I hear some youtubers say that the tide is turning and they cite things like the Chappelle special or the Gervais special. I can kind of see where they are coming from, but people still flock to see Marvel movies and Marvel along with other studios still can't shut up about representation.
I would have to see the following to believe a major tide is turning:
Black character in a movie where they don't need to discuss race
Male character doesn't need to be surrounded by "much better" women
Gay character has a devout Christian friend/relative who still loves and respects them despite their beliefs
A book adaptation where the main character is white..... is actually white in the show/movie
Period pieces actually look like the people from that period.
Any show/movie that addresses immigration doesn't make anyone who isn't for open borders an evil person.
Yes, I know that is unrealistic but seeing as how Wheel of Time was a book that had plenty of females and non-white characters once they leave their area and they still had to butcher the source material I have little hope and will continue with my rule of "be very wary of anything made after 2014".
What do y'all think? Is the tide actually turning and I'm just too cynical to see it?
Look, I get it. It's nitpicky, I know. If it were just this movie, it would be no big deal. Just a coincidence. And like I said, I enjoyed it.
I understood the plot just fine. I understood why Mav was liked by some authority figures. I understood why Mav was disliked by other authority figures. But we, the audience, know that Mav is the good guy and we're supposed to root for him. His antagonists were the white guys, and the sympathetic characters that we, the audience, are supposed to agree with are the black guys.
The pilot personalities were honestly a minor part of the movie. It was just typical and predictable. They were mostly forgettable.
As for the diner scene, let me tell you what would have happened in an actual rural diner if he had walked in like that: everyone would have immediately said, "holy crap! You look awful! Are you ok? What happened?" because that's what happens in rural communities. There would have been no awkward silence as everybody stared at him. Yes, I know it was played for laughs. But I've heard that particular joke a million times already and predictable jokes are boring.
And like I said, it's not just this movie. It's every fucking casting decision in every goddamn Hollywood movie. People have been complaining about how racist and sexist Hollywood is for decades, and honestly, at this point I agree with them. But not for the reasons they state.