Quote Of The Week: "You know, I'm gonna get a 3D printer, use it to make another 3D printer and return the first one. I'm no fool". Madam Secretary
  • Home/Film & TV
  • Music Matters
  • Ray & Ishida
  • The Shows
  • Social Media
  • Show Archives
  • About

Controversial Casting

23/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Open letters to institutions are a start...I guess. I suppose we have to begin somewhere in highlighting the lack of diversity on our screens, but after the first note of limited inclusion, there is also a second act that needs to be addressed too, another crime in the form of mis-representation...
The fact that it happens so often and more importantly is widely accepted, suggests that a discourse, however historically accurate is absolutely pointless. So instead of a debate let's just create our own casting for films to illustrate the point of how it feels to be mis-represented.

Film 1
Let us create a Henry VIII film, still set in England. We will have Henry and all the English roles played by Chinese people. Anyone European is to be played by Samoans...and oh yes this film is to be labelled as being the most historically accurate picture ever made.

Film 2
Chariots of Fire, once again set in England, re-made where the entire cast are played by Bangladeshi people. Any non-English roles are to be played by people from Singapore.

Film 3
Saving Private Ryan, the entire American army are to be played by Iranians.

Film 4
12 Years A Slave, all the slaves are to be played by Europeans and the White American parts are to be played by Africans.

Film 5
Exodus: Gods and Kings; A biblical story set so far back in the history of the world, that the 'culture' playing the parts now, didn't even exist. That very same culture are to play all the important parts of course and then the cultures that were actually born of the entire CONTINENT, that the film is set in, you know the ones that occupied and lived in that location before the advent and invasions of cultures such as the Persians, Greeks, Romans or the existence of the Ottomans, yadda yadda yaaa are to play the slave and 'lower' status roles.

There won't even be the casting cop out of having a cast look like the current people of Egypt, who's look only appears after the Arabs had finally grown in significant numbers to be a mighty force and come into the land to shake-up the genetic make-up via invasion. No we're gonna keep it truly unreal and perpetuate more lies. Why on Earth does the Hollywood system back the re-writing of history to such stupid degrees? As a kid for years I believed that the Native Americans were the villains and that Russians were the natural enemy of the world.
When Casting Doesn't Matter
Even though it can be annoying when a character from a book is described as one thing and then portrayed on screen as another, I don't mind altered casting when it bares no change to the overall premise. If a story has no emphasis on gender, race, age, nationality or sexuality - then knock yourself out with your casting choices. Rising Sun, The Hunger Games, Daredevil and the Fantastic Four film have all switched things up, but not to the detriment of the story.

Alternatively I don't need to see a black James Bond or a female Dr. Who. I'm not against these portrayals, but when the characters were conceived with specific details that create who and what they are, if you change significant factors then you have a new character. A black James Bond for me is like having a white Shaft, his backstory and life path change dramatically. Look at the backstory of 007 had in Skyfall, what are the odds of a Chinese Bond having that ancestral past in Scotland? Inclusion is great, correct representation is even better, but the real appreciation would come in the form of  creating a 00 agent with his/her own identity and history. Or bringing about a female Gallifreyan timelord with her own mythology. The people who are not being represented are not overly-sensitive, they don't need to be the key people in every production or even be in every production, but if you are telling their story you, then you have to respect the fact and place of their existence or don't tell the story at all.
0 Comments

    Authors

    TDD, RC & IK talk: 
    Film, Life & Love 

    RSS Feed

    ARCHIVE

    All
    12 Years A Slave
    3 Days To Kill
    3 MUSICAL BIOPICS OF MUSICAL GENIUS'
    47 Ronin
    80s & 90s Cartoons
    8 Drill Instructors From Hell
    Achilles
    Actor: Joe Morton
    Actor Workouts
    African-Caribbean Cinema
    After Earth
    Age Of Ultron
    American Horror Story
    Animation
    Art Vs Love
    Assassin's Creed
    Ava DuVernay
    Avengers
    AVP
    Ballers
    Ban Cliche Chivalry
    Batman
    Batman Vs Vader
    Battle Of 5 Armies
    BBC
    Beautiful Creatures
    Beverly Hills Cop 4
    Beyond The Lights
    Birth Of Superheroes
    Birth Of The 12 Certificate
    Black Adam
    Black Panther
    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
    Blindsided
    Boxing Day
    Bruce
    Buying A Lightsaber
    Captain America
    Captain Marvel
    Cartoons To Film
    Casting Couch
    Channing Tatum
    CHING SIU-TUNG
    Chivalry
    Chivalry Is Dead
    Chris Pine
    Cinematic Vigilantes
    Civil War
    Cloak & Dagger
    Cobra Kai
    Comic Book Films/TV
    Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor
    CONTROVERSIAL CASTING
    Crazy Stupid Love
    Creed III
    Cult Vehicles
    Dance
    Darth Maul: Apprentice
    Dawn Of Justice
    Days Of Future Past
    DCs Legends Of Tomorrow
    Deadpool
    Denzel Washington
    Dexter
    Die Hard 6
    Die Hardest
    Directing Firsts
    Director's Chair
    Doctor Strange
    Donnie Yen
    Dracula
    Dr. Strange
    Dr Who
    Eddie Murphy
    Edge Of Tomorrow
    Ender's Game
    Equalizer
    ESCAPE PLAN
    Ethan Hawke's Concept Movies
    Fact & Truth
    Fantastic Four
    Fast 6
    Fast & The Furious 6
    Female Roles On TV
    Film Remakes
    Film & TV Budgets - An Expose!
    Flashpoint Paradox
    Franchise Kings
    Frankenstein
    From Dusk Til Dawn
    Furious 7
    Gambit
    Game Of Thrones
    GET ON UP
    Getting Projects Noticed
    Ghostbusters 2016
    Godzilla
    Harrison Ford
    Health
    HELLBLAZER TV SERIES
    Heroes Reborn
    Heroic Bloodshed
    Homelessness Spikes
    Hong Kong Stunts
    Hoshino
    How To Make An Epic Fantasy Film
    Indiana Jones
    Infinity War Review
    Inside Out
    Ip Man
    Iron Man 3
    Ishida Khan
    Is The High-Concept Action Film Dead?
    Jackie Chan
    Jackie & Donnie
    Jack Reacher
    Jack Ryan
    Jaden Smith
    James Bond
    JAMES BOND 24 - SPECTRE
    James Cromwell
    Jason Bourne
    Jason Mamoa
    Jesse Owens Biopic
    Jet Li
    Jim Carrey
    Joel Kinnaman
    JOHN CONSTANTINE
    John Wick
    John Woo
    Jumping @ Notting Hill Carnival - What U Need To Know!
    Justice League
    Justice League: WAR
    Keanu Reeves
    Kevin Costner
    Killer Joe
    King Richard Review
    Kingsman
    Korean Cinema
    Lady Thor
    Limitless TV Show
    LOTR
    Lucy
    Luke Evans
    Luther
    Mad Max
    Magic Mike XXL
    Magnificent Seven
    Making A Relationship Work
    Male Social Pressure
    Martial Arts
    Marvel Film
    Marvel's Runaways
    Morality Tales
    Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones
    Movie Mash-Up!
    My Everyday Power
    Mystical Weapons
    Neil Cross
    New Jack Cinema
    Notting Hill Carnival
    Oldboy
    Olympus Has Fallen
    One Man Army
    Open Letters
    Penny Marshall
    Philip K. Dick
    Pitch Perfect 2
    Point Break - Remake
    POLTERGEIST
    Predator
    Racism
    Ray Crimson
    Reboots & Remakes
    Relationships
    Revenge Thrillers
    Reverse Racism
    Rhys Wakefield
    Robocop 2014
    Rocky/Apollo Spin-Off: Creed
    Ross Marquand
    Scandal
    Shazam
    Shazam! Fury Of The Gods
    Silmarillion
    Sorcerer & White Snake
    Spider-Man
    Star Trek
    Star Wars
    Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker - The Review
    STEP-UP: ALL IN
    Strange Darling
    Suicide Squad
    Superhero Bowl
    Superman
    Superman Unbound
    Sword Fighting
    Sylvester Stallone
    Tablets
    Taken 3
    Tale Of 2 Wolves
    Temptation
    Terminator 5: Genesys
    That Dude D'Lambert
    The 4 Kings Of Kung-Fu
    The 5 Wizards Of Middle Earth
    The Arrow
    The Conjuring
    The Crow
    THE FEMALE EXPENDABLES
    The Final Girl
    The Flash
    The Hobbit
    The Host
    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
    The Informer
    THE JAMES BROWN BIOPIC
    The Kerry Washington Effect
    The Last Jedi
    The Minions
    The Outcast
    The Perfect Joker
    The Pyramid
    The Review
    The Rock
    THE WOLVERINE
    This Is The End
    Thor
    Tom Clancy
    Tom Cruise
    Top 10 Disaster Movies
    Top 10 Horror Franchise
    Top 10 Psycho Killers
    Top 10 Robots Gone Wrong
    Top 13 Supernatural Killers
    Top 7 Descents To The Darkside
    Top 7 Foot Chases
    Trailers
    TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
    TUBE ETIQUETTE!
    TV Actresses
    Tyler Perry's Temptation
    Unique Voices Of Cinema
    United Ramen
    Van Damme
    Viggo Mortensen
    Vin Diesel
    Wanted: Cartoon Adaptations
    Website Builders
    Wesley Snipes
    Who Earns The Most
    WHY THE MALE ARTIST DIES 1000 TIMES PT.1
    WHY THE MALE ARTIST DIES 1000 TIMES PT.2
    Wife & Husband
    Will Smith
    Wonka
    Worst Dystopian Movies
    Writer
    X Men
    X-Men
    XXX
    You're Next

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture