Chance the Rapper blasted a Netflix original film starring Will Smith over its ‘shallow’ attempt to illustrate race relations in the United States.
The 24-year-old singer took to Twitter to criticize ‘Bright’ – directed by David Ayer – on Tuesday.
The film is set in an alternate reality where humans coexist alongside mythical creatures, including orcs, elves and fairies – and Smith’s character is partnered up with the LAPD’s first orc cop.
Chance the Rapper (pictured) blasted a Netflix original film starring Will Smith over its ‘shallow’ attempt to illustrate race relations in the United States
Chance sparked debate about the film’s portrayal of allegorical racism by asking his followers: ‘Wondering how you guys are feeling about the lynched [orc] in #Brightmovie.’
In a series of subsequent tweets, he added: ‘I found the way they tried to illustrate America’s racism through the mythical creatures to be a little shallow.
‘I always feel a lil cheated when I see allegorical racism in movies cause that racism usually stems from human emotion or tolerance but not by law or systems the way it is in real life.
‘The characters in #Brightmovie live in a timeline where racism is gone… cause we hate [orcs] now.’
The 24-year-old singer took to Twitter to criticize ‘Bright’ in a series of tweets on Tuesday
One of Chance’s followers added to the criticism, writing: ‘If I had to complain about anything…. it’s about the indirect relationship of orcs to black people. That was weird to me.’
The rapper responded to the comment, saying: ‘I think the idea is that they’re a step below bottom of the spectrum [of] blackness.
‘Which is why Will’s character, the Mexican cop and the [orc] have that dialogue in the street.’
Later, another follower suggested that perhaps the filmmakers weren’t using mythical creatures as a metaphor.
The film is set in an alternate reality where humans coexist alongside mythical creatures
‘Is there any chance that they weren’t trying to make a metaphor and just trying to make an interesting story?’ the user asked.
To which, Chance replied: ‘I tried to look at it that way but a few minutes into the movie they make Will’s character say “Fairy Lives Don’t Matter”.’
Days earlier, the film’s writer Max Landis claimed the line was improvised by Will Smith.
‘I believe the “Fairy Lives Don’t Matter” line was an adlib by Will Smith, but I don’t know for sure,’ he wrote on Twitter.
Bright has been critically panned, achieving only a 29 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The critics consensus is that ‘Bright tries to blend fantasy, hard-hitting cop drama, and social commentary – and ends up falling painfully short of the mark on all three fronts,’ the website says.