I meant cultural significance to humanity. I'm not too familiar with it. Just a passerby looking in on the hubbub. 

And if the entire race's ethnicity was changed to match the actor cast for the role? 

From my limited understanding of the series, I agree with this. 

Only someone that isn't a minority would suggest representation doesn't have any impact. Are their desires altruistic? Of course not. A diverse cast means a more diverse viewership. I don't know what the budget is, but Netflix could be positioning this as their Game of Thrones. The wider audience won't care about the changes, but seeing more diverse faces in the forms of entertainment people view the most does have a positive outcome. Far from a direct one, but collectively sure. 

If this is true, it's pretty much proof how true Runa's sentiment is. 

I didn't wanna reply to you even though I disagreed entirely with your first post in this thread because I'm tired of reiterating the same points over and over again. To be fair, at least you seem a bit better than the earlier guy that was calling anyone who disagreed with him a racist. But anyway, you replied to me so I'm forced to reply to you ,here we go:

1) It's a problem because it's "forced". It's manufactured, the writers/producers whatever are twisting an already richly developed fantasy culture with real world BS. The Witcher story doesn't need that, you and others need it as a sort of "apology" for the years/decades of oppression, indifference and ignorance that minorities went through in the US and western Europe. Let me be clear perfectly clear with you: ,fuck your guilty conscience. If you are going to adapt a fantasy work, have some damn respect for it. You didn't write it, you had nothing to do in conceiving the characters, the drama and the plot, yet you wish to use it to push forward your agenda?, fuck that.

2) There isn't any reason to bastardize an original story with a BS, nonsensical, ridiculous political agenda from the real world to a fantasy world. You obviously don't know anything about the Witcher if you think Ciri's skin color is irrelevant. There is a proxy for Africa in the Witcher world and people of darker skin tend to com from there, if you change Ciri you have to change the story drastically for no valuable reason.

3) I've been told the same thing over and over on this thread. I'm a grown ass man and I'll do whatever I want with my free time. This is some hypocritical BS that needs to be called out for what it is. Also:

"it just makes you look insecure and/or racist."

Oh wow...I thought you were better than the other guy but you just exposed yourself to be as prejudicial as him by using his same absolutist, childish and ignorant views. No, I'm not a racist because I disagree with you. There is not reason for me to say this but I'll say it anyway, I'm not white. My gf who introduced me to the Witcher world isn't white either. If the circumstances were reversed and Ciri was black/Asian/whatever in the books I'd be debating you here just as hard. I just care about the story and the character enough to be pissed off at this. 

Once again, if you want to see diversity in casting on movies/series, support new media that has new characters with a multitude of racial/ideological backgrounds. Don't bastardize already established worlds to push your political agenda, because I and people like me will continue to call out what we see: Bullshit.

If you're not disgusted by this you're at least very biased against white people. The fact that you NEED to go against the grain of an established universe proves it. This isn't some made up story in a writers room that can be melded into which ever shape is needed and no one knows any better. The Witcher world is a carefully crafted world and characters from Andrzej Sapkowski, using his inspired mythos. Respect the work, it's art. Happens to be Eastern European based, and that means a lot of white people. Cast roles as they need to be cast. If Geralt is white, Ciri needs to be white. While not his daughter, they do have many similarities, such as complexion. This give this a father, daughter vibe. Ciri was a reward to Geralt from the Emperor, who is Ciri's actual father. Ciri is the daughter Geralt can never have (as all Witchers are sterile). If she turns into a black girl, all the sudden many of the small details of their relationship are just weird. She is a reflection of himself. If Sapkowski wanted her to be racially mixed, or colored, he would have done so. And if he did that, Sapkowski would have a reason within the world for it. But he didn't. Respect his vision, and stop trying to force your politics into his art.

Stop saying this is fictional work, it doesn't matter. The world is well defined over 13 books. It rivals the scale of Game of Thrones.

Sapkowski actually never said anything about Ciri in the show.

She's portrayed in books as white, false Ciri is portrayed as white as well.

Sapkowski, May 2017:

“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing.”

Sapkowski, January 2018:

“I do not take part in the work on the series. Books are books, games are games, and film adaptations are film adaptations.” That’s all I can say at the moment. I have signed a contract under which I am punished if I say something more.”

Hissrich, May 2018:

The answer is: I will not deviate from the books’ races and cultures, which means I WILL include minorities. The trap people fall into is equating “minority” with skin color.

Will I move through the book and start changing people’s cultural heritage or ethnic makeup or gender because I’m feeling really “liberal” that day? No. That’s ridiculous and contrary to what ANY writer would do, because we are storytellers. Story comes first.

But will there be minorities? Yes. A man would be a minority in Brokilon Forest. A person of color would be a minority in a small village. An islander would be an minority in Cintra. Mr. Sapkowski has said — publicly, and to me — that the Continent is big and diverse — in its population, in every way (race, culture, gender, and yes, occasionally skin color, which he said he did not always specify). I’m not sure how people insinuate I’m destroying the books by recognizing that. I’m honoring the author’s own intentions. He told me so himself.

Reeks of bullshit, IMO.

From all you said there I can only get that you are judgmental, think are better than everyone else and have 0 understanding of the universe you are talking about.

So we aren't going to demand them that they do shows that could have a white person talking another language and redub him (Arnold and Jackie Chan were redubbed for a long time)? Or demand that they make content that someone talking another language would be natural? Or that talking another language and the difficulty to adapt?

And we do know that the power people inside netflix are as progressive as it gets and loves some spotlight on their decisions.

So let me get it. We are racist for wanting the material to keep as is, but someone that would only watch a program if it have actors of his skin colors are the not racist? Great logic.

Man, I see so many people replying to me calling me judgmental and ignorant of the real world, and all I'm hearing is 'all lives matter' or 'why can't there be a white panther?' or 'I hate Gay Pride Parades, why can't there be straight pride parades?'

That's what this argument reminds me of. In an ideal world where minorities were treated as equals and there weren't hate crimes committed against them daily and they weren't subjugated and oppressed the world over, I might agree with you. I might agree that the story is inspired by slavic history and therefore it would make more sense for everyone to be white. In an ideal world devoid of racism and prejudice, you really should only do what makes the most sense according to the source material.

But we don't live in an ideal world. We don't live in a utopia where representation doesn't matter. We don't live in a perfect world where everyone is happy to see heroes regardless of what their skin color is and minorities are happy to see yet another white person acting as a hero. The reality is that we live in a world where a TV show is more likely to draw in a diverse audience if they give us a more diverse cast. we live in a world where minorities HAVE been treated like shit for as long as there have been minorities. And while we as a collective certainly have come a long way towards equal rights, we're not entirely there yet and there's still a lot of inter-racial strife. There are still wars and there's still bigotry and hate crime and terrorism and sexism and racism and all the other -isms you can think about.

The world is better today than it has ever been but we still have a lot of work to do, and though giving a traditionally white role to a non-white actress isn't much in the grand scheme of things, it is a form of restitution that I find it disgusting that more people don't endorse.

There are plenty of reasons why a studio would give this role to a non-white actress, all of them completely valid. Furthermore, we don't know if this is being done to add another layer to the character or use it as a form of social commentary, both of which would be great ideas especially given the backlash to it. Maybe they wanted to do it just to get a diversity hire (something that may very well be true and shouldn't bother you given the history of misrepresentation in the past.) Maybe they are doing it at Henry Cavill's request? Maybe they are trying to hit more demographics? Maybe they just wanted to try something new or make a point or didn't feel like changing her race would matter? Like I said, plenty of reasons they could be doing it and all of them are valid.

I will continue to repeat myself because this argument supercedes all the terrible counter-arguments I've seen on here: Until we see the final product we have no idea if this casting decision was just to force diversity or if it was done with the intention of making a point. We have no idea if a change in skin color somehow fundamentally alters the story they wanted to tell or if it enhances the story they want to tell. We don't know so much about where they're going with this that the only logical reason people could be lashing out is some misguided belief that white people are somehow being snuffed out or otherwise subjugated (you know, like minorities). They're not, we're not, and I can assure you there's no white genocide being enacted, so stop saying I'm racist against white people, stop being ignorant, and stop misrepresenting this issue.

Ciri being cast as non-white is a non-issue. If you disagree, that's fine, but don't pretend you're on the moral high ground over some pathetic attempt at keeping white representation in the media pure or something. Your arguments are pretty much all irrelevant and until we see the final product we won't know if your concerns are at all justified. There are dozens of ways a non-white actress could be put in this role that doesn't negatively impact the story or compromise what the showrunners are trying to do. Outlashing against the casting this early in production really is just an outcry from insecure people who have some inexplicable problem with diversity.

Doesn't look good on you.

Also, I can't be bothered to directly respond to each and every one of you who responded to me. I read your responses, make it about a paragraph in before I see something so colossally misguided or wrong and think up a dozen reasons to explain why you're wrong or misunderstanding what's been said that I Realize that if I responded to each of you I wouldn't have time to do my job or play video games or clean my house. I don't have time to personally educate every single one of you on the history of race relations and the nature of adaptation and the creative process. I'm not paid enough to do that.

Get of your high horse Runa, nobody gives a rats ass about your holier than thou attitude.
You obviosuly have no clue about Witcher lore, so instead of trying to "educate" people with your rhetorics, go learn something about it.

And once again:

Sapkowski never said anything about wether he agrees on Ciri's casting in the show. He is not consultant on the show.
Ciri is portrayed in books as white, false Ciri is portrayed as white as well.

 

Sapkowski, May 2017:

“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing.”

 

Sapkowski, January 2018:

“I do not take part in the work on the series. Books are books, games are games, and film adaptations are film adaptations.” That’s all I can say at the moment. I have signed a contract under which I am punished if I say something more.”

 

Hissrich, May 2018:

The answer is: I will not deviate from the books’ races and cultures, which means I WILL include minorities. The trap people fall into is equating “minority” with skin color.

Will I move through the book and start changing people’s cultural heritage or ethnic makeup or gender because I’m feeling really “liberal” that day? No. That’s ridiculous and contrary to what ANY writer would do, because we are storytellers. Story comes first.

But will there be minorities? Yes. A man would be a minority in Brokilon Forest. A person of color would be a minority in a small village. An islander would be an minority in Cintra. Mr. Sapkowski has said — publicly, and to me — that the Continent is big and diverse — in its population, in every way (race, culture, gender, and yes, occasionally skin color, which he said he did not always specify). I’m not sure how people insinuate I’m destroying the books by recognizing that. I’m honoring the author’s own intentions. He told me so himself.

Basically you are saying that you don't care about all the reasons why it isn't good, and how it will impact the story because on a moral high ground it is a great thing. Sure.

No, I'm saying that there are far more reasons that it either doesn't matter or is good than reasons why it's bad. I'm saying that the benefits of making this casting choice greatly outweigh the bad and that, at the very least, we should wait and see instead of pre-judging it based solely on the fact that a traditionally white character is being cast as non-white. 

IT's almost as if you don't care in the slightest about my points and are only seeking to justify your moral outrage while simultaneously devaluing my stance as being ludicrous when, in reality, my argument is far stronger than yours. 

But I guess that's just kinda how this sort of thing goes, isn't it. Logic and reason mean nothing when you have an agenda. 

Thanks! You just provided multiple quotes that actually help me out. 

Who says that the 'minorities' within the world of The Witcher can't be shown as non-white for the sake of this adaptation. For, as you even wrote and quoted, Story comes first. If you think the color of the skin is more important than the themes and story being told, then that's on you. 

So I won't 'get off my high horse' because I'm not claiming to be superior. I'm right, and I won't apologize for that, but I'm not going to act like that makes me better than you. Knowing that I'm right doesn't make me arrogant or ignorant unless I simply think I'm right while being wrong, and that's not the case. I'm right both from a logical and moral standpoint, and while you could ARGUE that it would be better to keep the characters white because that's how you feel and that's how they've been portrayed in the past, I have given plenty of reasons why a studio could reasonably change that up, citing prior examples of races being swapped and it working out fine, as well as historical context as to why it might not be so bad even if it is just taking a role away from a white woman. 

If you chose to disregard my many points and the reasons I stand by my stance, that's fine, but don't pretend that I'm wrong becuase you're offended by the choice to do something you wouldn't personally have done. You have your reasons and that's fine, but it doesn't make you right. My arguments are far stronger and even the quotes you chose to present actually support my side as much - if not more - than yours.