Wednesday, November 18, 2009

She seems to have an invisible touch, yeah...



Look Closely. What do you notice about these two pictures?

In the second picture, the black couple is missing. The poster on the left was for U.S release and the poster on the right was for British (or European, depending on the news source,) release. Universal Studios' original response to someone highlighting the difference was that they wanted to focus on the "most recognizable stars" for the international release.

Yes, because Jean Reno and Malin Ackerman are huge international stars. I can't turn on E! Entertainment television without hearing about Brangelina and Maliwhomeverhe/sheismarriedtonameshmooshedwithhis/hers.

Universal later put out another statement saying that they were sorry if anyone was offended. They also said they would discontinue the use of the second poster.

I'm just wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the meeting where they decided to photoshop out those two actors. I wonder why no one involved with this whole process wasn't like, "Hmm...this has the potential to be offensive to a large number of people--maybe we should reconsider." What kept that from happening?

Thoughts? I'd love to hear them.

5 comments:

  1. They probably thought that black or brown folks wouldn't notice anyway. Almost like you barely notice the black couple in the U.S. add in the first place. And I don't think industry truly cares about racial sensitivity unless it going to affect their bottom line.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I heard Maliwhomeverhe/sheismarriedtonameshmooshedwithhis/hers just adopted seven kids from seven countries and shaved their heads. Its the new thing!

    Oh and.. yeah, that whole movie is racish.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6:34 PM

    It would be interesting to know which countries feature more non-white actors in films, and also inter-racial couples (more! more!).
    JD

    ReplyDelete
  4. j galt12:17 PM

    Here is what was said in the meeting room. Worker 1 "I think it would be unwise to photoshop the black folks out." Worker 2. "When do we get our year end bonuses? Worker 3 "As long as we all get paid, who gives a shit. Print them both"

    It seems the same process was involved in the Fort Hood shouting. Keep your mouth shout and advance your career. Unfortunatly a lot of people die when good people do nothing. What a shame. The squeeky wheel gets the grease, but it is the first one to be replace.

    ReplyDelete