12 Nov, 2008
“…If you are a talented actor or actress, should you be limited to the parts you can play based on your ethnicity or skin color? If we say that Batman can only be played by a Caucasian person, should the same reasoning hold true for Shakespearian characters? If Avery Brooks plays Macbeth, does that spoil the play? I can’t see how it would. When I studied Shakespeare abroad, I saw actors of a variety of ethnicities and skin colors play traditionally ‘white’ roles. It didn’t make a difference. Shakespeare is timeless. So is the Bible. That’s why the best-selling ‘The Bible Experience’ audiobooks, featuring a star-studded cast of African-American actors and actresses, has been received so well. You know who is the voice of God in ‘The Bible Experience?’ Samuel L. Jackson. I can’t argue with that choice — can you?”
It’s a topic that has been discussed quite a bit lately, with a possible black Doctor Who in the works; the current James Bond, Daniel Craig, giving his approval for a black Bond; and Beyonce wanting to be Wonder Woman. It’s an idea whose time has certainly come, now that we have a black president.
But with all due respect to my colleague Valerie, I think all of this talk about cross-cultural casting misses a vital point: while I agree that it would be awesome to have more color-blind casting, it would be even more awesome to see original characters of color in genre films and television that can stand up with these iconic heroes. Morpheus and Niobe from The Matrix, Captain Sisko from Deep Space Nine, Jonas Moore, Afro Samurai, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog – there are more and more original creations popping up all the time and they deserve their shot at pop culture stardom. Also, there’s a rich tradition of black sci-fi/fantasy literature waiting for the wider audience that film and television can bring (and which, one hopes, will not suffer the fate of Earthsea).
My point is that we should not invest too much in this avenue of cross-cultural casting in order to get more black heroes on the small and big screens. Ultimately it seems a bit of a cheat, a side-door method of bypassing the glass ceiling, and one we should not have to settle for.
- Rich Watson
6 Responses to "slightly off-topic: cross-cultural casting in genre films"
1 | Jon Haehnle
November 18th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Great point Rich. That last paragraph really sums it up.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Beyonce as Wonder Woman is a dumb idea, whether she was black, white or an actual Amazonian — stunt casting is always a bad idea — and I wholeheartedly agree with Rich that I’d rather see new leading characters created than old ones reborn via so-called color-blind casting.
That said, I do love Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter in the new Bond movies!
3 | hypestyle
November 20th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
heh-heh… I fully support Sam jackson as nick fury.. as far as other stuff, I guess it worked or it didn’t at the box office.. but i’m not the guy who gets offended to his core that Pete Ross ends up black, or what have you..
more black superheroes in general are needed..
4 | Paco
November 21st, 2008 at 2:24 am
On a related note, it’s mildly amusing to me that America has managed to elect a black President before Disney pictures could released an animated film with a black protagonist. (And “Song of the South” does not qualify).
Oh well. “Frog Princess,” is scheduled to hit theaters next year. It’s highly probable that Barack and Michelle’s daughters will get to screen it at the theater in the White House.
November 27th, 2008 at 2:26 am
If Shaft was remade with a white or Asian guy, brothers would lose their collective minds. Truthfully, I don’t want to see a Black bond movie…but, I do wish somebody would adapt Joe Gober Nazel books into films.
6 | Daryle Lockhart
November 29th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
@Michael A. Gonzales – I totally agree. There are many many stories with actual Black heroes and stars that should be told if for no other reason than that they are better. The “Triple X” movies just get worse as they go on, so making it Blacker doesn’t help.