O.K. let’s see if this makes sense.
No doubt, one of the most talked
about films so far this year is Darren Aronofsky’s
Noah. The film has gotten its share of rave reviews, though there are those who have major problems with it. However, one cannot deny that it is truly an ambitious, unique and original film – the kind of risk-taking movie you wish Hollywood would make more of, like they used to.
However, there is that one thing; That one thing that stuck out in my mind when I saw the film: “Hey, where are the black folks or people of color in the film?”
If this film
had been made back during the epic “Biblical film” era, in the 1950s, well then, yes, you would expect that.
But even Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments has black people
in it. So, here we are well into the 21st century, and Noah is populated with nothing but white people, many who speak with British or Australian accents.
Well, in a new interview on
the website The High Calling (HERE) the co-screenwriter of the film Ari Handel,
who wrote Noah with Aronofsky, was asked about the lack of diversity and
addressed by saying:
“From the beginning, we were concerned
about casting, the issue of race. What we realized is that this story is
functioning at the level of myth, and as a mythical story, the race of the
individuals doesn’t matter. They’re supposed to be stand-ins for all people.
Either you end up with a Bennetton ad or the crew of the Starship Enterprise.”
He goes on to say:
“You either try to put everything in
there, which just calls attention to it, or you just say, “Let’s make that not
a factor, because we’re trying to deal with everyman.” Looking at this story
through that kind of lens is the same as saying, “Would the ark float and is it
big enough to get all the species in there?” That’s irrelevant to the questions
because the questions are operating on a different plane than that; they’re
operating on the mythical plane.”
Really? That’s the best he
could do? Why not just say, we just didn’t want to be bothered? I would have
bought that.
So let me see if I
understand this. In other words, if we put black people or POC in the film, then people would notice it, and that would have been like really, really distracting, taking people out of the
film. So instead, we got a whole bunch of white British, American and Australian
actors to represent all mankind, because it‘s just a lot easier?
And, furthermore, putting people of color
in the film would have somewhat diminished the biblical Noah, making it look, God
forbid, like some kind of Star Trek movie?
Sorry I’m all confused here.
I was thinking that, if you want to
represent all mankind in a film, then wouldn’t it make sense to have a cast that
did actually represent all of mankind, in
every color and hue, instead of having an all white cast, and telling audiences to just squint their eyes, and pretend that he’s
another race, because it’s all just a myth after all? So black people can’t be mythical too? Nope, I guess we’re too real, too urban.
Am I wrong here, or is Handel?
You tell us.
See related post: Revisiting That ‘Narrative Exhaustion’ Thing Thanks To Ari Handel’s Explanation For The Lack Of P.O.C. In ‘Noah’
