Those that read our blogs know we believe that done properly, North America’s Changing Face is more than a social or cultural phenomenon. Done right, there is a huge financial opportunity. Black and Hispanic communities have demonstrated this with the latest proof being Disney’s The Princess and the Frog which has grossed more than $24,000,000 in just a week, the highest gross for an animated movie opening in December. For those of you that don’t know, The Frog and Princess is about a young princess in New Orleans who has an incredible adventure after she is inadvertently turned into a frog.
What is unique is that our Princess is black and the show is set in New Orleans - that's simply ground-breaking and breathtaking. Major American media are showing interviews about how inspiring this is to so many black children. Kids and parents alike talk about how wonderful it is to see that their dreams have a chance of coming true - one of their own is a princess in her own country!
I can remember growing up and having my parents take me to see the beautiful and enchanting Nancy Kwan in The Flower Drum Song.
As a child, it was so absolutely thrilling for me to see so many Asians onscreen. Little did I know how rare this was and that almost fifty years later, things haven’t improved much.
Why is this so important? Because film has become the “new literature.” In any given year, most of us spend much more time watching movies or television programs than we do reading books. With electronic media as the most important means of our receiving messages, we have to be really diligent about the messages that we portray. We already recognize that excessive violence and pornography need to be controlled because of the influence they can have on people’s everyday life.
What we don’t attach as much importance to are the things that don’t directly harm people and their implied messages. One of these things are the racial and ethnic backgrounds of the heroes in our media. Without credible heroes – and even ordinary characters – of diversity, we perpetuate the myth that only white is beautiful, only white is smart, and that "the white man's burden" is alive and well.
Am I advocating “affirmative action” in media? That’s a touchy subject but let me put it this way. I’m not a great fan of government intervention into our private lives but I do feel this - affirmative action is much better than what we have now – “unaffirmative inaction.”
Bravo Disney for “The Princess and the Frog.” You are doing what The Changing Face believes – there is money in diversity and I'm glad to see you are making a ton of it.
I look forward to the day when we have a film about an Asian princess in North America. A group of like-minded individuals and I have been talking - maybe we'll make the film!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Business Lessons from Missionaries
I spend a lot of time with missionaries and mission organizations. They wouldn’t put it this way, but their job is to “sell” a “product” to a culture that is not their own. It's taken them a long time to learn - I cringe at the pain some have caused - but by now, they have learned many lessons about reaching out. They call it “evangelism” but I think they are smart business strategies that can be applied to many groups, both local and overseas. Here are some.
1. Few things are more offensive than someone parachuting into their culture to “convert the heathens.” For hundreds of years, this was the traditional Western missionary approach. While it worked sometimes, it also backfired. Lesson to be learned? When you go somewhere new, you are a guest in their culture and you are not superior. Act humbly until you’ve proven your mettle.
2. It takes time. When I tell people/organizations this, this is usually when they turn off because they are “too busy” to invest the time that it takes to genuinely know a people. But if you don’t know them, how can you possibly reach them? It sometimes takes years or decades before a different culture will trust you enough to allow you into their world. It’s why mission organizations want long-term commitments from their missionaries. In business, you want to reach across cultures – be prepared to spend some time. So-called "quality time" isn't enough. Quantity counts bigtime. This ties in with the next item.
3. Tokenism is not enough. A major organization recently said something to me to the effect of, “We did this six months ago, this last year… and so we just don’t feel we need to do anymore especially as it’s outside our mandate.” Hey, if you want to reach out, it must be on an ongoing sustained basis. If missionaries only did their big efforts at Christmas and Easter, they’d be out of business fast. It’s the everyday being part of the community doing small things that makes them effective. That way when there is a big issue to talk about, the credibility and trust to receive the message is already there.
4. Equip, not convert. One of my mentors was the head a mission organization overseas. Rather than being the focus of attention, his modus operandi was to train a few select individuals who would do a much better job of reaching into the community than he could. When he retired, he had sufficiently trained the locals so that they could do everything themselves. The business lesson here is, “Get the local community involved.” If you want to reach China, get the Chinese involved. You want to reach the First Nations, get First Nations peoples involved. You will never be as effective in getting the marketshare of a community as those that have a lifelong personal stake.
And you thought missionaries were only good for… hmm. What on earth are they good for?
1. Few things are more offensive than someone parachuting into their culture to “convert the heathens.” For hundreds of years, this was the traditional Western missionary approach. While it worked sometimes, it also backfired. Lesson to be learned? When you go somewhere new, you are a guest in their culture and you are not superior. Act humbly until you’ve proven your mettle.
2. It takes time. When I tell people/organizations this, this is usually when they turn off because they are “too busy” to invest the time that it takes to genuinely know a people. But if you don’t know them, how can you possibly reach them? It sometimes takes years or decades before a different culture will trust you enough to allow you into their world. It’s why mission organizations want long-term commitments from their missionaries. In business, you want to reach across cultures – be prepared to spend some time. So-called "quality time" isn't enough. Quantity counts bigtime. This ties in with the next item.
3. Tokenism is not enough. A major organization recently said something to me to the effect of, “We did this six months ago, this last year… and so we just don’t feel we need to do anymore especially as it’s outside our mandate.” Hey, if you want to reach out, it must be on an ongoing sustained basis. If missionaries only did their big efforts at Christmas and Easter, they’d be out of business fast. It’s the everyday being part of the community doing small things that makes them effective. That way when there is a big issue to talk about, the credibility and trust to receive the message is already there.
4. Equip, not convert. One of my mentors was the head a mission organization overseas. Rather than being the focus of attention, his modus operandi was to train a few select individuals who would do a much better job of reaching into the community than he could. When he retired, he had sufficiently trained the locals so that they could do everything themselves. The business lesson here is, “Get the local community involved.” If you want to reach China, get the Chinese involved. You want to reach the First Nations, get First Nations peoples involved. You will never be as effective in getting the marketshare of a community as those that have a lifelong personal stake.
And you thought missionaries were only good for… hmm. What on earth are they good for?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Changing Face
In my lifetime, I have seen the American black go from the back of the bus to being the most important passenger on Air Force One.
I have seen an immigrant from India rise to become Premier of British Columbia, a Chinese go from person without the right to vote to representing Canada at the United Nations and I’ve seen a member of the First Nations hold a feather in symbolic defiance against the establishment of inequality in Canada.
The face of North America is changing. Minorities are becoming mainstream.
This applies to more than reality, it applies to how we spend our entertainment dollars. Hollywood is unprecedented in its portrayal of the black person as an integral part of the American fabric - Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact, Dennis Hasybert in the television series 24 and Danny Glover in the feature film 2012 are all black men who have portrayed Presidents of the United States. This from an industry that once had to put black paint onto Al Jolson because it didn’t believe the public would accept a “real” black man portraying a black man.
I believe Asians in the next few years will become as important in mainstream film and television as the black communities have become. I don’t expect it will be easy – it wasn’t easy for the black community – but enterprising people saw the shift in society and said, “There’s an opportunity here.” By being part of and leading the trend, they changed society - and became fabulously wealthy.
Some day, again hopefully in my lifetime, there will be a Chinese/Asian Prime Minister of Canada or President of the United States. If history will repeat itself, this will more likely happen in filmed entertainment before it happens in real life.
BTW, my late father used to say, “When you stop being better, you stop being good.” I don't think taking a comedy writing course from Humber College was what he had in mind but if you ever doubted it before, now you know for sure, Wes is certified.
I have seen an immigrant from India rise to become Premier of British Columbia, a Chinese go from person without the right to vote to representing Canada at the United Nations and I’ve seen a member of the First Nations hold a feather in symbolic defiance against the establishment of inequality in Canada.
The face of North America is changing. Minorities are becoming mainstream.
This applies to more than reality, it applies to how we spend our entertainment dollars. Hollywood is unprecedented in its portrayal of the black person as an integral part of the American fabric - Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact, Dennis Hasybert in the television series 24 and Danny Glover in the feature film 2012 are all black men who have portrayed Presidents of the United States. This from an industry that once had to put black paint onto Al Jolson because it didn’t believe the public would accept a “real” black man portraying a black man.
I believe Asians in the next few years will become as important in mainstream film and television as the black communities have become. I don’t expect it will be easy – it wasn’t easy for the black community – but enterprising people saw the shift in society and said, “There’s an opportunity here.” By being part of and leading the trend, they changed society - and became fabulously wealthy.
Some day, again hopefully in my lifetime, there will be a Chinese/Asian Prime Minister of Canada or President of the United States. If history will repeat itself, this will more likely happen in filmed entertainment before it happens in real life.
BTW, my late father used to say, “When you stop being better, you stop being good.” I don't think taking a comedy writing course from Humber College was what he had in mind but if you ever doubted it before, now you know for sure, Wes is certified.
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