The Casting in Glee

By: Rafeeat Bishi

          After our conversation on casting people of certain backgrounds to play characters on TV shows, I thought about an important casting choice in Glee. 

          One of the original members of the Glee Club is in a wheelchair, Artie. Artie is played an able-bodied man Kevin McHale. 

          When I first started watching Glee this always made me feel a bit weird. Mainly because of the reasons we talked about in class. No matter who Kevin McHale talks to, what he studies, or acts like, he will never know the true life of a person in a wheelchair.

          And it's not like Becky's character, where although down syndrome is plays a role, it can be sometimes put on the backburner. A lot of Artie's storylines overlap with him being in a wheelchair and the struggles he has. For example, in one episode, he was unable to board the bus to sectionals because it was not equipped for a wheelchair. They also talked about how the lack of ramps in the school make it harder for him to get around. One of the earliest ones was him bonding with a girl who had a stutter because they were both disabled (she was lying about the stutter though). 

        I think if they are going to tell those stories, it would've been better to cast someone different. Kevin did a great job, but my opinion still stands. I'd like to read more on how the wheelchair community feels about his character.


Edit: So I've read some things and people find Artie's character himself  problematic because a lot of his storylines feature him fantasizing about walking, as if all people in a wheelchair think about walking all the time. 

Also: This kinda relates to Mr. Gaines' point about people portraying certain stereotypes. Kevin McHale is gay (he came out one or two years ago), but while he was on Glee playing Artie, he played an explicitly stereotypical straight male, who would talk a lot about women, sex, and be misogynist. Thought that was sort of interesting. Darren Criss, who plays the love interest of the central character Kurt (who is also gay, the actor is gay in real life too) is straight in real life. Jonathan Groff, who was a supporting character, plays a straight man (or at least someone who we've only seen date women) and is gay in real life. 

America's Problem With Subtitles

By: Rafeeat Bishi

        Director Bong Joon Ho, of breakout Korean film Parasite, made a biting comment (without direct translation) aimed at people who refuse to watch media that is not in their native language.

        He said, after winning Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes,

"Once you overcome the one-inch tall barriers of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films."

         I love that he said this. Especially since subtitles are not very impeding for many viewers.

        A lot of my favorite television shows, and some of the best I've seen are in other languages. On Netflix, there's 'Dark' (German), Elite (Spanish), Osmosis (French), and more. I use subtitles even when shows are in English because sometimes I just don't get what people are saying.

         I think it's ignorant to assume that just because something is in a different language it must be of lower quality. In my opinion, Dark is one of the best shows from the past few years but because it's in German, so many people I tell about it refuse to watch it. They know the dub sounds bad, but they refuse to read subtitles or are off put by the foreign language all together.

         What's weird is that this seems to be an issue mainly in America and majority English-speaking countries. I know in countries such as Brazil, fans watch television from all over the world in all kinds of languages without any problems. Also, some people (like me) in the US with parents who speak a foreign language, see no issue. I know it's not a problem cause I'll always be watching stuff with subtitles with my mom.

         What's disheartening is that other countries (if a dub is not available) see no issue in consuming American/English-language media. They do it often, and it's rare we do the same. They usually have more passion for our shows than we do.

          I think a valuable cultural exchange can come from removing the idea that a language barrier makes something not worthwhile. I may not be going to Germany or Spain anytime soon, but I have learned a little about the dynamics of the countries and their people by watching those shows.

         Here are some recommendations for some entertaining non-English movies and TV shows. A lot are on Netflix so if you need a link lmk ;).

Elite [Netflix] - Spanish (sometimes with a lisp because according to some Spanish speakers that how they talk in Spain. This is a really good teen drama)
La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) [Netflix] - Spanish
Osmosis [Netflix] - French
Atlantics (movie) [Netflix] - Wolof
Skam [some site called Dailymotion] - Norwegian
Burning (movie) [Netflix] - Korean
Dark [Netflix] - German
Attack on Titan [Hulu] - Japanese

Diversity in the Oscar Nominations 2020

By: Rafeeat Bishi

    Funny. Right as I was writing this blog, Stephen King, a member of the Academy, tweeted (lacking context) that he does not consider diversity when it comes to voting

    I may be a jinx because my last post was about how younger, POC people were breaking into hollywood. When the Oscar nominations came out, people were disappointed (but not surprised) to see that a majority of nominees were white males. In the acting categories, and directing categories, all of the nominees (except 1) were white/male.

   This prompted a thought. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is historically a white, male dominated group. Through the recent years, they've been attempting to diversify their group by admitting younger people of various backgrounds. I thought that after Moonlight won Best Picture (first time with an all-black cast, LGBTQ centered story), we'd see more opportunities.

   This sounds morbid but no one really leaves the Academy unless they die, so I guess we'll always have to deal with people who may have outdated views. If that's the case, then in my opinion we should stop looking there so intensely for validation. Especially if quality film is regularly ignored because it didn't make money at the box office.

  We should recognize smaller, independent award shows that are doing the most to recognize diverse stories. For now, I'll probably be more invested in the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which reflects much more diverse storytelling.

Black and Brown Actors in Indie Movies are on the Come Up

By: Rafeeat Bishi

         Only a few people know this about me but I'm a huge cinephile. Movies and tv are probably my biggest hobby, but it's discouraging to not see myself represented in them. A lot of my favorite movies don't even have majority Black casts or leads, but that's starting to change.

         Someone recently tweeted a video compiling Black coming of age films, because they tend to be ignored. I was extremely happy when I watched the video ("https://twitter.com/manisupremacist/status/1212102128648503297?s=09")

         I recently watched the indie movie Waves with my sister over break, and it's probably going to go down as one of my favorites because of the leads. Two Black teens living Miami. Their storyline wasn't based around poverty, or struggling with systemic racism, but more-so the struggles of just being a teen. And their race was not completely ignored either, which I appreciated. I decided to mention the actors from the movie and more who I think can give great representation for Black and brown youth who are not as interested in Indie movies.

• Kelvin Harrison Jr. - Lead in Waves, Luce, supporting roles in Jinn and It Comes At Night
• I loved him in Waves and in Jinn. He's probably one of my favorite actors this year and there's more in store for him!
• Taylor Russell Sanders - Waves, Lost in Space
• She was also great in Waves, and I'm excited for her cause her performance was so subtle. She's also on Lost in Space in Netflix! (go watch)
• Ashton Sanders - Moonlight, Native Son, Captive State,  Wu-Tang: An American Saga
• Gave the best performance in Moonlight (on Netflix, go watch). But is being paid dust. However he's booked and busy so I'm happy. Extremely underrated
• Jharrel Jerome - Moonlight, When They See Us
• We all know him and if you don't he got his start in Moonlight playing a queer black teen (on Netflix, go watch) and now is winning Emmys!
• Shameik Moore - The Get Down, Dope, Spider-Verse, Wu-Tang: An American Saga

• He's gotten a lot more publicity after Spider-Verse and I'm excited for him!
• Justice Smith - The Get Down, Every Day, Detective Pikachu (yokes), All the Bright Places
• I think he's adorable and he's about to be in a Netflix rom-com, which should do wonders for his publicity
• Kiki Layne - If Beale Street Could Talk, Native Son
• She was a queen in this movie (If Beale Street Could Talk) and it's on Hulu now. Go watch. 
• Zoe Renee - Jinn
• I don't know her future plans, but she will be getting her own post because I loved the movie she was in.