Posted on 01/24/2024 9:39:28 AM PST by Red Badger
Legendary Hollywood gems like the “Wizard Of Oz” and the Christmas classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” are both getting what director and writer Kenya Barris is calling a “diverse” reboot.
Speaking to Variety at the Sundance Film Festival, Barris confirmed he’s working on scripts for both films and giving the Judy Garland 1939 movie a new look with a story told from a “different point of a view.”
“The original ‘Wizard of Oz’ took place during the Great Depression and it was about self-reliance and what people were going through,” Barris told the outlet.
“I think this is the perfect time to switch the characters and talk about what someone imagines their life could be,” he added. “It’s ultimately a hero’s journey, someone thinks something’s better than where they’re at, and they go and realize that where they’re at is where they should be.”
“I want people to be proud and happy about where they’re from,” Barris continued. “But I want the world to take a look at it and I hope that will come through.”
The “Black-ish” creator also talked about his remake of the 1946 Frank Capra classic starring Jimmy Stewart and said he plans to tell the story but with a “person of color” instead.
“I feel like Christmas movies are amazing and I think the idea of taking something that has that long of a history and a tale behind it and putting an amazing piece of talent to tell that story,” Barris said.
“It’s a guy who’s trying to help out his community and things are going to turn around on him,” he added. “I think that’s the perfect story to tell for a person of color — Black or brown — to get into that because our communities have some issues and someone trying to help that community out. I think that’s the perfect vehicle to tell that story from.”
During his appearance last year on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon,” Barris spoke a bit about one of the upcoming projects he was working on with “diverse” characters that was a twist on the “Wizard of Oz” story.
“I think that this is the best time to turn a mirror on society because we need to see ourselves, and I want to do it with diverse characters,” Barris said.
Barris told Fallon his version of Dorothy is a girl who “lives in Inglewood, and someone comes up and she ends up in Underhood, which is right outside of Oz, and it takes place from there.”
“I wanted to make people think, but also make them feel good, and also make people feel seen who hadn’t felt seen,” he added.
Good catch on my miss-type. It reminds of the story of Pope Gregory (according to Bede) in AD 6th century seeing fair-skinned white boys sold in the slave market in Rome. When he asked about them and was told that they were Angles (or Anglii or Anglos as we say today), the Pope was moved with compassion for them and said they weren't Angles but Angels and was motivated to send Augustine of Canterbury to Kent to teach about Christ.
Martinis bar will now be called Ebonys and Nick will be replaced with Curtis.
“ A woke remake of “It’s a Wonderful Life” shows Potter winning and everyone miserable.”
No.
Potter would be a rich white oppressor holding down minorities .
Baileys bank would be run by woke green new deal types , homosexual of course.
Why is it that very good old movies that featured whites, TV programs that had whites as main characters, etc. have to be ‘redone’ using only black and PoC actors?
Aren’t black writers, producers and actors capable of creating entertainment (successful, that is) with their own original content and acting?
Seems like it’s just Quotas/Affirmative Action/DEI (all the same thing) for uninspired mediocrity.
Tyler Perry does it every day. That's why he's a BILLIONAIRE................
Yes.. there are LOTS of examples. My question was directed mainly to these nonsense remarks and articles about DEI efforts for works whose only faults were white actors/writers/producers. They don’t need it but have to persist with it.
I get so tired of these people who try and claim racism is why they aren’t successful. There are myriad examples of extremely successful black Americans, like Tyler Perry, Daymond John, not to mention the sports stars in teh NFL, NBA, MLB.
I think it’s actually a matter of “the original works needs to be shown for the racism it is by doing a black-only remake that does better.”
I have been thinking the same thing. Make your own stories --- quit "appropriating" OURS.
Yes you can’t remake classics they stand alone.
Crappy movie. Frankly, to me, it was racist.
Thought I was watching a high tech Shakka Zulu.
Blazing Saddles...LOL.
On top of her blatantly "woke" graduation thesis at Princeton where she herself was an Affirmative Action admission and vying for the most class-less First Lady (?) ever while posing as Bathhouse Barry's 'beard'.
This is the Demoncrat Party's "Great Black Hope" to defeat President Trump. And they may pull it off if the GOP-E help them like they always do when true patriots threaten to upset their corruption apple carts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.