Racism in the Military

[Hair Warrior]

White people playing non white characters is racist.

Non white people playing white characters is brave and progressive.

White people cooking food from other cultures is cultural appropriation and racist.

Non white people cooking European food is beautiful cultural fusion.

Yeah. One of my favorite TV shows is Longmire. The show does a decent job (I think) of portraying white and native american lives in modern day Wyoming, although I admit I don’t know enough about modern day Wyoming (sadly) or life on Native American reservations (sadly) to be a good judge. The show’s top native american character is actually played by an actor (Lou Diamond Philips) from the Philippines who officially adopted the Native American/ plains indians culture (Sioux tribe). Lou is a strong advocate and activist for Native American causes off screen. Also, because I really liked the Native American characters on the show, I looked up their bios as well. Most are technically descended from a different tribe than the tribe of the character they portray on screen, so take that for what it’s worth. I have no issue with that but I think it’s relevant to the conversation about how granular we want to get with race and cinema/theater.

Hollywood also has a history of casting Asian Americans of descent from Asia-Pacific country X in roles of Asian Americans of descent from Asia-Pacific country Y.

This is just a fundamental reality of acting and theater - where somebody is portraying a person they are not.

 

[Deleted member 24525]

White people playing non white characters is racist:

Not racist, but the issue in the past was that these roles could have gone to people of that ethnic group, and instead parts were rewritten or characters were changed, thus denying minorities certain roles...(for example, Matt Damon playing a Chinese guy)

Non white people playing white characters is brave and progressive:

not really, maybe in the play Hamilton-but even then, it had a point, and that point was really evident in the second act during the line "I can't believe that we are free" sung by black characters post- revolutionary war when they really were not Free.

I have seen movies with black actors and not known if the role was intended for a white man or not, never really cared to be honest. Denzel Washington is an example of an actor who can seriously cover the spectrum of any type of character...never even crossed my mind if any of the roles he played were written for or supposed to be white men-the only roles I can really think of that he has done that garnered "political"attention were Malcom X and Hurricane. The issue comes more into play with obvious roles, and Tropic Thunder does a good job of mocking this thought, that they'd rather hire a white man who got "black" plastic surgery than hire a black man.

Never have seen a movie or a show casting black actors in place of whites be labeled as progressive-of course, I grew up watching 'The Cosby Show"

White people cooking food from other cultures is cultural appropriation and racist:

nope, not really...it is more like you taking credit for the work and not acknowledging it...Like Led Zeppelin (or Elvis) never paying royalties to the blues musicians whose songs they covered. Rick Bayles came under some criticism by a small percentage of people on twitter.

Non white people cooking European food is beautiful cultural fusion

never heard that.

 

[SlickAg]

not really, maybe in the play Hamilton...but even then, it had a point..and that point was really evident in the second act during the line "I can't believe that we are free" sung by black characters post revolutionary war...when they really were not Free.

It’s actually called color-blind or nontraditional casting and has been supported by the AEA since the ‘80s.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

Not racist, but the issue in the past was that these roles could have gone to people of that ethnic group, and instead parts were rewritten or characters were changed, thus denying minorities certain roles...(for example, Matt Damon playing a Chinese guy)

not really, maybe in the play Hamilton...but even then, it had a point..and that point was really evident in the second act during the line "I can't believe that we are free" sung by black characters post revolutionary war...when they really were not Free.

nope, not really...it is more like you taking credit for the work and not acknowledging it...Like Led Zeppelin (or Elvis) never paying royalties to the blues musicians whose songs they covered.


never heard that.

Did Jimi Hendrix pay royalties to Bob Dylan for All Along The Watchtower?

As for the issue of “should characters be portrayed by actors of the same race”, yes generally I think they should. As for voice acting, I don’t care. It’s just a little silly at times, like the Netflix rendition of the Trojan War where Achilles was black. Was it offensive? Nope. But was it a little ridiculous? Yeah. The Greeks considered outsiders to be subhuman barbarians, so the diverse cast was kinda dumb.

 

[Deleted member 24525]

In related news, Allison Brie is the latest celeb apologizing for a voice role she did in the past: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/alison-brie-apologizes-voicing-vietnamese-211821644.html

Never watched the Bojack Horsemen series. I looked this series up and expected to hear Angela Johnson's nail salon lady, but it was just Brie doing her normal voice, which sounded like most second-generation or later Asian American women I know. It seems what Brie thinks was regrettable was that she wasn't the same ethnicity as the character: "I now understand that people of color should always voice people of color."

Granted, Brie is entitled to her opinion, but there seems to be a growing sentiment that white people portraying brown roles is unacceptable, and yet it's increasingly acceptable for a growing number of brown actors to take on traditional white roles (e.g., Heimdall in Avengers), including historic figures that were white (see for example, various characters in Hamilton and Mary Queen of Scots). I'm not in favor of anyone putting on makeup to make them look like another ethnicity, especially when the end result is a gross caricature, but there doesn't seem a great deal of difference in adapting the race of a character. If we're gonna call one instance an artistic adaptation, then that standard should be applied across the board, otherwise it should be spurned across the board.

I think what is misunderstood is not that people are upset with white actors playing these roles...they are upset that minority actors had not given the chance to play these roles. It is an issue of denied opportunity

 

[SlickAg]

I think what is misunderstood is not that people are upset with white actors playing these roles...they are upset that minority actors had not given the chance to play these roles. It is an issue of denied opportunity

So their beef is with Hollywood and the entertainment industry at large?

I’m confused.

 

[Deleted member 24525]

Did Jimi Hendrix pay royalties to Bob Dylan for All Along The Watchtower?

As for the issue of “should characters be portrayed by actors of the same race”, yes generally I think they should. As for voice acting, I don’t care. It’s just a little silly at times, like the Netflix rendition of the Trojan War where Achilles was black. Was it offensive? Nope. But was it a little ridiculous? Yeah. The Greeks considered outsiders to be subhuman barbarians, so the diverse cast was kinda dumb.

I mean I agree that in those roles it is silly, unless it was an artistic expression that had a double meaning, like Hamilton that I referenced. It actually added to the play-they didn't cast minorities just to cast minorities.


edit: I am not sure if he paid royalties, He credited Dylan at least, unlike zeppelin...this is actually a cool article http://www.covermesongs.com/2014/03/the-story-behind-jimi-hendrixs-all-along-the-watchtower.html

 

[Brett327]

No, it isn't legislation. Never said it was a legal or constitutional issue. Pointing out hypocrisy, cowardice, virtue signaling, disrespect for artistic product, and elitism to name a few. This notion that because something is legal or a private business affair it is neccessary we accept it without commentary is something I don't understand. If it were truly so, we would not have had pages of debate over police tactics and reform or virtually anything in the former Thunderdome or the editorial pages of the NYT.

More to a point I clumsily introduced, in the digital 21st century, when does private control of books and film/video on the internet (including streaming), become effective constitutional censorship? In the extreme, imagine Amazon and Netflix controlled 80 percent of the market, would their decisions on banning the sale of certain books or editing of certain films have a similar effect as the government banner the same book or unilaterlly modifying a video? What if 90% control? And if 100%, do they get a pass because they are public corporations, not the government? And if it were EVER possible that we might see those days, wouldn't now be the time to be critical of the nascent auctions we are witnessing?

If I were to create an anthology of your AW posts and offer it to a publisher as a coffee table book, would their presumed rejection of such a project constitute censorship?

 

[Spekkio]

He said the left, not the DNC. Dumb post.

'The left' is synonymous with Democrats in America.

What's dumb is attributing the actions of out-of-touch Hollywood producers to an entire political party that has nothing to do with it.

 

[Spekkio]

I think what is misunderstood is not that people are upset with white actors playing these roles...they are upset that minority actors had not given the chance to play these roles. It is an issue of denied opportunity

What about when a British person plays an American (Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart)? What about when an Australian plays an American (Chris Hemsworth, Mel Gibson)? What about when one of those Australians plays a Scottish hero? What about when an Austrian body builder plays a Greek god? Or how about when a Scottish actor plays a Spartan General and a Latino plays a Persian in the same movie?

We need to stop outsourcing Hollywood. They're taking all our jobs!

 

[Deleted member 24525]

What about when a British person plays an American (Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart)? What about when an Australian plays an American (Chris Hemsworth, Mel Gibson)? What about when one of those Australians plays a Scottish hero? What about when an Austrian body builder plays a Greek god? Or how about when a Scottish actor plays a Spartan General and a Latino plays a Persian in the same movie?

We need to stop outsourcing Hollywood. They're taking all our jobs!

When I see Christian Bale, a white man, playing another white man, I’m not being denied representation.

 

[picklesuit]

My horse is offended that Bojack wasn’t voiced by an actual horse...

 

[Treetop Flyer]

'The left' is synonymous with Democrats in America.

What's dumb is attributing the actions of out-of-touch Hollywood producers to an entire political party that has nothing to do with it.

“The left” is not synonymous with the Democratic Party. And he didn’t attribute anything Hollywood did to a political party.

 

[SlickAg]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1277253599551250434

 

[taxi1]

Never watched the Bojack Horsemen series.

I envy you, in that you get to watch it for the first time. It hits its stride in season 2. Killer.

I didn’t even know Brie’s character was supposed to be Vietnamese of any generation.