White guy acting as Martin Luther King Jr in a movie

[Techno-Druid]

Troy series with black guy acting as Achilles

Not sure why you would even need to blackwash a character, there's already an African character featured in the Illiad.

[Spiffums]

Will he black face?

i still watch tropic thunder and laugh at robert downey jr.

I personally agree that casting should be closest to the actual character fictional or not. The dark tower for example, that movie was terrible with any actor you put in it, but roland was a clint eastwood type not a large black man

Yeah but Eastwood's son looks enough like him to pull off the "look". That was just shitty writing from the word go. You can't compress that much story into 90 something minutes.

[Spiffums]

Would be tasteless, considering Martin Luther King Jr is an esteemed personification of black rights. As an art project, sure, why the fuck not, but as a serious movie, nah. I dislike how people are okay with black actors portraying white characters, while at the same time condemning the opposite (or even a white actor portraying a white character, good god Verge...), but I'm personally generally fine with whatever. Idris Elba was a cool Heimdall and I didn't mind that Tom Cruise was a samurai.

But he wasn't playing an Asian. He was playing a white guy who "became" a samurai.

[Torto]

There are already loads and loads of talented black actors who struggle to find roles in a still inherently racist Hollywood.

You damn right no white person should be playing Martin Luther King Jr.

"buh buh buh what about black people playing white characters" shut up.

Hollywood is racist? Which decade are you currently living in?

[Spiffums]

no, nor are the other examples okay.

actors need to play the race of the character.

that doesnt mean they necessarily have to be that race (like christian bale worked as moses and brad pitt worked as achilles)

of course by that I dont mean a white guy should play MLK jr with blackface. just that if he already looks close to the character then it's okay.


changing the race of fictional characters though i'M okay with unless the character being that race is tied to his character (like colossus has to be russian, luke cage has to be black etc).




they already rebooted rocky

it's called creed and it's basically a shot for shot remake with a race swap:P

Yeah but that worked because the story was good. And it was much better than the last couple of Rocky movies.

[Kaleredar]

Why should someone change the parents, the background, the history of a white charakter written by a white author to make it black?

Because the character has become bland and stagnant, like James Bond has?

That's kind of racist because it implies a black spy story written by a black guy can't be succesfull so you have to highjack an already existing figure.

It doesn't suggest that in any way, shape or form, and this sentiment honestly reeks of false outrage.

[Stelio Kontos]

This decade, where Hollywood is racist and where people named Torto make threads crying about how the latest Battlefield game depicts women and people of color in WW2, despite the fact women and people of color fought in WW2.

Not exactly sure it's an issue of people denying there were PoC in WW2, considering there wouldn't have been a Pacific Theatre without an empireful of PoC fighting.

I'm fine with women and PoC in the game, myself, as long as it doesn't reek of opportunistic pandering rather than meaningful characterization.

[Torto]

This decade, where Hollywood is racist and where people named Torto make threads crying about how the latest Battlefield game depicts women and people of color in WW2, despite the fact women and people of color fought in WW2.

I find it interesting you think Hollywood is racist yet everyone else acknowledges Hollywood is about as progressive and PC as you can get. So much so that if you are a conservative you have virtually no chance of getting work. It's almost as if you are admitting Hollywood is full of virtue signalling hypocrites. If so, then we have found some common ground.

[Hilhen7]

Why should someone change the parents, the background, the history of a white charakter written by a white author to make it black?
That's kind of racist because it implies a black spy story written by a black guy can't be succesfull so you have to highjack an already existing figure.

They already have white people taking the role of minorities in films based off of books. So it really shouldn't be a problem for a minority to play the part of a white fictional character...

Batman Begins: Liam Neeson plays Ra's al Ghul, should be an Arab.
Edge of Tomorrow: Tom Cruise plays the protagonist, in the book the main character is Japanese.
The Lone Ranger: Johnny Depp plays Tonto, should be a Native American.
Prince of Persia: Jake Gyllenhaal plays the protagonist, should be a Persian.
Wanted: Angelina Jolie plays Fox, should be black.

[Theodarzna]

The defining characteristic of James Bond is that he's some form of british and a spy, fights bad guys, and bangs lots of women. You can be black and be and/or do all those things.

A black Joan of Arc would be a substantial change as an ethnic French woman was not a black person, that effectively rips Joan of Arc from her historical context.

[Everwake]

No. Only colored peop--errrr "people of color" get to cosplay as different races and appropriate culture. White people aren't allowed to.

[Beazy]

Only if its a Comedy.

But, no one is going to buy into a historical film about a black guy who fought for said black people played by a white guy.

[dunhildas]

I would be fine with it, anyone that moans is clearly a racist.

- - - Updated - - -

This.

I guarantee you there's no shortage of talented black male actors who could portrait Martin Luther King respectfully. The ONLY reason to do it would be politically motivated, or straight white washing of history. The very casting of him as white would be an insult to his memory.

There are some lines that should not be crossed.

Yet it's ok to blackwash history and disrespect other's memory? Why because they're white?


Either isn't ok, so you either completely support it, or you don't.


There is no middle grounds, to take such a stance would means you're a racist.

[Zython]

This topic is not a debate about race or skin color. This is about the socially accepted limits for movies, tv shows and videogames.

Recently we are seeing lots of diversity in tv series, movies and videogames like for example: Troy series with black guy acting as Achilles, an African-Polish mix race woman acting as ethnically French national hero Joan of arc and Margaret queen of England, which is being acted by a mix-raced woman.

Would it be okay and should a white guy act as a Martin Luther King Jr. in a potential tv show, movie or a videogame in the future? Would you be okay with that? Is there a limit what should or should not be done? Or is it just a movie and everything is okay?

1. No.

2. We already have Detroit: Become Human.