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Lin Manuel Miranda responds to "In The Heights" backlash about lack of dark-skinned representation in the film's casting
- Thread starter RastaMentality
- Start date
I have honestly no doubt that LMM has good intentions. I haven't seen the film so I can't really comment on the concerns of others, but I assume they're valid. I also assume LMM will improve things going forward. Basically, I think this is an example of something that didn't execute as well as it should have been, was called out, and the creator is responding sincerely and appropriately.
More like valid criticism than backlash. The film is otherwise incredibly diverse... Like I challenge anyone to find a more diverse Hollywood summer flick, BP excluded .
From what I've seen it wasn't some sweeping 'backlash'. It was justified criticism. Honestly I'm surprised they didn't see this coming.
Eh, the two casting director's were white.
They love to plead ignorance on this stuff. But yeah, Chu had to be prepared for this after Crazy Rich Asians had similar complaints.
Especially when something is based on freakin NY. Makes no sense how they have that much of a blind spot.
It would have been good if he accepted interviews about the criticisms, or squashed the meritocracy myth that the crew were throwing around of why darker skinned actors weren't cast. And not to have white casting directors next time.
Yup.
I doubt Manuel was running around on set with a paper bag on ready to make sure they pass, but it would have been nice for him to immediately address and see the issue as opposed to letting it go viral for a few days while leaving cast etc to badly cover up for it
The actual criticism from some Afro Latinos was valid but by the time this story made its rounds you had people who had never even seen the movie calling it whitewashed and saying that there were no Afro Latinos in the main cast when the woman who played Nina is clearly a light skinned black woman.
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I recall interviews LMM did for Hamilton trying to call out the shadier parts of the real Hamilton's story and his responses really skirting on the line of "I have to sell a show people will watch, be cool."
Not to say that he got completely handcuffed by casting directors screwing him behind his back, but it's clear he cares and is sincerely trying. The apology's about as solid as it can be and I hope it's something he improves on, especially if it's eating at him the way it sounds like it is here.
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Chu isn't going to learn shit lol. He's not interested in doing research at all.
Same here. Americans need to cut the BS. Is bad enough in the Regan era they label us Hispanic.
This is from a place of genuine ignorance, is there a problem with the term? I was under the honest impression that the word was used in an attempt to be more include and broad of individuals of Latina American descent while being gender neutral. Is that not the case?
This is why I replied above as well. What you stated is what I've believed for a while now but I do sometimes see some Latino people take issue with it. And as a white person, I get confused because the majority of the time I hear the word 'Latinx' used, it is coming from someone of Latino descent.
Andy Cortez over at Kinda Funny commented on this during a podcast a few months ago, where he expressed frustration that he will sometimes have someone get upset with him for using it but he believes it's more inclusive and he chooses to use it because of that.
As someone on the outside, I want to just listen so I know what terms are best to use but I continue to see both terms used by Latinos.
It's a term that, for the most part, is relegated to activist circles and very many Latinos don't like it since it doesn't even work in Spanish.
Is exhausting how many times Latin people on era have to explain this to Americans. It doesn't work and it looks disrespectful as hell like I'm a former Latino, two when people put a Spanish twist to it it sound like Kleenex, three Latin people already stated Latine works better.
Errr....thats part of the problem people have with the movie.
Everyone who was cast in major roles is light skinned.
Colorism within the black and latino communities is a real issue so when you have a latino creative director who talks about representation constantly you would think they would ensure to include an actually diverse cast.
The darkest person in the main cast in Noah:
Pretty much everyone else is light skinned:
Why is it that threads concerned about the erasure and invisibility of darker skinned Afro Latines
ALWAYS gets derailed by this pointless nonsequitur? Like FFS can you be more blatant about how much you don't give a fuck about the actual topic 🙄
I was replying to someone else who brought up the topic, as they noted they were happy Lin didn't use the term. If you're referring to me then responding to that person, I absolutely cared about the actual topic but I had a question in response to what someone else brought up and wanted to educate myself. It was not meant to be disrespectful and I apologize if it was.
For some Latinos the term makes no sense in our native tongue and others like myself think the term was given to us by white academia because we have to have a label that makes them feel good. There are Latinos that resonate with latinx but mostly that's an American thing. By and large across the globe the people that fall into that category don't identify as such
Why is latinx even being brought at all in this thread rofl it has nothing to do with the discussion just a derail
And let people use it if they want lol plenty do plenty don't there's nothing wrong with it it doesn't stop you from using a different gender neutral alternative. I personally use latine.
And also i don't understand this being a 'new' criticism (to him), has this not been a topic of discussion ever since it debuted as a play?
And let people use it if they want lol plenty do plenty don't there's nothing wrong with it it doesn't stop you from using a different gender neutral alternative. I personally use latine.
And also i don't understand this being a 'new' criticism (to him), has this not been a topic of discussion ever since it debuted as a play?
Totally. Imagine if Mexico academia announced to white America that they are now GringoX.
I was definitely addressing my post to the poster you were responding to, as their original comment was the source of the derail and had nothing to do with LMM's comments or the topic of colorism at hand.
I would not have said anything if this wasn't a common occurrence in threads where criticism of colorism and racism in LatAm cultures are the nominal focus. But it is, and I feel that needs to be addressed, or at least called out.
LMM: here's some opium laced cake
People: why yes I accept this apology
Others: what about the last time we brought his up when it was a play?
LMM: heroes cast that way
People: why yes I accept this apology
Others: what about the last time we brought his up when it was a play?
LMM: heroes cast that way
I'm not saying the film couldn't have done better, but as a Dominican from the Bronx, this film truly does make me feel seen, same as when I saw it a decade and a half ago when it was still off-Broadway. I literally can't leave the play or movie without sobbing, this is my story, my parent's stories told on the stage and now the big screen, even if there isn't someone who looks exactly like me. This is the problem when there's only one fucking film with latinos in the leading roles, it completely falls on this singular project to represent a diverse community that has had breadcrumbs for decades. Greenlight more latino-led casts you can show more voices. It is impossible for one film to carry that weight.
Interesting you missed Benny, a lead character with three of his own songs:Errr....thats part of the problem people have with the movie.
Everyone who was cast in major roles is light skinned.
Colorism within the black and latino communities is a real issue so when you have a latino creative director who talks about representation constantly you would think they would ensure to include an actually diverse cast.
The darkest person in the main cast in Noah:
Pretty much everyone else is light skinned:
Stop assuming and look on what I wrote on the previous thread about this same topic. That's the only thing he did right in that weak ass apology.
Being a kid born and raised in the heights (lived a bit in DR and still live in the heights actually) I got to get around it and see klk with the film. I wonder if captures the essence of the neighborhood. Sucks that the film bombed tho.
My sense is that how it performed the first weekend is at least partly due to it being also available via streaming. That said, it's a musical and might therefore have legs (a la The Greatest Showman).
Hard to tell. COVID is still a thing and people are shy about movies.
Read what you bolded again. Light skinned black are black people.
Read the apology again, and make sure you don't skip over the colorism part this time. He even says the word colorism explicitly, in case you didn't understand what was meant when he apologized to dark-skinned Afro-Latinos.