Anyone who saw “Incredibles 2” might have caught glimpse of a short called “Bao”, which was about a mom in Japan, feeling depressed over not having a kid to raise and care, just a husband who’ll tends to not pay too much attention to her. One day, a dumpling she was making suddenly turns into a child, turning her life around in positivity.
While I won’t spoil what happens at the end of this short, know that it perfectly falls in-line with Incredibles 2. That short so happens to be directed by an Asian woman named Domee Shi, who had this idea flowing through her mind for a while and Pixar helped made it happen, letting this woman sit in the director’s chair.
I know this is a short, not a full feature-length movie, but for a short, this works on both a strong story-telling level and one that respects it’s own culture. For a CG animated film, this is a first. No, I’m not ignoring Mulan or Isle Of Dogs, but in the most popular style of animated movies today, this is a first.
Don’t take this as me trying to force diversity because I don’t think it should be a plus when diversity is the primary and sole selling point to your film. If anything, a bad film or short can paint a negative stain on the desire for cultural representation.
Why would we encourage these types of films to suck? Being a great film should matter, whether you like it or not. If you aren’t a good movie, than the representation would insult more than encourage, or just be completely forgotten about.
For example, just recently, a friend of mine mentioned a cult-classic musical that made me recall a certain remake:
Nobody remembers that Sony beat Marvel to a black-led blockbuster movie, simply because well…it sucked. I would hear “It starred African-Americans though, so it needs to be honored anyway”…or no I won’t because no one remembers this movie. I think its disrespectful to the talent out there that them being Black, Asian, Indian, etc. is the only thing we should pay attention to.
Hollywood needs to understand why these creative minds are important. Mixing them up with the bad apples is telling them that their work doesn’t matter, just their race. Black Panther inspired many people for not only being a black-led superhero movie but a great one. You don’t see folks of color quoting lines from Steel, Justice League’s Cyborg or Up, Up, And Away because a big component was the movie’s quality,
While on the subject of Asian-starred CG animated films, Domee Shi wasn’t the first:
The Guardian Brothers was directed by a Chinese entrepreneur named Gary Wang. It sucked, thus not having an impact on people. I could go all day with examples and know that quality is a subjective taste. Not every film bombs from being terrible, nor every terrible movie is a box office bomb.
Where I’m trying to get at, you can have diversity and creative talent work at the same time. Sure, there will always be fans of every movie and someone will still go to a theater just to watch something, but you won’t have that lasting impact that’ll unite cultures together.
I know this is only a short and Domee’s first project, but I would highly encourage Pixar to go further and develop a feature-length animated movie revolving around any culture in Asia, not only for representation, but that we know it can be done right, and this short only shows further proof. It’s not like Disney today would be against it, considering what they’ve been doing for every property.
My message will be this, support diversity-led work you love, not just because of their skin color or gender. I won’t be looking forward to Ava DuVernay’s New Gods not because she is a black woman, because I don’t think she has the chops, based on A Wrinkle In Time, which she had most control over in production.
Instead, I’ll be interested about whatever Olivia Newman (First Match) or say Domee Shi and more that would take forever to list, but I know they have that talent and deserve to be the louder voices of supporting creative careers than Ava DuVernay.
Diversity and creativity at once matter, as shown with this lack of confidence interview. For just a mere 5-6 minute short that happens to publicly play before a box office giant, “bao” can and will open up more doors for creative cultural representation.
Let’s hope the future can stay bright for everyone and it seems like we are overall progressing very well in art!
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