Friday, April 04, 2014
Why Are Native Roles Going to White Actors?
Backstage: Despite recent blockbusters featuring Native American characters, many of the roles have gone to white performers. In 2013, for instance, Disney’s “The Lone Ranger” generated an outcry after Johnny Depp (who claims Native American ancestry) was cast as Tonto. That decision was defended as the role going to the best available actor, and a similar argument is being used in Mara’s case, too.
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3 comments:
The problem with this is that, as the article points out, studio executives are the ones who need to step forward for change. But there is no incentive for them to do so until the public reacts and puts their foot down against casting white actors in roles that should go to actors of the right ethnicity. Studios pick famous actors because they bring in the crowds, and since people of color have never been given a chance, there are few to none who are famous enough for studio execs. It has become the public's responsibility to demand that film studios stop taking opportunities from actors of color.
I understand that this is going to sound ignorant, but I do not understand why producers and directors need to go out of their way to find native Americans when there is an available actor that will do the role justice the way it should be done. I totally agree with Camille that if this is a crazy big deal it should be made so by the public, by the theater goers. At the same time this is never going to happen. I do not know of many women who would protest Johnny Depp in a movie. Especially shirtless.
One point that struck me in this article was the attribution of Warner Bros. lack of a comment to the fact that this sort of outrage is usually short lived. People rarely demand more from their entertainment providers and when they do, their voices usually die down when the topic is no longer popular. If the public was truly committed to making movies more racially diverse and making sure that traditionally minority character kept their race in reboots, they would boycott the studios, but past behavior proves that the public is not inclined to do that. As long as studios are comfortable with the knowledge that the only repercussions they are going to face are a few harsh articles and a number of protesters that doesn't rival their guaranteed customer base, they will continue to hire whomever they want.
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