[Discussion] On Television, Cinema and the Under Represented

Thread for race issues in media.

Birth Of a Nation
This movie isn't do so good. I think this is because black people are tired of slave type movies, white people don't want the white guilt, and everybody else is turned off by the rape case. I mean this in general. This is just a perfect storm for the downfall of the movie.

Surviving Compton
Straight out of compton left out the ladies. This lifetime show means to correct that. I believe all of the production was done by women.

Mulan live.
All Chinese cast. Maybe the dumb choices of Gods of Egypt are over.

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:
Atras wrote:

They could even just replace the actor and act like nothing happened (there is precedent).

Paging Don Cheadle.

I would watch the sh*t out of Don Cheadle portraying Roseanne.

"Yes, it's me, Dan. Deal with it!"

LOL. The irony of bringing back new Roseanne to show that not all Trump supporters are racist, ignorant nutjobs.

For Roseanne, it was all a matter of time. She's done this kind of thing before and has only gotten worse with Trump.

The only surprise to me is ABC canceled the show.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

The only surprise to me is ABC canceled the show.

Nah, that's not really surprising. Ratings don't matter when all your money comes from advertisers, and if anything has been made clear the last year and a half, liberal boycotts are mobilized and Trumper boycotts end up being meaningless hot air.

kuddles wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

The only surprise to me is ABC canceled the show.

Nah, that's not really surprising. Ratings don't matter when all your money comes from advertisers, and if anything has been made clear the last year and a half, liberal boycotts are mobilized and Trumper boycotts end up being meaningless hot air.

I can't wait for all the social media videos of Trump supporters destroying their TVs to protest ABC's cancellation of Roseanne just like they did to protest Keurig and Yeti .

OG_slinger wrote:
kuddles wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

The only surprise to me is ABC canceled the show.

Nah, that's not really surprising. Ratings don't matter when all your money comes from advertisers, and if anything has been made clear the last year and a half, liberal boycotts are mobilized and Trumper boycotts end up being meaningless hot air.

I can't wait for all the social media videos of Trump supporters destroying their TVs to protest ABC's cancellation of Roseanne just like they did to protest Keurig and Yeti .

Don't be silly. Then how would they watch the Presidential Briefings Fox and Friends?

This is what they'll be destroying:
IMAGE(https://st2.depositphotos.com/1013502/6695/i/950/depositphotos_66957815-stock-photo-abc-magnetic-letters.jpg)

kuddles wrote:

LOL. The irony of bringing back new Roseanne to show that not all Trump supporters are racist, ignorant nutjobs.

I think this sums it up perfectly. ABC decided to try and appeal to the Deplorables by hiring a Deplorable. Did they really expect this to end well? The show was their highest rated show so for the perspective that there is an audience is depressing to me.

It was highly rated, but the ratings drop-off from the first episode was precipitous and ongoing. I suspect that my wife and I weren't alone in tuning in for some nostalgia before very quickly realizing that it was a sh*tshow, and bailing.

I wonder if they simply saw the writing on the wall and found a convenient excuse.

Jonman wrote:

It was highly rated, but the ratings drop-off from the first episode was precipitous and ongoing. I suspect that my wife and I weren't alone in tuning in for some nostalgia before very quickly realizing that it was a sh*tshow, and bailing.

I wonder if they simply saw the writing on the wall and found a convenient excuse.

I can believe that, and I will add that i can believe whatever deal ABC had with Rosanne was longer term than the trend supported and ABC was happy to get out of it.

I don't buy that ABC wanted out of Rosanne that much. I think they got spooked that Barr can't keep it together because no matter how highly rated their actual business model is selling advertisements. And liberals/leftists have often shown that they follow through on boycotts and pressure corporations to pull ads when sh*t like this happens.

What made them decide it was a good bet to start the whole thing up, I don't know. I suspect someone sold them that they could keep Barr away from her phone.

I feel like we are being trolled by Trump supporters. I mean, we are not supposed to call them deplorable, but all they do is remind us everyday why they are.

WaPo: Roseanne Barr says she was ‘ambien tweeting,’ complains that others have gotten away with worse

Ambien manufacture's response:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/wCqXGeQ.jpg)

https://twitter.com/SanofiUS/status/...

Savage.

They beat me to the punch.

Sleeping pills don't make you racist, they just make you forget that being racist means you're a sh*theel.

I'm so proud that we as a people have grown sufficiently distrusting about claims of "hacked" accounts, that people are having to come up with new excuses for their sh*tty tweets.

Jonman wrote:

It was highly rated, but the ratings drop-off from the first episode was precipitous and ongoing. I suspect that my wife and I weren't alone in tuning in for some nostalgia before very quickly realizing that it was a sh*tshow, and bailing.

I wonder if they simply saw the writing on the wall and found a convenient excuse.

Lol, I made it <10 mins into the premiere. I mean, I was never a Roseanne fan to begin with but I could see the sh*tshow unfurling before me and bailed.

It's the same old story. Racists and bigots start to feel comfortable, thinking that their backwards way of thinking is catching on, and then spew stuff that gets them run out of town.

There was no chance that the show's success wasn't going to enable Barr to post some disgusting crap. What she found out was that the show's success wasn't nearly as huge as she thought, and she was plenty disposable.

Unfortunately, because ABC trusted her, which was idiotic on its face, a ton of other people that could have been working on another show lost their jobs.

bnpederson wrote:

I don't buy that ABC wanted out of Rosanne that much. I think they got spooked that Barr can't keep it together because no matter how highly rated their actual business model is selling advertisements. And liberals/leftists have often shown that they follow through on boycotts and pressure corporations to pull ads when sh*t like this happens.

It could have been seen as damaging to their brand to keep her, plus there's a good chance they had something in writing as an escape hatch for just such a situation.

Kurrelgyre wrote:
bnpederson wrote:

I don't buy that ABC wanted out of Rosanne that much. I think they got spooked that Barr can't keep it together because no matter how highly rated their actual business model is selling advertisements. And liberals/leftists have often shown that they follow through on boycotts and pressure corporations to pull ads when sh*t like this happens.

It could have been seen as damaging to their brand to keep her, plus there's a good chance they had something in writing as an escape hatch for just such a situation.

Plus, ABC didn't own the show, so they were mostly only going to get the ad money from the initial airing. Racist hot potato = endangered ad money = way less reason to keep the show.

They should probably have seen this coming, but I suspect that they didn't realize just how far off the QAnon deep end Barr has gone. (Not that is much of an excuse: she's been plenty racist and transphobic before.)

Though for me, how much she mainstreamed the extremes of conspiracy theories is still one of the most disturbing parts of the whole thing. Yeah, she's now recognized as being racist, but mostly the press seems to have no idea how deep the sick ideas go. Democracy depends on some level of consensus about reality--our laws are implemented by people (and our institutions are mostly, as we're finding out, held together by social norms). If a large enough group of people is absolutely convinced that, for example, Trump is waging a secret war against pedophiles who are trafficking (white) children in non-existent basements, they can break our society. It wouldn't be the first time a genocide started because of a racist conspiracy theory.

'Guys I did something unforgivable so do not defend me. It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting-it was memorial day too-i went 2 far & do not want it defended-it was egregious Indefensible.'

'There was no excuse, don't make excuses for me. But it was the Ambien.'
I don't follow tv ratings closely, but I recall her show's popularity dropped dramatically after the first week's novelty wore off. To me this says people weren't necessarily tuning in out of a love for Roseanne, but because there is demand for a conservative-oriented sitcom. There's a potential ratings bonanza if handed correctly, but it must be lead by a stable person. Not that I would watch it regardless of the political slant, I don't have patience for that type of show format anymore.

As others have mentioned, Roseanne has been a known nutcase for a while and ABC should have seen this coming. There had to have been concerns by the staff for hitching their wagon to that star.

Gremlin wrote:

Though for me, how much she mainstreamed the extremes of conspiracy theories is still one of the most disturbing parts of the whole thing. Yeah, she's now recognized as being racist, but mostly the press seems to have no idea how deep the sick ideas go. Democracy depends on some level of consensus about reality--our laws are implemented by people (and our institutions are mostly, as we're finding out, held together by social norms). If a large enough group of people is absolutely convinced that, for example, Trump is waging a secret war against pedophiles who are trafficking (white) children in non-existent basements, they can break our society. It wouldn't be the first time a genocide started because of a racist conspiracy theory.

Hate to break it you, but the mainstreaming of extreme conspiracy theories has already happened thanks to the whole Trump thing. The people I see sharing Infowars memes and QAnon Reddit nonsense in their Facebook feeds include alot of boomers who used to post about their confusion regarding how to attach pictures to their feed.

So apparently the actress that plays Rose on TLJ deleted her social media accounts because she has been getting constantly harassed by racists and toxic fans that hated the movie. Doesn't surprise me at all considering all the hate that lady writer got because she didn't write about jedi or the hate John B got even before the movie because he was black stormtrooper.

Jeez, racists are never happy. Even now when we have a racist president, they're still trying to get everything their way.

Rat Boy before wrote:

Couldn't they have just fired her, killed off the character, and have the rest of the characters reappear in a limited season where they slowly realize how much happier they are now that she's dead?

All right, where's my money?

Netflix Comms Chief Jonathan Friedland Out Over Insensitive Comments

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote:

All:

I’ve made a decision to let go of Jonathan Friedland. Jonathan contributed greatly in many areas, but his descriptive use of the N-word on at least two occasions at work showed unacceptably low racial awareness and sensitivity, and is not in line with our values as a company.

The first incident was several months ago in a PR meeting about sensitive words. Several people afterwards told him how inappropriate and hurtful his use of the N-word was, and Jonathan apologised to those that had been in the meeting. We hoped this was an awful anomaly never to be repeated.

Three months later he spoke to a meeting of our Black Employees @ Netflix group and did not bring it up, which was understood by many in the meeting to mean he didn’t care and didn’t accept accountability for his words.

The second incident, which I only heard about this week, was a few days after the first incident; this time Jonathan said the N-word again to two of our Black employees in HR who were trying to help him deal with the original offense. The second incident confirmed a deep lack of understanding, and convinced me to let Jonathan go now.

As I reflect on this, at this first incident, I should have done more to use it as a learning moment for everyone at Netflix about how painful and ugly that word is, and that it should not be used. I realize that my privilege has made me intellectualize or otherwise minimize race issues like this. I need to set a better example by learning and listening more so I can be the leader we need.

Depending on where you live or grew up in the world, understanding and sensitivities around the history and use of the N-word can vary. Debate on the use of the word is active around the world (example) as the use of it in popular media like music and film have created some confusion as to whether or not there is ever a time when the use of the N-word is acceptable. For non-Black people, the word should not be spoken as there is almost no context in which it is appropriate or constructive (even when singing a song or reading a script). There is not a way to neutralize the emotion and history behind the word in any context. The use of the phrase “N-word” was created as a euphemism, and the norm, with the intention of providing an acceptable replacement and moving people away from using the specific word. When a person violates this norm, it creates resentment, intense frustration, and great offense for many. Our show Dear White People covers some of this ground.

Going forward, we are going to find ways to educate and help our employees broadly understand the many difficult ways that race, nationality, gender identity and privilege play out in society and our organization. We seek to be great at inclusion, across many dimensions, and these incidents show we are uneven at best. We have already started to engage outside experts to help us learn faster.

Jonathan has been a great contributor and he built a diverse global team creating awareness for Netflix, strengthening our reputation around the world, and helping make us into the successful company we are today. Many of us have worked closely with Jonathan for a long time, and have mixed emotions. Unfortunately, his lack of judgment in this area was too big for him to remain. We care deeply about our employees feeling safe and supported at Netflix.

Much of this information will be in the press shortly. But any detail not in the press is confidential to employees.

-Reed

I wonder what edited versions of the old show would be like if it were given the Garfield Minus Garfield treatment...

So Ann with a E has decided to take on race and LGBTQ issues. I think they are doing a very good job of it so far. Also this second season is better than the first.

Mo’Nique is standing behind Rosanne. She says she knows what it means to be blacked balled. Maybe Rosanne will get her a job on fox news with her. I have no idea what Rosanne is doing on fox news, I mean everyone already knows it is a joke network.

On a side note black twitter is not being very nice to Mo'Nique over this.

I don't know what's going on with Mo'Nique, but I could see Roseanne hosting her own conservative version of the Daily Show on Fox News. Not that she really has the chops for political comedy that I've ever seen, but I could see Fox execs thinking "Comedian + Politics = The Current Hotness We Need In On."

Hiring a black woman to voice a dog in the upcoming Lady And The Tramp remake is somehow "race-bending".

https://twitter.com/shannytyrelle93/...