Argo And The Trouble With Hollywood Logic

November 1st, 2012 by Latoya Peterson

The exception to the rule are indies that specifically discuss a marginalized existence, like Precious or Slumdog Millionaire. But once studios get involved, they will cite all kinds of numbers that say actors of color will not provide a decent return on investment. And so, while Jennifer Lawrence rode her much deserved accolades from Winter’s Bone to a star turn in the Hunger Games, that type of trajectory is often out of reach to actors of color.

If you let the Hollywood apologists tell it, this is just a hard truth of Hollywood. So PoCs are supposed to just wait for some benevolent director who believes in colorblind casting, or just hope that a role doesn’t get racebent and content themselves with playing terrorist/thug/geek/sassy neck-twirling clerk #2 for most of their careers.

But why wait? Why not create our own pictures, you may ask? Why are we waiting for mainstream (read: white Hollywood) to notice us before we can make our own stuff? The answer is simple: because it takes time to amass the connections and capital to create a big budget production.

It took Andy Garcia nine years to make his dream project, The Lost City. And this was after being in the business since 1989 and starring in several well-received films. Lee Daniels entered the industry in the late 80s, worked on the business side for years before amassing capital by selling his talent agency and moving over to the production side. Eva Longoria was to capture a first-look development deal after she became an major force in television, thanks to Desperate Housewives. Keep in mind, this fight to collect enough connections and capital to greenlight your own stories works the same way for white performers. Kristen Wiig needed the break on SNL in order to get in position to launch a film like Bridesmaids; Jennifer Aniston was able to leverage her Friends fame into both a film career and the money to invest in stories through her new production company Echo Films. It is hard to break through the noise of the entertainment industry and produce your own work.

But this dynamic hits actors of color harder since they are seen as a liability before they even start performing. And these issues feed each other–so actors of color who can’t get breaks on small films become actors of color who aren’t seen as having the chops to carry their own film/series, which reduces their earning power, which reduces their connections, which hinders them from having the resources and connections to produce their own work on a large scale.

And that brings us back to Argo.

There are many things that Argo did well. I really appreciated how they did not whitewash the Canadian ambassador’s wife (Patricia Taylor, played by Page Leong) and they took the time to show their photo inspiration for the scenes they recreated. I enjoyed learning about a part of our recent history. But watching Ben Affleck roll around with his 70s beard and tired eyes, just made me keep thinking of who else I could have watched. What actor on the verge is scanning casting notices right now, and hoping to be discovered? And why are we so willing to accept the Hollywood status quo when we keep hearing the same excuses year after year?