During my mid morning procrastination scroll on another video I was meant
to be doing I saw a tweet I found interesting from writer Gail Simone:
It read that a quote unquote “Very powerful Hollywood insider” had posited that it was
the box office success of the fast franchise that finally made a dent in the minds of LA LA LAND.
More than "all the social media complaints combined."
Granted, its a bit of a “my uncle works at Nintendo” source,
but Simone goes on to scrutinise the validity of it herself whilst also pondering what it would
mean for the socio-political landscape of film criticism and film audiences.
"This happened. If he was being hyperbolic, I don’t know. But "even
if it’s just a commonly held belief at the top levels, it’s interesting to consider.
It punches wholes in the beliefs of both conservative and liberal commentators."
It sure would cream the corn of people who like to berate Hollywood for bowing down to
SJWsoyboybetacuckingmcdonaldsbqq - and equally the people that like to overestimate twitter’s power
to reach vast audiences and underestimate the echo chamber the algorithm puts us in.
If you want to test your echo chamber just search the opposite keywords to anything you believe in
and I guarantee there will be a strong, motivated, organised array of people tweeting just that.
Of course a Hollywood exec would like to pin the responsibility of diverse casting on themselves,
rather than the collective efforts of people and groups who wanted their voices to be heard,
it does speak to one undeniable truth of the movie-making system;
money talks. And I could whole believe that Hollywood would
have happily kept everything exactly as it was unless there was a profit to be made.
Not content with making an entire video from a tweet, I went about looking into
more of the facts. The thread reveals more substantial articles and sources.
At the time of Furious7’s release, CNN Business cited the unprecedented US box office weekend,
and its huge 75% audience share from non-white audiences. It grossed 147 million dollars,
with an audience that was 37% Hispanic, 24% African American and 10% Asian. What
was not just interesting about this was the share of non-white audiences,
but the diversity within that, which reflected the multicultural nature of the famous Family.
At the time Entertainment Weekly noted that "Despite the films’ cumulative
worldwide gross of almost $2.4 billion, their racial inclusiveness remain[ed] an outlier.”
The article mentions JJ Abrams Trek movies as an example of diversity in Hollywood movies, which is
ironic now considering he was partly responsible for the Star Wars movie that reduced Kelly Marie
Tran to 2 minutes of screen time and boiled Finn’s arc down to a force-imbued mystery box that went
back on the original Finn mystery box in the force awakens. To be fair ET also cites Mackie’s Falcon
as the first black superhero in the MCU, ignoring or forgetting the presence of Don Cheadle’s War
Machine, the character having been around at that point since 2008 in 3 movies. Part of the
problem is not just the higher ups in Hollywood dictating the casting, but the way these choices
are presented after the fact. Entertainment Weekly was forgetting Don Cheadle existed but those same
publications were attentive and aware of Fast and Furious’ multinational cast because it made bank….
When Furious 8 came out, Ben Robinovich of Little White Lies called the series the “most important
franchise around” on account of its continued commitment to a diverse ensemble. One of the most
popular characters in the franchise, Han, could have very nearly been a one-n-done character - but
director Justin Lin and writer Chris Morgan bent the laws of time itself so that he could become
a member of the family for a three streak run. Robinovich proclaimed “How many franchises can
claim to be so ambitious, so eager to evolve? How many franchises would be willing to experiment
with time and bend their whole chronology to allow a secondary character, Han, who dies in the third
film, to appear in the subsequent three as a core member? It is testament to the ingenuity of the
Fast and the Furious that his unexpected return in the fourth film forces us to reappraise, even
redeem, Tokyo Drift – a film whose obvious flaws are obscured behind the now much bigger picture.”
The movie’s core storyline finally caught up to Tokyo Drift and that meant bad news for Han.
The payoff of making Fast 4, 5, and 6 interquels between 2 and 3, so that Jason Statham can enter
the fastverse furiously by killing off a core member of the team - [Dominic Toretto,
you don’t know me, but you’re about to] that was fucking iconic.
It worked because it was the logical next step to the ongoing melodrama in all its glory.
This was the ridiculous thing I heard back in the day to make me watch these movies.
This was a pretty badass way to introduce Statham as a real threat to the team.
But Justin Lin didn’t see it quite that way.
And so Han coming back doesn’t just fit it with the soap opera leanings to the franchise;
if Letty can be resurrected, Han can be resurrected - it feels like
a justified course correction that shows the franchise is willing to own its mistakes.
In the wake of the three bald action men split behind the scenes, leaving Fast 9 Rock and
Peebleless, Han coming back is the perfect time. Dom and the core cast are often really sincere
and over the top - so it’s going to be great to see Han’s more measured and collected energy.
The franchise has been guilty of fridging multiple times but it’s always kind of gotten away with
it because again - its a soap - people in these movies die or meet uncertain fates all the time.
Still, when Han is your only prominent Asain hero it stings to close his story this way. The reality
of fast and furious is a rubberband; stretch it how you will - justice for
Han has finally been served. Next stop Jurrassic world crossover - come on baby!
To be fair I would settle for just time machine mounted cars in the next one sending our heroes
to the dinosaur age rather than a full blown crossover. Call it Fast X Furious. Get it.
Fast times furious - cos its time travel - but X ten? Right? Fast timmmmmes Furious.
Han actor Sung Kang was happy that Lin was able to course correct and bring him back for Fast
9, and wished the franchise would get a little bit more recognition
for its effort in front of and behind the camera:
"I think that's the challenge that Fast has had since its birth, that it's a popcorn movie
about fast cars and a bunch of stunts. But I think it's the last movie to get any credit.
It's been a movie that represented inclusiveness and diversity,
and then it's proven that it's financially viable in Hollywood"
For Han to be this badass character, get reduced to fridging, and then rise from
the ashes again to right that wrong - literally #justiceforhan is a markedly different attitude
to take than say - making a big fuss out of the fact you cast John bodega only to
progressively sideline him to the point that he’s barely a footnote in the final
movie. [I feel it] Fast and Furious doesn’t have a completely clean track record,
but its made reparations when needed. And its such a silly universe it can afford to;
if Idris Elba can have superpowers, Han can survive a car crash purely through drip points.
The Franchise’s past isn’t without merit. Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodrigeuz and Jordana Brewster
had prominent roles in the first movie, and in spite of Paul Walker’s Bryan taking on
the spotlight in the sequel, he was joined by Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris’ mainstay characters
for the first time. Just about every single movie has introduced a new prominent minority character
from San King’s Han to Natalhie Emmanuel’s Cipher. Fast Five was really the first gamechanger,
as it was the first move towards a more ensemble flavour in the fast movies. Dwayne Johnson entered
the fray, and many previous cast members were given more dimension upon their return.
Ludacris is a hacker now! Sure, why the hell not - if Dwayne can catch missiles I can buy LudaNeo.
Something about doctor who diversity - but still has many white male key players
at the top - whether or not that is a bad thing is up for debate, but it definitely
doesn’t ring true to the Chibnall said he wants diversity in front of and behind the camera,
and that is true to a degree, but the most important players in the production are
white including producer Stevens, show runner Chris chibnall himself and star Whittaker.
Whereas fast and furious has had only 2 white directors out of a total;___. And
one of those movies was for the spin off. It was the first movie directed
by an again American to top a billion, and the first for an African American director.
Diversity in the movies themselves:
Marvel and DC wants you to know how diverse their new range of heroes are - but they’re
years behind the tide of the Fast movies, who have never made anywhere near the fanfare about it.
And on the other hand, the solution would not be for companies to stop talking about these things,
if Wonder Woman was the first female led superhero movie to top a billion,
we should know about it, but no matter how much praise or positive messaging a studio
might put out, it is always always tinged with the mouth watering prospect of profit.
They are not your friends, and they don’t collectively care about any socio-political
issues one way or the other. Studios would go back to an all white cast overnight
if sales fell through the roof, at least until some major structural change were to occur.
The Boys mocks the “she’s got help” moment from avengers endgame because it seeks to highlight how
the machinations behind these creative decisions are often less than admirable. [queen Maeve scene]
CONCLUSION - THE MESSAGE As corny as it is; Fast and Furious has a really
positive message. It brings together a bunch of people from all over the world and calls them
family. It’s often insane, and silly, sometimes a bit too much, but it is always sincere about that.
It might be funny to laugh at the overabundance of BBQ’s or how Vinny lets in one-time best-friend
murderers, but the overall pertinent message is solid. It might lack nuance and detail,
but it's also a message that has been attached to a long running franchise that is popular the world
over. If Fast and Furious has any lasting impact, it won’t just be the fact that it was an original
blockbuster franchise going to extreme lengths to entertain in the most ridiculous ways possible,
its that it committed to having everyone included long before
it was in vogue for Hollywood studios to do so.
——
I’m sure some of you might have already seen
Fast 9 some time ago because release dates are scrambled these days - but
for me, its coming out in the UK this week. I can’t wait for this movie to go… stratospheric….