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Step Up (2006)
Before writing this out, I feel I must note that I adore Dirty Dancing, Save the Last Dance, and all those rather predictable, step-by-step, learning to dance movies.
So, the dancing was awesome. The characters... were not as bad as they might have been, and were even believable sometimes.
What I thought was interesting was how multi-racial the background was. Tyler, the main character, has been in and out of foster homes for forever. His best friend is black, and they both steal cars together and etc. Tyler's white. Tyler also has a younger white foster sister, and a younger black foster brother. I wasn't sure what race Nora, the heroine, was -- she's clearly upper-class and very wealthy. I thought she might have been Hispanic, but her mother didn't seem like it, so I'm not sure. If she was, I liked the flip-around of the white guy being the poor, uneducated, in trouble one, and the person of color being the wealthy one.
The art school isn't just a haven of upper-middle-class kids; the director tells us early in the movie that many of the students are there on scholarships. I loved the initial shots of the school, of the black kids playing classical music on violins in the hallway, of random Asian, Hispanic, and black faces everywhere.
I wasn't sure why they decided to make Tyler white though. It reminds me a great deal of the Eminem phenomenom described in Everything But the Burden; how white artists are the ones most recognized and respected for black cultural achievements (in this case, hip hop). There were many black secondary characters; actually, the majority of the non-main-characters were black. Nora's best friend is black, as is her best friend's romantic interest, as is Tyler's best friend.
Again, I can't tell if Nora was meant to be seen as Hispanic or as white. If it is as white, then there's the standard problem in which there's a very, very multi-cultural, multi-racial background, as shown in all the scenes (or a black background), but the main characters are still white. You have obvious POC as secondary characters, but not as the main characters. If she is meant to be read as Hispanic, I keep wondering why the other multi-racial dance movies I've seen (Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Save the Last Dance) perpetually have a mixed-race couple in which one of them is always white. It's particularly interesting because all three of these movies have a sort of integration of classic dance (be it ballroom or ballet) with a more "ethnic" dance, in which the hybrid gains mainstream acceptance. (I think... It's been a while since I've seen the other two.)
And the thing is, I'm sure there are all-black or all-POC dancing movies out there, but I haven't seen them because I subconsciously thought they were too black, the way I used to habitually pass over the African-American Literature section at Borders (their label, not mine).
So, no real conclusion from me, just musing.
So, the dancing was awesome. The characters... were not as bad as they might have been, and were even believable sometimes.
What I thought was interesting was how multi-racial the background was. Tyler, the main character, has been in and out of foster homes for forever. His best friend is black, and they both steal cars together and etc. Tyler's white. Tyler also has a younger white foster sister, and a younger black foster brother. I wasn't sure what race Nora, the heroine, was -- she's clearly upper-class and very wealthy. I thought she might have been Hispanic, but her mother didn't seem like it, so I'm not sure. If she was, I liked the flip-around of the white guy being the poor, uneducated, in trouble one, and the person of color being the wealthy one.
The art school isn't just a haven of upper-middle-class kids; the director tells us early in the movie that many of the students are there on scholarships. I loved the initial shots of the school, of the black kids playing classical music on violins in the hallway, of random Asian, Hispanic, and black faces everywhere.
I wasn't sure why they decided to make Tyler white though. It reminds me a great deal of the Eminem phenomenom described in Everything But the Burden; how white artists are the ones most recognized and respected for black cultural achievements (in this case, hip hop). There were many black secondary characters; actually, the majority of the non-main-characters were black. Nora's best friend is black, as is her best friend's romantic interest, as is Tyler's best friend.
Again, I can't tell if Nora was meant to be seen as Hispanic or as white. If it is as white, then there's the standard problem in which there's a very, very multi-cultural, multi-racial background, as shown in all the scenes (or a black background), but the main characters are still white. You have obvious POC as secondary characters, but not as the main characters. If she is meant to be read as Hispanic, I keep wondering why the other multi-racial dance movies I've seen (Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Save the Last Dance) perpetually have a mixed-race couple in which one of them is always white. It's particularly interesting because all three of these movies have a sort of integration of classic dance (be it ballroom or ballet) with a more "ethnic" dance, in which the hybrid gains mainstream acceptance. (I think... It's been a while since I've seen the other two.)
And the thing is, I'm sure there are all-black or all-POC dancing movies out there, but I haven't seen them because I subconsciously thought they were too black, the way I used to habitually pass over the African-American Literature section at Borders (their label, not mine).
So, no real conclusion from me, just musing.
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I will have to check that one out.
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I was going to point you towards Take the Lead which I also enjoyed tremendously despite the thinness of its plot (and dancing for that matter), but then remembered (MILD SPOILER) that the big climactic dance sequence revolves around I think the only white girl in the inner-city school dancing with two partners who are fighting for her. She's not even the most prominent character in the "ensemble" movie, yet it all ends up revolving around her.
No real thoughts beyond that. Except that I think that producers believe that a mainstream audience is unable to relate to a film without a mainstream (read: "white") point of reference in the form of a white protaganist.
I still love the Japanese version of "Shall We Dance?" which is the only dance movie I can think of right now with POC protagonists, and that's not really fair to think about given that it's a Japanese movie and thus cast in that mainstream.
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Except that I think that producers believe that a mainstream audience is unable to relate to a film without a mainstream (read: "white") point of reference in the form of a white protaganist.
I think you are entirely correct! And I think because of that, we've also been trained to see films with POC protagonists as being "black" or "Asian" or otherwise ethnically targeted. I do this very often with movies and books... am trying to overcome it, but it's frightening how quick and subconscious the "Oh that's ethnic, not for me" reaction is and how easy it was to justify for so long.
I love the Japanese version of Shall We Dance!
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I can't seem to find any info on Jenna Dewan's background, unfortunately. From the photos, she didn't look particularly Hispanic to these European eyes. :-(
I'm trying to do that flip-around in my Young Adult novel, where Rob, the Prime Minister's son, is black, and Zack, the son of the PM's former bodyguard, is white. Although that leads me into the situation of Rob being the one that needs rescuing, and brings up the issues I had early in the first New Series of Dr Who when Mickey was seen as less capable than Rose (though he then got the best character development of any supporting characters). I think I'm balancing it out with Rob being the one that's held Zack together through the angst of the previous two years, but I'm still constantly aware of how every action is going to be seen.
I think 'the mainstream' still has this idea that lead characters have to match the perceived majority of their consumers. Hence generally white male protagonists, unless they're going for the female audience and want a white female protagonist. I'm pretty sure they're wrong.
Aside: I suddenly *got* A Town Called Eureka with the third episode, which was muchly about Henry. A geeky black mechanic! And he has the thing where he switches the badge on his overalls, according to which role he's fulfilling at that moment in time. I need to go back and watch for him in earlier episodes. And yeah, I fell for Mickey as a character in The Christmas Invasion when we saw him working in a garage.
Much rambling, and I still haven't written that Mickey vs Gunn meta -- sorry!
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Me too, except I've found that I've done the same thing myself an embarrassingly large amount of times (frex, just walk past the African-American Literature section at Borders). It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing, perhaps.
It's really tough keeping track of the stuff about power and social class and race and gender and when they all intersect and trying to make sure that there's no accidental message.
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I think 'the mainstream' still has this idea that lead characters have to match the perceived majority of their consumers. Hence generally white male protagonists, unless they're going for the female audience and want a white female protagonist. I'm pretty sure they're wrong.
Julie Dash said this in an interview about 15 years ago:
"When I present my ideas, pitch my stories, send my screenplays out, they [the powers that be in Hollywood] say there is no audience for this. They come up with every excuse in the world. I think the reason for that is that my films center around black women. If it is not a white male story, they are just not interested ...What is interesting is that every film that has come out with black women in it has done well. We have proved them wrong. Eve’s Bayou proves them wrong. What are they going to say now?" Julie Dash (interview with Moikgantsi Kgama)
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Does your average straight, white guy really have problems identifying with someone not like him? Asking especially because of the two nearest example I know personally one cites My Beautiful Laundrette as a good film he ought to rewatch soon, and the other is writing some very odd literature about gay rock stars. So no decent basis for proving a point there, I don't think.
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I don't know... but I guess my thing is that even if they don't have problems identifying with people not like them, it's still so much less of an issue for them because there are so many more portrayals of people like them (in terms of race and gender and sexuality, since I am egregriously skipping over class).
Like, I don't have problems identifying with people not like me, but I am just angry that there is so much need for me to, just because there are so few fictional representations of people who look like me.
Uh, got a little side-tracked, sorry.
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Not that I know how to get them to make that leap, but it's an interesting thought experiment.
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To respond to the comment above, I agree that white men in general are probably more willing to see protagonists of color than executives think they will be, but they are unlikely to go if the marketing makes them think they'll be the only white person in the theatre. There are a whole host of other issues going on in addition to that, of course, one of which is the ever-frustrating one of why no one's money is any good if they're not a white man.
That is, movies are often successful without getting a lot of men in the audience due to enthusiastic reception among women, and the same goes for movies that don't get a large white audience-- especially if the latter are lower-budget, so don't need as many butts in the seats to be profitable. (Total numbers of any given racial minority being less than total numbers of all women.)
This, however, is not popular as a selling point, for reasons that would require a post the length of my casting posts, but would come to the exact same conclusion: there are a lot of complex factors, but they all boil down to racism and sexism, with a dash of xenophobia and homophobia for flavoring.
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Thanks so much for the other movie notes! I feel like I should know more dance movies with POC, especially since Charleston and swing and etc. all originated from black culture. And it feels very much like the cultural appropriation of jazz and rock and roll from a black audience/creators to a white audience/creators. I am totally ignorant about the modern music scene, but it somewhat feels like the same is happening with hip hop and rap?
I adore adore adore Strictly Ballroom. And the Japanese Shall We Dance as well!
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Or, avoiding the Asian-American literature because I didn't want to be the standard ABC looking for her roots (so that would be too Asian instead of too black). But in both cases, the general perception on my part that anything that had all POC in it was targeted specifically to POC, and as such, wasn't mainstream, because white was so firmly my racial default at the time, despite being Asian and despite growing up in Taiwan. (and of course, I never used to think that things were "too white," heh)
I now babble... but I remember reading Pearl Cleage's book, and there's this part where the characters are all picking movies to watch, movies with all black actors/actresses, and I remember being so ashamed that I hadn't seen a single one of them, despite critical praise and etc. because I had done that near-subconscious "those aren't for me" thing every time I'd heard about them, or just not prioritized them.
Uh, long answer to short question, sorry!
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Its just.. well kinda cognitive dissonance-ish for me to see that, i was raised so much the opposite-- in a house full of black literature, black history, documentaries, etc. i knew so many black authors and actors and what not. Its hard for me to concieve of people not knowing them.
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Of course it would be very cognitive dissonance-ish to have people and authors and actors and books and art that is so important to you being unknown to (ignorant) people like me! I remember being really surprised by some things when I first moved here (the most random being that my roommates had never seen/eaten clear noodles before).
I'm always struck by how much I don't know about things -- giant swathes of world history, race and feminist history around the world, etc. etc. etc. Must read up!