When diversity bends the neck of truth

Every Friday, I talk about cinema with Richard Martino.

I shall be curious to hear about the following subject, which has been brought to my attention by one of my more keen readers.

Television and film productions and advertising have long been criticized for their lack of diversity: too many white people, and almost only white people.

dilemma

Frankly, it was a justified criticism.

We have made progress. I wonder if there is more diversity in our advertising than in society in general.

We will no longer see productions in which we put an inch of makeup on the face to make a white person look like an Arab, like Alec Guinness who played Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

But the reader notes an interesting fact.

In a samurai movie, you expect the samurai to be Japanese or look Japanese, he said.

We expect Mulan to be Chinese since it takes place in China.

But productions whose stories are set in Europe or North America increasingly evade this necessity.

Diversity is offered even when it comes at the expense of truth.

But you might say it’s fantasy, so anything goes. This is where it gets complicated.

Take the chain Bridgerton. It takes place in 1813 in Great Britain. The Bridgerton family is a wealthy aristocratic family in London.

Therefore, it is impossible for there to be many blacks among them. They did not occupy these places in the social hierarchy.

But the Bridgerton family was not there.

Likewise, if Othello was played by an Asian or if the next James Bond were black, it wouldn’t bother me at all.

But what happens when a movie depicts a character who already exists? Should it be as reasonable as possible?

Take the new chain Queen Charlotte. It tells the life of Charlotte Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a German, who married George III and was Queen of the United Kingdom from 1761 to 1818.

She is played by actress India Amartefio, who is of Ghanaian origin.

Although we precede the series with an announcement saying that we are liberating with reality, the fact remains that this queen actually existed and that she did not have the character of an actress.

On the one hand, we can say that in creation, we have all rights, but on the other hand, we can say that young people would mistakenly believe that reality was like this.

It becomes even more complicated when we see this strong movement demanding that the roles of trans people, disabled people, dwarfs, obese people, etc. be given to people who already belong to these categories.

a result

My location? The director must remain completely free to choose whomever he wants.

In practical terms, yes, we must give more opportunities to groups that have been underrepresented for a long time, but freedom of choice, talent and artistry must ultimately take precedence.

It’s the end result that matters.