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Alara317 said:
I'm utterly appalled at how fragile the egos of the white race is overall. Making blanket statements like this about an entire race shows your own prejudice.
Having Ciri played by a minority of some sort - be it black, Asian, middle-eastern, African, Polynesian, whatever - literally takes nothing away from the show. It doesn't change the story, it doesn't bastardize the character, it doesn't upset the original creator, and it doesn't make the show political. All it does is give a different ethnicity some exposure. In an industry that is overwhelmingly controlled and influenced by over-represented caucasians, it does NOT hurt the production to say "maybe we'll give this role to a different ethnicity." If you think it does, you have a fragile ego that can't stand the idea that your kind might be slightly less represented than it has been in the past. Except it does change things. If they make Ciri anything other than white, they also have to change the race of one of her two parents. And because she is royalty she is representative of a whole nation, so they'd have to change the skin color for either all Cintrans or all Nilfgaardians. Suddenly it feels alot less like a minor change.
You can hide behind all the faulty rhetoric about how 'a white character needs to always be white' and that 'she should be portrayed as close to original as possible', but that completely misses the point of an adaptation. There will be changes, there will be alterations to what came first, and the world changes in ways that might not be to your liking, it doesn't mean that anyone is attacking you or that the minorities are rising up to crush you. You don't seem to realize that when she was first announced to be the showrunner, Lauren Hissrich assured fans that she would stay true to the novels. If she makes a change as big as this, it means she lied.
If the studio wants to seek out a non-white actor for the sake of getting some diversity in their show and it doesn't have a directly negative impact (like making MLK white in an adaptation or something ludicrous like that), then quit your whining. And even if the studio DOES want to make her black to make a statement, that's their prerogative; THAT IS THE NATURE OF ADAPTATION. There are much better ways to go about bringing some diversity to the cast than fundamentally changing an established character like Ciri. They would be much better off to create an original character who is darker skinned, a Zerrikanian character, maybe a mercenary who is hunting Ciri.
The reality is that choosing to cast a non-white actress in the role of a traditionally white fictional character whose skin colour is irrelevant does only good to everything but the fragile egos of borderline racist white folks who are offended at the idea that they might be losing a very small modicum of their representation in the medium. There is no harm in giving a minority of some sort some extra exposure, and if you think there is then you are horribly misguided. Except her skin color isn't irrelevant. Her race is fundamental to who she is, just like your race is fundamental to who you are. Her skin color is clearly stated in the books. You also seem to be forgetting the fact that most fans have expectations for these characters to look like how they looked in the games, that is why the Henry Cavill casting was controversial, many thought he was too much of a pretty boy to play a rugged character like Geralt. Changing Ciri's skin color is an even bigger deal, as people expect her to look like she does in the games, and a skin color change is a radical departure.
I return to this argument repeatedly but it really should be the final word on the matter: If the character's skin colour isn't an integral part of the story or the character's identity, then there's literally no harm in casting someone of colour in the role. And, given the nature of adaptation, if the showrunner wants to tell a different story, then that's just how it is. The fact that people could get SO upset about this is mindboggling to me. Seriously, get some perspective on life. Once again you're neglecting the fact that she claimed she would stay true to the books.
Quit doing mental gymnastics in an attempt to justify your prejudice. It's revealing. I'll just say that this post revealed more about you than any other post in this thread revealed about those posters.
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