This will never become an issue unless and until people of color start playing/rewriting roles based on historical characters that were white. Westerns are replete with characters that were black in real life, who were played by the likes of Clint Eastwood and others. Or maybe if movies made in other countries made as much bank as Hollywood flicks, and those countries always got locals to play white Americans in stereotyped ways, people here would get it. I can think of no reason why the likes of Angelina Jolie, Gyllenhaal, the major cast of "Last Airbender", etc, are played by Caucasian actors. I find it offensive.
But then, I also get irritated when characters that are supposed to be Russian, Caribbean, etc., are played by Americans who then have to fake an accent. There are plenty of talented actors from other countries who can do these roles, and you can't always excuse it by saying you need the big megastars to pull in the crowds. In these cases, for example, the target audience of young men aren't going to see "Prince of Persia" because of Gyllenhaal or Sir Kingsley, so their casting isn't really crucial. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@gmail.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, June 3, 2010 4:50:22 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Hollywood Whitewash? Persia, Airbender casting angers fans I say boycott them both and any other film that does the same. On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 8:04 AM, Kelwyn < ravena...@yahoo.com > wrote: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/05/racebending.html And playing Dastan, the hero and titular heir to the Persian throne in the $200-million tent-pole film, is none other than Hancock Park's own Swedish-Jewish-American prince, Jake Gyllenhaal. ------------------------------------ Post your SciFiNoir Profile at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=mapYahoo ! Groups Links (Yahoo! ID required) -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
