- What are your thoughts on white-washing in movies and tv shows? (If you aren’t aware, it’s having a white actor play a role of a non-white character. Think of Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, or Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in Dr. Strange.)
I think they should be portrayed as they are written, we are far removed from the time where it was acceptable to do this. The seventies is full of shows that got a white actor to portray a non-white character. Charlie Chan being one of them. We didn’t know any better than, but we do now.
- What are your thoughts on changing the race, gender, orientation, or other facet of an established character for the sake of diversity? For recent examples, casting Liet Kynes as a woman in the newest movie adaptation of Dune when the source material clearly indicates Kynes is a man, casting a black man (specifically Samuel L. Jackson) as Nick Fury, who was originally a white character, in the Marvel movies, or making Lt. Sulu gay in the most recent Star Trek movies with Chris Pine as Captain Kirk.
I have seen the change in recent years, and I think Samuel L. Jackson portrays Nick Fury well. I don’t see that character as anything else. I’m not sure whether I’m right, but Hermione was meant to be black in the books, but was played by Emma Watson. Again, now I see her as that character. Personally I think it should be the best fit for that role.
The whole point of acting is to portray something unreal; to ask the audience suspend belief for the sake of the story. I don’t think it’s too much to ask, for them to believe that an actor of one race is actually somebody of anorther race. Or gender, even, something which has been done in pantomimes for years. But in this day and age, shouldn’t we be colourblind?
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It seems that there are more than enough actors looking for work that an actor could be found to fit the role, particularly given the history of non-White actors being under-represented in the film industry (and I was shocked to see this so vividly when I lived in Mexico in 2009).
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