With 'Miss Peregrine,' Tim Burton is just the latest director to shirk a responsibility to diversity

Apparently, director Tim Burton would be fine if you retitled his movie "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children but Only if They're White." In an interview with the website Bustle, Burton was asked why, given the pervasive, ongoing discussion of diversity in Hollywood, the overwhelming majority of the characters (and, hence, actors) in his latest fantasy film are white. "Nowadays, people are talking about it more," Burton said. He went on to talk about how, as a kid, he would've been dismayed to see an Asian kid or a black kid on "The Brady Bunch," or more white actors in blaxploitation movies. Burton's statements are just the latest from a celebrated, veteran filmmaker unable to wrap his mind around why diversity matters.