Lack of Black Ppl in Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movies (Lord of the Rings, Etc)

[Loki d]

The Lord of the Rings and the Game of Thrones are two amazing creations. I love both of them. I love the fantasy genre in general. However I noticed most of these fantasy genre movies use the same setting which is a Medieval Europe with Kings and Queens in Kingdoms and such or Greek Gods..

So I began to wonder can I have something new...I have never seen a fantasy genre movie that is centered around Medieval Africa or have an African theme with African mythology, legends, and cryptos. I would love to see something new...Avatar was a great film but not what I'm looking for.

Spoiler

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I'm actually excited for "The Great Wall" to premier in theaters...its looks like it will be a good Chinese Fantasy...something new...

Don't confuse this thread with a complaint about whitewashing or racism...I'm actually looking at this in a positive lens..

I stumbled across a few novels like Imaro, Lagoon, Who Fears Death that have what I'm looking for...though I'd prefer a movie.

 

[chopstickchakra]

Thing is movies are made for targeted audiences. The majority of the black community doesn't seemingly indulge in fantasy of that degree so it's unlikely you'll see a fantasy project with a majority percentage of it's cast being black. If the demand is there, someone will see and provide a supply. The best way to get more black characters in fantasy is to get more black consumers to buy fantasy.

 

[Bad Touch Yakushi]

It's largely with LOTR because it is such an old European story, it's a fictionalised version of a very outdated world. Same with GOT since he's just inspired by Tolkien and such too. It's always been that way so obviously there's little black appeal. It's not that they're underrepresented it's just...they literally don't exist in these very old period pieces.

I think it'd be great though- more roles and representation all round.

 

[Loki d]

Thing is movies are made for targeted audiences. The majority of the black community doesn't seemingly indulge in fantasy of that degree so it's unlikely you'll see a fantasy project with a majority percentage of it's cast being black. If the demand is there, someone will see and provide a supply. The best way to get more black characters in fantasy is to get more black consumers to buy fantasy.

Nah I don't think you need to be a Black consumer...the targeted audience is never really the audience that buys the materials...examples being Pokemon meant for kids but young adults are majority of consumers, Call of Duty meant for Young Adults but little kids are the consumers.

I am not white but I was attracted to Game of thrones...my ethnicity is not Japanese but I enjoy their entertainment especially Ninja Warrior.

 

[Jokule67]

Nah I don't think you need to be a Black consumer...the targeted audience is never really the audience that buys the materials...examples being Pokemon meant for kids but young adults are majority of consumers, Call of Duty meant for Young Adults but little kids are the consumers.

I am not white but I was attracted to Game of thrones...my ethnicity is not Japanese but I enjoy their entertainment especially Ninja Warrior.

You both made great points

 

[ChicagoJhawk]

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[chopstickchakra]

Nah I don't think you need to be a Black consumer...the targeted audience is never really the audience that buys the materials...examples being Pokemon meant for kids but young adults are majority of consumers, Call of Duty meant for Young Adults but little kids are the consumers.

I am not white but I was attracted to Game of thrones...my ethnicity is not Japanese but I enjoy their entertainment especially Ninja Warrior.

The young adults buying pokemon stuff now are the kids it was targeted to originally though.

If the majority of one section of the market isn't buying your genre then it's less often a creator will take the time to create characters to attract them.

I'm telling you, as the black community grows in the fantasy/fiction genre fan base you'll see more characters mirroring them to reflect that.

That's why most anime are designed in an Asian style, because they're targeted to the Asian audience and any cross over support they get is a bonus but they're not going out of their way to incorporate other designs or aspects in an attempt to bring in an audience, as more outsiders get into anime and manga we've gotten more material that incorporated more global concepts.

It happened in comics too, when the majority of buyers were white we had Superman and Capt. then when more communities were getting into them we got comics like X-Men that dealt with diversity.

 

[-Punk-]

Thing is movies are made for targeted audiences. The majority of the black community doesn't seemingly indulge in fantasy of that degree so it's unlikely you'll see a fantasy project with a majority percentage of it's cast being black. If the demand is there, someone will see and provide a supply. The best way to get more black characters in fantasy is to get more black consumers to buy fantasy.

I agree with this, they are more into Madeas movies or action movies like Fast and the furious. It targets certain audience, I'm watching the 100 right now and oh boy lol You'll see why there's lack of black people in scifi series or movies.

 

[Loki d]

The young adults buying pokemon stuff now are the kids it was targeted to originally though.

If the majority of one section of the market isn't buying your genre then it's less often a creator will take the time to create characters to attract them.

I'm telling you, as the black community grows in the fantasy/fiction genre fan base you'll see more characters mirroring them to reflect that.

That's why most anime are designed in an Asian style, because they're targeted to the Asian audience and any cross over support they get is a bonus but they're not going out of their way to incorporate other designs or aspects in an attempt to bring in an audience, as more outsiders get into anime and manga we've gotten more material that incorporated more global concepts.

It happened in comics too, when the majority of buyers were white we had Superman and Capt. then when more communities were getting into them we got comics like X-Men that dealt with diversity.

Oh you're mistaken my friend...I'm not talking about including Blacks into someone's story creation...I'm talking about the lack of fantasy films that have African centered mythology and such.

In other words I'm not talking about inclusion...I'm talking about creation and producing films based off novels that are Afro fantasy and Sci-fi based. The novels and story worlds are already there... Nobody cares too much about support characters it is usually the main characters or protagonists that people care about...

Plus I know many Black people are tired of the same genre being produced Slavery, Crime Drama, Etc

 

[-Punk-]

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What is this fella? is this suppose to mean something? Cause they were the only blackguys in their universes/movies lol.

 

[The Work]

I mean people do try out for a role in these films I assume.

Probably just shows Black people don't want to be in these types of shows.

 

[chopstickchakra]

Oh you're mistaken my friend...I'm not talking about including Blacks into someone's story creation...I'm talking about the lack of fantasy films that have African centered mythology and such.

In other words I'm not talking about inclusion...I'm talking about creation and producing films based off novels that are Afro fantasy and Sci-fi based. The novels and story worlds are already there... Nobody cares too much about support characters it is usually the main characters or protagonists that people care about...

Plus I know many Black people are tired of the same genre being produced Slavery, Crime Drama, Etc

No I got what you meant and there's not going to be many creators eager to create a fantasy story focused on African history/culture/myth when the African communities aren't buying their style in high quantities. When the content producers feel there is enough interest in the topic that it's worth the cost they will move forward, right now they are not and I gotta think that's mostly because there wouldn't be a big enough market to compensate the cost. I'm sure there's multiple reasons why but the biggest reason is $.

I'm gonna take it back to comics since I'm most familiar with them. It started with white buyers-Capt. Supes, then the 70's more black and other races started reading so they incorporated them into stories(Sam Wilson in Cap) and created some new titles that touch on it(X-Men, Luke Cage, Black Panther) 90's black heroes get more focus-Luke's pushed in status to join a team, Spawn comes out. As more people started investing in the product their group is given more prominence in the stories to the point where they can become the focus. The same would go for film, the more the black community makes it known they enjoy the medium the more creators will create with them in mind. I'm not saying you're alone I know there are black fans I'm just saying your probably not in the majority.

 

[Loki d]

I just think if they at least attempted to produce such films and television it would solve a few issues people keep complaining about...killing multiple birds with one stone.

 

[roark]

The young adults buying pokemon stuff now are the kids it was targeted to originally though.

If the majority of one section of the market isn't buying your genre then it's less often a creator will take the time to create characters to attract them.

I'm telling you, as the black community grows in the fantasy/fiction genre fan base you'll see more characters mirroring them to reflect that.

That's why most anime are designed in an Asian style, because they're targeted to the Asian audience and any cross over support they get is a bonus but they're not going out of their way to incorporate other designs or aspects in an attempt to bring in an audience, as more outsiders get into anime and manga we've gotten more material that incorporated more global concepts.

It happened in comics too, when the majority of buyers were white we had Superman and Capt. then when more communities were getting into them we got comics like X-Men that dealt with diversity.

just my two cents: even if i agree that the majority of the pokemon base are the kids of 90's, pokemon is still a game aimed to kids, but the mechanic and actual competitive battle system is really complex and appeal an older audience.

Regarding fantasy fiction not being focused on black people, i don't have any opinion, but it's not just a LOTR and GOT thing. Even if there's a quite of good video games with black protagonists I never read a fantasy book or watched series focused on african culture, and that would be interesting.

I tend to believe it is lack of demand, however, may also be because in our Western society, African culture is ignored and not put on the agenda, causing the lack of demand and no cultural interest.

 

[kimb]

The young adults buying pokemon stuff now are the kids it was targeted to originally though.

If the majority of one section of the market isn't buying your genre then it's less often a creator will take the time to create characters to attract them.

I'm telling you, as the black community grows in the fantasy/fiction genre fan base you'll see more characters mirroring them to reflect that.

That's why most anime are designed in an Asian style, because they're targeted to the Asian audience and any cross over support they get is a bonus but they're not going out of their way to incorporate other designs or aspects in an attempt to bring in an audience, as more outsiders get into anime and manga we've gotten more material that incorporated more global concepts.

It happened in comics too, when the majority of buyers were white we had Superman and Capt. then when more communities were getting into them we got comics like X-Men that dealt with diversity.

So explain western societies consumption of manga and anime.

Tbh, Nearly every single one of your posts low key enrage me on how idiotic of an argument they make.

 

[kimb]

Thing is movies are made for targeted audiences. The majority of the black community doesn't seemingly indulge in fantasy of that degree so it's unlikely you'll see a fantasy project with a majority percentage of it's cast being black. If the demand is there, someone will see and provide a supply. The best way to get more black characters in fantasy is to get more black consumers to buy fantasy.

Are you saying characters in fantasy movies are white because the movie companies target audience is white? This is also making the assumption that white people only consume scifi and fantasy media because there are white people in it. God, this comment is stupid.

 

[Adam Driver]

Something like this is really insignificant and I'm sure majority of the actual scifi and fantasy fans like myself don't give a damn about the race, gender of a certain character. All that matters is the story and creativity behind it

 

[Jazzy Stardust]

for whatever reason you have some need to be constantly reminded that black people exist. the black Jesus thing and tons of other threads, you are way too focused on race, less importance should be put on race in society imo not more, that just creates more racists when race matters so much

just saying though, not attacking you just every time i log on its something about black people. its cool to have pride in yourself but you are more than your skin and outer appearance

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OT: this is pretty much pointless, i mean theres tons of good fantasy, maybe in the future there will be African American themed ones though, maybe youre the one to do it

what i do know historically(though this is fantasy) black people werent really in Europe too much during the medieval times they were having. they were mostly in Africa and the African Muslims or Moores helped the Europeans get their soiecity going again when they would travel there. not many lived there though, it was mostly trip to medieval Europe to help them after their society collapsed

 

[Ōkami]

The Orks and Golbins in Lord of the Rings were black sometimes so there ya go

 

[Loki d]

Something like this is really insignificant and I'm sure majority of the actual scifi and fantasy fans like myself don't give a damn about the race, gender of a certain character. All that matters is the story and creativity behind it

You claim you don't care about race or gender yet you mention that only...ignoring the rest...my post is literally about creativity something new and refreshing...

for whatever reason you have some need to be constantly reminded that black people exist. the black Jesus thing and tons of other threads, you are way too focused on race, less importance should be put on race in society imo not more, that just creates more racists when race matters so much

just saying though, not attacking you just every time i log on its something about black people. its cool to have pride in yourself but you are more than your skin and outer appearance

---

OT: this is pretty much pointless, i mean theres tons of good fantasy, maybe in the future there will be African American themed ones though, maybe youre the one to do it

what i do know historically(though this is fantasy) black people werent really in Europe too much during the medieval times they were having. they were mostly in Africa and the African Muslims or Moores helped the Europeans get their soiecity going again when they would travel there. not many lived there though, it was mostly trip to medieval Europe to help them after their society collapsed

Yeah race isn't the main topic of my thread....a new fantasy theme and setting is....