By Garrison Thomas
Hey Brie, if you want more inclusion on your Captain Marvel press tour, I’m available.
When I review a film, I examine its story, writing, editing, performances, and direction. I take a lot of pride in how I dissect a movie. My review is not an objective fact of the film because all opinions on film are subjective. Read that again. But if somebody were to tell me that my review of a particular film does not matter because that movie was not “made for me” because of my demographics, I would call BS and point out that movies are made for everyone to see. The film industry was created so that the working-class person could go see a show in a theater for an affordable price.
About a week ago, I read Brie Larson’s comments about the critics on her press tour being “overwhelmingly white male.” So, I thought Larson would have some sort of initiative or plan to make her Captain Marvel press tour more inclusive like extending her press tour so she could talk to more diverse voices. Then, I remembered her speech from last June when she accepted the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film at the Crystal + Lucy awards. You can watch it below.
About a week ago, I read Brie Larson’s comments about the critics on her press tour being “overwhelmingly white male.” So, I thought Larson would have some sort of initiative or plan to make her Captain Marvel press tour more inclusive like extending her press tour so she could talk to more diverse voices. Then, I remembered her speech from last June when she accepted the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film at the Crystal + Lucy awards. You can watch it below.
“If you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance a woman of color will have the chance to see your movie and review your movie,” says Larson.
There’s a few problems with this quote. Anybody, including women of color, can go see your movie while it’s playing and can post a review on social media or a blog as long as they have the money to pay for a ticket and internet access. Now, a majority of them probably will not get paid for it since they don’t have large followings or don’t work for a major publication.
“It really sucks that reviews matter, but reviews matter. Good reviews out of festivals give small independent films a fighting chance to be bought and seen. Good reviews help films gross money. Good reviews slingshot films into awards contenders. A good review can change your life. It changed mine.”
So, how does that suck then? You just said how good reviews have changed your life and help films get recognized and win major awards. Not every film is going to get good reviews. Reviews giveth and they taketh away.
“I do not need a 40-year old white dude to tell me what didn’t work for him about ‘A Wrinkle in Time’. It wasn’t made for him. I want to know what that film meant to women of color, to biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial.”
Now imagine if Larson said she didn’t need a black guy or an Asian guy’s view on A Wrinkle in Time. She would get lambasted. Since she’s mentioning white men, she gets applause. Brie Larson is not prejudiced but these are very prejudiced things that she is saying while adding the coda “I don’t hate white dudes,” three separate times throughout the speech.
There’s a few problems with this quote. Anybody, including women of color, can go see your movie while it’s playing and can post a review on social media or a blog as long as they have the money to pay for a ticket and internet access. Now, a majority of them probably will not get paid for it since they don’t have large followings or don’t work for a major publication.
“It really sucks that reviews matter, but reviews matter. Good reviews out of festivals give small independent films a fighting chance to be bought and seen. Good reviews help films gross money. Good reviews slingshot films into awards contenders. A good review can change your life. It changed mine.”
So, how does that suck then? You just said how good reviews have changed your life and help films get recognized and win major awards. Not every film is going to get good reviews. Reviews giveth and they taketh away.
“I do not need a 40-year old white dude to tell me what didn’t work for him about ‘A Wrinkle in Time’. It wasn’t made for him. I want to know what that film meant to women of color, to biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial.”
Now imagine if Larson said she didn’t need a black guy or an Asian guy’s view on A Wrinkle in Time. She would get lambasted. Since she’s mentioning white men, she gets applause. Brie Larson is not prejudiced but these are very prejudiced things that she is saying while adding the coda “I don’t hate white dudes,” three separate times throughout the speech.
And the idea that critic reviews are the be-all-end-all of films’ worldwide grosses is not true. They do have sometimes have an effect but the Transformers series has been critically ravaged while grossing billions of dollars. Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy is critically acclaimed yet made less than $50 million across all three films.
I can tell you why A Wrinkle in Time failed at the box office. It was a $250 million film adaptation of a book that came out almost sixty years ago. The critics scores were 42% on Rotten Tomatoes and 53 on Metacritic. Furthermore, the film had an audience score of 28% on Rotten Tomatoes and a user score of 2.8. A lot of people just were not interested or did not like the movie. It had its fans, sure, but it just bombed which happens to film sometimes. It’s not white critics’ fault that the movie failed.
I’m biracial and my favorite critics are white males because they have opened my mind to other film genres that I would not have considered before. I don’t care that they are white because I value diversity of thought.
Brie Larson is coming from a good place (wanting more diverse voices in film criticism) but her proposed solution seems disturbing. She wants to see more diversity in the film critic industry. I’m cool with that. However, she has continuously devalued the opinions of white male film critics just because they are white males. I’m not ok with that. Hopefully, her efforts for more inclusion do not exclude hard-working critics just because of their skin color and gender. If Larson wants a big PR win, she will only add more journalists to her press tour.
And I’d like to reiterate my desire to be part of the Captain Marvel press tour. Just saying.
Captain Marvel opens in the United States on March 8, 2019.
I can tell you why A Wrinkle in Time failed at the box office. It was a $250 million film adaptation of a book that came out almost sixty years ago. The critics scores were 42% on Rotten Tomatoes and 53 on Metacritic. Furthermore, the film had an audience score of 28% on Rotten Tomatoes and a user score of 2.8. A lot of people just were not interested or did not like the movie. It had its fans, sure, but it just bombed which happens to film sometimes. It’s not white critics’ fault that the movie failed.
I’m biracial and my favorite critics are white males because they have opened my mind to other film genres that I would not have considered before. I don’t care that they are white because I value diversity of thought.
Brie Larson is coming from a good place (wanting more diverse voices in film criticism) but her proposed solution seems disturbing. She wants to see more diversity in the film critic industry. I’m cool with that. However, she has continuously devalued the opinions of white male film critics just because they are white males. I’m not ok with that. Hopefully, her efforts for more inclusion do not exclude hard-working critics just because of their skin color and gender. If Larson wants a big PR win, she will only add more journalists to her press tour.
And I’d like to reiterate my desire to be part of the Captain Marvel press tour. Just saying.
Captain Marvel opens in the United States on March 8, 2019.