I wrote this a few years ago, on the significance of Quvenzhané Wallis playing the lead in Annie, and the argument is still (sadly) just as relevant today in regards to a #AWrinkleInTimehttps://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/why-a-black-annie-is-so-significant/383894/?single_page=true …
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And we really don't see them in these roles, like at all. Just look at the top 100 fantasy films of all time (based on the box office): http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=liveactionfantasy.htm … There are basically no girls of color in any central roles in any of these films.
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And I think this question is most poignant not in terms of how white audiences learn to see girls of color, but for brown and black girls themselves. What happens when they don't see themselves getting empathy? Loving and being loved on screen?
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So like Annie,
#AWrinkleInTime is monumental already, because it is a major Hollywood film - widely marketed and debuting in 4,000 theaters across the country - doing something extremely rare: putting a Black girl in the central position on screen, to care and be cared for.Show this thread -
Only this time the film itself is also made by a Black woman, and co-stars other women of color. So it stands pretty much on its own in the history of mainstream Hollywood film, and its potential impact is something to think about.
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I should add that there's a big difference between supporting and lead roles in this sense, in my opinion. Because the lead is the one in whose shoes we are clearly meant to walk, so films are rarely asking any of us to walk in the shoes of brown and Black girls.
#AWrinkleInTimeShow this thread
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