'Why do I need an all-Black cast?' Disney criticizes Peltz remarks

Walt Disney Co on Friday said that remarks by activist investor Nelson Peltz criticizing the company for making movies dominated by female and Black actors is evidence that he shouldn’t be on Disney’s board.

Peltz, whose fight to join Disney as a director has become one of the year’s most bitter and closely watched board battles, in an interview with the Financial Times said Disney’s films have become too focused on delivering a message, and not enough on quality storytelling. He specifically took issue with “The Marvels” and “Black Panther.”

“Why do I have to have a Marvel that’s all women? Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that?" Peltz said in the interview, published on Friday. "Why can’t I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?”

Asked about Peltz’s remarks, a Disney spokesperson responded: “This is exactly why Nelson Peltz shouldn’t be anywhere near a creatively driven company.”

Crack0n7uesday,

Yeah well, if you check the recent audience scores and opening weekend profits for their films, other people seem to agree with him.

MirthfulAlembic,
@MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world avatar

The two Black Panther movies combined have grossed over 2 billion dollars. I wouldn’t say that agrees with him. It’s also odd to assume that movies which didn’t do as well, like The Marvels, were because of a female dominated cast and not because they were just bad movies.

foggy,

I don’t care if it’s all women or all black, I just don’t want another Marvel movie. Ever.

friendlymessage,

Why? It’s not like you are forced to watch them

Doubleohdonut,

Aren’t I though?

Passerby6497,

Are you though? I stopped watching before infinity war and haven’t watched anything marvel since, outside of the one series I actually had interest in.

Doubleohdonut,

And yet I’m still inundated by advertising for each movie, making me keenly aware of the thing I don’t want constantly rammed down my throat. I’ve come to expect it at fast food restaurants, but I can’t even shop for groceries without Marvel trying to push something at me. I’m not actively watching Marvel movies, but they are still part of my life whether I want them there or not.

friendlymessage,

Why? It’s not like you are forced to watch them

Olhonestjim,

Nobody said we were forced to. I don’t want another one either. They ran superheros into the ground years ago. If they make another, I won’t watch it. They’re exhausting now.

ours,

And the movies I like still seem to manage to get financed (Dune, Poor Things…) so I don’t need to care about what Marvel does.

There was a time when it felt like only superhero movies would make it to the cinemas, but it seems they over-did it and people got somewhat tired.

BigMacHole,

AGREED! Why should I use BLACK ACTORS just because the movie takes place in a country with MAJORITY Black People? And WHY on God’s Green Earth should I cast WOMEN to play FEMALE Superheroes?

EatATaco,

Be careful with the “majority” part of it because that opens the doors for lots of racists to whine about how a lot of traditionally white characters are replaced by black characters. What you’re looking for is that the point is they are black. Their blackness is essential to the characters.

For something like, say, the little mermaid, her being white is not even remotely essential to her character. Which is why no one should be even remotely offended by the fact that it has been played by a black actress.

Of course you can also swap in female for black and the point is the same.

nutsack,

if you like any of these movies you’re a baby

mindbleach,

Some people think they’re the default. It’s everyone else who insists on being different at them.

Genuinely had these folks tell me, if there’s no specific reason a character must be unlike them, there’s no reason that character should be unlike them. Because racism is when other people exist.

profdc9,

Why should I care about this? Do any of these people care about producing better entertainment that is not pandering or exploitative?

ThrowawayPermanente,

Haha no. One side cares about starting Brave, Important Conversations while the other side cares about money.

FunkPhenomenon,

blackwashing and sexism isnt creativity, but I wouldnt expect Disney to understand that

synae,
@synae@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

An investor should not care about anything but box office and whatever grift is going on with “Hollywood accounting”. To be concerned with certain aspects of the content being prouduced is counterproductive, especially for investors

shasta,

But he’s not just an investor. He’s trying to get in the board of directors so he can affect products

synae,
@synae@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Gross

pyrflie,

And shouldn’t be allowed near it since his opinions are detrimental to both quality and profitability.

I’m more concerned with the first but investors should really be worried about the second given his stake. Disney is vulnerable to conservative takeover with enough capital.

yamanii,
@yamanii@lemmy.world avatar

The Nintendo investor that loudly asked for a new F-Zero was kinda based ngl

yogurt,

Fun story when they made that psycho Transformers movie with the laminated age of consent law and the product placement transformer made out of Oreo vending machines, Peltz’s daughter is the teenager it’s supposed to be legal to molest and Peltz was on the Oreo company board.

Tier1BuildABear,
@Tier1BuildABear@lemmy.world avatar

I’m not having fun…

elbarto777, (edited )

Wait, what? What psycho transformers movie is this?!

Edit: nevermind. I looked up the scene. Whatever the fuck was that?!

mindbleach,

Tonight’s Episode: The Writer’s Barely-Disguised Fetish

ButtDrugs,

Link?

elbarto777,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUq0HlMvQw0

Blackmist,

Probably the first movie where “starring Mark Wahlberg” isn’t its biggest problem.

sin_free_for_00_days,

What the fuck?

Smoogs, (edited )

People like this shouldn’t ever be considered ‘creative’. Dunno how we got here but glad they are choosing to reverse that decision.

scytale,

Imagine being an “activist investor”.

NigelFrobisher,

Neither of those casts were all anything, apart from human.

Cosmicomical,

Found the alien activist

PotatoesFall,

“activist investor” yeah cool that’s about all I needed to know

njm1314,

I mean why wouldn’t the cast of the Black Panther be mainly black? That’s just weird that you wouldn’t have it that way. Also Captain Marvel and Ms Marvel are both female characters I don’t know what this guy is after here. Why would he pick those examples?

formergijoe,

They should do what the comics did when they were told there needed to be more white people in Black Panther and just have him start beating up the KKK.

skyspydude1,

From the Lee power duo of Stan and Spike, coming this summer: BlacKKK Panther

Beetschnapps,

All this guy is basically saying is “why make a movie that isn’t exactly the way I think?”

Embedded in his mindset is the idea that black people don’t deserve their own audience.

Ranvier, (edited )

Because whenever a movie or TV show or video game has anything except a cis hetero white man as the main character, people like this start screeching. They aren’t satisfied with having people that look like themselves represented in the vast majority of main characters. They view any time a character not matching the above description shows up in some kind of media as discrimination against themselves. Any slight reduction in privilage they mistake for real discrimination. They mask this by claiming they’re just concerned with the integrity of the art or some nonsense, especially the gamer gate type crowd.

Anytime a gay character or a female character or someone pops up they start yelling, “why does this character have to be gay? It must be lazy pandering at the expense of a good story.” To which I would pose the same question back to them. Any piece of media featuring a straight cis white man, why does the character have to be a straight white man? Must be lazy pandering at the expense of story.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s more interesting to have a wide variety of characters and stories in media. Sometimes people are just gay, or are just straight, or just female, or just male. It might have a big impact in a story and it might not. It shouldn’t be “unless this is a story specifically about the gay/female/black experience the character must be straight/male/white by default.” If that is going to be part of that piece of media, great, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be depending on the story being told. You’ll never see this crowd upset with a straight white male character for these reasons though, very transparent.

Smoogs,

Just ask where all their inclusive screeching was back when it was an all white male cast in everything. If they shut up back then they need to shut it now.

SeaJ, (edited )

Why would you have a movie set in Africa have a nearly all black cast? He’s seriously asking that? Apparently you don’t need basic intelligence to be a billionaire. How often does he ask why shows like Billions or Succession have to be about white families?

ME5SENGER_24,

The Disney philosophy, at this point, is that people who have been unrepresented for years will take issue towards efforts that are not strictly made with inclusivity in mind and those who have been represented will accept it as progress, then the small few who take issue with “wokeness” will watch it because “it’s Disney”

Their gamble is paying off because lets face it, 90% of the world with a TV screen has grown up with Disney.

So while you might disagree with Disney’s take on X, Y or Z, that fucking mouse is so engrained on us that we will accept whatever bullshit they put forward

QuarterSwede,
@QuarterSwede@lemmy.world avatar

And let’s be honest, it’s not like they’re pushing anything immoral, obscene, etc.

ryathal,

Their recent movies have been obscene insults to writing.

VaultBoyNewVegas,

Yep. I’ve had no interest in watching the remakes but that’s because I grew up with watching the originals as a kid but if I had kids then I would take them to see the remakes while they can watch the originals too. It’s a non issue imo. The remakes aren’t essential viewing for anyone.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • news@lemmy.world
  • ethstaker
  • DreamBathrooms
  • cubers
  • mdbf
  • everett
  • magazineikmin
  • Durango
  • Youngstown
  • rosin
  • slotface
  • modclub
  • kavyap
  • GTA5RPClips
  • ngwrru68w68
  • JUstTest
  • thenastyranch
  • cisconetworking
  • khanakhh
  • osvaldo12
  • InstantRegret
  • Leos
  • tester
  • tacticalgear
  • normalnudes
  • provamag3
  • anitta
  • megavids
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •