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https://blackgirlnerds.com/podcast-a-discussion-on-the-disney-series-ashoka/
In this week’s episode of the Black Girl Nerds podcast, we chat about the Disney+ series Ahsoka.
The series is about Ahsoka Tano, the former Jedi knight investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy. Building off her popularity in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), seeks to quell a threat that is attempting to revive the Empire. Featuring a majority female-led cast, the series centers around three women with a shared history of standing up against repression and fighting for what is right, even when the odds are stacked against them. The team comes face to face with new conflicts as society struggles to reform. The women are prompted to consider their places in a post-war environment and what it means to work together as a team… along with awesome lightsaber battles, of course.
Host: Jamie and Ryanne
Music by: Sammus
Edited by: Jamie Broadnax
It’s a well-established fact that the DCEU as we knew it — and some of us even loved it — was discontinued when James Gunn and Peter Safran became co-chairpersons and CEOs of DC Films, which is now rebranded into DC Studios. These were disheartening news for Batman fans, mainly because Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne, polarizing as it was, was actually one of the most accurate portrayals thus far.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman was and still is a cinematic masterpiece, but it doesn’t really belong to either DCEU or the newly formed DC Universe — which was actually confirmed by Gunn at one point. This would effectively leave the new DC Universe without its Batman. However, recent rumors suggested that John Krasinski, the star behind Doctor Strange‘s Mr. Fantastic and Jack Ryan, might don the mantle of Gotham’s Caped Crusader and play the city’s favorite vigilante son. But is there any truth to those rumors? Is John Krasinski the next Batman?
Well, to be entirely honest, Krasinski isn’t a stranger to action-intensive releases; the audiences were fairly impressed with his transformation into an action hero in Michael Bay’s 13 Hours, after which he landed the headline role of Jack Ryan before he went on to portray Reed Richards in the MCU and even voice Superman in DC’s League of Super-Pets. So, why wouldn’t he be Batman in the upcoming The Brave and the Bold film, and thus mark the Caped Crusader’s entry into the newly formed DC Universe?
We’re actually sad to inform you that the rumor was actually conjured out of thin air by the fans after Bill “Jett” Ramey — @BATMANONFILM on X, formerly Twitter — posted a photo of Krasinski, without any captions that would provide context for why they, a prominent everything-Batman account, posted it. Of course, zealous and die-hard fans and rumor excavators wasted no time in spinning the rumor further until it eventually got the internet media attention. Suddenly, everyone was talking about John Krasinski being the next Batman.
According to actor, writer, and host Mike Kalinowski, who commented on the post, this is how no-basis rumors start, with prominent entities failing to provide context and clickbait websites spreading such rumors to get traction. Truth be told, many online news outlets even started publishing that John Krasinski is ready to suit up for the next Batman movie, raising the fandom’s expectations further and adding more fuel to the wildfires of misinformation.
That is, until James Gunn publicly disproved the rumors by stating that DC still doesn’t even have a script for the movie, let alone a cast, which would’ve been impossible with the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. So, it would seem that John Krasinski isn’t playing Batman, at least not in any project that has been associated with the newly formed DC Universe. However, that doesn’t mean that he isn’t potentially involved with the film.
There’s still much we don’t know about the upcoming The Brave and the Bold movie, apart from the fact that it’s based on Grant Morrison’s comic book run — which ironically isn’t a part of the original Brave and the Bold comic book run. More specifically, the film will focus on the Batman & Son storyline, in which Bruce Wayne first learns of Damien, a son he has with Talia al Ghul. As Damien becomes Robin later on, this might be the first time we see a Robin suit-up in a live-action movie since 1997’s Batman & Robin with George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell.
But the Batman & Son story actually features the Joker. While Krasinski’s involvement with The Brave and the Bold still hasn’t been confirmed, the fandom has given their fan-casted votes to Krasinski to portray the Clown Prince of Crime for quite some time now — even before the rumors of him as Batman started. So, while we’re still in the realm of speculation here, and nothing has been confirmed, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Krasinski might be involved with the next Batman film — as the Joker.
To be entirely honest, his roles in The Office, Jack Ryan, and A Quiet Place have demonstrated Krasinski’s acting prowess and his performance ability having the emotional depth to tackle diverse roles in a very convincing manner. This versatility could help the actor interpret a dark, brooding side of the Caped Crusader, the charm and wit of Bruce Wayne, or the insanity of Jack Oswald White — which is Joker’s real name, according to DC Comics.
Furthermore, as DC Comics and the DC Universe continue to evolve, there’s actually a growing trend towards portraying the Caped Crusader as a more experienced and mature character. This would make Krasinski into the perfect Batman. He’s in his early 40s, and his dedication to transforming his physique for past roles, including 13 Hours, could certainly help him achieve the imposing physical presence required for the portrayal of battle-hardened Batman.
And in the end, let’s not underestimate the power of fan appeal. Sure, Gunn stated that the role hadn’t been cast yet, but with Krasinski amassing a dedicated fan base from his previous work, casting him as Batman could potentially generate a lot of excitement among Batman enthusiasts.
Whether John Krasinski ends up donning the mantle of Gotham’s Caped Crusader remains to be seen, but there’s no denying that the potential for his casting is an exciting prospect for the fans of both Krasinski and Batman.
During a time of intense concern over the impact and integrity of the Supreme Court, director Dawn Porter brings us Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court. The four-part documentary series examines the modern era of the Supreme Court, including the people, decisions, and major confirmation battles that have shaped the court into what it is today.
Dawn Porter is an attorney turned award-winning filmmaker and founder of the production company Trilogy Films. Her work has appeared on ESPN, Netflix, HBO, PBS, and Discovery.
BGN had the pleasure of speaking with Porter via Zoom to discuss the goal of the docuseries, the role racism and white supremacy have played, and what she’s hoping people learn from the series.
The docuseries is eye-opening and I considered it to be a history lesson. Mentioned in the series, Barack Obama says that the goal of the Supreme Court is “to protect those that are most vulnerable.” However, many Americans don’t feel that way or even trust the court. Is the goal of this series to help build people’s understanding and trust?
It’s a really great place to start. One of the things I was so happy about was that Showtime agreed to do four hours, so that we have the time to go back through this history. My background is I’m a lawyer; I went to Georgetown Law School. So, I lived six blocks away from the court. I am a Black Girl Nerd! I would walk by the court, look up and think, “This is the court that gave us Brown vs. Board of Education; this is the court that gave us the right to an attorney.” So, I wanted to start the series with the opportunity to examine Thurgood Marshall’s legacy — how he won 29 out of 32 cases before he even came to the court.
I wanted to start there in episode 1 so that we remember how valuable this Court has been in shaping our lives. Then move forward to ask, “How did we get here?” and take people through that. I think where we are right now is in a very serious place where there’s a lot of public opinion that is negative. The court has been both a leader and a follower. It’s up to us to pay attention and ask for reasonable and basic things like a code of ethics. I hope that this series crystallizes around what we should be paying attention to.
Racism and white supremacy have been at the root of everything in this country. From your perspective as a lawyer, how do we productively continue to dismantle the bad and rebuild the good?
We started working on this about three years ago. It was because the executive running Showtime literally called me up and said, “Do you want to do something on the Supreme Court?” I said, “Yes, I do!”
With that opportunity, I had to figure out what to focus on. There are 200 minutes of archive that is in this series, and that is intentional. We are living in a time when people don’t really trust what people say. This literally could have been just Supreme Court and race because it shows up over and over. Even when race is not the central question, it is influencing either the decision makers or the decisions.
We hear Richard Nixon in the series saying that he’s “for abortion, sometimes, when there’s a Black and a white.” He’s not even trying to keep the quiet part secret. He knew he was being recorded. Race is indelibly intertwined with the history of our country. I did want to point out that even when we’re not supposed to be talking about race, we’re talking about race.
Last year, when the Dobbs decision was leaked, it was probably the worst breach I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. How does something like this happen and what impact will it continue to have?
There are leaks that happen all the time. The one place that usually did not happen was the Supreme Court. There’s a lot of reasons for that. One is because it’s smaller. The other reason is that the clerks take an oath. The clerks are privy to the decisions made, and historically it’s been a pretty tight seal.
One thing I focused on about the leak is, as you said, that it even happened. We are in a different era where you can’t trust things are going to be held close to the vest. We are at the place where the inside people who have sworn an oath to protect the sanctity of the court process are violating that oath. I think that signals we are in a different time. Different times call for different approaches.
One of the things we really need to impose is restraint from the court. Restraint is like a code of ethics. You can’t just count on people to do the right thing, apparently.
In Episode 2, we see the discussion of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings. I was a freshman in college at the time, and I became invested in that case because it was something I connected with and was interested in the outcome. Do you find that this is generally how people operate?
I really do. That is also a goal of this series to say there are many more of those decisions that affect you than you may be focused on. My grandmother used to say, “Before the Supreme Court decision…” as if there was only one. But for her, it was. So, she marked time as either pre-Brown and post-Brown. It’s because it affected her daily life.
Like you, I was in law school when the Thomas hearings were happening. I used to walk past the Supreme Court, and I remember seeing, written in chalk, “Believe Anita Hill.” Those hearings captivated the country. We watched with horror this group of all white men. Many women, universally, felt they weren’t going to believe her. I felt very personally involved in that decision.
Anita Hill was really telling us something important at that hearing. She was saying if this is what a person believes in private, then you have to be concerned about this person’s character. That is why she came forward and subjected herself to decades of threats, humiliation, and stress.
I wanted to hear from the justices themselves. Was that ever a plan to have them participate in this?
They can do it, if they choose. We wrote to all of the justices for interviews, and we were politely declined. I think it was a really missed opportunity.
What are you hoping people will take away from this series?
I hope that people respect what this court has done in the past; I hope they recognize we are not powerless and we can certainly make our opinions known. I would hope people continue to pressure their elected leaders and ask questions. I hope people focus on the importance of the court so that it doesn’t seem so mysterious. We can strengthen it and keep it for another 200 years.
Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court premieres on Showtime September 22, 2023.