Do all these names signal that cronyism rules Hollywood? Well, to an extent, sure. But there are valid reasons for nepotism to pervade. Genetic inheritance and growing up around the professional milieus of one's parents often predisposes kids to follow in their mother's or father's footsteps. And with movies being such a costly, high-risk/high-reward proposition for studios, it makes sense that filmmakers and execs would prefer to bank on people with well-known, and supportive, ancestry. Besides, family members help family members get ahead in all parts of the world, in all sorts of industries, in all sorts of ways.

But that hasn't stopped people from blasting poor Jaden Smith, who's quickly becoming the new Coppola-style poster child for the horrors of casting by last name. His headlining turn alongside his famous dad Will in After Earth has been met with hostility that goes beyond the film's on-screen flaws. In his negative review of the film, The Wrap's Alonso Duralde analogizes the movie to "the equivalent of a very expensive bar mitzvah, one where dad's a successful cantor and his son could have used another month in Hebrew school." It's not just that, as The Atlantic's Christopher Orr states in his review, "[Jaden] is entirely lacking in the big-screen charisma that made his father one of Hollywood's major stars;" it's that such criticisms are often couched in larger attacks on the film as being, per TV Guide's Jason Buchanan, "a forgettable slice of cinematic nepotism." That the film was, as The New York Times' Brooks Barnes says, "a vanity project conceived by Mr. Smith and produced by him, his wife and his brother-in-law," only furthered the notion that Jaden was merely the unjust beneficiary of his dad's generosity.

Criticisms like these come from a visceral feeling of "unfairness" while missing the one actually valid reason to malign nepotism: the way it perpetuates a system of exclusion. Hollywood was built by white men, and white men have ruled it for so long that only in the past few decades have any significant inroads been made toward diversity and equality. Even now, in an era in which African-Americans are regular Oscar winners and brands unto themselves (Tyler Perry!), and women command millions (albeit less than their male counterparts) to star in tent-pole summer films, the fact remains that Hollywood continues to be a rich-white-boys' club. Nepotism obviously contributes to this--like begets like--and thus can be seen as regressive.

But After Earth shows it can be just the opposite, as well. Every member of a historically excluded group who gets a foothold in the industry opens it up for more members of that group, and nepotism is one way that happens. That's why Jaden Smith's career is, no matter how "unearned," a heartening development, as is the fact that that an African-American clan like the Smiths can now get so-called "vanity projects" like After Earth released in the heart of the crowded summer movie season. That Will Smith is powerful enough to gift wrap movie-star roles for his kids is a sign of enhanced minority clout in Hollywood, and should result in more people of color in front of and behind the camera.