Oh god I'm gonna totally stick my foot in it and be defriended by the time you wake up, but I have to say this. When you got into black/Asian Renee, I tripped. So I thought about this for a while, pondering whether OMG am I a crazy racist and I'm just sublimating really well?
The answer is no.
Here is what I have to say on the subject. What I realized after kind of letting this post kick around in my head for most of the day is that it's easier for me to allow for recasts in my head when I'm less invested in the characters. Black Buffy didn't work for me either, but you know why? It has nothing to do with color. It has to do with the fact that as Buffy, to my way of thinking, you simply cannot replace Sarah Michelle Gellar. Yes, you could still have a good show, but it would be an entirely different show, and that holds true if any of a thousand white actresses had taken the role, too.
I feel the same way about Annie AND Kiefer. I mean shit. Kiefer IS Jack Bauer. It's not about making him black/Asian/any other minority. It's about making him something other than what he is. He isn't Jack Bauer because he's white. He's Jack Bauer because he's Kiefer. To me, same with Renee. She doesn't pwn that role because she's white (although dude what would your recaps be w/o the Scully jokes? :-P), but because she's Annie. I can't imagine anyone else in that role.
Oddly, even though I very much enjoy the HP universe, I was entirely fine with the thought of almost all of the characters being replaced. Ben Kingsley as Dumbledore would fucking RULE. But for some reason I think this is because I attach less association to character and actor in this fandom. For me, there, it's about the story, the myth, the alternate universe. It's not about people who work a role precisely because they are who they are.
Woah I have no idea if I'm making any sense. Also, I need to ditto what Joan said about appropriate period pieces and such. I mean Pride and Prejudice would be a little weird with an Asian cast. This says nothing negative about Asians, only that P&P is about snotty Brits in the early 19th century, and they were um, white. Whether or not that is a GOOD thing is another subject entirely.
I adore colorblind casting. Nothing makes me happier than the very few interracial relationships I've seen on TV where it's not even an issue. And now I"m going to shut up before I stick my foot even further in my mouth. I hope you're taking this the way I mean it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 09:17 pm (UTC)The answer is no.
Here is what I have to say on the subject. What I realized after kind of letting this post kick around in my head for most of the day is that it's easier for me to allow for recasts in my head when I'm less invested in the characters. Black Buffy didn't work for me either, but you know why? It has nothing to do with color. It has to do with the fact that as Buffy, to my way of thinking, you simply cannot replace Sarah Michelle Gellar. Yes, you could still have a good show, but it would be an entirely different show, and that holds true if any of a thousand white actresses had taken the role, too.
I feel the same way about Annie AND Kiefer. I mean shit. Kiefer IS Jack Bauer. It's not about making him black/Asian/any other minority. It's about making him something other than what he is. He isn't Jack Bauer because he's white. He's Jack Bauer because he's Kiefer. To me, same with Renee. She doesn't pwn that role because she's white (although dude what would your recaps be w/o the Scully jokes? :-P), but because she's Annie. I can't imagine anyone else in that role.
Oddly, even though I very much enjoy the HP universe, I was entirely fine with the thought of almost all of the characters being replaced. Ben Kingsley as Dumbledore would fucking RULE. But for some reason I think this is because I attach less association to character and actor in this fandom. For me, there, it's about the story, the myth, the alternate universe. It's not about people who work a role precisely because they are who they are.
Woah I have no idea if I'm making any sense. Also, I need to ditto what Joan said about appropriate period pieces and such. I mean Pride and Prejudice would be a little weird with an Asian cast. This says nothing negative about Asians, only that P&P is about snotty Brits in the early 19th century, and they were um, white. Whether or not that is a GOOD thing is another subject entirely.
I adore colorblind casting. Nothing makes me happier than the very few interracial relationships I've seen on TV where it's not even an issue. And now I"m going to shut up before I stick my foot even further in my mouth. I hope you're taking this the way I mean it.