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    JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereBobby Finger
    12/09/15 7:50pm

    I get what she says where she doesn’t want to be locked into a project for three years, but I think Black Panther would have been in line with her goal. He was one of the first black superheroes; more importantly, he was a KING. He was royalty in a technologically advanced nation in Africa. It’d be a chance to portray a beautiful country as something other than a 3rd world poverty stricken place. Arguably Storm from X-Men does this to an extent, but this has always been a cinematically underwritten character

    Not trying to man/nerd/whitesplain. I’m a fan of hers and best of luck.

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      Bears for PresidentJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      12/09/15 8:24pm

      Marvel movies are a lot of things but “complexity” is not a word that comes to mind.

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      ArghJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      12/09/15 8:48pm

      Most Marvel movies are pretty tightly controlled by the studio. Even ones where the director can have relative freedom (like GOTG) had parts where Kevin Feige was ordering things around directly.

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    MON65Bobby Finger
    12/09/15 7:45pm

    What is Star Wars? Never heard of it.

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      DarthPumpkinMON65
      12/09/15 7:54pm

      Isn’t that the TV show with Kirk and Spock?

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      XofMON65
      12/09/15 7:57pm
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    GuanoLadBobby Finger
    12/09/15 7:18pm

    J.J. Abrams, the man who recently referred to Star Wars as a “boys’ thing,”

    He was referring to the original Star Wars trilogy, and in my experience that is exactly how it was marketed for a couple of decades. A family film, yes, but with a rather heavy emphasis towards boys, especially in the licensing. He was not wrong.

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      thatsjustmyhairGuanoLad
      12/09/15 7:24pm

      I was going to add the prequels to that, but remembered that I did purchase a Queen Amidala paper-doll set. So there def was some marketing toward girls for the prequels. I remember Amidala barbies, etc. I don’t think there was anything for Leia beyond Kenner action figures.

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      caperclawGuanoLad
      12/09/15 7:29pm

      Yeah it was for sure a “boy thing” when I was a kid. I mean yeah Leia was super important, but when it came to toys/games and whatnot they were all aimed directly at boys. What Abrams said was 100% right imo.

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    XofBobby Finger
    12/09/15 7:28pm

    I like the fact that the people behind the Star Wars sequels are aware of the cultural landscape and are attempting to be more inclusive in terms of casting and directorial considerations. I also like the fact that Ava has a specific artistic vision that is important to her and her audience. So maybe good on both of them?

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      This is Bat CountryXof
      12/09/15 8:35pm

      It’s really nice when you don’t have to pick a side.

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      PanchoVilleneuve STXof
      12/09/15 8:58pm

      And how 99% of the job on a movie like Star Wars or Black Panther isn’t working with actors, guiding and developing characters and performances, it’s waiting to pass safety inspections before every take, working with people from the numerous special effects departments so that what you do now will work with models and CGI they haven’t even built yet, juggling like a million other technical departments, asking if the damn puppet is working yet and dealing with studio heads there to ensure everything fits within the universe your movie shares with another movie being made by someone else who is going through the same thing.

      They’re so radically different I’d even go so far as to consider them to be totally different jobs. It’s like looking for work conducting an orchestra and being offered a job running an air traffic control tower.

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    DoIDareToEatAPeachBobby Finger
    12/09/15 7:24pm

    Kudos to him for realizing how casually damaging his former statement was and for so wholeheartedly acknowledging Ava DuVernay’s awesomeness.

    Kudos to her for knowing exactly the impact she wants to make through her art and not succumbing to commercial interests.

    Also, Kudos to all, because Kudos are delicious.

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      Pikachu JonesDoIDareToEatAPeach
      12/09/15 7:49pm

      Do they still make kudos?

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      DarthPumpkinDoIDareToEatAPeach
      12/09/15 7:52pm

      These still exist? I thought Kudos bars were an artifact of my childhood, didn’t even occur to me that they might be around today.

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    KatmanduBobby Finger
    12/09/15 10:31pm

    I’m actually okay with Ava DuVernay probably turning down Star Wars. I do not think she would kill it. I saw Selma and was pretty disappointed with it so I’m not sold on her ability to get a big epic right.

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      Diminished5thBobby Finger
      12/09/15 7:19pm

      I’m confused a bit about the message you’re trying to convey here, Bobby, if I’m being honest.

      “Something that probably isn’t important to DuVernay? Directing the new installment of a film series created, written, and directed by a bunch of white dudes nearly four decades into its run.”

      So, like, should only white dudes handle that then? Isn’t what’s happening with “Ghostbusters” sort of at odds with that kind of sentiment? Obviously she should be doing whatever she wants to do, but you’re coming off like you think the very idea is absurd on it’s face with that last bit.

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        Maj. MalfunctionDiminished5th
        12/09/15 7:30pm

        I could see how someone like Duvernay might be concerned that she’s being used by a mega-corporation to paper over all sorts of bad behavior:

        “How bad can we be, we hired a black woman to direct one of our movies!?!?!”

        I got the sense that Bobby is indicating that this would be a legitimate concern.

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        PanchoVilleneuve STMaj. Malfunction
        12/09/15 9:19pm

        All any of it does is call attention to what’s being ignored by this article, how a studio can go “Let’s diversify! How about offering the director’s chair to a black woman?” and have the only answer to that question be “ok, what’s her agent’s number again?”

        You can play up the whole cynical “the white establishment is just using her as a prop to show how totally not racist they are” thing all you want, but it just ignores the real problem, which is she’s pretty much it as far as proven, bankable black women working as directors in Hollywood goes right now.

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      Claudettes dressingroomBobby Finger
      12/09/15 7:18pm

      I hope she does it. Three years and massive production, etc. headaches - so true. But to participate, get right inside of that Boy's Club? Seems to me she would have far more to gain.

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        slicetoastClaudettes dressingroom
        12/09/15 7:39pm

        Her only gain as far as i can figure, is that she gets more of her productions greenlit, faster. That kind of a deal.

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        mekkislicetoast
        12/09/15 7:49pm

        That and the fame you get for directing one of the movies in the world’s biggest franchise.

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      JokoBobby Finger
      12/09/15 7:18pm

      Good PR. Abrams make himself a target to a small but very passionate group of people when he called SW a “boy’s thing” so he rebounds by telling an interviewer of a woman he thinks could direct SW. He also wisely chose a black women as he knows that gives him extra points.

      Humorously, after taking offense that Abram’s would call SW a boy’s thing, Jezebel then ends with the article by slagging SW as a white boy’s thing.

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        Julie ChristieBobby Finger
        12/09/15 7:40pm

        It’s interesting to consider the economics of turning down creative work.

        I’m a writer who spent the beginning of my career working at a TERRIBLE content marketing agency. And when I decided to leave the only positions I was offered were MORE trashy content farming jobs. I said no to them—not because I was in a solid financial position to do so but because at some point I realized my sanity and satisfaction were valuable. And that as a creative professional, none of my training and hard work was worth it if I didn’t get to do work that felt good to do.

        So now I juggle a bunch of projects...some in media, some ad/marketing copywriting. I realized that my time and work is more financially valuable in a contract than in a salary but most of all, I LOVE the balance of work I’m doing now.

        Du Vernay is a great role model for me because arriving at this (heretofore) positive ending came with SO much temptation to compromise and self-doubt about whether I was any good. When people offer me work I don’t want to do I feel so powerless and delusional to say “no.” Like “Who do I think I am that I’d rather hold out for something better?”

        What she’s talking about is freedom, y’all. It’s a hustle but it’s worth it, if you’re smart about it.

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