BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Reboot

[MikeMcMann]

She kind of was. She was a white valley girl with the whitest name imaginable. The show joked about it.

That was then, though, and times have changed. What was one considered white suburban preppy culture is more diverse these days.

Ya i agree with this.

I think his point should have been that he has no issue with the character being re-imagined as long as her core powers, etc, remain the same. Just as we constantly see SuperHero's in comics re-imagined and yet they stay true mostly to the origin or genesis of their powers.

 

[MikeMcMann]

That was the rumor. Unless you think they will use a ditzy Cheerleader valley girl who is black, because they are so common. That's what Hollywood does...they check boxes, but they still stereotype...Whenever its an ensemble cast, and one is black, they always have to "be black" instead of just being human. God forbid its a black women...here comes the attitude and tough act.

do you see my post above yours and do you agree that Hollywood was checking boxes forever prior but those boxes were just one box "insert white characters here"? Or would you deny that?

 

[Lovestorm]

I agree with you 100% on the above but want to pose a different question.

Even if it is pandering to a specific audience does that matter?

The above is a 1963, to which Hollywood took ethnic characters and replaced them out with white ones to pander to its mostly white viewing audience (nothing wrong with that)

I could probably post 25X times the examples of this happening than what we see now with a few white characters being replaced for ethnics or women as the viewing audience changes.

PROBABLY 25X.

And yet no audience group cries more about than the group we see here on sherdog crying about it. They are far worse and more teary, demanding their safe space where this is no longer done any more, than any SJW. They seem to believe pandering is ok only if they are pandered too and they get very angry, and suddenly it must end because others are now being pandered to.

There is nothing wrong with Hollywood pandering. It means they are looking out at the changing face of the audience and changing their material to reflect that and to market to that.

I got a notification that you mentioned me in this post. Do you want something?

 

[D Train]

Trying to push the race agenda again.

Shit is ridiculous these days. They remake Ghostbusters with a cast of women. They remake the Oceans movie with a cast of women. They look at a movie and say to themselves, you know what would make this movie better? More black people, more women and maybe add a disabled asian tranny.

They are trying way too hard be politically correct.

Why not just hire the best actress regardless of race? Curious they specifically want a black actress.

 

[ralphc1]

Not sure what you mean by that.

Are you aware of the term White Washing which has been a mainstay of Hollywood for decades where they take ethnic characters in fiction or non fiction stories and replace them with white characters to appeal to a mostly white male audience?

Are you familiar with the term a White Saviour where they insert a random White character in an ethnic story line (Cruise, Samurai, Damon, The Wall, etc) to appeal to mostly white male audience?

The political correctness is and has always been directed mostly at white males who comprise the bulk of the viewing audience and that is ok because they do. But that audience is changing and so to is the pandering. It is now shifting to include more ethnics and females.

Shouldn't it be that way or should it only male white be the recipient of political correctness and pandering?

Not trying to isolate you specifically with this question but more so the almost expected outcry anytime that pandering is not to white males.

The purpose of making a movie or television show is to get people to watch it. By using certain actors, they guarantee they will get viewers. In the US, there are more white people than minorities which is why they are minorities. This means there are fewer minority actors available.

I hope they can find an actress to play Buffy. They have certainly painted themselves into a corner by announcing this because they really narrowed the field. I know they want to use the name Buffy to tie into the original series but it will also upset the former viewers. It's difficult enough to accept a new person in a role but making a change that doesn't at all resemble the original makes it worse. They might be better off to completely change the characters instead of trying to recreate the originals.

The failure of Ghostbusters should serve as an example of what can happen when an entire cast is replaced.

 

[ralphc1]

Yes that is exactly what it is.

Women go out more as groups each and every year. Ethics are bigger and bigger part of the buying audience. Chinese dollars over seas are a big part of the box office.

Hollywood gonna do what Hollywood has always done and that is pander to try and make money. Now that pandering is just starting to shift to those other groups when prior it was almost 99% directed at white males like most media was.

Why do you think you have so many average looking husbands on TV shows with hot wives? They are pandering to the male audience. Comic book female hero's who make barbie look boring? Pandering to the male audience.

Its certainly nothing new. It is shifting however.

Lets face it. Comic books are a very male dominated pastime. Making a series or movie based on comic books needs to pander to them.

Chinese aren't much into the supernatural.

 

[ralphc1]

If they had auditions for the role, and the best actress happened to be black, i wouldn’t give a shit.

But the fact that they changed Buffy to be black, just because and don’t even have any idea who might play the role yet pisses me off.

So we might get some half assed actress , who can’t play the part right , just because she was the best black chick they could get to audition and they HAD to make Buffy, a historically ditsy white chick from the valley, (which is part of the humor) black.

Fuck that. Should just have Tequesha, the vampire slayer from
The ghetto instead.

This was my thought too. The name change, maybe not the ghetto.

Wasn't the original premise that there was only one vampire slayer and the next one became a slayer when the first one died. Then they moved to the regional slayer concept but one slayer had to die before the next one appeared. Buffy's death brought another slayer then she was brought back by Willow.

 

[I Am Legion]

do you see my post above yours and do you agree that Hollywood was checking boxes forever prior but those boxes were just one box "insert white characters here"? Or would you deny that?

Different scenario. You posted Cleopatra....An expensive epic...Are you going to cast the worlds most famous actress, or an unknown Egyptian actress, if there even was one available? I get white washing, and it was sometimes gross....Like in say Charlie Chan. But today its literal bullshit to take an iconic character and change it to a person of color or a woman just to appease whoever. Now if the character isn't known for a certain identity, then who cares? Green Lantern can be any race or even species, because that's how it was written. But a James Bond is a literary character and is known for being a handsome, sexist white British Guy. So I don't get choosing Edris Elba....just to be what Evolved?? No its to check a box.

 

[Renard]

I'd be OK with it if they approached the casting with an open mind and took whichever actress was the best for the role, regardless of her race. Specifically hunting for a black actress means you're reducing your pool to only 13% of potential candidates. Not to mention blacks are not under-represented in TV shows and movies at all proportionately to their percentage of the population, Asians and latinos are. Blacks are just the whiniest and most activist-minded.

 

[moreorless87]

Oh stop. It absolutely is checking the race box. Total SJW bullshit. Buffy was a ditzy blonde "Valley Girl" Cheeleader thrown into a crazy situation and growing and maturing. That's who Buffy was and that was the sprirt of the show. Now they will change that spirit, with a tough inner city black girl. Fuck Hollywood. How about you create something original and fresh for a black actress to play, instead of a rehash, like Annie etc

You seem a little contradictory there though, surely "changing the spirit of the show" would actually be more original than just copying it and throwing in a black lead character.

That's the problem with something like The Force Awakens or Ghostbusters for me, its just really bland unoriginal cinema that looks to hide behind tokenism. Rey is female Luke and that's pretty much it as far as originality goes.

 

[I Am Legion]

You seem a little contradictory there though, surely "changing the spirit of the show" would actually be more original than just copying it and throwing in a black lead character.

That's the problem with something like The Force Awakens or Ghostbusters for me, its just really bland unoriginal cinema that looks to hide behind tokenism. Rey is female Luke and that's pretty much it as far as originality goes.

What I meant was create a new character and storyline all together for a black woman. Not do Buffy again but just make her black. Its funny, we ALL knew before even reading the thread that they would make her black. Has to be stories that can be told. Flash does a great job integrating cultures without making the Flash black.

 

[moreorless87]

What I meant was create a new character and storyline all together for a black woman. Not do Buffy again but just make her black. Its funny, we ALL knew before even reading the thread that they would make her black. Has to be stories that can be told. Flash does a great job integrating cultures without making the Flash black.

It would be more original to change the character of course rather than "just" making her black, the latter arguably being empty tokenism.

You look at Mad Max Fury Road, one of the most popular updates of a franchise in recent years and that was a very political film, shifted its focus introduced a female character and commented on "toxic masculinity". It was a film that actually had a reason for existing besides the studio's bottom line unlike the Ghostbusters remake.

 

[SugarKrok]

New Xander is gay. Probably a gay Mexican who has some kind of immigration issue down the line.

New Willow will be a straight white dude trying to bang Buffy.

New Giles will be Trans Native American. Or the chick who played Faith.

New Cordelia will be white with small tits and use cyber bullying.

New Angelus will be a female. This new female will have her string somewhat influenced by a fat Harvey Weinstein looking focker.

 

[Lovestorm]

What I meant was create a new character and storyline all together for a black woman. Not do Buffy again but just make her black. Its funny, we ALL knew before even reading the thread that they would make her black. Has to be stories that can be told. Flash does a great job integrating cultures without making the Flash black.

I'd be much more in favour of that. The issue i have with reboots as well is that i feel they render the original work meaningless. Everything that transpired in the original series/movies would be null and void when they they could've taken the opportunity to build on the foundations of something.

 

[90 50]

Oh stop. It absolutely is checking the race box. Total SJW bullshit. Buffy was a ditzy blonde "Valley Girl" Cheeleader thrown into a crazy situation and growing and maturing. That's who Buffy was and that was the sprirt of the show. Now they will change that spirit, with a tough inner city black girl. Fuck Hollywood. How about you create something original and fresh for a black actress to play, instead of a rehash, like Annie etc

All they had to do was have Buffy die, the slayer can be reborn into an inner city black chick no problem. That follows their cannon.

Making Buffy now black, changes the humor and the joke of the whole shows premise.

It makes no god damn sense.

 

[MikeMcMann]

The purpose of making a movie or television show is to get people to watch it. By using certain actors, they guarantee they will get viewers. In the US, there are more white people than minorities which is why they are minorities. This means there are fewer minority actors available.

I hope they can find an actress to play Buffy. They have certainly painted themselves into a corner by announcing this because they really narrowed the field. I know they want to use the name Buffy to tie into the original series but it will also upset the former viewers. It's difficult enough to accept a new person in a role but making a change that doesn't at all resemble the original makes it worse. They might be better off to completely change the characters instead of trying to recreate the originals.

The failure of Ghostbusters should serve as an example of what can happen when an entire cast is replaced.

Different scenario. You posted Cleopatra....An expensive epic...Are you going to cast the worlds most famous actress, or an unknown Egyptian actress, if there even was one available? I get white washing, and it was sometimes gross....Like in say Charlie Chan. But today its literal bullshit to take an iconic character and change it to a person of color or a woman just to appease whoever. Now if the character isn't known for a certain identity, then who cares? Green Lantern can be any race or even species, because that's how it was written. But a James Bond is a literary character and is known for being a handsome, sexist white British Guy. So I don't get choosing Edris Elba....just to be what Evolved?? No its to check a box.

There have been lots of no name white actors put into roles to play ethnics over the time period I address where it would not matter so lets not convince ourselves this is only about name actors. It was not. The White washing and White saviour was done because they audience was mostly white. Female super hero's look largely like they do (Barbie bodies) because the audience is mostly hormonal boys.

I am not blaming the entertainment mediums and in fact am saying its normal. They will look out at who the audience is and they will pander to that audience to get sales.

It has been done for decades and we never really used to hear a peep or complaint about it. Now each and every time it is done to any audience that is not a white male (female or ethnic) the giant SJW type crocodile tears flow that these people need their safe space where they don't have to be exposed to pandering. Well that is not true as they are ok with the largest kind of pandering as long as it is at them.

Characters get re-imagined and re-launched all the time but historically it was typically substituting one white character for another such as Bond as English for Bond as Scottish, but as soon as you suggest another english Bond who might be black the cry rises, NOOOO! And yes its laughably funny. These people need their own hats MMGA (Make movies great again)

 

[MikeMcMann]

I'd be OK with it if they approached the casting with an open mind and took whichever actress was the best for the role, regardless of her race. Specifically hunting for a black actress means you're reducing your pool to only 13% of potential candidates. Not to mention blacks are not under-represented in TV shows and movies at all proportionately to their percentage of the population, Asians and latinos are. Blacks are just the whiniest and most activist-minded.

Haha and yet 99% of the whining in every one of these threads is from white guys looking for a safe space. Ironic.

 

[SmilinDesperado]

I explained it in my post earlier, like I said if they auditioned actresses and the best one was black that would be fine, but they didn’t.

“Buffy The Vampire Slayer” is supposed to be a ditsy white girl from the valley, unlike all the slayers before her, that’s part of the damn humor of the character if you read the book or watch the original movie.

The original Buffy has dreams in the movie of the slayers before her in her past lives, I’m even 99% sure one was black.

The problem isn’t that there is a black vampire slayer, I fucking love blade for damn sakes.

It’s that they decided to make “Buffy” black

“Buffy’s from the valley aren’t black

How would people feel, if Dolemite was recast with a white dude? It’s not part of the damn character

Why would you assume that they would accept a subpar black actress? Why would they do that? This is a problem and misunderstanding of affirmative action. It doesn't mean hire an incompetent minority over a white person.
Furthermore, acting/movies/tv is art. It isn't engineering. We're not trying to find who can design the best highrise building. There isn't a simple 1+1 =2 answer to who is "the best". Who is the "best" for the job will entirely depend on the creator's vision of the production. If I have written a story where I want the protagonist to be black, or 6'4, or or gay, or a Muslim, then THAT IS the story I'm trying to tell. I want to tell a story where Buffy is black ....what is the big deal ? That is the story I am trying to tell.

Lol Who cares about the books? Really, how many of you guys read the books?
I watched the movie and the TV show. By far, it is the TV show that everyone knows and references.

Why does Buffy have to be white? I watched the movie and the TV show, and she could have been played by a black, latina, or asian girl, and the story could have remained the EXACT same.
Her whitness is not a defining characteristic of her. Not every black girl lives in the projects. You can have a black, ditzy girl that lives in the valley. They do exist. You could take the black girl from that movie 'Clueless', and how would she have differed from Buffy?
Furthermore, she didn't remain some dumb, clueless chick the entire show, not even in the movie. She evolved pretty quickly and came into her own as a slayer.
The main point of the story was she was a normal girl being thrust into this dangerous life as a "chosen one" that has to fight vampires. It is basically a super hero story. Had nothing to do with her race

And it would be nothing at all like making a white Shaft, Foxxy Brown, or Dolemite. Those characters race was a big part of their characters. They were specifically from blacksploitation films.Dolemite was literally a pimp and club owner in an urban area. You could not just make that guy white and fit it into the same story.

 

[MikeMcMann]

Lets face it. Comic books are a very male dominated pastime. Making a series or movie based on comic books needs to pander to them.

Chinese aren't much into the supernatural.

Yes we seem to agree. The content makers will always look out at the changing face of their audience and try to pander to them. No surprise. Nothing new here.

 

[SugarKrok]

Why would you assume that they would accept a subpar black actress? Why would they do that? This is a problem and misunderstanding of affirmative action. It doesn't mean hire an incompetent minority over a white person.
Furthermore, acting/movies/tv is art. It isn't engineering. We're not trying to find who can design the best highrise building. There isn't a simple 1+1 =2 answer to who is "the best". Who is the "best" for the job will entirely depend on the creator's vision of the production. If I have written a story where I want the protagonist to be black, or 6'4, or or gay, or a Muslim, then THAT IS the story I'm trying to tell. I want to tell a story where Buffy is black ....what is the big deal ? That is the story I am trying to tell.

Lol Who cares about the books? Really, how many of you guys read the books?
I watched the movie and the TV show. By far, it is the TV show that everyone knows and references.

Why does Buffy have to be white? I watched the movie and the TV show, and she could have been played by a black, latina, or asian girl, and the story could have remained the EXACT same.
Her whitness is not a defining characteristic of her. Not every black girl lives in the projects. You can have a black, ditzy girl that lives in the valley. They do exist. You could take the black girl from that movie 'Clueless', and how would she have differed from Buffy?
Furthermore, she didn't remain some dumb, clueless chick the entire show, not even in the movie. She evolved pretty quickly and came into her own as a slayer.
The main point of the story was she was a normal girl being thrust into this dangerous life as a "chosen one" that has to fight vampires. It is basically a super hero story. Had nothing to do with her race

And it would be nothing at all like making a white Shaft, Foxxy Brown, or Dolemite. Those characters race was a big part of their characters. They were specifically from blacksploitation films.Dolemite was literally a pimp and club owner in an urban area. You could not just make that guy white and fit it into the same story.

The individuals who benefit most from affirmitwtive action are white women.