You’ll often read on alt right blogs about how Hollywood movies cast white men as the villains.  In many cases they go so far as to give them German accents or blonde hair to really further the phony narrative that only white gentiles are capable of being soulless psychopaths willing to commit mass murder for financial gain or ideological purposes.

If in fact this is true, you could speculate on the motivation for this in multiple ways.  Are they just trying to stoke anti-white feelings among movie goers?  Are the movie makers white racists themselves, and feel it would be unbelievable to to cast a non-white in the role of a genius villain because they’re not smart enough?  Are they just trying to avoid any potential backlash for portraying a designated victim group in a bad light?  Is there some hidden market research that indicates casting whites as villains sells more movie tickets?

It’s impossible to determine the absolute truth on what the motives are.  But is the premise even true?  Furthermore, are big budget movies just dominated by whites overall?  Are the heroes increasingly non-white while the villains remain white, or are all the lead roles typically white men?

Not that this is any kind of definitive study, but I figured I’d look back at the highest grossing films of recent years.  I acknowledge that the studios didn’t necessarily know these would end up being the most popular movies of the given year when making the casting decisions, but I had to start somewhere:

2017: Beauty and the Beast

The villain is a white man, but this is set in 18th century France and has an almost entirely white cast which seems appropriate.  Hard to make too much out of this.

2016: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The villain is a white man.  The all white male Galactic Empire is back from the original 1977 movie here (it’s set in the days prior to the start of the original trilogy), but Director Krennic is a new addition.  It’s also worth noting that while the Empire has remained white, the rebel alliance has been diversified for 21st century audiences.  The main hero is a white female.

2015: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

While technically a sequel to 1983’s Return of the Jedi, this is really just a remake of the original 1977 Star Wars film.  Darth Vader has been replaced by a white guy where you can actually see his face.  Grand Moff Tarkin has been replaced by a red head and the Nazi imagery was laid on pretty thick.  Meanwhile Luke Skywalker was replaced by a girl.  The closest thing to Han Solo is a Guatemalan actor.  And the closest thing to Princess Leia is a black guy.

2014: Transformers: Age of Extinction

Couple of white male villains here.  Although the hero is also a white male.

2013: Frozen

Villain is a white male (although an all white animated cast).  Hero is a white girl who may be a lesbian.

2012: The Avengers

White dude.  Main heroes are white men (Iron Man, Thor).

2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Never saw the movie, but the cast order suggests that while there are two white male villains, the main villain appears to be a white female.  Main hero is a white male.

2010: Toy Story 3

A cartoon Bear.  Hero is a white male toy.

2009: Avatar

White guy. Main hero is a disabled white man pretending to be an alien.

2008: The Dark Knight

White villain, white hero.

2007: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Never watched any of these films, but looks like both villain and hero are white guys.

2006: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

I think it’s pretty much the same set up as the 2007 film.

2005: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

White men are hero and villain

2004: Shrek 2

I think it’s this guy.  So the villain is a white male and the hero is an ogre.

2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Seems like it’s some kind of non-human thing.  The hero is a white male.

2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

White male villain, white male hero.

2001: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

White male villain, white male hero.

So it looks like each year’s main blockbuster in the 21st century had a white male as the main villain except three. One was a white female, and two were non-humans. Most of the main heroes were also white, but much more likely to be female.  It’s also worth noting that there were limited casting choices for a number of these films.  The characters were often established by novels or comic books so it would have been strange for example, for a studio to cast a black guy as the Joker.

Might be more interesting to look at the films that are given academy awards.  Or just the top 10 movies from each of the last five years or something.

More to come if I get bored and feel like looking up more stuff on this topic.

For those not familiar with Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, he’s apparently in charge of the United States Air Force Academy.  Some black cadet wrote a racial slur on a whiteboard in the dormitories there to stir up trouble.  The esteemed Lt. General jumped to the foolish conclusion that a white cadet wrote it, and made a speech that was picked up by the usual suspects in the media as a great moment in the war against racism.

I have a number of problems with this whole story:

1. Hoaxes like this have become very common in today’s America.  Silveria should be condemned for berating his troops about their racism before knowing the facts, but instead he’s being given awards by Left Wing organizations for taking a brave stand which of course wasn’t brave at all.
2. He said this as he was about to deliver his speech “I want you to videotape this so you have it, so you can use it — so that we all have the moral courage together.”  So he encouraged people to record his speech about how awful racism is (how very, very brave!).  This would suggest he intended for his remarks to go viral so that the Establishment could all give him a high five and his career as a big shot government employee would be advanced.
3. This line in his address to the academy got the most attention: “If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, get out.”  The point of the Air Force in theory is to bomb foreigners who are a threat to the United States.  The point of the Air Force in practice is to bomb those foreigners whom powerful American politicians feel it is in their political interests to kill.  Why do the cadets training to carry out these bombing missions need to treat anyone with dignity and respect?  If anything I would think that might be a detriment.  You might actually question the morality of bombing someone in Iraq, Serbia, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, or Syria if you were prepared to treat those people with any dignity or respect.

So anyway, Jay Silveria will probably now continue up the ranks in the Military, run for Congress, become CEO of a defense contractor, or become a cable news contributor (or maybe all 3 over time).  That’s what’s wrong with America.