Filed under: Commentary
As the weekend draws nearer, sci-fi fans are salivating for the release of the new thriller, 'Super 8.' The movie, from writer/director JJ Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg, is about a group of kids in Littlefield, Ohio, who witness some out-of-this-world invasion while making homemade movies with an 8 mm camera. But rather than blow my little bit of movie money on the Spielberg/Abrams collaboration, I'm waiting for another film revolving around a similar premise, but with a cast of different looking characters.
'Attack The Block' (directed by Joe Cornish) also features a crew of young folks who witness an alien invasion, but the movie is set nowhere near the Midwest, much less in the United States. 'Attack The Block' takes place in a London 'hood, and unlike the mostly white cast in 'Super 8,' the gang in 'Attack The Block' is led by the young black British actor, John Boyega (pictured above) and features other young Brits of color. When the film debuted at the SXSW Film Festival earlier this year, a 'Hollywood Reporter' article titled, 'Why 'Attack The Block' Needs SXSW,' said the chances of U.S. distribution hinged on its response at the Austin event.
The movie won a SXSW Audience Award and Sony Screen Gems picked up U. S. distribution rights soon after. But while the film has already been released in the UK, it has yet to get a domestic release date. The wait has been frustrating to moviegoers like myself who don't necessarily enjoy sci-fi films but do enjoy stories with diverse casts.
"'Super 8' uses a cheat," says Arturo Garcia, who is the Site Leader for Racialicious.com and also covers comic books and science fiction for the site. "It's the old 'Mad Men' technique, what's the one way to avoid a diverse cast? Set it before the civil rights era or don't address the civil rights era."
Actually, 'Super 8' is set in 1979 in a fictional Ohio city, but Garcia's argument still sticks to a degree. He explained that the film implies that, "This Midwest town simply does not have a black population." On the other hand, 'Attack The Block,' goes deep into a South London ghetto, thus making it essential that the area's real life ethnic makeup be reflected in the cast.
No matter the setting, author Troy Cle says diverse movie casts can still be achieved. Cle's teenage sci-fi series, 'Marvelous World', which is based on a young black protagonist named Louis Proof, has been dubbed 'The Black Harry Potter' by Trevor Baldwin, nephew of James Baldwin. "The 'Matrix III' was primarily made with black people," says Cle. "To me, that was groundbreaking."
But movies like 'Matrix III' are rare. Outside of Will Smith who has produced and starred in several sci-fi films including, 'I Am Legend' and 'Independence Day,' black characters in sci-fi films are seen as often as a blue moon. As Garcia says, "It's been almost 50 years since we first saw 'Star Trek' with Uhura on the bridge and we're still having these conversations. Clearly there's work to be done."
Considering I had no idea who Uhura was, Garcia is right, there is a lot of work to be done not only in diversifying sci-fi stories, but also the audience who consumes them. Science fiction has been one of those genres most black people I know don't touch, and those who do, champion their fandom to show their allegiance to some alternative black lifestyle. I never saw one episode of 'Homeboys In Outer Space' much less an episode of 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.' Frankly, I found it hard to relate to the idea of some alternative universe. My world had its own monsters, we called them criminals. From what I saw in films, aliens were always invading the White House or a white neighborhood. In my world, ain't no such thing as a Superman, word to Gil Scott-Heron.
This is why I am anxiously waiting want to see 'Attack The Block.' It explores the one sci-fi fantasy I afforded for myself, which was, if aliens ever did invade my neighborhood, my friends and I, much like the film's young stars, wouldn't run from them. We would run to them, with weapons, and a mouth full of trash talk.