"Whitewashing" in Cinema and Theatre. | Vital Football

"Whitewashing" in Cinema and Theatre.

ironside

ironside

Vital Football Hero
A white actress has pulled out of a BBC production of West Side Story after the broadcaster was accused of "whitewashing" for casting a white actress in a Latino role. Apparently this is regarded as cultural appropriation. This issue has cropped up in the matter of white actors being cast as black or Asian characters. In universities students have been criticised for dressing up as Native Americans, Mexicans and South Seas islanders because it is regarded as culturally inappropriate.
If this is carried to its conclusion does it mean that a black actor can never be cast as Macbeth, Hamlet or Julius Caesar and a woman can never be cast as James Bond?
 
Interesting through when you span it down the line. I can see the sense in a strict 'character is written' there are actors capable of fulfilling the role. There are plenty of white roles as that was the written focus, so when you have a black, latino, foreign role make it authentic.

But equally it's fantasy.

Black Panther - didn't whathisface joke about being referred to as one of the token whiteboys?
 
Idris Elba is rumoured to be in contention to be James Bond at some point. Also there is (ridiculous) talk of female James Bonds, Indiana Jones etc. Why can't they create new characters if they want to have strong female rolemodels in Hollywood or whatever the agenda is?

I think a lot of this whitewashing stuff is just more overblown social justice warrior wankery
 
I agree with what you say SJH. Overblown social justice, equality etc, where does it all end. I'm going off at a tangent here a little, but what springs to mind here regarding social justice/equality is tennis. Women now have equal prize money as men...... but they only play three sets not five....... Talk about justice???!!!.....
 
Yup SJH - Dr Who doesn't count given the cannon.

But iconic characters shouldn't be messed with too far. ie I'm not against Elba being Bond. Much like I wouldn't be against a black or Asian Indy reboot. But we have an Indy boot for women (regardless of colour) - Tomb Raider.

There's playing sensibly and then playing for the sake of it.
 
Pride of Lions said:
Women now have equal prize money as men...... but they only play three sets not five....... Talk about justice???!!!.....
Click to expand...

That's a good point Pride. Why do they only play 3 sets? Are women not as fit as men? God forbid we say that!! I think they should be made to play 5 sets from now on.
 
Totally agree about Elba playing Bond Mike, because I think Bond is an interchangeable character. Isn't there a theory that James Bond is just a codename or alias or something? Heck, that could even allow women to play him!

And yes very good point about Tomb Raider. In fact my "bit of a feminist" housemate was lauding some 90's Geena Davis movie as the first time a woman played the lead in an action movie and how it inspired women.

I had to politely remind her of two characters called Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor who were leads in two of the biggest action franchises of all time. But she hasn't seen those movies.
 
You could potentially take it that far with Bond to be honest. It's a fair point. It's just about being sensible isn't it.

We're dealing with invented characters afterall but if a latino is qualified to play a written latino role - let them it's about diversity and being authentic.

As you say, Geena Davis - Long Kiss Goodnight/Bye? with Samuel L Jackson?

And yes, build on those characters by all means just not necessarily by changing characters for the sake of it.

You don't have to recast Bond as a women, it's not that difficult to rewrite and make an original female character which surely is more forward thinking anyway.
 
Again best person for the role who does it justice and that means not always white and male. But there are white male roles, the issue is really creating roles on a more fair and diverse basis.
 
Another thing I don't get is casting actors in movies to play different nationalities. To be more specific, the accents.

Oceans Eleven was on here a a few days ago and we were laughing at how bad Don Cheadle's English accent was. Doesn't really matter how good the actor is, if the accent is way off or just horribly generic, it doesn't matter a jot. The role is butchered. Why not just cast an English actor? I get "star quality" to generate interest, but I think there was enough in that film to be fair.

I totally agree on best person for the role, but I just don't know how accents seem to get overlooked, as if it doesn't matter.

Don't even get me started on actors trying to do Irish accents. Except for Steve Coogan, he can nail anything.
 
Absolutely, Americans and Brits doing largely bad Russian accents lol

That's my point, best person for the role....nationality and race are two ticks. But this started with white washing....if a named actor cannot do the accent (irrespective of race and we're into nationality) they aren't the best person for the role even if they're a household name.

If there's a Mexican out there capable of doing the role of Mexican (without it just being a stereotype) they should get the role etc.

The race angle is getting the promotion at the moment as well as male over female, but Hollywood has far more issues than that in reality. They look for the cast list that will bring in the most wonga even if the performance is embarrassing and un-authentic.

If you stick to the old guard, where does the fresh blood come from. Salma Hayek, Zoe Saldano (sp) and on so now make millions.

I think I've hit the point of not making sense?
 
If the role absolutely calls for a Latino character, that is if the story depends on the culture or heritage of such, then I can see it why positive selection might be justifiable.

Apart from that, the best person for the role has to be the way forward.

I totally agree on the accents. I'm fed up with hearing terrible British accents from Americans, and can only imagine what the Russians think of some of the attempts!!!
 
I've been watching a bit of Elementary on Netflix. Does it matter that Lucy Liu is Asian? Not at all in that story. She could be white or black or whatever. Could Sherlock Holmes be not British? I'd say no.

Basically, what I'm saying is that some characters need to be one gender/race/nationality and others don't.

Did it matter that Pete Postlethwaite played an Indian in The Usual Suspects? I don't think so but Indians might not agree.
 
Yup...as long as 'all actors' get a fair crack at showing why they are best for the open roles, some roles will have a bias by writing through necessity.
 
Stephen Jay Hawkings said:
Idris Elba is rumoured to be in contention to be James Bond at some point. Also there is (ridiculous) talk of female James Bonds, Indiana Jones etc. Why can't they create new characters if they want to have strong female rolemodels in Hollywood or whatever the agenda is?

I think a lot of this whitewashing stuff is just more overblown social justice warrior wankery
Click to expand...

Wankery will be my word of the day tomorrow.
Thank you, let the "wankery begin"
 
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