Methods of Abstraction

broken-blade:

gailsimone:

camajama:

coelasquid:

theharlequinrose:

coelasquid:

No matter how much I may-or-may-not end up enjoying the new Batman when I finally get to see it, I’m still still right pissed that they cast lilly-white-as-the-driven-snow-Britlander Tom Hardy for Bane.

As a Latino myself, I’ll say this, there are lilly-white-as-the-driven-snow Latinos. I’m dark as my native islander genes are strong, but my grandfather was whiter than most white people and had bright blue eyes. The same goes for my maternal great grandfather.

Don’t forget that Latino’s have strong Spaniard roots due to them having trouble keeping it in their pants.

And while yes, they could and should have cast somebody of Latin descent, rather than a Brit (not like people haven’t done this before, such as casting a Jewish man to play the Spaniard in a Princess bride or all the Brits they cast to play Romans when they could just as easily cast Italian and Greek actors), complaining about the casting based only on skin color is rather ignorant on Latin culture.

Of course I know there are pale Latinos, there are pale people of just about  every race out there, there are also darker white people. But this isn’t like the people who were complaining that the metis boy who played Aang in the last airbender looked too much like a white person (Metis people being pretty underrepresented in the media as well), this pretty much the exact definition of whitewashing a character. I didn’t say “I’m disappointed the actor for Bane had a melanin deficiency”, I said “I’m angry they made a character who was Latino in the source material into a white and British guy.” It was a big blockbuster role that could have gone to an underrepresented group, and instead Nolan gave it to another one of his white British BFFs. Not unlike when he did the exact same thing to Ra’s Al Ghul by flipping him from Arab warlord to Irish ninja. Are there European looking Middle Easterners out there? Yes! Does that make it okay to give Liam Neeson the role and erase any kind of connection to the middle East he might have (besides the Arabic name they didn’t pronounce right)? Neeson’s a great actor and all, but not Really, no.

I’m not really sure why you’re further defending it by saying “other movies do it”, because that just proves that yeah, it’s a pretty pervasive problem in Hollywood. I can say that I for one have been involved in some pretty drawn-out discussions over where this Western Media idea that all Grecians were the most Anglo Saxon lookin’ individuals on the planet came from (we ended up settling on the idea that it must have had something to do with Shakespeare).

There is no lack of WASPy guys running around in movies, they don’t really need help being hammered into even more roles.

hey you know what’s cool casting and judging actors based on acting merit

Did you happen to see the response of some fans when Idris Elba was cast as Heimdall?

Hi there, I’m a black person. Let me start by stating that casting people of color in roles of characters that are white in the source material is not really an issue because every other character in media is white. It really boils down to representation, something most white people don’t understand because this has never been an issue for them. White people can watch a film, almost any film, and see a handful of representations of themselves as a wide variety of characters. Not so much with people of color; we get (if we’re lucky) gangsters, thugs, sensei, stereotypes or funny friends. Adding people of color to a film, particularly in instances that in no way changes or damages or harms the movie or characters (e.g. casting Idris Elba as Heimdall didn’t cause issues, yet casting Denzel Washington to play Hitler would), is inclusive and allows for more people to enjoy the film. It also allows for continuously ignored groups of people to see representations of themselves on screen, which is a wonderful feeling white people will never understand.

So when we get the one or two canon characters of color being adapted into a film, it’s exciting. When they are whitewashed, it is infuriating. Not only is it erasing the opportunity for one of the few actors of color in Hollywood to work, it’s erasing the option and ability for millions of people to identify with a character. And the insult is even greater for comic fans: changing Bane’s race changes the character, changes his identity. Bane is a proud Latino; he wears a luchador mask for goodness’ sake. The complaint wasn’t that Tom Hardy doesn’t appear Latino enough, it’s that Nolan turned a Latino character into a white guy (yes, with an ambiguous accent, but an ambiguously European accent).

And you know what’s cool camajama? Not dismissing an entire group of rightfully upset people with your color-blind and purposely ignorant oversimplification. There is more that goes into casting a character than an actor’s ability. Tom Hanks is a great actor, should we cast him as Jim from Huckleberry Finn? What about Whoopi Goldberg? She’s fabulous and hilarious! Let’s cast her in a George W. Bush biopic!

End Rant.

And for the record, it’s still a great movie that I thoroughly enjoyed.

(Source: thecrimson-alchemist)