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So a meme has been floating around the Internet. It's called the Chromatic Casting meme, wherein people take popular shows/comics/movies etc and cast them with minorities. And, um. It's kind of awesome. Here are some examples:
Harry Potter
X-Men
DC Comics
Buffy
Lord of the Rings
It should be noted that the idea is not to see how they'd do it better or worse than the originals, but to imagine how they'd play it differently (if at all). And things like this make me really like fandom because aside from the joy of seeing all the shiny, pretty people, they point out a couple things about blind-casting (and the lackthereof) in Hollywood.
On one hand, there is the point that ethnicity really doesn't have to be the big obstacle that everyone makes it out to be. If you look at the links above, a LOT of those suggestions still work without losing the essence of the character. (Case in point: Gina Torres as Wonder Woman. HELL. YES.). It reminds me of that time in high school when Othello was playing at the Shakespeare Theatre, starring Patrick Stewart as Othello. Of course it's different when you swap black and white, but the story still worked. Another example are the people in the Harry Potter fandom who point out that Hermione could have very well been black, especially given her curly hair woes (which is a big issue for black women).
The picspams also rather effectively show that there are a lot of really really attractive and talented non-white actors out there, so the excuse that you can't find them doesn't really hold much water. Just fire up imdb.com and have at it.
On the other hand, though, this meme came about from all the flailing about the rumors of Will Smith being a lead contender for Captain America. Would it matter if Captain America was black? Or Asian or Hispanic or American Indian for that matter? Well, yeah, it kind of does. Because much like Superman, he's so iconic and has been such a big part of the American pop culture identity for such a long time that any deviation from the traditional image is bound to set off the fans who grew up with him and identified with him. It's the exact reason why Racefail 2009 (fandom implosion over the controversial whitewashing of the Avatar: the Last Airbender movie) happened. Changing the ethnicity doesn't mean it *can't* work, but it does add or subtract certain nuances and flavors.
And with so few minorities as leading actors, so few stories featuring predominantly non-white casts, it's understandable why some people might get upset at casting all white actors for characters who are very clearly not. The problem has less to do with a question of talent (well, except for Jesse McCartney as Zuko. Not even I could defend that), and more to do with the idea of losing one of *their* stories.
Anyway, it's something to think about in the ongoing Cultural Appropriation Discussion of Doom that the Internet seems intent on carrying on. At least this time there's less wank and more pretty pictures of hot people.
What show/fandom would you try to recast and whom would you cast?
Harry Potter
X-Men
DC Comics
Buffy
Lord of the Rings
It should be noted that the idea is not to see how they'd do it better or worse than the originals, but to imagine how they'd play it differently (if at all). And things like this make me really like fandom because aside from the joy of seeing all the shiny, pretty people, they point out a couple things about blind-casting (and the lackthereof) in Hollywood.
On one hand, there is the point that ethnicity really doesn't have to be the big obstacle that everyone makes it out to be. If you look at the links above, a LOT of those suggestions still work without losing the essence of the character. (Case in point: Gina Torres as Wonder Woman. HELL. YES.). It reminds me of that time in high school when Othello was playing at the Shakespeare Theatre, starring Patrick Stewart as Othello. Of course it's different when you swap black and white, but the story still worked. Another example are the people in the Harry Potter fandom who point out that Hermione could have very well been black, especially given her curly hair woes (which is a big issue for black women).
The picspams also rather effectively show that there are a lot of really really attractive and talented non-white actors out there, so the excuse that you can't find them doesn't really hold much water. Just fire up imdb.com and have at it.
On the other hand, though, this meme came about from all the flailing about the rumors of Will Smith being a lead contender for Captain America. Would it matter if Captain America was black? Or Asian or Hispanic or American Indian for that matter? Well, yeah, it kind of does. Because much like Superman, he's so iconic and has been such a big part of the American pop culture identity for such a long time that any deviation from the traditional image is bound to set off the fans who grew up with him and identified with him. It's the exact reason why Racefail 2009 (fandom implosion over the controversial whitewashing of the Avatar: the Last Airbender movie) happened. Changing the ethnicity doesn't mean it *can't* work, but it does add or subtract certain nuances and flavors.
And with so few minorities as leading actors, so few stories featuring predominantly non-white casts, it's understandable why some people might get upset at casting all white actors for characters who are very clearly not. The problem has less to do with a question of talent (well, except for Jesse McCartney as Zuko. Not even I could defend that), and more to do with the idea of losing one of *their* stories.
Anyway, it's something to think about in the ongoing Cultural Appropriation Discussion of Doom that the Internet seems intent on carrying on. At least this time there's less wank and more pretty pictures of hot people.
What show/fandom would you try to recast and whom would you cast?
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From:
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. Captain America represents a perennial now (or slightly future) America, and that is going to change as the face of America changes.
Intellectually I agree with you on the matter; however I also contend that when you are dealing with the image of already established, beloved characters, people get awfully possessive of them. Using another example, Superman is supposed to stand for Freedom, Truth, and the American Way, but how many people do you think would get upset if they casted a Chinese-American dude to play him? I'm guessing a lot. Getting people to wrap their heads around that would be a little difficult because of the way cultural identity has been represented.
It's interesting that you picked Eat Drink, Man Woman, because there's a Mexican-American version of that movie that came out, Tortilla Soup (it had Hector Elizondo in it). In that case, it switched cultures, just not to a Caucasian one. Thoughts on that?
And oh yes. As I said towards the end, it's not just casting that's the problem. The lack of stories out there for minorities (be it gender, ethnicity or sexuality) as the leads is contributes hugely to the issue.
From:
no subject
I think playing around with the cultural context of a story is fine, if you change the whole thing. I haven't seen Tortilla Soup, but it sounds cool. Thing is, then it becomes an examination of that storyline from a Mexican American cultural perspective. If they had tried to still set it in Chinese culture but with a Hispanic cast, then it would all go horribly wrong.
While sometimes the Wonderbread casting of popular culture makes it difficult at times to distinguish between pop culture and 'white' culture, White people of various nationalities do have legitimate cultures that are not interchangeable with any other.
If you cast an Asian Emma, you'd have to change the other elements of the cast and setting as well, so that it would become an entirely different interpretation of the story. You couldn't pretend that it made no difference. But if you do change enough other elements, you could have an Asian version of Superman, I think.
From:
no subject
THIS. I think where it runs into the most problem is in the United States, to be honest, and it has to do with how the country was colonized and ideals under which it operates. Britain, Australia, most of Europe, and Canada handle it a lot better than we do.
If you cast an Asian Emma, you'd have to change the other elements of the cast and setting as well, so that it would become an entirely different interpretation of the story. You couldn't pretend that it made no difference
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I don't understand why that doesn't bother me on Merlin. They made Gwen black for no apparent reason, and they give no explanation as to why Gawain or Aglain were black either. Or why Lancelot is Hispanic (He's played by Issac from Heroes). It's the only only show I can think of where they just went, "Oh well, we're gonna keep most of this the same, but we're going to change this. And not explain why. Because we can. It's all legend anyway." Sometimes I get the feeling they hide behind the magic and talking dragons because they didn't want to explain that they just really liked the actress.
From:
no subject
(Oh, man, how much do I love applying Religious Studies to pop culture? {-----this much!----} Because what is Rels if not the study of pre-mass-media pop culture? Well, a lot of things, actually, but work with me here.)
That's also why Shakespeare works so well in different settings, and it's almost become a trope to play with the setting. (Romeo and Juliette as 1920s gangsters! Macbeth as Chilean Dictator!) He deals with universals. If a story, such as Emma, becomes Clueless, the aspect of the story that they are focussing on is the universal. A period piece that explicitly emphasizes the specific aspect of the story could not have a Black Emma.