Movies you couldn't make today
I'll start with something that was very popular, not too long ago:
The entire John Hughes portfolio.
You remember them. Here is the best, and most classic:
When I searched YouTube for "The Breakfast Club", I got 7 1/2 pages of interviews with rappers and black militants before I got to the trailer...
In a world where Hobbits of the Shire must be of African origin:
https://nerdbastards.com/2010/11/30/the-hobbit-casting-director-fired-fo...
"A casting director for Peter Jackson’s upcoming film adaptations of “The Hobbit” has been fired after placing newspaper ads seeking extras with “light skin tones” only"
And the Norse God Heimdall, diligently guarding the burning bridge between Men and Gods in the movie Thor, is this guy:
Image cannot be displayed
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/apr/27/idris-elba-thor-race-debate
The Breakfast Club could not be made today. It is a story of four vastly different teens, each with their own very different troubles...but they are not 'diverse'. No matter their unique struggles and differences, they will never be 'diverse'. They are White. Just White. Their stories could not be told today. Not a one of them is even gay. Or if they are, it's not a central part of the story. No wise pair of dads was in the picture offering guidance. Unlike every commercial, where the hapless White folk can't even decide on a proper cold medicine without the guidance of a kindly African fellow shopper, the authority figure was not a wise African person.
This script, this cast, would have never gotten funding in 2013. Despite the fact that millions of Americans live in surroundings no more 'diverse' than The Breakfast Club, their stories would requiresome thorough diversification to make it to the screen.
