Update: Latest rumor shows casting for a white Ciri | Original: Netflix looking for non-white actress to play Ciri in the Witcher tv series

[Runa216]

Faelco said:

Runa216 said:

What is the problem with injecting diversity into a production? The Witcher would be almost entirely white basically by accident if they were going entirely based off the inspiration. This is exactly the sort of chance we should take advantage of where a story is set in a fantasy world and therefore allows us to buck trends and expand one's diversity. 

There's no reason not to diversify a movie like this. It's not like white roles are suddenly going to shrivel up or anything. This is one production where the color of the skin of the characters is totally irrelevant, and thus a perfect opportunity to add diversity. 

People really need to stop making a big deal out of this, it just makes you look insecure and/or racist. Why keep minorities down when you could be using this golden opportunity to spread the love? You chose to stick to white casting, you chose to be angry about the concept of a minority getting a spotlight, this is not something you have to do. you chose to be upset.

And why do you care so much about diversity in a TV series made from a video game? 

Did you write so many and so long comments when The Witcher 3 was released to ask for more black characters in it? No. Nobody really cares about diversity in cultural products, it doesn't change anything in the society. Did the black situation become better thanks to Black Panther? I don't think so.

It's entertainment. Seeing a black Ciri will do nothing for minorities, except help a few Hollywood executives and Internet warriors feel good about themselves. "Today, I defended a black character in a TV show, I can go to bed proud". It's nice and all, but it doesn't change a thing. Considering minorities like inferior races needing saving like this is ridiculous. Most minorities don't care about that anyway. Help them get education, security, jobs. "Representation in the TV adaptation of a video game" is very far in the list, and the most useless one. I'm a minority where I live, and I couldn't care less about seeing someone like me in TV shows (quite the opposite actually, it feels too forced, I'm not a quota), I have way bigger issues than that and representation in TV shows won't help at all. 

 

The racist ones here are not the people complaining about the move, but the people doing and supporting the move. "Poor black people, they can't do anything without our help, so I feel good that I supported a diverse cast" is just another discrimination against them used to feel better about oneself without actually doing anything to help minorities.

If they want to have black characters on screen, just adapt an IP with black characters in it already, and everyone will be happy. But even when they got an IP full of "minorities" (Death Note), they decided that it wasn't good enough to feel good and changed everyone's color anyway, just to be able to say "We support diversities, look at us, we're so diverse and superior". They don't care about the result, they just want to talk about how diverse they are. It's all that matters, the World needs to know how much they love the poor minorities who couldn't do anything with their help. 

Netflix are the real racists here.

The TV show is based off the books, not off the games. (Games were also inspired by the book.) 

And no, I didn't care because it wasn't a big deal. It made sense for them all to be white in the game given the book's inspiration in slavic history. However, the issue here is that it could make just as much sense if one race was black, or another race was furries. The themes and the story and the characters are not and will not be altered by a change in skin tone. Having an all white cast or a diverse cast makes equal amount of sense in the context that it's a fantasy story set in a fantasy world. 

I wouldn't protest either decision. 

I will, however, argue against your points that a diverse cast is somehow wrong or unfaithful to the material because there's plenty of precedent for changes like this to happen in similar adaptations. It's dumb no matter what direction it takes, whether it's people bitching about Tilda Swinton being The ancient One or Idris Elba being Heimdall or James Bond being Blonde or Goku being that obnoxious white kid. The issue isn't diversity or lack thereof, it's that people are always looking for things to complain about and will use this as an excuse to jump in and the whole race thing is just another excuse to act tribalistic. 

DragonBall Evolution wasn't terrible because Justin Chatwin is white. that movie was terrible because the filmmakers fundamentally misunderstood DragonBall. 

Furthermore, you seem to fundamentally misunderstand, just EVERYTHING about injecting diversity into a cast. It's not about some manifest destiny or reverse racism or anything, it's the studio saying 'hey, we could really use some color in this story', or (and bare with me), "Maybe we could get more people to watch from more demographics if ciri was black." Both are entirely valid reasons to do what they're doing, and until we see the final product we have no idea if making this decision somehow sacrificed the heart and soul of the story. 

If the show comes out and it turns out whoever they cast was wrong for the role or they fundamentally missed the point of The Witcher, I'll be just as critical as anyone else. However, if it does turn out that the show doesn't work, I highly doubt it will be because of a little skin pigmentation.