In the last few years, Hollywood has taken diversity a lot more seriously, almost to the point of its whole purpose being questioned. Similarly, Elon Musk ranted out against the idea of DEI hiring, which emphasizes a candidate’s background as a basis for hiring. However, almost a decade ago filmmaker Guillermo del Toro nailed the idea of DEI in one of his movies.
Despite being known for his horror movies, del Toro directed the 2013 sci-fi monster film Pacific Rim. The film received positive reviews and emerged as a box office hit, thanks in large part to del Toro’s treatment of its characters who come from diverse racial backgrounds. Here is how del Toro nailed diversity long before it was a political tool in Hollywood and beyond.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim aced the idea of DEI
After directing a string of fantasy-horror movies, director Guillermo del Toro surprised everyone when he directed 2013’s Pacific Rim, a big-budget action spectacle about humanity’s fight against kaiju. The film received positive reviews, especially because of its underlying themes of uniting humanity.
During an interview with Bright Wall Dark Room, del Toro opened up about directing the sci-fi film. The filmmaker revealed that it was always his intention to be more inclusive with the movie’s characters who come from different racial backgrounds.
At the same time, before diversity was being widely discussed in action movies, Pacific Rim was humanistically designed to not be about a single race and a single country saving the world.
Del Toro made the above statement, explaining his desire to make a movie that evokes the wonder he felt watching Tokusatsu shows as a child while being more inclusive.
From del Toro’s words, it is clear that, unlike most Hollywood movies, his approach to diversity wasn’t just a political tool or an agenda. Instead, it was driven by a desire to make a movie that more accurately represents humanity working together.
Guillermo del Toro revealed how he approached diversity in Pacific Rim
In a separate interview with Collider, del Toro revealed that he wanted to show characters from different backgrounds working together despite not understanding each other. As a result, his decision to be more inclusive stemmed from del Toro’s storytelling sensibilities and not because of some woke DEI agenda.
I just wanted to show small stories of people trying to come together to survive, because I didn’t want to make a war movie. I wanted to make an adventure movie about people who come from all over the world.
Del Toro made the above statement explaining his decision to include characters from African American, Japanese, Korean-Chinese, and Australian ethnicities working together.
In 2018’s Bright Wall Dark Room interview, del Toro also stated how the world was divided between the humanistic left impulse and right-wing pro-corporation, pro-military industrial complex. The filmmaker’s assessment couldn’t be truer given the current political climate, which only calls for more sensible diversity and inclusivity in movies that aren’t DEI for the sake of it.
Pacific Rim is streaming on Hulu.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
