Brie Larson, the star of the upcoming Captain Marvel live-action motion picture has reiterated her stance that she believes that there are too many white males reviewing movies.
Speaking with a disabled journalist from Marie Claire on February 7th, 2019, it was revealed that Larson personally requested the disabled journalist as part of her effort to use her “privilege” to give back. She explained to the disabled journalist why she was using her celebrity benevolence to allow the disabled journalist in her presence, like a princess to a pauper…
“About a year ago, I started paying attention to what my press days looked like and the critics reviewing movies, and noticed it appeared to be overwhelmingly white male. So, I spoke to Dr Stacy Smith at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, who put together a study to confirm that. Moving forward, I decided to make sure my press days were more inclusive. After speaking with you, the film critic Valerie Complex and a few other women of colour, it sounded like across the board they weren’t getting the same opportunities as others. When I talked to the facilities that weren’t providing it, they all had different excuses.’”
It’s true that Larson actually had a study done on how many white males were in the review ring.
Bounding Into Comics actually quoted the stats from the study that was reported on by the Hollywood Reporter, where it was revealed that out of nearly 20,000 reviews, 63.9% were written by white men, while only 18.1% of those reviews were written by women, and 13.8% were written by men of color. Last and least were the women of color, who only made up 4.1% of the critic’s circle for those 20,000 reviews.
Larson literally tells Marie Claire that she wanted to use her “privileges” as Captain Marvel to throw a proverbial bone to those non-white, non-abled bodied journalists and critics out there, like some kind of aristocrat giving old, worn clothes to the homeless while patting themselves on the back, or a plutocrat tossing a coin to a tattered-shoe-wearing hobo straggling around street corners for a warm meal and the comfort of a four-walled shelter.
Larson explains…
“I want to go out of my way to connect the dots. It just took me using the power that I’ve been given now as Captain Marvel. [The role] comes with all these privileges and powers that make me feel uncomfortable because I don’t really need them.
“[…] ‘I’ve never craved the spotlight that often comes along with success in this business. It’s a by-product of the profession and a sign of the times. But any uncomfortableness I feel is balanced by the knowledge that it gives me the ability to advocate for myself and others.”
This is a mirror of what Larson had said before about there being too many white men reviewing movies. Bounding Into Comics also pointed to other quotes from Larson, who mentioned elsewhere that she doesn’t hate white men, saying…
“For the third time, I don’t hate white dudes. These are just facts. These are not my feelings. Am I saying I hate white dudes? No, I am not. What I am saying is you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance a woman of color will have a chance to see your movie, and review your movie.”
This certainly isn’t going to help Larson nor Marvel with the positive press for Captain Marvel leading up to its theatrical run on March 8th, 2019.
Right now it seems like she’s riding high down that not-so-lonely highway called Woke; but it’s just a matter of time before the asphalt ends and the darkness begins, with her once promising blockbuster film falling into that dark devil’s den called Broke.
(Thanks for the news tip ennis)
