Don’t Exclude Rachel True From the Legacy of The Craft
While we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Clueless last week, there’s another C-titled movie released just a year later that’s just as iconic and defined the teen years of so many of us: The Craft. This story of teenage witches who find power and danger in witchcraft is a cult classic, but listings and information about the film online and even conventions have left one very important thing out: Rachel True, the only Black star.
The Craft stars four women, seen above. From left to right they are: Neve Campbell, Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, and Rachel True. Yet, True’s name has been left off of the credits in listings on three separate streaming services where the film is available to stream or rent: Showtime, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. It was a glaring omission, and True called out the error on social media.
@Showtime could you credit me properly w/ the rest of the cast?
When young black people see Rochelle uncredited they might get the idea the black girl -who has a name-isn’t important enough to credit even though she’s on the poster.
This kind of thing contributes to erasure‼️ https://t.co/05NexfjHj5— Rachel True (@RachelTrue) July 16, 2020
This wasn’t the first time that True had been left off the listings. Netflix had done the same thing a while ago. Showtime eventually corrected it, as Netflix had in the past.
To wrap this up- @showtime corrected the page, added my name & sent a DM thanking me for sharing my perspective.
Don’t let people tell you speaking up for yourself & others doesn’t yield results.
— Rachel True (@RachelTrue) July 19, 2020
But those are only two streamers, and the same problem still persists on the page for the movie on Amazon Prime Video … and they haven’t responded to True’s tweets or changed the listing, as of this writing.
@PrimeVideo
could you credit me properly w/ rest of the cast?
When young black people see Rochelle uncredited they might get the idea the black girl -who has a name-isn’t important enough to credit even though she’s on the poster.
This kind of thing contributes to erasure‼️ https://t.co/UlB5Bm6Wk3— Rachel True (@RachelTrue) July 19, 2020
True spoke with The Mary Sue briefly about the exclusion, and how this wasn’t the first time she’d been left out of the legacy of The Craft. In January of last year, she spoke up on social media about how she was the only actress of the four leads who wasn’t getting invited to appear at conventions.
“They invited the other three actresses from the film … I’ve been trying to get in for months and finally, I just went off on Twitter about it. The convention and some of my cast made it clear it wasn’t a Craft reunion even though they were all there except for me and as I pointed out to them the only thing stopping it from being a reunion is I’m not invited,” True told The Mary Sue. Eventually, that was corrected, thanks to pressure and attention from fans and media, and it was a success.
“In the end, we were incredibly busy at the convention which I attended everybody made a lot more than they normally do and frankly I think they should be thanking me for bringing them money,” True explained, also noting that this was a signing convention only, no panels. “And the fans were truly happy & excited. to see the cast together for the first time since 1996. was very impressed by the amount of white people who came through my line and said I’m here specifically for you to support you I really appreciated that.”
The Craft, a movie about four women, has flummoxed marketing people, who are used to movies with only one or two speaking women, for decades. I remember my VHS copy had the face of only one woman on the side of the packaging … Neve Campbell. This may have made sense marketing-wise in the ’90s, given that Campbell had the highest profile of the cast at the time, and it wasn’t just True being excluded—something True isn’t bothered by. But right now, when the U.S. is engaged in a massive reexamination of systemic racism in all forms, seeing True alone left off of the materials about this film is particularly upsetting.
“Honestly, if they’re only gonna mention one name I would never say anything,” True explained. “And if that name is Neve that’s understandable. But when they mention all three without me that’s when I take umbrage. Especially when they’re using the poster that I am on to advertise and make money on.”
Excluding Rachel True from the credits and legacy of this movie is indicative of systemic racism and is unacceptable. While Balk and Tuney were the central characters of the film, Campbell and True had equal parts and, as True noted, it sends a pretty clear message to the audience when the single Black actress isn’t listed in the information about the movie, or invited to conventions. The Craft means a lot to so many people, myself included, and Rachel True is a vital part of that legacy.
(Image: Columbia Pictures)
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