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

[sundin13]

DonFerrari said:

sundin13 said:

No, we aren't.

The issue with your comparison between the Japanese movie industry and the American movie industry is that they are fundamentally different and the pool of actors they serve are fundamentally different. However, even if they were identical, it still wouldn't really be the place of a bunch of Americans (or Westerners) to insist upon a cultural change in a foreign nation (assuming the original culture isn't violating human rights or anything that is outside of the scope of this conversation). It is the role of Americans to influence change in our own media. It is not hypocrisy for an American to request greater diversity in the media created in this country but not do the same for Bollywood. That is a fairly unreasonable expectation.

Not only Japanese, I'm including all countries that aren't majority "white" (as if everybody that have "white skin" were the same), did you miss Bolywood?

So it's unreasonable to force other countries to change their culture (I guess then Witcher belongs to American culture?) but it's ok to demand USA change their own to "be inclusive" to foreign culture? Or when they adapt other country original work and make it american being offended is right or wrong?

This post seems to say pretty clearly "If you aren't white, you aren't American", which I have more than a few issues with. American actors playing foreign characters is not the issue we are speaking about when people speak of whitewashing. The issue is white actors playing foreign characters. The fact that you act like the two statement are one in the same says quite a bit, in my opinion. This is largely the false dichotomy that I have been speaking about. America is not white and whiteness is not American. There are likely dozens of thousands of minority actors in America, and many or most are not representing different foreign cultures. They are representing America.

This line of thinking is what creates so many issues in Hollywood. Roles which are written for "Man from New York" usually go to white actors, because of this fundamentally flawed thought process which ties "American" to whiteness. If the studio wants to give some roles to Indian actors, they will look for someone to play "Indian Man" (or "Indian Taxi Driver" or "Indian Convenience Store Clerk"), not "Man". What this does is strip away the identity of minorities as "American", which most of them are, being that they are seeking roles in America. Giving a role to an average black actor is not inserting African culture into a film any more than it would if you cast me (I'm white by the way). Saying "How about we give some roles to minorities" isn't saying "represent foreign culture", it is saying "represent the parts of America that you have been pretending don't exist".

 

As for your other points, does Bollywood have a large population of underserved minority (in India) actors? I specified Japan because I know much more about it that India, but I would assume the same things would hold true. And yes, a Netflix created adaptation of The Witcher is considered an American cultural product.