needlesslydefiantwithtea:

needlesslydefiantwithtea:

cos i didn’t want to do this massive edit to the post i reblogged earlier

i mean i’m ok with her being white cos it only says she looked “vaguely arabic”.  and there’s such a mishmash of genetics in england (thanks to all the invasions - i look v european) that she could have a mix of races really

but i prefer if she matches the description because it’s an opportunity for us NOT to have the entire cast as white which is annoying

like, in my dream cast i personally think that andrea riseborough would be best for the role, because she is honestly perfect and would play trillian the best

but if we’re talking about who looks right, i like andrea and also lenora crichlow, but i’d also like someone who looked completely different to them

but tbh as long as she has dark hair and can play the character well (where zooey deschanel failed) i’m ok with it

i’m sure there’s an actress out there who matches the description to a tee, right down to “vaguely arabic” and can also play trillian perfectly

unfortunately i just don’t know about her

but undoubtably she’d be best for the role

tbh when it comes to casting i am pretty much nonchalant to race

an actor must, imo…

- play the character well

- match the character’s description to some extent (but if the best actor is a different race from the character, as long as it doesn’t obstruct the plot, they should be hired.  same with gender btw)

- their appearance must be historically accurate (again to some extent - like i would be totally ok and would even encourage a gender or racial crosscast of, say, shakespeare, but in something like a historical biopic like Elizabeth I it would be anachronistic). 

so basically the only factor i’m immovable on is the first one

wait i went away from the point here didn’t i

with trillian if zooey and sandra dickinson had played the character well i wouldn’t have cared too much what they look like

but with sandra dickinson my major issue with her portrayal is that they put her in a skintight latex leotard and i’m sorry but trillian does not have a high squeaky voice and act like a bimbo she just DOESN’T

this has been a post

note: reblogging and queuing because more people will be online to see this

…. I’m not going to say much about the HHG castings because it’s been too long since I’ve read the books and so I don’t feel qualified to say anything, but this

- if the best actor is a different race from the character, as long as it doesn’t obstruct the plot, they should be hired.  same with gender btw

Sounds a lot like the excuse directors give when whitewashing shows, and it therefore bothers me a lot. I’m sure it wasn’t your intention to imply it but I find it weird that to a lot of people, the race of a character may not be important to the plot at all. If it was noted in a narrative that a character was a certain race, there must have been a point to it - whether or not it was implied or stated outright. When crafting a story, the author has absolute control of the characters - what they look like, what they act like, how they dress… every cue that is given is part of the story they are building. Of course when translating this to film there are going to be ambiguities, things that are lost, unimportant parts are cut, things are changed, etc. etc. However, if you make a conscious decision to negate part of a character’s background by changing their established race because “it just isn’t convenient”, it’s important to accept that you are actually negating a whole part of their identity, part of the plot, and I believe it’s also important not to make excuses for it.

For example, they cut out the Scouring of the Shire at the end of Lord of the Rings because it didn’t make for a good story, but it was there in the book. It was part of the plot, and it was important to it - it had a purpose. Negating a character’s race is similar, and just as regrettable. I don’t think it’s as simple as looks - consider how incredibly offensive it was for Jackson Rathbone to have said that all he needs to look like Sokka is get a tan (unless you don’t think that’s offensive, in which case I’d be happy to debate the huge racial problems in the last airbender movie with you).

Note: Ignoring racial or gender cues in production/adaptation is often an artistic point, for example in cross-casting Shakespeare. Here, choices like these often hold deeper implications (and are often very thought through), but in a lot of cases these days it’s whitewashing or played for laughs. I think a lot of it is looking behind the casting and at the reasons for the choice, and that’s what makes it acceptable or not.

I guess I really don’t believe that it’s so impossible in this huge world to find good actors of diverse races if you really want to (especially English-speaking ones, and especially in the US/UK). The fact that we continually default to white actors/actresses is really depressing for English-speaking minority actors who are hoping to break into bigger roles - and for an Asian girl who’s grown up in predominantly white English-speaking countries, the lack is really depressing - especially when characters I related to were simply negated and defaulted to people who no longer look like me. Of course, I suppose there aren’t that many people like me who know what it feels like to grow up in cultures that consider our looks as abnormal in their society - so why should directors use up their budget to cast people in concern for my feelings or people like me? :’/

Sorry for ranting. I just have a lot of feels.