- Got it.
So the support for Black Panther has been overwhelming,
to say the least.
(laughs)
And most of us feel like it's been a long time overdue.
So how do you think this will change the way
that Hollywood is talking about diversity?
Like, are we ready for a Storm stand-alone film?
- Um
- A Storm stand-alone? Is that what you said?
- I think that we have never experienced this before,
where 49% of the American population is 35 and under.
It used to be they were always more--
they were older people.
More older people than younger people.
And also, of this 49%, more than half of it
is multicultural and is primarily of Latin-esque decent.
So, obviously, they are the taxpayers, they're the voters.
They're gonna be the ones that are going to school
and getting all the jobs, but not just jobs that sustain
and keep the lights on in our country,
but also the innovative and inventive positions
of physicists and scientists and doctors
and politicians, eventually.
We will-- America will face an election where
the decision will be between two candidates
that go by the last name of Nunez and Rodriguez.
In order for that to happen, I think that we need
to start broadening the narrative
in other fields that are, you know--
Entertainment is probably considered a field
that people go, "Oh, because it's entertaining,
it's not important."
It is everything, because what you do on your weekend is
you dine, you go to the movies or to a museum,
you go buy a book, you listen to music.
So culture, basically moves us.
Either apart or together.
So when Hollywood is taking note of that
and understanding that the American audience
is super multicultural, and in order for us to continue
catering to our American audience, we have to sort of
reshape our narrative, so not changing our stories,
our stories remain the same.
We still have a great sense of justice,
We still love comedy, we love superheroes.
But broadening that narrative and allowing
other American faces to sort of encapsule
the same simple message is what's most inspiring.
And I'm very proud of Hollywood and filmmakers
and studios like Marvel that are pioneering this trend.
And taking this movement - And they're proving that
it's good business. - Absolutely.
- 'Cause this is America.
- Yes.
- If it's good business, it's gonna happen.
- Absolutely.
- I love that Black Panther is
the fourth biggest movie of all time
or whatever it is. - It was inspiring.
- It's like, alright, you're damn right you're gonna get
a Storm stand-alone film, and it's gonna be good.
I'll be right there to watch it.
- But also, it wasn't overwhelmed
by outstanding issues that are pink elephants in a room
that we've known for centuries.
It was actually, it just allowed other themes
to permeate the goals and the activities and the missions
of these characters and they just so happen to be black.
That to me was the most resonating of the whole thing.
And I think it really elevated the conversation
of race because it brought it down to the origin
of pre-colonization and post-colonization.
What would a free black man be today?
You know, who is a free black man today?
Versus a black man that is a generational dissent
of post-colonization, and that to me,
the elevation of a conversation that needs
to stop being painful in order for us
to be objective about it so that we can create solutions
was the take away that I had as a woman
that's raising three black males in America.
I was very inspired.
- Well, I mean, look.
It's a business.
It is a business first and foremost.
So their responsibility as a business--
I mean, there's creative aspect, obviously.
There's the social aspect and the impact, obviously.
But it is first and foremost a business,
because that's what is always has been.
When that movie did as well as it did,
or Wonder Woman did as well as it did,
That's, then the paradigm shift changes.
That's just the deal, and I expect that
from a Hollywood point of view.
From a individual point of view, it's a different thing.
It's not about business, its not about money.
So then you conduct yourself the way you want to,
or the way you want to see the world,
or the way you want to live in this world.
But I'm happy.
It's like me doing a movie that's valued,
and supposedly I'm a better actor if it's more valuable.
It's not necessarily the case,
but it's the way the business perceives it.
So I'm glad that the business perceives
a wide array of cultures as being valuable to them now,
because I do think it will have a social impact.
- Just being able to bring something to life
that we kinda, like, dreamed about for so long,
and then seeing Chadwick bring it to life in Civil War
and carrying that on into Black Panther
and also just noticing that there was a trend as well,
that there was an opening from the very beginning as well
with Elizabeth's character and Scarlett's character,
Zoe's character, bringing women more to the forefront
and then with Panther literally just doing it,
just bringing that all together,
and then now we get to continue it with Infinity War,
that's been really, really good.
So yeah, it's shaken things up a bit
and just in a normal Marvel nature,
just carrying the baton and carrying it on
with this, that's super diverse.
We've got green people, red people,
- (laughs)
- brown people, purple people. It's wonderful.
So everybody's included and yeah, it's good.
- I think Marvel, I mean, you just look at that poster
they've obviously been leaning into it--
- For a long time. - A long time.
And trying to inculcate that more and bring that in
and continue to support and do that.
And I just think, I know with the slate that's coming up
over the next several years, and all the movies,
that it's just, it's gonna continue and get deeper.
It's kudos to Marvel.