Succinct points, OP. Those character designs just reeeek of forceful virtual signalling. 3 black people a gay guy. 4 out of 5 of them are overweight. Right. You want real representation? It should work like congress. You get proportional representation, which means roughly 1 out of every 10 people are black, and 2 out of every characters Latino. Asians and LGBT people would appear like 1 out of every 30 people, maybe less. But that's not what we're seeing. So sorry, what exactly are you fighting for again?
Overrepresentation. Look, I have nothing against minorities. I am a minority. I'll respect anyone anywhere I bump into if they respect me.
But you have to realize being a minority means there are way more people out there who are unlike you and not really interested in you or can relate to you. It's not racism it's just how humans functioned since the dawn of man. I use to think "token" characters were offensive. But now I realize, when you're about 1 out of 10 people getting
any kind of representation in media made in a country predominately NOT your race (and now sexual orientation, because kids should really get into that shit early yeah?) is not some god given right. Living a good life (which so many people are lacking right now regardless of their background) without being at the mercy of megacorporations, overreaching government, and corrupt rich bastards of wall street, IS a god given right, and IS the thing people should focus the FUCK on instead.
Concept wise, the movie is fine. For the less initiated, it's a clear throwback to the old school, 1950s/60s kind of sci fi B-movie. Going to a strange dimension/planet/place was a big thing back then. But it's old hat now, practically most movies partly take place in some kind of strange world. There's no modern twist, no hook. Watching the trailer, it's easy to see why it failed. Having a minority main character, or cast, doesn't mean automatic failure. It means you have to fucking work just as hard as anyone else to make it FUCKING GOOD. Because people care more about fucking good movies than movies with fucking minorities in it, and that's just stone cold facts.
Here's some movies it probably took inspirations from:
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