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Forums - Movies & TV - Should Hollywood stop blackwashing characters?

 

Should Hollywood stop blackwashing white characters in film/TV?

Yes. Characters should fo... 49 85.96%
 
No. Representation trumps... 8 14.04%
 
Total:57

I'm just making this poll out of morbid curiosity. There was quite a bit of outrage when Ciri was rumored to be played by a black actress in The Witcher Netflix series despite her being traditionally white. Likewise, casting Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, who is, of course white in the shitty Fantastic Four reboot (Fant4shit) drew a lot of ire from fans, even though it was probably the least problematic thing in that godawful movie tbh (I'd say making Dr. Doom, one of the most badass characters in comics a trash-bag wearing, poor man's Imhotep was so much worse). Casting Zendeya as Mary Jane was also heavily criticized as was casting Idris Elba as Roland in The Dark Tower, even though it turned out she was actually playing a whole new original character in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The same is also true of whitewashing minority characters. Casting Sco Jo as Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell drew rabid backlash as well as we all very much know. However, the populace seems to be more accepting of whitewashing characters than the opposite for reasons as money and "don't cave to PC culture!"

As for me, I think, and always have thought that characters should always follow the source material. I'd be just as upset about Jason Statham being cast as Blade or Black Panther as I would SWM characters being needlessly gender/racewashed. I don't want Tommy the Green Ranger being turned into Tomi in the rumored Power Rangers sequel or Ellen Ripley being turned into Allen Ripley or any of that shit.



If a characters race is not already put in place then they can give the roles to minorities so we can have more representation but if a character has a race then someone of that race should play that character.



They should stop whitewashing firt, then you ask for it



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Agreed with this but also, Ghost in the Shell isn’t a good example of whitewashing. The creator of the anime specifically said that that character wasn’t Asian and that they wanted Scarlett to play the main character, so if it comes from the creator, then I don’t think anyone should be complaining about that.

I do think that people are way more vocal with whitewashing though because “minorities matter” except minority differs country to country... so.

People over react a lot and quite frankly I’m sick of people bashing on white people simply for being white, which is very racist.

Back to the topic, as much as I believe you should use the source material, I also believe that if you are in charge of making something, you have the right to make it how you see fit in your vision. Gets kinda complicated.



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EricFabian said:
They should stop whitewashing firt, then you ask for it

No. They should both be stopped, if the only argument for stopping “whitewashing” first is because “white skin color” then your solution is pretty inefficient and racist. You don’t do something based off of someone’s skin color. Both should be stopped when the problem arises, not ignore “blackwashing” and only focus on “whitewashing”



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Stick to the source material imo.
Not just skin tones either, I hate it when movie/tv series writers thing its "best" to diviate from the books ect.

Always stick as true to the source material as possible, if your turning a book ect into a movie.



Ciri in the Witcher books was never described as white... Going by source material you need to find someone with half elven blood and half Nilfgaardian. Nilfgaard is part of the Southern Kingdoms, so a darker complexion would not be far fetched.



We ca talk about it till the cows come home but it won't change anything

Bonds gone from Black, to transgender to by the time Craig is done to no doubt a black transgender.



 

 

You know, at first I had a problem with it. But then I started to look at it as a multiverse kind of thing. Like, for example, in Spider-verse (the comics one) We learned that in one universe the spider bite Gwen instead of Peter, in another universe the one who gets bitten is actually uncle Ben, in another universe the spider bite actually puts Peter into a coma.  And in another universe Peter is outright an assassin, in another one he is french, in another he is indian, and in another he is FREAKING PORK. 

Also, in one of these universes, Colossus is gay and had a huge crush on Wolverine.

So, where I'm getting at is, if we already have different alternate realities in comics, then I think it stands to reason to see these movies and TV shows as just that: an alternate universe that doesnt really affect the main storyline.



JRPGfan said:
Stick to the source material imo.
Not just skin tones either, I hate it when movie/tv series writers thing its "best" to diviate from the books ect.

Always stick as true to the source material as possible, if your turning a book ect into a movie.

Different mediums often require the writers to make changes; what works in a 400 page novel probably won't work into a 100 minute movie without some changes, etc.