Whiteface: why white characters often play non-white actors
Fans of the original again unhappy with the adaptation.
Upstairs
Fans of another fantasy universe are outraged that in its film adaptation one of the roles will be performed by people not of that race or sex that source. Not an egregious example, and the ordinary, the reasons which have tried to understand iz.ru.
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We are talking about a series of books “the Witcher” by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Based on it came out a few popular computer games. In 2019, Netflix decided to release the series. In September there were rumors that one of the main female roles — CRIS, which is described white, with ash-blond hair — looking for black, Asian or “representative of other national minorities”.
10 Sep Lauren Hissrich, which is working on the script of the series, said that it can no longer read Twitter due to harassment by fans of the franchise. “The love here is awesome, and even hatred opens his eyes,” wrote the writer and referred to the need to finish the final. In the comments to the post and continued to receive demands to change the character of the desire to appear “inclusive, progressive and liberal.”
The bullying started after the Reset Era found an ad looking for Actresses for the role of CRIS:
We are looking for 15-16-year-old BAME-a girl who can play a 13-14 year old. The actress can’t be older than 18 years.
The acronym BAME stands for “Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic”, that is, the actress should be black, Asian or a representative of the national minorities.
It is important to note that the national minorities can be understood, for example, Romanians. Moreover, the novels of Sapkowski’s happening in Poland, and principal photography will take place in Budapest. But fans of the series, focusing on “black” and “asian”, began to write that they will boycott the series. Who exactly will play CRIS will be known on 5 November, when it will officially begin shooting.
Studios, oddly enough, do not care about the fans
Film studios increasingly give Orthodox fans of the fictional universes of the reasons for resentment. Two striking examples of 2017: a screen adaptation of a cycle of novels by Stephen king “the Dark tower”, in which Arrow, a prototype of which was Clint Eastwood, played a dark-skinned Idris Elba. And “Ghost in the shell” manga by Masamune Shiro, obviously, the Japanese Major has performed the white-skinned Scarlett Johansson.
Both films are in the office collapsed. But can hardly be regarded as the cause of this boycott from the fan community — in comparison with a worldwide audience of militants, their number is negligible. In addition, the film of 2017 on native Marvel superhero “Doctor strange” has paid off four times. And he caused no less a wave of hatred in social networks even before the release due to the fact that the Guardian (an old Asian man, according to the comics) is played by a white Briton Tilda Swinton.
The prosecution of writers and specialists in the casting of all these movies is similar to those presented to the screenwriter of “the Witcher”. Trying to seem more progressive, they give the role to representatives of national minorities and women.
By the way, “Doctor strange” is a rare case where the creators tried to explain his position. Is not limited to verified press release. One of the writers of the film, C. Robert Cargill spoke at the Double Toasted podcast, where he said that any actor in the role of Guardian would cause the wrath of a certain part of the audience.
— Throughout Marvel history there is no other character that would not be the natural mine from the point of view of culture, said Cargill, explaining that according to the original comics, the home of the Keeper of Tibet. China considers that its territory, while Tibetans are seeking autonomy, leading to serious unrest in 1987-1989 and 2008.
Cargill recalled that China is one of the largest film markets in the world. And recognized the fact that the filmmakers decided to sacrifice a group of fans of comics, 1963 in favor of a billion Chinese. Because, like it or not, the wrath of “fighters for social justice” can not be avoided. Naturally, this caused another wave of hatred in social networks, which did not affect cash collections.
Fans, oddly enough, do not care about the sources
The words of the writer of “Dr. Strange” that to avoid the wrath of “social justice warriors” or SJW (from the English. social justice warrior) will fail to be confirmed by two very recent cases.