Why does race matter?

[jackfaire]

I get it if they were doing a historical movie about Martin Luther King Jr and they cast a white man to play him that would be offensive.

But in fiction if the character's racial background has nothing to do with the story why does that matter if the actor that is best suited to play him in the directors eyes isn't the original race?

I say this because to date I have heard fan boys freak out about race time and time again. Not just when a Caucasian guy plays an African American but also vice versa and many other ways.

I honestly don't get why it matters.

[SkullKing]

To me it has to do with being faithful to the source material.

For example, the Game of thrones series. each people has it is own characteristics. If they had cast non-caucasians for the starks, I wouldn´t like it.

By the same token, I wouldn´t like if they cast caucasians to a character who souldn´t be.

[Ginger Tea]

Or gender, wasn't there was alot of backlash about a female Starbuck in the reboot of Galactica?

Ripley as with all the other characters of Alien were just last names in a script, invisioned as men but it was never set in stone, the casting call saw to who got called what.

[jackfaire]

Or gender, wasn't there was alot of backlash about a female Starbuck in the reboot of Galactica?

Depends on where you are I guess around here the backlash was "Why wasn't starbuck a girl the firs time?"

Skull but what if it has nothing to do with who that character is.

Would you rather see the best actor for the guy or one who looks like he is the right race?

[AdminAssistant]

Obviously, you should always get the best actor...but race can be an important factor. Now, someone more familiar with the anime may come along and correct me, but I believe that race was an important part of Akira, correct? But then Hollywood comes along saying, "No, we should set it in New York and cast Justin Timberlake!"

[crashhelmet]

Obviously, you should always get the best actor...but race can be an important factor. Now, someone more familiar with the anime may come along and correct me, but I believe that race was an important part of Akira, correct? But then Hollywood comes along saying, "No, we should set it in New York and cast Justin Timberlake!"

Hollywood makes changes like that all the time, but I don't think it really applies to what Jackfaire was talking about. Maybe if they made Akira, starring Justin Timberlake, set in Japan and everyone else was Japanese, there would be an issue.

Back in the early 60s, there was a movie made called "A Majority of One" starring Rosalind Russell and Sir Alec "Obi Wan Kenobi" Guiness. At the time, Hollywood had determined that people didn't want to see asian people, especially Japanese people, in movies or TV, so they cast Guiness to play the Japanese business man. It was like the Asian form of "black face." That movie offended the Asian American community like you wouldn't believe, but Hollywood didn't care.

20 years later, Brian DePalma makes a movie that go on to be the favorite of many future thugs and gangsta rappers everywhere. Scarface. 5 of the 7 lead hispanic roles were played by 3 Italian-Americans and 2 Jewish-Americans. The actors that played Montana's mom and best friend were actually Cuban.

But back to the OP, you don't find many non-descriptive characters in books anymore. The writers need to describe them to a T so that people can envision them in their heads as they're reading it. But if it's written that the character is one race and then they make the movie with them as another, they either have to change the entire story or the character itself.

In Michael Crichton's Rising Sun, his lead character was a HUGE white supremacist. When a white girl is found dead in the office of a Japanese business man, he's ready to burn down all of Little Tokyo. In the movie, they cast Wesley Snipes. Yeah, they made him racist towards Japanese, but ti wasn't the same character.

[HYHYBT]

This is an interesting contrast to the thread about how Magneto *has* to be a Jewish Holocaust victim.

[Andara Bledin]

If the race/creed/sex of a character is part of the basis for that character's motivation (Magneto being Jewish, for example), then it just shouldn't be screwed with.

There's a version of Alice in Wonderland where the Cheshire cat is female; which has absolutely no effect on the story at all, but to change some pronouns.

^-.-^

[Silverharp]

Part of it is source material, part is the individuals doing the complaining.
I once had a fellow geek SCREAM at my "Starbuck is a GUY!!!" because I dared to make the comment that I really liked the new BSG. I see the inherent mysogeny in a lot of male geeks as the reason for those attitudes - and before anyone gets all up in arms, just accept that it's true and move on. Geekdom has always had a large amount of "Girls are icky" types, and those attitudes are stilll persistant in some circles.

[Gravekeeper]

Think it very much depends on the story.

Akira for example is very specifically a Japanese story. It only works in context to Japan. Whitewashing it is pretty stupid. Whitewashing historical stories is also pretty stupid.

[BlaqueKatt]

I see the inherent mysogeny in a lot of male geeks as the reason for those attitudes

um I refuse to watch 90% of remakes, so I have no idea, but how did they deal with Starbuck's horrible womanizing problem, and affair with Cassiopeia? Or did they just leave out those important parts of starbuck's personality(thus changing the character), and storyline? Which would explain the upset without jumping to the OMG MISOGYNIST conclusion.

[crashhelmet]

um I refuse to watch 90% of remakes, so I have no idea, but how did they deal with Starbuck's horrible womanizing problem, and affair with Cassiopeia? Or did they just leave out those important parts of starbuck's personality(thus changing the character), and storyline? Which would explain the upset without jumping to the OMG MISOGYNIST conclusion.

From what I remember, Cassiopeia wasn't a character in the reboot. Starbuck also wasn't the only character to get a gender change. Boomer went from being male to female too.

Without spoiling anything, you have to watch the show without any consideration of the original. it's its own entity.

[Silverharp]

um I refuse to watch 90% of remakes, so I have no idea, but how did they deal with Starbuck's horrible womanizing problem, and affair with Cassiopeia? Or did they just leave out those important parts of starbuck's personality(thus changing the character), and storyline? Which would explain the upset without jumping to the OMG MISOGYNIST conclusion.

In the remake Starbuck was a cigar smoking, hard drinking hotshot pilot who looooved the nookie.
So pretty good comparison between the 2, actually.

[SkullKing]

Would you rather see the best actor for the guy or one who looks like he is the right race?

The best character for the guy. But sometimes being the right race is essential. The best actor is the one who best fits the charcter, not necessarilly the one who is the best actor.

The Constantine character from hellblazer. I would prefer a good caucasian actor, than a very good non-caucasian one.

I also would prefer a good arabic character for Alladin or Simbad than a very good caucasian one.

IF race had nothing to do with it, than it would be ok. but that is very rare to me(the only one that comes to mind is Judge Dread)

[jackfaire]

I also would prefer a good arabic character for Alladin or Simbad than a very good caucasian one.

Actually it's very rare that race does actually have anything to do with it. In truth Constantine should be English but his skin color has little to do with the character.

And your comment about Aladdin actually kind of proves my point. See the Aladdin tale while being a middle eastern tale was of a Chinese boy in a Chinese town.

Obviously his race didn't matter if people are just as good with the story with him being Arabic.