MOVIES: More "Superman Returns" talk

I recently read a veteran Black (Christian) comic book writer's review of Superman Returns, recently, and he blasted the film t'death! Among many other things, he pointed out that Blacks were completely absent from the world the filmmakers crafted.

He said that he may have seen a Black person on a tv when someone was flipping channels, but that was it. Someone else mentioned that s/he saw Blacks as extras here or there, but I'm still left with the impression that they didn't care any more about Blacks in this latest film than they did in the first one... which featured one Black character (or maybe one Black speaking role) which was a pimp telling Supes how "bad" his outfit was.

Ouch.

Read Christopher Priest's review here: click this.

' Zero.

There is not one black person
in even a single frame of this film.
Not an extra, not a cameo, not anybody pushing a broom or driving a cab. This world, this antiseptic, Disneyland world, is a world of white people. A Republican fantasy where Ronald Reagan is still president and Newt Gingrich runs the House of Representatives. This is a thoroughly whitewashed universe of white people where blacks and other minorities may be a passing blur at best (and that’s giving Singer the benefit of the doubt. Frankly, I did not see any black people and, yes, I was looking for them).

Like President Bush’s election campaigns and the "Moral" Religious Right, Superman Returns completely writes off black America, figuring, perhaps correctly, we wouldn’t be interested in the film in the first place. Superman is, face it, corny. Not very popular with the brothers. The spit curl and underwear outside of his tights. Face it, we probably weren’t going in the first place. But, had Singer cast Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen (as earlier director Tim Burton had intended), I guarantee a wider appeal for this $204 million film. Add in $60 million in preproduction on three false starts plus a rumored $100 million in worldwide promotion, and Superman Returns may very well be the most expensive film ever made, with some $363 million charged to the film. Given such astronomical numbers, I’d think any effort Singer could make to broaden the appeal of the film would be welcome. Instead, the film is a virtual slap in black America’s face. We simply do not exist at all in this world Singer has created. Superman is not here to save us or rescue us. There were no blacks rescued. '