F9 star Nathalie Emmanuel says that the Fast & Furious franchise’s diversity plays a large part in its smashing success. Emmanuel portrays the hacker Ramsey, who first appeared as a central element to the plot of Furious 7, in which she creates an impressive global hacking device dubbed “God’s Eye.” Due to the highly sought after power of God’s Eye, Ramsey is kidnapped by international mercenaries and terrorists before being saved by, and subsequently inducted into, Dom’s family—where she remains for the rest of the franchise.
Though the Fast & Furious franchise started out in the early years with rather stereotypical depictions of other cultures, from Mexican cartel leaders to Japanese mobsters, it always evened out with the diversity of Dom’s crew. With members such as Letty, Roman, and Han joining so early, Dom’s crew was always more diverse than the main cast of other popular action franchises. And, given the nature of the underground world of street racing, the cast was diverse in financial class as well. As the series developed to include more characters, more diversity was created within it—especially with the addition of more female characters such as Emmanuel’s Ramsey, Charlize Theron’s Cipher, and Helen Mirren’s Magdalene Shaw.
The diversity of the Fast & Furious franchise is what F9 star Nathalie Emmanuel says brought the film success, in an interview with Coming Soon. Emmanuel also says that the diverse cast is what drew her to join the films in the first place.
“It means the world [to be part of a series with such representation]. Part of the reason why I even was attracted to The Fast and the Furious, the first one, was because of the representation within it. 20 years ago, that kind of representation just wasn’t happening. Well, it was, but they certainly weren’t the like leads of their own movies and were the heroes. The one that we’re like vouching for. There’s so many tropes that, especially actors of color, take up in TV and film, but they definitely weren’t like the leads and the heroes. So I always just felt that was so important, especially to a young woman, and a young black mixed woman to see this was so huge and important. That kind of ethos has just kind of grown and grown and grown, and with it, even to the point of like the fact that we go all over the world, we see all these different cultures and hear different language and music and it creates this idea that we’re all connected. We all should be represented. I think it’s instrumental to the success of these films.”
Additionally, Emmanuel singles out the importance of joining the franchise with a character who is an intelligent woman of color. Emmanuel’s Ramsey is a tech genius who garnered high acclaim in the male-dominated hacking world at a young age.
“She really embodies a person that I wish I’d seen growing up, you know? I just love that she has really, and her place in this team just because she’s so brilliant and what she does and because of her expertise, because of her very specific skillset. They can’t do the things that they’ve been doing without her, or they can’t do it in the way that they do without her. So, it’s really amazing, and especially just as a woman in the tech space, a woman of color in the tech space, is very underrepresented. I just love that Ramsey gets to be that in the world.”
Though the franchise has always been racially diverse and has always included women as major characters, it hasn’t always been the best in developing those female characters—especially in their relationships with each other as opposed to with the men of the film. F9 features the first scene between two of the original female main characters, Mia and Letty. And stars Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez (Mia and Letty, respectively) have publicly discussed their efforts to create a stronger sisterhood within the films. Brewster has also explained how she fought to be included in more of the action in F9, compared to the earlier films where Mia’s character was mainly relegated to heavy scenes of dialogue with the male characters.
One thing is true, the Fast & Furious franchise is consistently progressing with its diversity both in the cast and in the characters. The franchise has come a long way since its start two decades ago, and continues to improve. The resiliency, the adaptability to the progression of society, and the willingness to listen to its cast and crew is what sets the Fast & Furious franchise apart from other, less diverse action series. Fans can see the latest updates the franchise has made in F9, which premiered on June 25 and is already reaping the benefits of financial success.
Source: Coming Soon