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!
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Wesley,
ReplyDeleteI like your point about "affirmative action is much better than what we have now – “unaffirmative inaction.”"
Within the context of apathy, and for example in Christian circles, 'lukewarm faith,' it is more worrying to have people who don't-know-don't-care.
Having said that, while I hope one day there will be more Asian representation in the existing media, I pray that the day will come soon, where people say: "It doesn't matter."
That means, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or whatever ethnic group, both actors, producers and viewers say with one voice: "It doesn't matter." When this happens, we can confidently say, our society has been liberated.
conrade