Is CGI Racist? A Better Man Discussion.

In my weekly recap (working title), I shared a story about how a simple question turned into a much deeper conversation about diversity in media. That question was, “Are you planning on watching Better Man this weekend?”

Better Man is the new Robbie Williams biopic in which the singer himself stars, or at least voices. The film recounts the life of the famous beans-on-toast singer, depicted as a monkey throughout the movie. It has been a topic of conversation online, as many people, including myself, initially thought it was a piece of fiction. To everyone's surprise, Robbie Williams is a real person. Many Brits were also shocked to learn that those of us across the pond had no clue who Mr. Williams was or any of his work. They were eager to call out the singer's “best hits,” to which many people still asked, “Who?” It wasn’t until someone mentioned that he sang a cover of "Beyond The Sea" for the Disney film Finding Nemo that many of us exclaimed, “Why didn’t you guys start with that!”

Returning to the monkey flick, the film is a biopic about the singer Robbie Williams's life and is voiced by the singer himself. There are reasons why the film chose to depict the singer's life through a CGI monkey. The singer explains that the film touches on many sensitive subjects, and in his opinion, “people would be more sympathetic toward a monkey suffering through those things than a human.” He has a point. As an avid horror film connoisseur, I’ve had many discussions with people within the horror space who say they can handle the brutal massacre of any human life, but once a puppy enters the scene, they’re clutching their seats for dear life. Therefore, the idea of a monkey taking the place of a young Robbie look-alike actor is quite brilliant. Additionally, with the over-saturation of biopics right now, standing apart from the rest by bringing something original to the table is a great idea. However, this brings up another conversation: why does a CGI monkey get to eat before we all eat?

When I asked my co-worker if they were planning on watching the monkey flick (we usually have conversations about movies, but then again, all my conversations are about movies), they replied, “I’m not watching that racist shit.” I then asked what about it was racist, to which they said, “Hollywood has all this money to cast CGI monkeys but no black people.” I was a bit confused but then really thought about it.

It’s not breaking news that there is a significant disparity between actors and actresses of color and their white counterparts. Every year, we see more and more films being made with an all-white cast or crew. When we do see films with a POC cast, they are either tokenized (being the only one in the cast) or cast in roles with stereotypical premises, such as 12 Years a Slave. This movie often comes up in conversations about representation for black actors, as they are represented and even award-winning, but the only premise they get to be cast in is something about slavery. While those movies are important, as there are many deniers of history, it is a shame that white actors not only get to star in these movies but also get their movies in various genres, whether it be comedy, action, drama, etc. For every white male “weepy” film, a black actor is being told he should audition to play a gang leader walk-on role for some CBS show. This is also true for all actors and actresses of every minority, as they get categorized into their stereotypes.

While some films are being made with an all-black cast and crew (I just recently watched One of Them Days, which was excellent and female-led!), if we created a chart that compared the numbers, it would be shocking how steep the comparison is. So, does this make all CGI kind of racist? Does this mean that movies like Planet of the Apes and Avatar are racist? James Cameron created a whole other type of species. When I asked this of my coworker, he stated that those movies still have black people cast in them, which he is correct about. Planet of the Apes has tons of actors and actresses of color, even if they’re not shown, their IMDB (Internet Movie Database) credits them! This is not the same for Better Man, which doesn’t have a single person of color credited on its IMDB page.

The problem is not based on CGI at all. The act of crafting a monkey, an ape, or a blue creature over a person is not racist. (Though I will say, I take a hard stance against AI). The problem is representation. If movie studios funded more projects and created projects with POC and all other marginalized communities, then people wouldn’t be outraged at the CGI monkey film. It’s the same with big blockbusters in comparison to indie movies; you can fund 15 smaller-budget movies for the price of one big blockbuster with much better odds.

Of course, there are big execs who have their fingers on the buzzer to tell us what we will and won’t be viewing for the next couple of years, but if we also have our hands on our wallets to support those smaller movies and show the big execs this is what we want, then we can send a message. Money talks (unfortunately). Use your dollar to support what you want to see more of in the world. If you want to see CGI monkey, go watch CGI monkey.