TOKYO, Japan – Netflix’s newest original film Bright is set up to be a big Hollywood blockbuster, never mind that it will be viewed widely on small screens. It has the big stars, flashy action sequences, and a fantasy/sci-fi twist. It’s a film that’s been fuelled by a hefty budget, more than Netflix has ever spent for a film that won’t have a theatrical release. (WATCH: Will Smith, Noomi Rapace in Tokyo for ‘Bright’ red carpet)

But on top of all that, Bright has what producer Eric Newman calls “a social conscience,” as it spreads a message of tolerance and respect for all races to a global audience.

The film stars Will Smith, who takes on the role of Daryl Ward, a cop who, with his partner Nick Jakoby, finds himself needing to protect a powerful artifact: a magic wand.

Yes, there is magic involved in this Netflix film, which puts a twist on the classic buddy cop set-up by throwing in orcs, elves, and the aforementioned wand that is something of a ticking time bomb – when in the wrong hands, it can cause serious damage.

The message of tolerance is hard to miss – aside from scenes of blatant racially-fuelled bullying, and lines like “fairy lives don’t matter today” that refer to real-life anti-racism campaigns, Bright also has a racially diverse cast that includes more people of color than audiences tend to see in a big action film. 

“I’ve always done it in all my movies, before it was fashionable,” director David Ayer said of the casting at a roundtable interview in Tokyo on December 20. “But that’s the world we live in, that’s the world I see, that’s the world I grew up in. I think people tell stories that reflect their experiences.”

Ayer said that the theme of tolerance and unity was written into the story from the start.

“It was in the script, I think I brought it out a bit more because sadly there’s too many divisions in our world and not everybody can follow their dreams because of where they were born, what they look like, and that’s not correct,” he said.

Noomi Rapace, who plays the film’s villain, a dark elf named Leilah, said that the film includes a deeper core message in a fun, entertaining action movie.

“It brings up a lot of subjects, like racial problems, and how we divide people into different groups, depending on your religion or your country and skin color. It’s just, in this movie, it’s orcs and elves. It kind of points out a weakness in our society,” she said in an interview.

Noomi added that she doesn’t support the idea of building walls, saying, “In the time we’re living now, we’re very quick to judge each other… Sometimes we’re just very fast to put a stamp on things and I think that is really dangerous and we should be more tolerant with each other and accept each other and try to find a way to live in harmony and acceptance and not build borders and build walls. I think that is the wrong way of dealing with problems.”

Allegory

The fantasy elements of the film allow it to address racism directly. Orcs represent the bottom rung of society – those that experience discrimination and oppression. On the other end of the spectrum are elves, who are generally more privileged and more celebrated. In the middle of it all are the humans, who are also guilty of being prejudiced against orcs.

“It’s almost like a fairytale or allegory because it has the fantasy elements, you can say more than you can than with a straight drama. If you do that in a regular drama, everyone’s gonna attack you, everyone’s gonna pick you apart, everyone’s gonna find fault,” Ayer said.

“This is just a fun, entertaining movie with action and acting, but there is that message and I think that it’s a safe way to present that message,” he added.

For Smith, playing a human cop gave him a new perspective on race.

“For me, as an African-American police officer in this [Bright‘s] world, to be racist against orcs, it was a very different social paradigm that in playing I learned a lot, looking at the racial and class divides, looking at it from that angle in a science fiction movie,” Smith said at December 20 press conference.

At the same time, Joel Edgerton, who plays the orc cop Jakoby, said he was hooked on the script early on, and felt that it said a lot about bullying and discrimination.

“When I read the script and I got to page 3, I was very hooked and I then became very much in love of the character of an orc that is bullied by everybody,” he said at the press conference. “I felt like the whole script was saying something about bullying en masse, group bullying, the way we bully each other as cultures, as religions, as racial groups.”

Edgerton’s character in the film is the first orc cop in the police force, and is caught in the crossfire of being discriminated against by his fellow policemen, and being used by politicians to improve their image.

“I love the responsibility of playing the person who represents everybody who is judged and bullied and mistreated when they all they want is to be judged on their actions or merits, not the color of their skin or what group they belong to,” he added.

Racism in Hollywood

Ayer said that at the moment, racism is still a big issue in Hollywood that goes beyond how characters are depicted on screen, but also in how films are made.

“It’s an issue, it’s a big issue… the problem is, there needs to be more work to find talented people of color. The faces of the people you educate today are going to be tomorrow’s leaders, so how do we get people into the educational system? How do we get people off the streets? How do we hear their voices?” Ayer said.

“The interns, the assistants you hire are tomorrow’s leaders in Hollywood, so there definitely needs to be a stronger outreach and so much of it is about class and money. How do you get kids from poor neighborhoods involved? Plus it’s also like, if you’re growing up in Beverly Hills and you dream of, ‘oh I want to be a director, I want to be a writer,’ it’s more possible. If you’re in a tough neighborhood, a poor neighborhood and that’s your dream, how do you get there? A lot more needs to be done,” he said.

That said, perhaps Bright is a step in the right direction, though how audiences receive the film, and how its core message comes across to them remains to be seen. Without box office numbers, it may be a while before the film’s true success is measured.

Bright premieres globally on Netflix on December 22. – Rappler.com