White guy acting as Martin Luther King Jr in a movie

[grexly75]

I will just post this https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/sho....php?t=4036997 of what the BBC are up to with some of their content.. Like how they have (Sophie Okonedo) playing the role of Margaret of Anjou, an actual historical figure who was the wife of King Henry the VI in the BBC's 'The Hollow Crown'. There are many other shows that they have changed..

[Ret4resto]

Yeah, it's a fucking shame blacks and asians can't pony up the money to produce their own movies, and hire the actors they want. But I guess it's easier just to bitch and moan about imaginary things like white-washing.

Just get Tyler Perry to produce a movie with a worthwhile screenplay for a change. There, problem solved.

Lol, I like how you completely missed the point. The OP wanted to talk about inaccurate portrayals of characters in films so let’s talk about it.

I just linked an article highlighting white washing and your best rebuttal is cursing like a child and dismissing it as imaginary when it’s clearly a real issue, hence the article existing.

[Elba]

technically whites are the minority in american now, so this sounds interesting

It's american like 64% white?

And even if whites were less than 50%, they'd still be the majority. All those "muh white demographics folks" think all non whites are the same.

[Kathandira]

But, a black person can play a white person?

It depends. Is the person's color of the skin strongly tied to who they are as a historical figure?

If yes, then no.

If no, then yes.

[pathora44]

I thought there might've been something like that behind it, but I used it as an example, since I couldn't think of a case where a white actor portrayed a non-white character. Maybe that happened more in older movies, but I wouldn't be aware of it.

EDIT: Well, Doctor Strange was one, with Tilda Swinton acting a fine version of Stephen Strange's mentor, who was originally an Asian man. Though the movie also had Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo, also an Asian man originally.

EDIT2: Keeping it in he MCU, Iron Man 3 had Guy Pearce as Mandarin, who, again, was originally an Asian man. It was a surprise reveal, with Ben Kingsley originally being advertised as Mandarin, and I remember media going berserk over it back in the day.

The Mandarin change up, which has been revealed the real Mandarin is still out there, was fine with me. The original Mandarin was the racist stereotype of the Asian villain that was ingrained in the American zeitgeist since pre WWII. Slanted eyes, large buck teeth, the fu manchu moustache so bringing that character directly from the comics was never going to work. He had to be changed.

[Freighter]

And even if whites were less than 50%, they'd still be the majority. All those "muh white demographics folks" think all non whites are the same.

They'd be the biggest group but not the majority.

[Elba]

ITT people equating a real person to fictional characters.

[Ret4resto]

I will just post this https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/sho....php?t=4036997 of what the BBC are up to with some of their content.. Like how they have (Sophie Okonedo) playing the role of Margaret of Anjou, an actual historical figure who was the wife of King Henry the VI in the BBC's 'The Hollow Crown'. There are many other shows that they have changed..

https://www.cnn.com/2014/03/14/showb...les/index.html

http://www.indiewire.com/gallery/hol...mcdhust-ec003/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.was...o-wasnt-white/

[RyanEX]

That would be stupid, and not remotely equivalent.

Why not? Achilles was a white guy portrayed by a black guy and non white women portraying white female heroines. So how would a white guy portraying MLK jr. be worse?

You saying MLK Jr. was more important than those people therefore he's not to be touched?

Just to be clear, I'm not cool with rewriting history just cause "muh diversity". But if you're doing it go all the way in.

[Elba]

They'd be the biggest group but not the majority.

You are right, if you want to be pedantic, they would be the plurality. Anyway, in either cases, they would not be a minority.

[Lochton]

It depends. Is the person's color of the skin strongly tied to who they are as a historical figure?

If yes, then no.

If no, then yes.

For me, it doesn't matter of the icon. As said, I generally don't care but if the basics of it is A, then I would rather the outcome of a new movie or show that it is still 'A'.

[RyanEX]

ITT people equating a real person to fictional characters.

Joan of Arc was fictional? Well I'll be damned.

[ToZion]

The bigots are strong in this thread, and it's so obvious.

[Zuben]

The Mandarin change up, which has been revealed the real Mandarin is still out there, was fine with me. The original Mandarin was the racist stereotype of the Asian villain that was ingrained in the American zeitgeist since pre WWII. Slanted eyes, large buck teeth, the fu manchu moustache so bringing that character directly from the comics was never going to work. He had to be changed.

http://www.comicpow.com/wp-content/u...uspense-50.png

Could've simply been a modern Asian dude, but yeah, I'm okay with whateverwashing of characters. Guy Pearce was fine.

[Elba]

Why not? Achilles was a white guy portrayed by a black guy and non white women portraying white female heroines. So how would a white guy portraying MLK jr. be worse?

You saying MLK Jr. was more important than those people therefore he's not to be touched?

Just to be clear, I'm not cool with rewriting history just cause "muh diversity". But if you're doing it go all the way in.

Achilles isn't real.

[shimerra]

No. Straight cissss white men are the untouchables in the 2018 caste system.

Hey buddy you dropped your victim card.

[Venant]

Something like this would probably lead to violence in the streets, or have you forgotten BLM burning down neighborhoods and assassinating police officers under the last administration?

[Elba]

Joan of Arc was fictional? Well I'll be damned.

People are equating gods like Zeus and other mythical characters to MLK.

As for Joan of Arc, for her character race doesn't really matter.

Also, white characters / people being portrayed by non white actors is different than the reverse as there are myriads of both positive portrayals of white people and acting opportunities for white actors already. A few recasts makes no numerical difference. The other way around has huge impacts.

[tumppu]

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?

We had a movie, where a kenyan black guy played Marshal of Finland, Mannerheim. That was dumb, but apparently some artsy guys thought it was great, so it went off as that. Towards that background I would not mind one bit if MLK was played by a white dude, Jesus was played by a yellow dude and Mohammed was played by a woman. (There also was a cartoon, where Mannerheim was portrayed as a faggot fairy)

Obviously some people would be majorly butthurt and places would be burned and people possibly killed. But hey, it's art! I challenge any muslim to accept their "hero" mohammed portrayed as something they personally have a hard time to accept. Like gay.

[RyanEX]

Achilles isn't real.

Elba, all I'm going to say is this.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If it's okay to whiteface, then it's damn well okay to blackface. The only reason they do it because they know that white people are 1)more tolerant of bullshit and 2) you have most of them guilt tripped for things they never did. Whereas they know that if they offend black people (and call me racist if you want) they'll pitch a fit and probably burn down their cities like they nearly did when Trump was elected.