White Actors Need Not Apply. Reverse Racism in Hollywood. Part 2

Someone in the industry we spoke to told us the Academy made a smart move by codifying existing status quo and nothing is going to change for the majority of studio operations. That announcement puts them out of critics’ reach. Yet it shows us the trend of where Hollywood is going. The new Oscar rules can be challenged in courts, as laws don’t allow anything resembling percentage quotas in the work environment.

Let us not bore you much more with these industry details. They can sort it all out themselves, maybe. We, the public, know little (and cynically care little, too) of all of these happenings. Let’s leave the Hollywood movie-making lots alone for now. We, the moviegoers, the video watches, actors’ fans and groupies are the people who ultimately determine if a film is a ravishing success or a dismal failure. Our likes and dollars make or break the studio budgets, affect how they award Oscars, propel actors into stardom and sell merchandise.

“If it works, don’t fix it”. That old adage nicely sums up age-old wisdom. When something you got is functional, reliable and makes you money, don’t fiddle with it. The end-result is rarely what you would expect. In our opinion, Hollywood is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. We are not about to tell anyone how to run their business, but questions remain. They hire less experienced personnel to do movie production only because they are black or members of ‘underrepresented’ minorities; kick out the actors and producers who made them money for many years. Why, but why do they want to screw around with established chains of command, with bankable stars, dedicated personnel that guarantees studio projects would be completed on time and on budget? What drives the big bosses into taking such risky steps? They are cynical, fearless, pragmatic business people; they wouldn’t do it on a whim or bend to anyone’s demands easily. There are very cold calculations behind all of this.

So what makes them choose risky paths that are putting their companies in some jeopardy? Is it fear to being labeled racists? Are these late laments over American black slavery, two centuries ago? Is it blackmail or fear of BLM retaliation? Is it the potential market loss for their movie products? Political pressure? The studios are very rich. One can try imagining the size of financial sword held over their heads, to make them do this. Or is this part of some grand plan to change how we, the people, see our country and ourselves; to subvert us in very subtle ways. We noticed earlier the Democratic Party and its supporters want to use racist theories as a battering ram, to undermine this country with a socialist agenda. Hollywood may be contributing to it in its own way, in the same vein as social media is screwing with our brains.

Still, can it be desire for socialism? They may be patented liberals, socialists or left-leaning Democrats, but they love money all the same. Did corporate liberals have all become woken capitalists? So, your guess is as good as ours. It clearly warrants further scrutiny. Perhaps in time we’ll learn the truth.

Rigid, racially motivated approach to making movies would stifle creativity. How many visionary people would agree to this type of dictate? In our opinion it’s not many. They would simply move to other studios where no one tells them how to convert their unique thinking into movie plots and roles.

Hollywood loves to create alternate realities. No, we are not talking about sci-fi movies. They often take our collective cultural inheritance; trim it here and there, in accordance to the latest politically correct trends. And voila!  The story lines change to not insult minorities, women, handicapped, gay people; to promote tolerance; to drop what is considered stereotypes of yesterday. History is changed through their movies. People who never read books covering historical events would remember false, yet convincing histories they learned through Hollywood-made films. It becomes new reality in their minds, as if they actually saw it all, in vivid colors. False narratives get a grip on us. There is no one to loudly exclaim to “people, it’s a tall tale, this is not how it happened, and the real history is very different. “We love beautiful stories, ones’ that makes us buy movie tickets.”

Little lies become bigger lies. Movie artists offer us their vision of events and unless they are tied to specific historical events, there are no limitations. What was white can now be black, and vice versa. We mean it literally. And here is an example. One Alice Liddell, born in London in 1852, who was Lewis Carroll’s inspiration for the “Alice in Wonderland” story, has become someone entirely different in the upcoming incarnation of that story. “Come Away” is a 2020 fantasy drama, where white girl Alice Liddell is played by a young Keira Chansa, a black actress. We suppose the word “fantasy” gives creators the right to twist the plot. There is nothing wrong with having a black lady play a white girl. Except – it is not Alice. And it could never be. That story has been read a million times and is etched in our minds for millennia.

We would have watched this drama, except we would not, and the reason is simple. Some stories are better left untouched. They belong to all of us, just the way they were written. Alice is played by a young actress selected not only for her talent, but also to promote the underrepresented’ minority. This is just wrong. Not supporting the latest ideological Hollywood trend makes all the difference. Not sure about the public out there, but we don’t wish to pay for it; to approve of Hollywood stealing our cultural inheritance and adapt it to the new racist norms. And this is racist for certain. In subtle ways they weave a new reality, where an alternate truth (which is a lie) takes shape. They reprogram us to accept it. We like things just as they were in the original story. We don’t need false memories. It may not matter in 100 or 200 years, but today it still does.

Which brings us to this: These days a white man could never play a person of African ancestry. Blackface of the late 19th – early 20th centuries nowadays is considered an outrageous racist manifestation. Yes, it existed in other times, when black actors were rare; not allowed on stage and white people had to play them, albeit grotesquely. But that time is gone; condemned by our society. So what makes it OK to have black actors play people of white heritage now?

End of Part 2/3