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Why do most of the Hollywood movies have at least one non-white guy?

Are there any casting guidelines for that or Just a coincidence?

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What kind of source do you get always from? – TylerShads♦ Mar 23 '12 at 12:17
@TylerShads,I've been watched "n no of" hollywood movies and seen this scenario in almost every movie..Do you think it's a trivial question? – Vijin Paulraj Mar 23 '12 at 13:00
Trivial no, its definitely interesting :). Just wanted to know if you have a source for 'always'. If anything, I'd change it to 'Majority' and back it up with some kind of study (does one even exist?). Conversely, replacing the wording of "This always happens" (implying it is a common knowledge fact) with "I have seen this happen in a majority of movies that I viewed from Hollywood. Is this always the case or is there a casting guideline they follow, or coincidence?" (implying it is a personal observation, asking for clarification and sources). – TylerShads♦ Mar 23 '12 at 13:30
It's my personal observation as you said..So,let me re-edit the question:( – Vijin Paulraj Mar 23 '12 at 15:25
Perhaps the recent Hollywood movies, but if you go in the past, that is not true. – Theta33 Mar 23 '12 at 22:58

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

I think it dates back to the times of 'Mandrake & Lothar'.
Negroes were used as assistants and later as sidekicks (referring to the jobs they actually used to get).

Gradually, they started entering mainstream roles.

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up vote 9 down vote

Well first of all I'm not sure the premise of your question is true. I can think of several movies off hand with just white actors in significant speaking roles.

If you reduce it to 'a majority of modern Hollywood movies' then your observations might be closer to the mark, but I don't think this is down to any form of explicit policy of positive discrimination.

The USA is an ethnically diverse country. Ethnicity is a difficult area to quantify, but from recent census data people who identify themselves as white form just over 70% of the population (Wikipedia), so if a movie is to represent the normal makeup of the population then it would normally have a significant number of non-white actors. The percentage of white population decreases in urban areas, where (I am guessing) a larger proportion of movies are set. I am sure the casting team take this into account, both to simply represent normality and to maximize the marketing potential of the movie.

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