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Hollywood Doesn’t Care About Racebending. Hollywood Cares About Money.

Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 1:25 pm by Jamie

There are new developments in the Racebending world regarding The Last Airbender. There’s even a short video to explain why we are disgusted with the live action version:

As much as I think the casting in Airbender is atrocious and as much as I want to support the Racebending.com community, there’s a big part in this whole debate that’s missing. No matter how loud you yell, Hollywood doesn’t give a shit. You want to change things in Hollywood, you have to speak with your dollars. The only way to get more films in Hollywood that star Asian people is to make movies that star Asian people financial successes.

Tyler Perry has a blank check to make whatever movie he wants to. The reason? Audiences love his movies. Medea’s Family Reunion made a shit ton of money and grabbed everyone’s attention. He’s since gone on to make a sitcom, another Medea movie, and produce other films like Precious. He even had a speaking cameo in the new Star Trek movie! Hollywood loves him because he makes them fuck tons of money. If we want more Asian people in Hollywood movies, we have to support independent Asian American movies.

I think if the Racebending community really wants to get Hollywood’s attention, they should spend more energy promoting independent Asian American films. Airbender is a lost cause at this point. The cast is already set. Filming is already underway. And no matter what the studio does, it’s going to be wrong. If more energy was devoted to promoting Asian American films, then I think we could really grab Hollywood’s attention.

So here’s what I’ve got. The producers of the award winning independent film, Children of Invention, are self-distributing their DVD. You can support them by ordering a copy online, or if you want to get a screening in your town, hit up their eventful link at the bottom of the screenings page. Here’s the heartbreaking trailer:

Next up is White on Rice. If you’re like me, you have been a sad panda for a while because it hasn’t played any where near you. Tiger Industry Films has heard our cries so for a limited time, you can order a special Sneak Peak edition of the DVD while supplies last. Think of it as an official leak that you pay for to support the filmmakers. And here’s the trailer to remind of the ricey goodness:

Finally, we’ve got The Killing of a Chinese Cookie. This indy documentary by director Derek Shimoda traces the origins of the fortune cookie. You can actually watch it online for free. If you like what you see, don’t forget to grab the DVD at Amazon.

Petitions aren’t enough. Protests aren’t enough. If we want more Asians in Hollywood movies, we have to support Asian films. If we want to make a difference, we have to vote with our dollars.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Diversity, Fantasy, Movies, The Future. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to “Hollywood Doesn’t Care About Racebending. Hollywood Cares About Money.”

  1. AvatarFmF
    Posted: Dec 7th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
    1

    I think avatar is going to be critically a bust.Wile might make ok money cause on the name alone bringing in kid from 10 to 13 But even them going to leave disappointed.A trilogy (let face it we all know they want this to be a trilogy) about marshal arts,war,love,mystical power,honor,humor,lost from Shyamalan.HA!Shyamalan story telling will not fly with the targeted audience wile paramount did every thing in there power to alienate every one else.

    Umm can i ask for higher stander then Tyler Perry film.Most of his stuff have bin meh at best.Those 2 clips seem to be much better then his films.So yea don’t lower stander for money EVER.

    Is it weird that I’m laughing at people who think a fortune cookie is Chinese.I watch way to many discovery/history channel documentary to not know this.Hell even an episode of the apprentice had some people looking for a fortune cookie in china.IQ of 200 my ass.
  2. AvatarHamstadini
    Posted: Dec 7th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
    2

    I don’t think you’ll have to wait long. “2012″ made a killing in China. Why? Because in the movie, the Chinese saved the day. Hopefully, Hollywood hasn’t gotten so slow that they don’t realize that Chinese Debtors + Box office hits = huge profits, and they’ll get their keister in gear paying homage to Big China.
  3. AvatarDrezz
    Posted: Dec 8th, 2009 at 8:56 am
    3

    Thanks Jami – FINALLY someone out there who gets it. Boycotting Hollywood films and making demands from studios has proven to breed the opposite mentality. Its like turning their noses up to the masses because they can.

    I’m going to cast this black man in the story as a brooding white male. Because more brooding white males can afford to go to the movies and buy movie merch. This subliminal stereotyping is what makes the movie industry look bad.

    I fully agree that if you want more minorities on screen, you need to support minority directors who have the sense to cast minorities in lead roles as they’re intended to be played.
  4. AvatarJohn
    Posted: Dec 8th, 2009 at 10:16 am
    4

    Just an observation, but Tyler Perry, to my knowledge, built his fan base with his plays (which imo are much better than the movies) and that fan base is how his movies took off.

    Also, do you know if there is any effort to get these movies into rental systems such as Redbox and/or Netflix (admittedly, I don’t use netflix, so they may be there already, but would be nice to see them in Redbox!)
  5. AvatarJamie
    Posted: Dec 8th, 2009 at 10:21 am
    5

    I know that Perry grinded it out on the play circuit before he ever landed a movie deal so he’s probably not the best example. But his stuff makes money and that’s why he still has Hollywood’s attention.

    As for rental distribution for White on Rice and Children of Invention, I get sent a number of press releases from various places so I’ll give them a ping and see what the plan is. I’m sure White on Rice will be rentable sometime next year when the official DVD drops.
  6. AvatarPaoken
    Posted: Dec 8th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
    6

    I’ve got to say that White on Rice looks @#$%ing hilarious. But Children I was kind of meh on…Sure it looked dramatic, but the trailer didn’t do a good job of making me give a shit. Two orphaned kids is sad, but not drag my ass to the theater sad (which is actually really sad).

    And the fortune cookie thing looks interesting, I bet they could get on PBS or something. That seems right up that alley.

    (And fuck those pricks who cast the crackers in Airbender. It just sucks that there’s basically no chance of them changing it now.)
  7. AvatarJamie
    Posted: Dec 9th, 2009 at 9:35 am
    7

    Heard from the director of Children of Invention. There are plans to release it to Netflix, not Redbox though. It will be a few months from now so it’ll be a while, but it definitely looks worth putting in your queue. @Paoken, there are a few more clips of the film at their website that might serve to hook you more. Giant Robot had a decent review of the film.
  8. AvatarDisposablePal
    Posted: Dec 9th, 2009 at 10:31 am
    8

    i cant wait to check out White On Rice, i saw Dave Boyle’s first film Big Dreams, Little Tokyo and i loved it but since i live in Maryland nothing ever comes here. I’ll probably have to wait for DVD. As for Tyler Perry, he’s a horrible director but it doesnt really matter when you have a fan base that will pay to see whatever garbage you put out and as you said, as long as he keeps making studios tons of money he’ll get to make whatever he wants, however he wants. Children of Invention looks really cool, i’ll be adding it to my netflix.
  9. AvatarJohn
    Posted: Dec 9th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
    9

    Thanks for the update, Jamie. Will keep an eye out for it there!
  10. AvatarJamie
    Posted: Dec 10th, 2009 at 9:30 am
    10

    Also got word that White on Rice is still in theatrical release and is going to hit up the East coast early next year. And it’ll hit Netflix later next year. So mark your queues!
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