Depp, is once again without his ship, the "Black Pearl."  This time his ship in the hands of the dread pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and his daughter (and past love interest of Sparrow's) Angelica Teach (Penelope Cruz).  Geoffrey Rush reprises his role as Captain Barbossa.

So, how do non-whites fare in PCST?  The answer lies with how you count Spaniards, as there are quite a few in PCST: are Spaniards white, or something else?  If you count them as white (there is support for this), PCST is almost as white as last week's number 10 movie: Disney's "Alice in Wonderland (2010)."  On IMDB's cast list, you have to go all the way to the 21st actor listed to find a non-white: Japanese actor Yuki Matsuzaki.  The next non-white on the list is 25th place English actor Deobia Oparei - the son of Nigerian parents.  The 3 or 4 other non-whites in PCST are essentially extras.

Since Disney created so many new characters with the movie, why didn't they strive for more diversity?  With more than 3/4 of the revenue coming from international sales, one might guess that diversity would be helpful to their bottom line.  I guess Disney didn't agree.

Disney holds 5 of the top 10 spots on our list, so hopefully they will show more racial diversity in their 3 movies still to be reviewed.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Does racism in Hollywood blockbusters exist?  By Hollywood, I mean the industry that produces the world's highest grossing films, regardless of where they are actually made or funded.  Blockbuster films are distributed around the world, typically earning between 50% and 80% of their total revenue from international (non-U.S.) sales.  Since these films target the widest possible audience, one might assume they would strive to offend as few people as possible.

This week I examined number 10 on the list of highest grossing movies (Boxofficemojo.com) since President Obama took office: Alice in Wonderland (2010) - ("AW2010").  AW2010 is Disney's quasi-live action sequel to their animated version of Alice in Wonderland.  Alice, played by Mia Wasikowska, is now a grown-up 20 year-old, on the verge of betrothal to a wealthy, but otherwise undesirable nobleman.  Alice escapes the proposal party by once again chasing the white rabbit down a hole and begins a whole new set of adventures.

Directed by Tim Burton, the film has been a huge financial hit, earning $1.025 billion to date.  It features loads of star power: Johnny Depp plays the Madd Hatter; Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen; and Helena Bonham Carter plays the Red Queen.  Many of the film's characters are animated, voiced by well-known actors.  Yet, try as I might, I could not find a single non-white actor.  Not even for voicing some of the animated characters.  Perhaps I missed one, but if I did, he or she is so poorly known they didn't even rate an IMBD or Rotten Tomatoes photo.

Why would Disney do this?  Though AW2010 is non-original work, with the exception of Alice,  Disney couldn't legitimately claim they were stuck with previously casted characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines racism as "the belief that each race or ethnic group possesses specific characteristics, abilities or qualities that distinguish it as inferior or superior to another such group."  Does Disney really believe non-white people are inferior actors?  One thing is clear, Disney shied away from non-whites when it cast Alice in Wonderland (2010).

Racism in Hollywood Blockbusters: Has anything improved with Obama?

When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008, he made literally hundreds of campaign promises, such as, jumpstart the economy, end the Iraq war, and healthcare insurance for all Americans.  One unspoken promise was to end racism in pop-culture.  After all, if a Black American can attain the position of most powerful man in the world, surely pop-culture will follow with non-whites being more prominently featured.  According to the United States Census Bureau, the make-up of Americans is 63% White, 17% Hispanic or Latino, 13% Black, 5% Asian, and 1% Native American.  If Hollywood accurately reflects American demographics, one would expect to see lead roles parceled out in these same percentages.  Has this happened?  According to the actor Danny Glover, it is still very difficult to get films financed that feature non-whites in the lead roles: “Producers said, ‘It’s a nice project, a great project…where are the white heroes?’” (Atlanta Blackstar.com)

Counter-intuitively, it may now be more difficult for a non-white to be cast as a hero than it was before Obama took office.  According to NYTimes.com, Hollywood is making 30% fewer movies than they were 7 years ago.  Further, when it comes to blockbuster films ($100 million+ revenue), the industry is betting on non-original films (screenplays based on another film or media property) more than they are original films.  According to an article onVulture.com by Anita Eberse, Harvard Business School Professor, non-original films accounted for 64% of 2012 movie revenues.  Hollywood is being rewarded for following this model.  2013 saw record revenues (led by Iron Man 3 – white hero), beating the previous record set in 2012.  The trend of fewer movies, bigger budgets, and non-original material severely limits the opportunities and increases the perceived risks for non-whites to be featured as heroes.  When it comes to making big budget movies, Hollywood has shown itself to be risk averse.

Each of the next 10 weeks, I will analyze one of the top 10 grossing movies released since President Obama took office.  I will compile statistics by race for the prominent roles, and qualitatively assess the characters played by non-whites for stereotypes.