this is intersting...
U.S.A version U.K. Image
While Love and Hawk aren't generally as well known as the film's other six stars, it's still a questionable motive. As noted in a 2007 New York Times article, American films with black stars typically struggle in the overseas market. According to the article, Will Smith, the undisputed king of the American box office, ranks no better than twelfth when it comes to ticket sales internationally. Simply put, said industry watcher James Ulmer, "The international marketplace is still fairly racist."
However, there's good news for those who believe the removal of Love and Hawk from the UK poster was racist: Universal issued a statement regretting any offense it caused, and the studio has scrapped all plans to use the modified poster in other overseas markets.
This is all copied from the Yahoo web page, but i thought it was interesting to add on here. The yahoo writers comments that internation markets are still racist, this puts an interesting spin on racism considering whenever i have heard of racism it has been here in the states. Actually i dont think i have ever heard of racsim outside.... and it begs the questiojn are these writeras telling the truth, is this racism only in the "international market" or did they just get caught being racist in the us and they are trying to cover their tracks... it wouldnt be wholly unbelievable....
that is very interesting ... you're right racism seems like an American issue but then I thought about it and it really must be a worldwide issue because of dominant American ideology has spread !
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, I wonder though, since I haven't seen the movie, if it really is because their characters play less of a role in the film and if people are making a mountain out of a mole hill. But like you and Evan said, I also tend to think about racism in terms of what it is like here in America, since it is really all we are taught about, but plenty of other countries, such as South Africa, certainly face similar issues of racism as well.
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