‘Sweetness In The Belly’: First Clip Of Dakota Fanning As A White Ethiopian Muslim In Refugee Story
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That review is a tad ridiculous to be honest. I've seen well received Bollywood films be more guilty of stereotyping than the things described there (though that's not to say what's in there is not a stereotypical depiction of India).
I appreciate the context. Made me search a little more. From the Amazon description:
"Like Brick Lane and The Kite Runner, Camilla Gibb's widely praised new novel is a poignant and intensely atmospheric look beyond the stereotypes of Islam. After her hippie British parents are murdered, Lilly is raised at a Sufi shrine in Morocco. As a young woman she goes on pilgrimage to Harar, Ethiopia, where she teaches Qur'an to children and falls in love with an idealistic doctor. But even swathed in a traditional headscarf, Lilly can't escape being marked as a foreigner. Forced to flee Ethiopia for England, she must once again confront the riddle of who she is and where she belongs. "
Basmati Blues is one of those shitty movies that a studio keeps in storage until one of the actors becomes a big star. Brie Larson was practically a nobody when she made it and then she won an Oscar, so the movie was released. It was shot in 2013, didn't come out till 2018 lol.
I'm sure Larson is embarrassed to have it on her resume.
I'm sure Larson is embarrassed to have it on her resume.
--Bernardine Evaristo (founder of the Brunel International African Poetry Prize and the Theatre of Black Women, Britain's first black women's theatre company)
Also the director is Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, who was born and raised in Ethiopia.
Not implying this absolves it of criticism, but added context never hurts, fwiw.
In Aloha, they took what was written to be a native Hawaiian character and cast Emma Stone, which required them to add a ridiculous line in the script about her being 1/4th Hawaiian (and we have to assume 3/4th Casper the Friendly Ghost) to compensate. For this movie, Dakota Fanning's character is actually supposed to be white.
As always, the fact that it's an adaptation or based on a true story doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is, for every story of a white person in a foreign land / culture, there's a million stories of a person ethnically representative of that foreign land. But Hollywood is more likely to greenlight and create a movie about that white person in a foreign land / culture.
Yeah this is will always be my major issue.
Hollywood or not it seems we always go down the same paths and I dont like it.
There's nothing problematic here except 1) a shitty headline intentionally written to try to stir up shit from people who won't actually read the article or do any sort of critical thinking and 2) said people, who like moths to a flame are simply unable to avoid turning out in droves
Do I have to forgive you for not doing any actual research into it before automatically complaining about its existence? Because if you had, you would have seen the book it was based on, seen how well written and well received it was and also found out that Hollywood had nothing to do with the movies existence.
it's produced by a Canadian film company and being handled by international distributors. This is far away from a hollywood production.
This isn't a "Hollywood Movie". It's a festival film.
And the reason that is done in general in Hollywood films is because the audience (America) is not of that culture, so it's an easier sell. Also, these types of movies really aren't that common anymore anyways. I struggle to think of very many from the last decade. The "Stranger in a Strange Land" trope is a time tested formula though, and is just more often applied to fantasy worlds now.
Sounds like this is an indie movie company production, not based in Hollywood though...
Yeah, noticed after posting, I glossed over the word Toronto there.
If you're talking about the headline of this topic, I agree. The Deadline headline is perfectly fine, but the "...wait" is the OP entirely trying to frame it to stir people up.
Yup. Issue is less about Hollywood telling these stories, its the fact they ignore the thousands of other stories that don't feature white people as the focus (or re-write stories so white people who are vaguely involved become the focus).
I saw a Don Cheadle interview recently where he was talking about his Miles Davis passion project and how he had to write in the Ewan Mcgregor role for it to get green lit. You have one of the greatest musicians of all time and still hollywood feels that it needs a white face to sell it or white people won't buy tickets to see it, which has been dis proven time and time again
The premise sounds like a Wes Anderson film. I know it's not without checking because the all the leads aren't white
Its a pretty easy mistake to make sense it happens so often but ti really does not change the points being made here its hard to ignored.
I dunno, stacking "White Ethiopian Muslim In Refugee Drama" all into a single header is pretty much beggin for it.
I'm being facetious. Whenever I say "Hollywood" in instances like this, I simply mean the overarching system of film making in general. It doesn't matter if it's Hollywood, a Canadian film company, or independent production company - they all feed into the same tropes that perpetuate these types of movies being continually made.
Morocco, and there is really no shortage of white people in Morocco, maybe they should try to cast someone from there instead of once again trying to find out how they can cram american actors into stories to make them rElAtAbLe.
Also, the decision of what stories to tell or not tell are not something you can just ignore, even if you choose to tell stories that based/inspired by true events. Not every story has to be framed as "but how did impact white people?"
I mean, it's what the movie is about. Describing the movie isn't them attempting to stir shit up.
I put the synopsis in the OP as soon as someone posted it ... it's right in the OP
Lmao. This will all boil down to how they stick the landing, the story synopsis is a different spin than usual and the movie has the potential to escape the White savior trope if the writing comes correct.
If they do the Ethiopian people justice and Fanning has a hit, Scarjo will be so pissed LoL.
If they do the Ethiopian people justice and Fanning has a hit, Scarjo will be so pissed LoL.
Lmao!!
What exactly is the issue here?
There are many white muslims, and many white people in Africa. Perhaps it's unusual to those who are not familiar with that concept.
There are many white muslims, and many white people in Africa. Perhaps it's unusual to those who are not familiar with that concept.
Yea OP did it on purpose to get shit stirred and get folks riled. Shameful.
That's exactly the problem, and it doesn't matter if it's Hollywood, American Independent, or International Production companies. They all operate the same way.
It doesn't matter that it's an adaptation of a novel, or being directed by an Ethiopian director. I'm sure that Ethiopian director would love the opportunity to make a movie about Haile Selassie, but that movie is going to be passed over 999 times out of a 1000 for things like this and The Red Sea Diving Resort.
I think that is the lure here right? Many people have a perceived notion that muslim=arabic.
Yeah stuff like this always have some type of they must follow caveat
I disagree. And what you're playing into is actually supporting Hollywood's recent trope of "X must direct X". I actually think the end goal for any director or writer is NOT to just tell stories about their culture. I have no idea what this particular director wants to do, but I wouldn't assume he is dying to tell a story about his people. He probably wants to make blockbuster films like everyone else.
Most people do those types of cultural movies (And movies like this) to get noticed and move into bigger budget filmmaking that isn't really particularly about any culture.
So the actual meat of this thread is "adapatation of a novel about a white person, stars a white person"?
Now you can argue, quite strongly, that Hollywood doesn't adapt enough from non-western/white sources but to try and stir outrage or anger from something like this is quite frankly ridiculous.
Now you can argue, quite strongly, that Hollywood doesn't adapt enough from non-western/white sources but to try and stir outrage or anger from something like this is quite frankly ridiculous.
I think this is the meat of the argument.
Edit: Meat of the argument that is. Not the intent of the title. That's clicks
You mean from Deadline or the OP? I mean the character is a White Muslim Woman in Ethopia.
Maybe this is explained in the book, but why Ethiopia? That country is mainly Christian and has been for ages.
It's just a bit odd that of all the Northern(ish) African countries to set your story about a white Muslim, you pick the one that has been Christian for most of its existence.
It's just a bit odd that of all the Northern(ish) African countries to set your story about a white Muslim, you pick the one that has been Christian for most of its existence.
Was posted earlier:
"Like Brick Lane and The Kite Runner, Camilla Gibb's widely praised new novel is a poignant and intensely atmospheric look beyond the stereotypes of Islam. After her hippie British parents are murdered, Lilly is raised at a Sufi shrine in Morocco. As a young woman she goes on pilgrimage to Harar, Ethiopia, where she teaches Qur'an to children and falls in love with an idealistic doctor. But even swathed in a traditional headscarf, Lilly can't escape being marked as a foreigner. Forced to flee Ethiopia for England, she must once again confront the riddle of who she is and where she belongs. "
From Wikipedia:
According to UNESCO, it is "considered 'the fourth holy city' of Islam" with 82 mosques, three of which date from the 10th century, and 102 shrines.[5][6]