“He said, ‘Idris Elba can’t be James Bond because James Bond is white,’” Richardson said. “I thought, ‘that’s stupid. James Bond is a fictional character. What is he talking about?’”
She thought about how white people have played characters of all ethnicities since the inception feature film more than 100 years ago up through present day, but other than a few exceptions, people of color are expected to stay in their place on screen.
“We are getting our perceptions of how we see each other – and ourselves – from mainstream media,” Richardson said. “We get all of these negative images of blackness. And I believe that’s what’s led us to the Black Lives Matter movement – because we’ve been profiled, because we’ve been portrayed as dangerous animals, and that’s how we are seen.”
Out of her thoughts came the idea to create a counter narrative. The end result was the stage drama “Idris Elba Is James Bond,” which plays at St. Louis Community College – Forest Park’s Mildred Bastian Center for Performing Arts, March 31-April 2.
Richardson also directs the production, which stars a diverse ensemble of student actors.
“Idris Elba is James Bond” begins with a grieving African-American mother who has lost her only child to police violence. She falls asleep and awakes in a box she shares with other minorities.
“There’s a Native American, There’s an Arab guy, there’s an Asian woman. There’s a black woman and a Filipino. There is also a gay man,” Richardson said. “They are dealing with their stereotypes with each other. They are talking about how they are being represented, but they are stuck in this box – and the only way they can get out is that they learn to control their own narrative and tell their own stories.”
She hopes the play will be a gateway to conversations to talk about these issues and hopefully help build community. Post-show discussions are planned to facilitate conversations that have the potential to move towards healing while dismantling misconceptions, misperceptions and negative stereotypes.
“If we understand that the images we are fed are what lead to our inability to come together, then maybe we can get past that,” Richardson said. “I hope that people will leave the play more media literate – that is my hope – and when they start looking, whether its film, TV or whatever medium, that they are looking at it closely and are able to observe the ways that they are affected by it.”
Through “Idris Elba is James Bond” Richardson hopes that the audience can see the correlation of how their own biases are coming from mainstream media –particularly film and television – and how biases towards them are coming from the media.
“If we are going to talk about coming together to build community, we are going to have to address these things,” Richardson said. “Everybody needs to be able to tell their stories. And the way it is right now, we are not telling our stories. White people are telling our stories – and they are portraying us in the process.”
“Idris Elba is James Bond” will run March 30 – Apr. 2 (7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat and 3:30 p.m. on Sun.) at the Mildred E. Bastian Center for Performing Arts.
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