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EmpressFunk — Whitewashin' and Racebendin'
Published: 2011-03-09 18:21:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 26984; Favourites: 733; Downloads: 293
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My feelings. Lemme show you them.:/
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Comments: 199
OH THE TRAGEDY that we might LOSE SOME OF OUR PRECIOUS WHITE CLASSIC CHARACTERS to these these
NONWHITES!?!?!?!
it's just hypocritical to suggest updating fantasy narratives to reflect anything but the mores of the 50s - 70s. Anything else is a nightmare of essential wrongness. Black norse gods? Why ~ that's UNREALISTIC!!!
I mean it's not like Peter Parker could be anything like a black guy, right? Am I right? Because black dudes don't have problems in high school due to the innate athleticism, yes? It's just common knowledge.
Will Smith as James West means the Nazis actually won WWII because of
reasons of some very emotional kind I'm sure
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What bothers me about this is that if a poc role appears to the be subject of debate, you need to stay true to the source material, but if a whitie role is in danger you shouldn't. That's.. hypocritical. Yes yes, I read the "spoiler alert" part and I could agree with it, if we all agreed that roles should be handed out based purely on talent (which, in my opinion, is how it ought to be) rather than on whether or not you resemble the intended ethnicity.
One needs, however, to decide where one hangs one hat. What is most important? Handing out roles to those of the best talent /regardless/ of colour, or respecting the source material? I could accept both, if kept separate. Going "oh, whichever one works in favour of an aspiring poc actor" just doesn't work very well. No one should be entitled to anything based on their skin colour, unless it went for all colours (even the none pink one that whities have), just like no one should be entitled to anything based purely on their gender. (In my country, for example, there's being made a big thing out of reserving leading positions within companies for women. This means, essentially, that more competent men may not be offered a position, just because 'getting more women in leading positions is probably the right thing to do'. I'm a woman, and I think that is bloody stupid. Nothing should ever be reserved for anyone else than the one most capable of doing it. I don't care if that means there'll only be one woman in a high position i a certain company, as long as the reason the men are there is because they're better at what they do. The same, I believe, needs to apply to films).
If based solemnly on talent, I am convinced there'd be far more pocs featured in leading roles, in generic films. That is; films that does not have an already predetermined ethnicity. I definitely do not buy that the best suited actor somehow always happens to be some whitie. It's statistically illogical.
In short, I really think that whatever one focuses on needs to go both ways. Want to respect source material? Great! Have poc actors for The last airbender and Prince of Persia. But make it go both ways and have the bloody Norse god look like he did in the comic. Want to hand out roles based on talent alone? Even better! In my opinion, that's what happened in the case of Idris Elba. The man is a brilliant actor and does a fantastic job. He's perfect for the role. But that also means it has to go the other way. I'm all for equality, no matter which option one goes for, but special treatment is something I can never support.
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Maybe the idiots saying "racism doesn't exist" will get this now because it's in an easy to read comic book format. Wishful thinking, I know. But you are fabulous and all kinds of wonderful for making this.
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HELL FUCKING YUS!!
MY LOVE TAKE IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
TAKE IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!
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this is flaw free! It's sad people don't get it, but, some people need visuals. Hopefully this will help.
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It's the last picture that gets me the most. This is such a powerful piece; thank you for it.
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THIS IS BRILLIANT! Also, your points on The Last Airbender are so perfect. I absolutely loved the anime, but the movie ruined it with its white washing (and also how horrible it was).
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I'm sorry, the favorite button seems to be broken? It's only letting me hit it once.
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I founded this on Tumblr.
And lemme just say, yeah, it's annoying as hell and stupid as hell, not to mention insulting. I keep hoping we'll get past this point, but apparently people are afraid of what will happen. Ya know, poc might start expecting to be treated like humans and have rights like everyone else and--oh, wait.
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YES THANK YOU.
There are a lot of posts everywhere about this on Tumblr, but they're all huge blocks of text, so people who don't really care much about the topic aren't inclined to read them.
This is a lot more effective because it's more visual, and it gets the point across. c:
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This is great and relevant to my interests...
Dman you USA! Why won'tyou give us sexy and hot asian, african, latino, or black guys/girls to play a main character lead in movies, comedies or else?
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If I could hug you for this, I so would. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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"they're benders, aren't they? let's racebend this thing *evil laugh*"
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i know, right? WHAT THE HELL THAT ISN'T SOKKA. THAT ISN'T KATARA. D:
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KJDSHKJFHVFJHG I CANNOT SCREAM "THIS" LOUD ENOUGH. Let me. Love you.Forever.
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Legitimate feels. You have captured them perfectly~
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God be Damn so one gets it!!!! YES YES YES! I like how you also adressed how putting a POC as in a common white role isn't the same thing as putting a white lead in a POC role. when White is the generic, the norm, you aren't hurting anyone when you change the lead girl from a blondie white girl to a black girl with dreads...(in my dreams >.>) I'm upset that people try to say well it shouldn't matter because this we have a black princess, Mulan, and Pocahontas (more of a mockery then a real POC person...). Why should we demand an ethnic princess? Why don't you just give them to us?
Thanks for this.
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Let me give you all the hugs while I soak up your awesomness and wisdom.
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If some of the reaction to the casting of Rue, Thresh and Cinna for The Hunger Games has taught me anything, it's that sometimes Hollywood is simply a reflection of white mainstream consumers. For some white people it really is difficult to relate to non-white characters to the point of saying "eew black people" when a black biracial little girl is cast as a beloved character who is canonically considered black.
Anyway I love this illustration. Hope they get it some day. If not, Hollywood aint getting anymore of my money.
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Katniss is also heavily implied to be mixed, her and Gale...and yet nobody is in arms over their just giving her a tan for not even the movie, but for the promotional stuff.
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Oh isn't that the truth. I wonder if anyone read the books asking why are Rue and Thresh white. Dark brown skin, they live in the south.Things have a little antebellum feel to it.
Maybe movie producers are right about white people can't feel a connection to POC which is sad when you think about it.
If they can relate to fish, penguins, monsters under the bed, aliens, anthropomorphic hippos, whales and dolphins ants, bugs, lions, farms animals, zoo animals, dinosaurs, mammoths, toys that spring to life, and inanimate objects like toasters...
why is it so hard to relate to fellow humans with different skin colour and features than yours?
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More importantly, they didn't put Idris in whiteface. Having white people play POC is just kind of offensive; I thought we got past that minstrel show stuff. Apparently not.
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thank you I love you for this and I will be linking to this in any racebending convo I have.
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;c; it's really sad
so much blatant racism in today's media
like... have you notice that if the movie wants a mixed couple it's usually the woman whose the minority??
movies don't even switch that up UNLESS it's about the race issue...
uhghghghgghhghghg
but seriously, lovely commentary
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I agree, I mean , nothing against anyone Caucasian but it has been seen as the default for media, or, what's seen as attractive. But what really saddens me is when a poc actor/actress is used it's only for comic relief, we never get to be serious leads.(at least in some cases)
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Sometimes I think about this but then it makes me too mad and I have to go think about something else for a while. u_u
I think you've illustrated a lot of people's feelings on the subject very well!
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as a Native American actress, I love this. So, so much.
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I think I'm gonna print this off and show it to my parents. I was just having this conversation with them the other day and couldn't get them to understand why whitewashing is a bad thing.
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If my stories ever got made into movies and my main characters were cast with white actors, I think I'd be pretty pissed off as the author. I don't understand how the authors of these stories let that crap happen.
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Thank you for this. I never bothered to see Airbender or Prince of Persia because of this, and you summed up the problem here very clearly.
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This is EPIC. Just thought I'd let you know. I love how you summed up so perfectly the frustration people have with this subject.
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Nice one. 
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