This year’s South by Southwest saw the release of what is quickly becoming one of the decades’ cinematographic pearls. Directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once re-uses an absurdist take on the concept of the multiverse to explore a Chinese-American woman’s struggles, such as the immigrant Asian-American experience and Asian pessimism.
In recent years, the production of cinema has been spreading its creative wings in all sorts of directions. Concerned with providing fresh and accurate perspectives to the audiences, movie producers and writers are shifting the locus of their stories. What started out at the beginning of the last century as an overwhelmingly white-centered industry is slowly but steadily growing into a more mature and humane art form that hopefully can extend its influence over each viewer and further widen the discussion around the topic of racism and how to prevent it.
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)
Directed by J. Lee Thompson, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes came out in 1972 and it was the fourth installment in the original movie series.
It is set in a futuristic society responsible for enslaving the ape species. Similar to Spartacus in themes and tone, it tells the story of Caesar, an orphan ape who leads a revolution to free his people from humanity’s cruelty. It takes its inspiration from the 1965 Watts Riots (per FilmSchoolRejects), which took place when reports of police abuse against African-Americans gave way to a series of riots near Los Angeles. It is a provocative movie that denounces the inner workings of segregation and discrimination.
X Men (2000)
Starring household names like Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart, or Ian McKellen, Bryan Singer’s X-Men is based on the comic books of the same name.
The X-Men are a team of powerful mutant heroes who use their powers to safeguard the world. However, because of their unique genetic mutations and the resulting powers, they are feared by unpowered humans. The line of discussion throughout the movie is inspired by civil rights movements, as the characters are forced to find ways to deal with hate and prejudice. Two proposals reminiscent of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X emerge: Professor X’s advocating for peaceful coexistence between mutants and non-mutants, and Magneto’s endorsement of the superiority of mutants.
Sleep Dealer (2008)
Sleep Dealer is about a dystopian society set in the faraway future. It was directed by Alex Rivera and stars Luis Fernando Peña, Leonor Varela, and Jacob Vargas.
Illegal immigration between the US and Mexico has been stopped by a wall between the two countries, and robots have hereby replaced migrant workers. They are supervised on the other side of the frontier by the would-be emigrants, and their connection to the robots eventually leads to their physical collapse, and they are let go without medical assistance. Its focus on the exploration of notions of technological oppression, specifically how it might intertwine between migrants, has been widely praised by critics and audiences alike.
Avatar (2009)
Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington give life to Neytiri and Jake Sully, respectively, in the 2009 iconic Avatar. James Cameron directed, wrote, produced, and co-edited this record-grabbing epic.
Considered to be one of the best sci-fi movies ever, Avatar deals with the consequences of the colonialization of a moon called Pandora located on the Alpha Centauri star system occurring in the year 2154. In their apprehension to mine unobtanium, a priceless mineral, humans are endangering the native tribe of Na’Vi. Jake Sully’s encounter with them reveals how biased human perception regarding the Na’Vi is, and how much they are suffering because of the colonizers.
The Princess And The Frog (2009)
The Princess And The Frog is a 2009 Walt Disney Pictures movie inspired by the famous tale by the Grimm brothers and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements.
It is a cinematic landmark set in the 1920s in New Orleans and features Tiana, the first African-American Disney princess. Social and race undertones include her staring through the window of a trolley as the wealthy white world fades into several dilapidated huts which constitute the Black neighborhood. Despite the class gap, Tiana is a complex representation of an African-American woman who works hard to achieve her dreams.
District 9 (2009)
District 9 is a 2009 science fiction movie by Demonic director Neill Blomkamp. It is about an alternate reality where an alien ship has landed in Johannesburg and contains a population of insectoid aliens. These aliens are confined to an internment sector named District 9.
It is a clear allegory for issues such as social segregation and xenophobia. Its premise was inspired by historical events which had taken place during the Apartheid Era in South Africa when non-white South Africans were segregated and denied basic civil rights.
The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
The second movie in The Purge series was one of the most anticipated horror movies of 2014, and it did not disappoint.
Anarchy follows some people who end up stranded out on the street at Purge night, an annual event created by the “New Founding Fathers” in order to reduce criminality. The movie constitutes a strong social allegory that denounces the capitalistic system and the class unfairness that comes from it. A Black revolutionary group is also featured.
Black Panther (2018)
An exceptional achievement for the superhero genre, Black Panther stars the late Chadwick Boseman and tells the story of his character, T’Challa, who becomes King of Wakanda after his father’s death.
The movie goes beyond any other MCU installment, dealing with the oppression of African peoples around the globe. Moreover, it does not shy away from referencing the atrocities committed during the slavery period, as Killmonger asks T’Challa to be buried in the ocean with his “ancestors who jumped from ships, ’cause they knew death was better than bondage.”
Dune (2021)
Few fans will deny that the 2021 Dune version did things better than its 1984 predecessor.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, it is inspired by Frank Herbert’s story of the House of Atreides. Villeneuve himself has argued per CinemaBlend that the 2021 Dune is a critique of the “[white] saviour” (“someone that will come and tell another population how to be, what to believe”) adding that it represents, in fact, a rebuke of that notion rather than an embracing of it. Overall, it is an epic tale about colonialism, exploitation, and social resilience.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
From Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, Everything Everywhere All At Once has been receiving rounds of applause since its release.
It dabbles with the concept of the multiverse in an absurdist fashion to tell the story of a Chinese-American woman who discovers that she is responsible for the prevention of the destruction of the multiverse. Besides, as Anne Anlin Cheng asserts to The Washington Post, “the multiverse acts as a metaphor for the immigrant Asian American experience, or a convenient parable for the dislocations and personality splits suffered by hyphenated (that is, “Asian-American”) citizens”. It is a funny and immersive reformulation and blend of themes that cross between genres effortlessly.
