In the latest episode of HBO’s Westworld, viewers were introduced to Pariah, a new edgy town, with cross-cultural flavors — oh, and a massive orgy.
After one producer attempted to explain the influences for the new set, Twitter erupted in outrage at what they saw as an offensive characterization of various cultures.
Here’s producer Richard Lewis’ explanation of Pariah.
We wanted it to feel like a border town, so that there’s a Tex-Mex feel to it. We wanted it to land somewhere between an American culture and a Latino culture. We were inspired by Buenos Aires and the really beautiful grave sites there. There’s a lot of Spanish flavor to this. Credit to our great production designer Zack Grobler for that. We did a lot of research and felt there was a nice almost Haitian feeling as well. We played with various looks. We played with full body makeup, we played with an African flavor that felt more… there was an ideal of cannibalism we were messing with for a while. We landed in this border town Tex-Mex feeling.
It seemed that because the multicultural town was more hedonistic and lawless, than the original, predominately white town, this really offended people. Also the aside about cannibalism didn’t help cool things down.
so westworld has introduced a scary lawless town full of deviants and criminals called "Pariah", described thusly by a white exec producer pic.twitter.com/QXjevbs0s4
— Caesar Spookybee (@maryellenmurr) October 31, 2016
https://twitter.com/allisonhopstad/status/792932497000497152
https://twitter.com/superpredatorj/status/792926359261736961
A TV critic at the New Yorker seemed to agree.
@cbfels @maryellenmurr I'm not just talking about Pariah. I'm talking about larger dynamics that thread through the episodes.
— emily nussboo (@emilynussbaum) October 31, 2016
Looking forward to reading a great racial analysis of WW. Bc I think the show is a perfect example of how diverse casting can mean nothing.
— emily nussboo (@emilynussbaum) October 31, 2016
Well, we’re only half way through the first season of Westworld and the problematic police are getting really desperate to tear this one down. After multiple accusations of sexism, it’s only understandable the show’s depiction of racist American history would get the racist label as well.
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