I'm Not Really Here

The Random Fan: Ethics, Race, and Casting

Read This. Because, Once Again, carnivaloftherandom is SPOT ON:

Please heed the warning: SPOILERS. I’m putting this behind a cut, but there is seriously no way you won’t be spoilered for IM3 or Star Trek Into Darkness if you click through. 

People threw hissy fits when Samuel L. Jackson was cast as Nick Fury, when Laurence Fishburne was cast as Perry White, when Idris Elba was cast as Heimdall. Lather, rinse, repeat as the fanbase erupted into ugliness. I will always want the right person in the role as written, but there are certainly issues with changing established characters’ race. Sometimes, when race is not an intrinsic issue for the character: it can be cast in the way that best serves the character. Usually, this involves changing a character from white to another race. Why? Because whiteness is very rarely a character-informing feature. This is because privilege isn’t a character trait unless you’re leaning on it and being a jerkface. Maleness isn’t a character-informing feature in most modern circumstances, hence we have Joan Watson on Elementary. (Who could still have legitimately been a combat surgeon in the Army in Afghanistan if they’d chosen to use that backstory. It is the 21st century.) 

I will say that I had a very hard time writing this, not because of my feelings on these particular films but because there are a lot of discussions to be had about, “Colorblind,” casting. (note, please go visit racialicious.com for more information on racelifting, racebending, whitewashing, etc.) When we have a gender majority of 51% female, and 49% of children under age 5 and 51% of children under age 1 in the US are non-white, the fact that the number of roles for women and PoC (especially in futuristic settings) are shrinking is an obscenity. 

Last year, there was a charge of putting caucasian actors in what amounted to “Yellow-face,” in Cloud Atlas. The film is chock-full of race, gender, age, and every other permutation of transformation for a handful of the lead and supporting actors. While I think that it can be said that a more organic use of makeup might have played better, I think that the film made absolutely critical points about the nature of “Othering” and the narratives we perpetuate in order to preserve our own status quo. These are conversations that we need to have, even when there is clearly not ill intent at play. The status quo has to be challenged in order for it to change. 

That said, two recent films (Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness) handle race and adversarial characters in very different ways. 

Now is the point at which I warn you again: Spoilers. Many, large, and varied spoilers. Deal with it.

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Once again, CarnivalOfTheRandom is SPOT ON.

bakasara:

geekdean:

I also liked the Destiel drama, because they are setting up for Dean/Cas dealing with their problems next season. *Hopefully*

you know what they say

the bigger the drama

the bigger the resolution

Yup. Cas is supposed to have a huge, unspecified role, next season.

(via shellygurumi)

Why The Mandarin needed to be portrayed as he was in Iron Man 3

fuckitfireeverything:

or, why the MCU didn’t ruin your favorite supervillain.

below the cut: Iron Man 3 spoilers, discussion of cultural appropriation, narrative arc, and analysis of how ridiculously, wonderfully meta the advertising scheme of IM3 was.

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I sometimes forget that these things aren’t obvious, so we need to have a discussion. Here it is.

(via strangeharpy)

Iron Man 3.

teratocybernetics:

PEPPER. FUCKING. POTTS.

unknownbinaries:

wilwheaton:

arcaneimages:

If I see one more trailer for Prometheus I’m going to scream. I don’t need to see the whole film to want to see any film. I remember the trailer for the original Alien was just the fucking egg, the title and the words ”In space no one can hear you scream.” and I was SOLD. These days people want to spoil everything before we even get to the theater.

Okay, rant done.

And get off my lawn.

Co-signed.

(via teratocybernetics)

So I’m less pissed at Fringe. But i’m still pissed.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Can i just have ONE show per season which cultivates and delivers an apocalyptic vision of world-rending betterment? Is that ASKING TOO MUCH?

For three seasons, Fringe was [almost] that show. This season, I thought it was going to be that show. It was dealing with tough moral issues, it was weaving two universes together in a way that they were no longer at war, and in fact relied on each other for survival. The Walter Bishop from “our” universe broke “their” universe, and you know what? We were putting it right. We were investigating the implications of what it meant to be a person, an individual. The paths diverged, the roads not taken…

But apparently that was making people’s heads hurt with the thinking and the whatever.

So instead of this, we get the other universe sealed off (What’s that Red Universe? You’re still pretty broken, and light doesn’t work right? Eeessh… Well… See ya!), one of the best characters dead (What’s that ALincolnternate? You survived being blown up by a woman with Mind Fire, so you shouldn’t be taken down by some punk ass shapeshifter sniper? Welllll… Uhm… See ya!), one of the most fiercely independent characters knocked up by The Boy Who Was Loved™ (What’s that Olivia? You never really wanted children of your own, and you’re pretty sure you’d be a weirdly militaristic mom? Huh. So… Baby!), and a complete motivational shift for a group of characters which previously had a stated ethos, motivation, and modus operandi (What’s that Observers? You used to be there to watch important world events, and make sure the universe A) didn’t disintegrate and B) moved toward your particular timeline? Welllp… Evil Now!).

So you know what? Yeah, I’m pissed at Fringe. They didn’t have the guts or brains to resolve the reappearance of Peter in an interesting way (which also would have given them a reason for the Observers turning), and they didn’t have the guts or the heart to show the Blue and Red Universes taking the best parts from each other, and being stronger together. They went from the promise of last season’s finale— the promise that with a little work, everyone could win— back to being a zero-sum “Us Vs. Them” Show. And they did it in the most boring way possible.

AND FOR WHAT?! If Olivia was the real energy source, why haven’t they turned the machine back on? Bringing everything back together gives everyone more resources, more people, more understanding…!

So fuck that. Yeah. I’m pissed.

If they had killed Astrid, i’d be Done. Like, Forever done. But they didn’t, so, as it stands, I find myself in the really weird position of hoping that next season is their last season.

And I think I’m pretty much alone in that one.

Fuck.