Tim Burton Explains Why His Films Are Full Of White People As Beetlejuice Sequel Branded ‘Racist’
Burton is a director known for pioneering goth culture into the American film industry, with his work being recognized for its distinctive visual style.
His most successful work by box office performance is Alice in Wonderland (2010), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Batman (1989), and Planet of the Apes (2001).
Even through his animated works, such as Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie, his characters are known for their ghostly white appearance and sunken pale faces.
And while Burton is considered one of the world’s most successful directors, with his unique take being praised, he’s also faced criticism for his lack of representation in films.
In particular, the director has been scrutinized for the lack of Black actors in his movies.
It’s become a recurring matter over the years, being noted multiple times – with one of the earlier mentions dating back to 1993.
Although directed by Henry Selick, The Nightmare Before Christmas was conceived and produced by Burton.
In the years following the cult hit, Caroline Thompson, a screenwriter on The Nightmare Before Christmas and various other Burton films, appeared on the film podcast Script Apart and discussed the breakdown of her relationship with Burton, reports The Independent.
She claims disagreements unfolded regarding the movie’s villain, Oogie Boogie, voiced by Black actor and singer Ken Page.
Oogie Boogie, depicted as a bug-filled burlap sap with a gambling addiction, is the main antagonist of the stop-motion movie. He lives on the outskirts of Halloween Town and is obsessed with outdoing Jack as the scariest ghoul.
On the podcast, Thompson said: “Oogie Boogie is a derogatory term for African Americans in the American South. I begged the powers that be to change something about that character, because of that.
“I said: this is so ugly and dangerous and antithetical to everything inside me. I did not win that fight… It was a troubling part of the film for me, to be frank.”
Selick previously stated the character was inspired by the Betty Boop cartoon The Old Man of the Mountain, elaborating to The Daily Beast that it ‘didn’t occur’ to him it could be seen as ‘racist.’
According to Bustle, the first time a Black actor was cast in a lead role in a Burton movie was in the 2016 film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
In the fantasy film, Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson plays the role of the villain Barron.
“I don’t think it’s any fault of his or his method of storytelling, it’s just how it’s played out. Tim’s a really great guy.”
Following the show’s release, people took to social media and questioned why its Black stars were portrayed as ‘bullies.’
Referencing the characters on X, formerly Twitter, one fan said: “I’m loving the new Wednesday series, but why are all the Black actors lit so terribly?”
Amid the backlash, some came to Burton’s defense, with one fan pointing out: “The Black girl was also classified as the prettiest most popular girl in the school. A Black girl with NON-Eurocentric features.”
One particular scene of the sequel is being called out on TikTok, with viewers branding it ‘racist.’
Another adds: “During those scenes, I felt like it was weirdly disjointed and weirdly shoehorned into the story.”
“When I watched it I said ‘Ohhhhh, okay,’” says someone else.
While a fifth person asks: “Isn’t this kind of racist, or is it just me?”
The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice scene in question follows Astrid Deetz (played by Jenna Ortega) as she’s doomed to the ‘Soul Train’ on the way to the Great Beyond – where you go where you’re dead dead.
While the ‘Soul Train’ scene may simply seem fun, it’s actually a nod to the musical variety TV show Soul Train, which debuted on a local Chicago network in 1970.
Throughout its history, the program featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip-hop artists, highlighting the joy of Black Americans through dance, style, and culture.
In a 2023 CNN explainer, Brooklyn White-Grier wrote: “In the middle of the Black Power era and feeding from the civil rights movement, Soul Train provided a fresh opportunity for Black people to see and celebrate themselves. It was the most prominent stage displaying the mingling of sociocultural and political progress – and an imagining of life unencumbered by white supremacy.”
Yet for some, taking into account Burton has frequently been called out for his lack of representation, this ‘Soul Train’ sequence has come across as disingenuous.
As one TikToker puts it: “This whole scene felt like Tim Burton saying ‘Here, damn!’”
Amid the criticism regarding the ‘Soul Train’ scene, previous quotes from Burton have surfaced, in which he was asked why his work predominantly features white actors.
He continued: “I remember back when I was a child watching The Brady Bunch and they started to get all politically correct. Like, okay, let’s have an Asian child and a Black. I used to get more offended by that than just… I grew up watching blaxploitation movies, right? And I said that’s great. I didn’t go like, okay, there should be more white people in these movies.”
Amid the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice criticism, some viewers have leaped to Burton’s defense and praised the ‘Soul Train’ sequence, with one penning: “I actually felt a piece of amazing Black culture come from the ‘Soul Train’ scene.”
Agreeing, a second adds: “It’s literally an innocent scene, this is reaching. I thought this was one of the best scenes.”
Bryce Dallas Howard Says She Was Paid ‘So Much Less’ Than Chris Pratt For Jurassic World
Jurassic World is a trilogy of films that follow on from Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park movies, released from 1993 to 2001.
The first Jurassic World film (2015) is estimated to have made a staggering $1.6 billion worldwide, and at the time of its release was the third-highest-grossing film of all time.
Howard and Pratt were cast as leads in the sci-fi action movies, signing deals for the trilogy that included Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion.
Despite the trilogy being so high-profile, Howard says she was ‘at a great disadvantage’ when it came to her salary.
In the follow-up series, 22 years have passed and Jurassic World, a dinosaur theme park, now exists.
Howard plays the role of Claire Dearing, a workaholic operations manager and one of the scientists researching the dinosaurs.
Since becoming a household name, Howard has spoken about her time filming the Jurassic World movies, and how she was paid significantly less than her male co-star.
A 2019 study, by Dr. Sofia Sanchez, John S. Heywood, and Maria Navarro Paniagua, uncovered a gender pay gap in Hollywood.
It found that ‘female stars earned on average $2.2m less per film,’ however, a myriad of factors were taken into account, such as the movie’s genre and the actor’s overall popularity.
Sharing her own experiences, Howard told Insider: “When I started negotiating for Jurassic, it was 2014, and it was a different world, and I was at a great disadvantage. And, unfortunately, you have to sign up for three movies, and so your deals are set.”
Although the actress never disclosed what she really made from the movies, she claims she was paid even less than originally reported.
She told Insider: “The reports were so interesting because I was paid so much less than the reports even said, so much less.”
She revealed that Pratt fought to level the field regarding franchise opportunities like video games and theme park rides.
The actress explained: “Whenever there was an opportunity to move the needle on stuff that hadn’t been already negotiated, like a game or a ride, he (Pratt) literally told me, ‘You guys don’t even have to do anything. I’m gonna do all the negotiating. We’re gonna be paid the same, and you don’t have to think about this, Bryce.’
“I love him so much for doing that. I really do, because I’ve been paid more for those kinds of things than I ever was for the movie.”
The actress reprised her role for voice parts in video games, rides, and series such as Lego Jurassic World, Lego Dimensions, Lego Jurassic World: The Indominus Escape, Jurassic World Evolution, Jurassic World: The Ride, and Jurassic World Evolution 2.
Howard isn’t the only Hollywood star to speak up about pay discrepancies.
Jessica Chastain said her paycheck for the 2015 film The Martian was incorrectly reported and she ‘made less than a quarter of that in reality.’
The actress roughly made $1.75 million for her role while lead co-star Matt Damon made anything from $15 to $25 million.
Actor Adam Goldberg Calls Out Friends For Its ‘Unrealistic’ Lack Of Diversity
Friends actor Adam Goldberg has spoken out about the lack of diversity on the hit TV show.
The series, created by Marta Kauffman and David Crane, about a close group of friends living in New York City was an instant success when it premiered in 1994.
Despite the sitcom being so popular with many, there has been a lot of criticism throughout the years of the show’s lack of diversity, and now one of the stars has spoken out.
New York is known for its diversity, including its variety of cultures, ethnicities, and races. The population of the city is: 31.2% White (Non-Hispanic), 21% Black or African American (Non-Hispanic), 14.4% Asian (Non-Hispanic), 14.2% Other (Hispanic), and 6.3% White (Hispanic), as per Date USA.
Yet, in the sitcom based in a city with such a wide range of cultures, all six main characters are white, and people of different races and ethnicities are only featured occasionally in supporting roles.
In a 2020 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Schwimmer said that he felt it was ‘just wrong’ that there was no broader cultural representation on the series.
The actor said: “I really felt like Ross should date other people, women of all races.”
Co-creator Kauffman told The Los Angeles Times that at the time it was ‘difficult and frustrating’ that Friends was being singled out for its lack of diversity. But, in recent years, she has changed her mind.
Kauffman has since noted that the failure of the sitcom to be more inclusive was down to her internalized systemic racism, which only became clear to her after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the Black Lives Matter movement that followed in 2020.
The co-creator said: “Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It’s painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago.”
“That was really the moment that I began to examine the ways I had participated. I knew then I needed to course-correct.”
Kauffman has since pledged $4 million to the Boston area’s Brandeis University, for a professorship in the school’s African and African American studies department.
But Kauffman and Schwimmer aren’t the only people closely related to the series that have spoken out – another fan-favorite character has recently acknowledged the lack of diversity in the show.
Adam Goldberg who starred as Eddie, Chandler’s temporary, somewhat strange roommate, has also spoken out.
Despite only featuring in three episodes, he is still remembered as one of the show’s iconic characters.
In an interview with the Independent, he spoke about his largely positive experience of being a part of the show, but he also says that looking back, it’s clear to him that the series didn’t give an accurate representation of the population of New York.
Goldberg said: “One criticism was how the hell do these people afford to even live in New York? Their apartment is massive, and it’s an incredibly unrealistic portrayal of New York.”
The actor continued: “And in terms of diversity, looking back, it seems insane. I’ve heard Black people speak about this and it’s like, you never expected to see yourself, so when you didn’t, it was not a surprise, and you ended up identifying to characters, irrespective of their race.”
Goldberg says that, at the time, it was ‘the norm that there was such a lack of diversity,’ and that as a Jewish man himself, he spent a lot of his ‘career complaining about how Italians can play Jews.’
He said: “You very rarely see someone who’s a known Jewish actor playing Italian.”
The Dazed and Confused actor continued: “I would get feedback about not being all-American enough, which, you know, if you were to say that to somebody now you’d probably be fired.”
Goldberg says that ‘the entire culture was like that, and television was just an amplification of that culture.’
People Can’t Believe 50 Cent’s Extreme Transformation Is Actually Real
Curtis James Jackson III, professionally known as 50 Cent, is considered one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Being one of the world’s biggest celebrities, 50 Cent is usually instantly recognizable but at one point in his life, his drastic transformation left fans speechless.
The photos of 50 Cent, normally known for his large and muscular build, have sent the internet into a frenzy, with many in disbelief they’re real.
Commenting on the images, one fan writes: “There is no way that is 50 Cent.”
Someone else jokes: “No, this isn’t 50 Cent, this is 15 Cent.”
The 49-year-old rapper has made a huge name for himself in the film and TV industry, as well as music.
On IMDb, he has over 180 acting credits, with his main movie appearance being Get Rich or Die Tryin’, which has autobiographical elements and is named after his debut album.
Fans will also know he co-created, executive produced, and starred in the hit TV series Power.
But what some fans may not know is that the rapper starred in one film that required him to undergo an extreme transformation.
In an interview with Parade, the rapper revealed his manager became concerned over his weight loss and told him ‘You better get yourself to a doctor.’
Yet 50 Cent had one image in mind for his transformation, and he was determined to follow through.
The ‘Baby by Me’ artist said: “I was so into what I was doing that I wasn’t really concerned with that. I just kept looking at myself in the mirror feeling like I have to be smaller. I had to match.”
The rapper underwent the transformation to play the role of a college football star diagnosed with cancer at the height of his career.
All Things Fall Apart was inspired by a childhood friend who died of the disease.
This wasn’t the only time the ‘Many Men’ rapper followed an all-liquid diet.
In 2000, 50 Cent was shot nine times, including in the face, which meant he was unable to eat solids. Yet he said his weight loss for All Things Fall Apart was much more challenging.
“This time it was a lot tougher for me,” he told Associated Press (via Billboard). “I had to discipline myself not… to actually have myself be in the physical state to convey the energy I felt. It’s a passion project for me.”
All Things Fall Apart, a 2011 direct-to-video drama, also stars Ray Liotta, Mario Van Peebles, and Lynn Whitfield.
Watch the trailer for All Things Fall Apart here…
