"whitewashing" garbage

[wolfie138]

http://news.sky.com/story/british-a...llboy-role-after-whitewashing-claims-11010877

this rubbish is starting to get on my mammaries now.

in other news, i didn't know they were rebooting Hellboy, and my immediate question would be "why?"

 

[cheesyboy]

what's your issue with it?

 

[Scam]

I know nothing about the comics and can vaguely recall the first movie, but on a quick Google he looks remarkably like the character. Probably a case of saving his own skin rather than face the potential backlash. I don't have a problem with making an effort to cast actors that match the ethnicity of a character, but only as far as finding somebody that 'looks' correct. If we get to the point where we have to have an actor that's 1/5th east Asian and 2/5ths Australian for the sake of it, well that's just stupid.

And how does this stand compared to everybody shouting we should have a black Bond? A black Doctor Who etc?

 

[cheesyboy]

I know nothing about the comics and can vaguely recall the first movie, but on a quick Google he looks remarkably like the character. Probably a case of saving his own skin rather than face the potential backlash.

Skrein genuinely feels it. As he alludes to, his girlfriend is black and their son is, therefore, mixed race. He gets it.

 

[MooMoo444]

Personally don't care what race plays what character as long as it works. Blown out of proportion these days.

 

[Marsman]

in other news, i didn't know they were rebooting Hellboy, and my immediate question would be "why?"

Del Toro and Perlman wanted to make Hellboy 3, but the studio didn't want to fund it because both films were not successful enough.

That a new film is happening means they did not want Del Toro doing it, not that they didn't want another Hellboy film.

Perlman said he wouldn't do it without Del Toro, so the producers decided to go with a reboot instead of a sequel.

 

[smokedog]

If they made a Bollywood version would that be brownwashing.

 

[Werewolf]

http://news.sky.com/story/british-a...llboy-role-after-whitewashing-claims-11010877

this rubbish is starting to get on my mammaries now.

What's wrong with trying to keep the film closer to the source material?

 

[x-st]

Two immediate examples that spring to mind that I've not been keen about were in the Last Airbender film and the recent Ghost in the Shell film. Both should have had actors that were closer to the source material. I don't agree that mixing up casting is an immediate call to arms, but bearing in mind setting and character background is important and if you're telling a story why not do it properly?? I don't know anything about the character but does his ethnicity have a bearing upon his own "story"?

 

[snips86x]

What's wrong with trying to keep the film closer to the source material?

Agreed!

The fact was he willingly stepped down without a fuss...good man!

 

[Shamikebab]

And how does this stand compared to everybody shouting we should have a black Bond? A black Doctor Who etc?

Well for Doctor Who they can regenerate to any race or gender. So there is no reason there can't be a Doctor of another ethnicity or gender.

Bond likewise has been portrayed by a actors with a variety of appearances, a variety of ages and over a variety of time periods, I see no reason we couldn't have one of a different ethnicity.

 

[Scam]

Well for Doctor Who they can regenerate to any race or gender. So there is no reason there can't be a Doctor of another ethnicity or gender.

Bond likewise has been portrayed by a actors with a variety of appearances, a variety of ages and over a variety of time periods, I see no reason we couldn't have one of a different ethnicity.

Ah apologies I did not know that about Doctor Who. I hate that show; clearly it's not the best example here

I honestly couldn't care less if there was a black Bond. I was just trying to point out the difference between those wanting to have a black Bond to prove a point, and those complaining of whitewashing. It seems a bit hypocritical in certain circumstances.

 

[Werewolf]

Two immediate examples that spring to mind that I've not been keen about were in the Last Airbender film and the recent Ghost in the Shell film. Both should have had actors that were closer to the source material. I don't agree that mixing up casting is an immediate call to arms, but bearing in mind setting and character background is important and if you're telling a story why not do it properly?? I don't know anything about the character but does his ethnicity have a bearing upon his own "story"?

Re GITS, the casting for the Major was actually close to the source material (the manga has her fairly caucasion looking in her "main" shell as does the anime, and her secondary shells are pretty much all over the place).

 

[cheesyboy]

Don't be mistaken for thinking that the issue is the 'sacred cow' of respecting source material. Because it's not.

It's that Hollywood roles are dominated by slots for white people (usually men) such that blacks, asians, gays and women are usually left with 1-dimensional supporting roles at best. These 'roles of asian origin' which are recently making headlines are really just a line in the sand where Hollywood unequal treatment is highlighted - Asians can't even get roles that were written with them in mind.

Basically, every role is a white role by default. Most source material is white. Most movies are white. But much of the audience isn't white (not to the extent that the leading roles are). Skrein is, as they say, 'Woke' and understands this and understands that it's not about 'diversity', it's about representation.

 

[whiskycycle]

@cheesyboy Take Chloe Bennet for example... couldn't get arrested under her birth name, combined with the fact she's mixed-race Asian... changes her name to Bennet from Wang and she's quids in, roles start popping up, and not ones where she's supposed to be Background Asian Hooker no.2

Above example is pretty much her own words, with a little flourish for dramatic impact.

good that Skrein has stepped back, but I've no doubt the idiot elements on both sides will still find fault with him going/staying either way.

 

[asteldian]

I am not a fan of changing things to satisfy some sort of 'quota' where they decide to shoehorn a minority into a film because they think it is 'right' (and end up having the role feel like a token appeasement at best or changing out a classic character with someone totally different) but at the same time, I do think it is ridiculous that when a role comes up which is quite literally designed for a non white person, they end up hiring a white guy. So I think the actor stepping away is fair enough. Who knows, maybe if they stopped wedging white people into roles they shouldn't be in then maybe there would be less insistence on things like a black Bond

 

[StriderX]

Hey if they can make generally male characters female or white characters black... then this is just annoying racism but its OK when it's against white people.

Surely it doesnt matter anymore what a characters colour or ethnicity is anymore, so why is he saying things that don't exist?

Agendas are pretty blunt nowadays, anyway why not cast them as an African-American, it doesnt matter right?

 

[MookJong]

Do I care if the Japanese, Korean and Indian film industries are ethnically diverse?

No, I just want them to make the film with the characters as the writer intended.

 

[Glaucus]

What's wrong with trying to keep the film closer to the source material?

Nothing imo and something far more films should try to do.not only do you annoy the original fans by changing stuff, it usually ends up as a worse film than the original media.

What annoys me far more is reboots. Even if there's no original scripts so many new and different books etc that can be turned into film, yet they repeatedly do the same stuff.

 

[dowie]

Two immediate examples that spring to mind that I've not been keen about were in the Last Airbender film and the recent Ghost in the Shell film. Both should have had actors that were closer to the source material. I don't agree that mixing up casting is an immediate call to arms, but bearing in mind setting and character background is important and if you're telling a story why not do it properly?? I don't know anything about the character but does his ethnicity have a bearing upon his own "story"?

Ghost in the shell criticism was completely misplaced, the character was Asian in the film too (only her brain was left though), it was just the 'shell' that was white, the shell could have taken any form. She went to visit her real mother who was Asian.

And how does this stand compared to everybody shouting we should have a black Bond? A black Doctor

well exactly, people just have double standards when it comes to these things, there are black actors in Shakespeare productions too for example, no one really minds about that but cast a white guy in a film about say ancient Egypt and you get outrage, ironically often from African Americans with some bizarre notation that they're the true descendants of the Egyptians rather than the light brown skinned people living there today.

Well for Doctor Who they can regenerate to any race or gender. So there is no reason there can't be a Doctor of another ethnicity or gender.

indeed - same non-issue as ghost in the shell above, the character is an asian brain implanted in a synthetic body, the body could be any race etc.. yet people still decided it was worth winging about