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Diversity

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON'S STUDENT MAGAZINES PRESENT

DIVERSITY ISSUE

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HOLLYWOOD WHITEWASHING AND THE EVOLUTION OF FILM DIVERSITY

WRITTEN BY PASCAL EZEABASILI

Due to segregation and the lack of actors of colour,

Hollywood’s mainstream starring roles were monopolised by white actors in the early 20th century. White actors who played people of colour would often alter their appearances, wearing blackface or yellowface when portraying black and Asian characters. This was usually accompanied by exaggerated accents and ethnocentric perceptions of minority groups, which contributed to the spread of harmful racial stereotypes. These days the problem is not blackface and yellowface anymore, but rather the inverse problem: whitewashing.

Whitewashing in film is the practice in which white actors are cast in historically non-white roles, downplaying the significance and roles of other cultures. Nowadays non-black minorities are the biggest victims to whitewashing - Asians, Native Americans and Polynesians are not allowed to be the heroes of even their own stories, with roles frequently given to white actors in makeup to appear more ‘ethnic’, or the entire cultural identity removed from the story. It is often done to shoehorn in a star with the belief that actors of colour would not be successful in the box office. As put by the Ridley Scott, the director of the biblical Exodus: Gods and Kings: “I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad soand-so from such-and-such.” His film, however, starred many generic white actors with zero box office draw in roles as Egyptians and Arabs.

It could be argued that everyone has their artistic license in casting and interpretation of stories, and the colour of one’s skin shouldn’t dictate what roles an actor should be able to play. Besides, acting is about portraying someone you are not, and a great performance in a movie shouldn’t be downplayed by whitewashing allegations.

However, this argument only works to the detriment of diversity in Hollywood. Hollywood is an industry dominated by white actors, with limited stories being written about people of colour. The rarity of Asian Hollywood stars, coupled with actors like Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, or Daniel Kaluuya having their big roles in movies where the character must be played by a black actor, shows that there is a lack of generic roles played by actors of colour. For many actors of colour, the only available roles are those written for minorities and not roles where the characters race bears no significance.

Least of all in stories about people of colour, Hollywood still puts white actors in the foreground rescuing people of colour from their plight. The white saviour narrative comes from Eurocentric racism, and the colonialist views of white people as morally superior to other races. Such stories are self-serving, as the white saviour takes over the narrative, while the characters of colour end up becoming props around the white character, only serving to perpetuate ideas of otherness and unimportance of people of colour.

However, being associated with whitewashing has rightfully become a big deal recently. Calls to boycott have led to many films bombing in the box office and others being panned for lack of authenticity. With the lure of the Chinese box office causing pressure on filmmakers to include more Asian stars in movies and actors like Ed Skrein stepping down from roles that are about minority characters, film diversity is expected to flourish in the future.

The Best Of: LGBT+LOVE SONGS

Frank Ocean - ‘Chanel’ HARRY FORTUNA

‘Chanel’ is arguably Frank Ocean’s most honest and prominent display of his bisexuality to date, introspectively showing a heartfelt intimacy, whilst representing the LGBT+ community on the mainstream commercial stage.

Beginning with the line “My guy pretty like a girl”, Ocean opens the door for listeners to understand the fluidity of love, the perception of beauty, and the pride that Ocean takes in just being true to himself. With the affirming chorus “I see both sides like Chanel”, ‘Chanel’ maintains the artist’s distinctive idiosyncratic style whilst also celebrating his sexual ambiguity.

Uniting themes and lyrics regarding his own sexuality with his racial identity as a black man is a sure sign of pioneering genius, showing that there is a place for sexual freedom in one of music’s historically most gated communities. Tackling homophobia in hip-hop is something that Ocean has risen to the challenge of, and he is doing so with gallantry and poise.

Mary Lambert - ‘She Keeps Me Warm’ NELLY MAIR

This beautiful song is best known for being featured in Macklemore’s equally wonderful ‘Same Love’. From the first chords and lyrics exploring Mary Lambert’s relationship, ‘She Keeps Me Warm’ promises a soft and unapologetic ode to the beauty of queer relationships. The song tells the listener of the playful first questions the two used to get to know each other, and this exposition of a relationship is interrupted only by the repeated chorus; ‘And I can’t change, even if I tried, even if I wanted to.’

The song isn’t simply about being gay, or about being in love; it’s about the universalities of intimacy and being with someone, and I challenge anyone to be able to walk away after listening to it believing that anyone should be denied that right because of the limitations of gender or sexuality.

Tyler, The Creator feat. Estelle - ‘Garden Shed’

TOM HILLS

At first glance, the choice of a Tyler, The Creator track as an LGBT+ love song is a controversial one. The California native has a chequered past when it comes to homophobia. His 2011 album Goblin uses the word ‘fag’ or ‘faggot’ nine times and has been described as ‘unambiguously homophobic’. Moreover, his regular use of the above terms on Twitter and in other lyrics has angered the gay community.

However, ‘Garden Shed’ is unmistakably Tyler, The Creator coming out. The entire track revolves around how he has previously hidden and concealed his true feelings but now is the time to set them free. A simple study of the lyrics reveals an artist stripped bare – with all his deepest feelings and emotions laid out on the table. The track is beautiful – the mellow, laidback beat perfectly complemented by the soft vocals of Estelle and the metaphorical and literal brilliance of Tyler’s lyrics. As Estelle sings “fly, baby, fly, out of the cocoon”, you get the distinct impression that this track has enabled Tyler, The Creator to do just that.

J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series is pretty much infamous. “There won’t be a child in our world who doesn’t know his name,” became a statement that reigns true not just in the Wizarding World, but in our real world. However, as time goes on, although we all still love Potter, many of us can admit that the author behind the work actually got a lot of things wrong. One such thing that many consider a fault on Rowling’s part, is the lack of diversity in these novels.One of the things that is so great about these novels, is that they really do have fully-fleshed out, believable and authentic human characters. They represent people from different class backgrounds, with different struggles, that readers can relate to without really having to try. As well as this, the books’ themes and messages teach a really positive mantra about overcoming prejudice and showing love to the people around you. Despite that, the books, and subsequently the film adaptations, are overwhelmingly white.Dean Thomas. Lee Jordan. Cho Chang. Angelina Johnson. Kingsley Shacklebolt. Padma and Parvati Patil. Those are honestly the only names of people of colour in Harry Potter that come to mind. Of course, you can say that characters such as Cho are important to the plot, but in reality, none of them are ever really given the chance to shine. None of them are ever explored in depth. This is a habit that Rowling has continued over the years; she includes diversity of characters, but only in afterthoughts and comments rather than in the actual canon content. This can be said of the way she has treated Dumbledore’s sexuality over the years too. Though there are definitely homoerotic undertones between

J.K Rowling: A Champ or Chump for Diversity?

Written by Rehana Nurmahi Image by Abida Rahman

Dumbledore and Grindelwald in Deathly Hallows, it was never explicitly stated in canon. Even now, when she has penned the script for a film containing both of these characters, it has been said by the director that Dumbledore will again, not be explicitly gay in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Crimes of Grindelwald.This is Rowling’s biggest problem, in my opinion – she’s all talk. She talks a big game about feminism and equal rights and diversity and representation, but she is often slow to implement these things herself. It is true that her novels are full of a wonderful breadth of different strong female characters, but the fact that all of these women are white, reiterates the problem of white feminism in today’s popular culture. However, what Rowling lacks in her representation in the series, the fandom more than make up for. Many fans over the years had popularly drawn Hermione in fan art as a young black girl, which in fairness, matches the book’s description of her features. It is this that led to a black woman being cast as Hermione in the stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Of course, Rowling has stated her support of this, but truly, it’s down to the fans rather than the author that this became a reality. The fans of Harry Potter are from all races, nations, sexualities and genders, and the way in which they interact with the art expresses this. Lots of fan-fiction and fan art focuses on theorising characters as different sexualities, as well as giving the few characters of colour that are included, a chance to shine. It is only a shame that when Rowling has had multiple chances to do this herself, she hasn’t stepped up to the plate.

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