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Bad reviews of Shyamlan's 'The Happening' due to racism?
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by Richard Drewmore | June 16, 2008 at 08:39 am
515 views | 2 Recommendations | 10 comments
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Bad reviews of Shyamlan's 'The Happening' due to racism?
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Can it be a kind of racism that the Indian-born, Philadelphia-raised auteur is hammered for his apparent character (or funny name) rather more than, say, Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee, asks horror scholar Kim Newman in an article for British daily The Guardian Monday, June 16.
Within a couple of hours after publishing the article Newman received bulk mail on the Guardian's site denouncing his theory of racism. So, is there any substance in Newman's allegation? India-EU Film Initiative investigates.
Manoj Night Shyamalan's The Happening grossed an estimated three-day worldwide gross of $62 million- quite impressive if you look at the nasty reviews he received in the US.
The film, produced by India's UTV Motion Pictures and Fox Searchlight, beat the $150 million 'The Incredible Hulk', the number one film in North America, in foreign markets. But to put things in perspective, Hulk opened in 39 territories while Happening was showing in 88 markets, writes Arthur J Pais in New York for The Rediff.
According to Hollywood observers, Shyamalan has annoyed the big bosses in Hollywood. Even the film establishment, including some top film critics, are angry with him for his 'arrogance'. He has been called 'an egomaniacal spoilt brat who truly believes he is the next Spielberg'.
But there are many who believe the critics have been too harsh on Shyamlan's 'Happening'. Newman writes in the Guardian: The premise of M Night Shyamalan's latest paranormal thriller is no more bizarre than any other apocalypse fiction (Arthur Machen's The Terror is about butterflies for goodness' sake). If the film isn't viewed with hostility from the fade-in, it's an effective, mid-ranking genre picture. Mark Wahlberg isn't the strongest leading man, but the rest of the cast are fine, and its puzzled, panicky characters act in a more or less credible manner.
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Richard Drewmore
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (10)
at 08:50 on June 16th, 2008
Richard Drewmore, I like this story. It's good stuff. Very debatable! I do feel an element of racism there...
at 08:58 on June 16th, 2008
Except that The Sixth Sense got glowing reviews. So, if the negative reviews are due to racism instead of, oh I dunno, a below average film. What are we attributing the positive reviews to?
at 09:12 on June 16th, 2008
One must read the whole article. Shyamalan started getting bad press after the publication of his controversial remarks against Disney. Until 'The Sixth Sense' he was a golden boy of the Hollywood!
at 10:28 on June 16th, 2008
There are also plenty of articles about the man being a jerk (allegedly). If people don't like you, they may just make fun of you. If there is racism at work, there's probably a better example than a guy who, by many accounts, just isn't a good guy.
at 10:23 on June 16th, 2008
well shyamalan is a good director and racism is nothing new in white world the way out is being humble.
or it might be another publicity gimmick,who knows???
at 10:34 on June 16th, 2008
I think it's probably up for debate how good director he is...
at 11:26 on June 16th, 2008
Well..that's not an argument really. One could also attribute the IMDB ratings to some sort of racism. What do you know about Amitabh Bachchan? What's his rating at the IMDB? But I won't go that far.
However, I think it's every body's right to like or dislike any movie without even entertaining a query. So if people don't like Shyamalan's movies..it's fine. Frankly, I'm not one of his admirers. Personally, I don't enjoy the paranormal stuff. But if one detects a kind of institutional bias or racism then I seriously believe it's concerning. I hope professionals in Hollywood wouldn't stoop to that level.
at 08:35 on June 17th, 2008
You could attribute it to racism but the point is it's an open system: anybody from anywhere can rate a film. Therefore, unlike a relatively closed system like the professional movie reviewers, you might expect prejudices like racism to wash out.
As for Amitabh Bachchan: The Last Lear (8.6), Jodhaa Akbar (7.6), Sarkar Raj (7.1)
IMDB is far from perfect but I'd be hard pressed to find an argument that the ratings there could be skewed by racism.
I don't like someone implying because people don't like person A or film B that it must, must be due to racism as opposed to maybe the fact that they don't like person A or film B.
at 08:57 on June 17th, 2008
Point taken on board. Mr Todd you've done your home work. It's nice reading your comments. Thanks. Sometimes, racism is just an excuse to malign some one you don't like.
at 06:24 on August 7th, 2008
I can't believe that racism is even an issue. The movie was terrible. It is un-rateable. I want my money back. I am an Asian and am embarassed that other Asians so easily fall back on the racism card. I suspect the box office success is due to curiosity more than anything else with people asking: how bad can it be? If the producers put up a 'I want my money back from The Happening' website, and promise to pay back angry patrons, I wouldn't be surprised if tonnes of people wrote in, we'll see what the BO looks like then! Please, read some of the forums where everyday people have responded to the movie. Generally people think it sucks! Shame on Asians to always cry 'racism' when they think people don't 'like' them. It's that kind of attitude that gives the rest of us a bad name!