Comments on: Realms of Fantasy Columnist Condones Whitewashing When “Magic” Is Involved

By: Ems

Ems — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:55:51 +0000

I know I’m VERY late to comment-but just read this article-but a recentish case of white washing-and blackin up to boot-was when Angelina Jolie was cast as the biracial Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart. What was irritating was that the well known actresses (who were also biracial to boot)Thandie Newton or Halle Berry could have also been cast. Both excellent actresses. Both, esp Halle, big office name draws. That was a ridiculous, and repugnant Hollywood move.

By: Piricarmen

Piricarmen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:35:10 +0000

Outstanding!!! Ignorant people who have little or nothing to do with minorities have the nerve to tell us (the recipients of daily white supremist nonsense) what the deal is.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:06:02 +0000

I second Diana. Not only is it wrong to whitewash actors, it’s a poor entertainment choice. You know how I feel every time I hear one of my favorite stories (tv, book or game) is being made into a movie with a white actor instead of one of the actual race of the character? Really fucking disappointed.
People love these stories because of the richness of their characters, and part of that richness is their race.
I thought it couldn’t get worse than making the Prince of Persia white, but then I saw the casting choices for The Last Airbender. UGH
I didn’t pay to see either of these movies in theater, and I totally would have if not for the terrible casting choices, because I love that game and that tv show.

By: Genevieve

Genevieve — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:14:50 +0000

While there have been a few instances in which characters who were white in the source material were portrayed by actors of color in a film, in the vast majority of these cases, the story was set in America–thereby making the “problem” (if there is one) not nearly as big as putting a bunch of white people in an East Asia-based fantasy world. Of course, this doesn’t happen nearly as often as casting white people in roles which were originally not-white.

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:10:45 +0000

Leland, I think it stirs up a lot of talk from people because there are a lot of fans of the TV show who are very upset about the casting (regardless of the quality of the film) — and specifically a lot of Asian fans of the TV show who were so happy to see Asian characters and an Asian world represented. There isn’t a lot of that for children.

I loved the TV show, and I know that without the racefail I would have been first in line to see the film even if it was truly terrible and filmed on a shoestring budget. But as is, I haven’t seen it. The sad part of that is, the takeaway for Hollywood will probably NOT be “Oh, we shouldn’t whitewash our properties.” It’ll probably be “Oh, we shouldn’t have movies based on children’s television/Asian fantasy worlds/epic fantasy.” So I may be voting with my dollars, but Hollywood has a different idea of what I mean by it.

By: SMD

SMD — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:37:10 +0000

Yes, you know, because having casting calls that say “CAUCASIAN, or any other ethnicity” totally makes it easy for you to have that “magical moment” with someone who might actually be the appropriate race for the character. Not to mention that the preferences of white over other ethnicities would absolutely produce a disparity between your options. I can’t imagine being non-white and seeing that casting call and thinking, “You know, they’re totally looking for someone who isn’t white for that movie. I should audition.” (This is all sarcasm, just in case that isn’t clear…)

You can’t argue out of this one, Airbender supporters. It’s not possible. The casting calls were, if not outright racist, at least racist by being incredibly ignorant.

I think what is most offensive about all this to me is that it’s not a case of maybe updating some old piece of literature or picking people for nebulous-raced people. This is a case of picking white characters to play characters that are OBVIOUSLY not white. It’s so bloody obvious it hurts the mind to think about all of the crap that went into this movie…

I’m done ranting. *grumble*

By: Leland Eaves

Leland Eaves — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:45:22 +0000

Morgan Freeman played Red in Shawshank Redemption but in the short was an Irishman. They made a joke about it in the movie.
Funny how this movie has stirred up so much controversy while being so epically bad. Even if they had cast people of color it wouldn’t have made the movie much (if any) better.

By: Jon Hansen

Jon Hansen — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:27:38 +0000

The only one that ever came to mind for me was “Rising Sun,” a Sean Connery/Wesley Snipes movie from ’93. In the book the Wesley Snipes character was white, but for the movie the director wanted Snipes instead. Crichton objected on the grounds that the Japanese would treat a black man differently from a white man, and ultimately quit the screenplay, took his money and left. I have no idea if his objections were valid or not, as I don’t know enough about how the Japanese viewed/treated Black Americans in the late ’80s (when the book was written). This hardly justifies the Avatar trainwreck. Hell, I started watching that clip Mamatas posted on his LJ and had to stop after a minute, the acting was so bad.

By: The Angry Black Woman

The Angry Black Woman — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:36:12 +0000

You’re not missing anything of import.

By: Rob Hansen

Rob Hansen — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:17:24 +0000

Given that Nick Fury *is* black in Marvel’s ‘Ultimate’ continuity I doubt many people had a problem with him being played by Sam Jackson, particularly since he’s clearly modelled after Jackson and says in the comics at one point he wants to be played by Jackson. Apparently, Jackson’s wife apparently bought him a page of original artwork with this Nick Fury in it as a present at one point.

Kingpin was white in the comics and played by Michael Clarke Duncan on screen, which was apparently the result of their being no white actor available who was large enough and had that physical presence.

I admit to being puzzled by the casting of Elba as Heimdall given that these are the gods of the Norsemen. Then again, the character of Hogun arrived in Asgard from an Arabian Nights world and so should be non-white.

A current example of the rare phenomenon of a black actor playing a part traditionally played by a white actor is that of Angel Coulby, who plays Guinivere on the TV show ‘Merlin’.