The Mary Sue: The final season of Gotham is coming out and the show has released some behind the scene photos of actor Shane West as Bane and the reaction of most people is how bad the costume looks and while that is true, my first thought was “Why is Bane white again?”
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This article raises a very prevalent question that has and continues to exist in the world: why are not ethnic characters either represented in their true light or why their ethnicity is taken away from them when a white person is cast in their role.
There is no doubt that race should not be a criteria for choosing what role an actor might get to play. But it should definitely be a criteria when choosing for a role whose ethnicity does matter.
I dont understand what is wrong if an actor racially suits the description of the character he is playing. When names, clothes and even accent can represent that part of the character, then why cant casting directors take the last plunge in creating a true ethnic character by choosing a racially suitable actor.
I understand that this might come as racist but over here, we are not talking talking about casting ethnic actors solely for the sake of casting one, We are talking about casting ethnic characters for a character that the actor might be able to more justice to than can other white actors.
I think one of the most compelling points this article makes is comparing how DC presents this character in animation vs how they do in live action. The article states, "DC is clearly aware that Bane is not a white man and has no problem—in animation, at least—putting him in the mask, slapping an accent on him, and making him fully dehumanized for the sake of his brute force. Yet, in these live-action narratives, where he could have complexities and nuance, for some reason, he’s always cast a white actor." The point is valid--why is a cartoon the only way this character even gets a nod at his actual background and heritage? The cartoon is over the top and brutish, as sometimes cartoons are, but even that alone is offensive in comparison to how the white protagonists are portrayed in animation. I do think I am a little wary of the argument that because a character is one way in the original comic or movie it can't be changed--but mostly that is when "fans" complain about Hermione or Starfire being black in recent adaptions, which I think are wonderful additions to the cannon. This argument isn't in the same vein as the one I mentioned above, and is more about the erasure of minority than the expansion of a character.
I stopped watching Gotham a long time ago, but I am still relatively in the loop. When I saw that Shane West was cast as Bane, I didn't immediately think of the racial issue, because I feel like I'm used to the boring casting choices made by DC on FOX. As someone who grew up learning as much as I could about Batman backstories, one of the most intriguing points about Bane was how, while he was in prison on Santa Prisca, he basically raised his own intellect. By continuing to cast white actors, they erase a very interesting, important part of why Bane is Bane. Especially since the writer has explicitly stated for anyone seeming to doubt Bane's heritage, it's clearly important that everyone know Bane is Latino. The complexity of a character often comes from their backstory, and this makes it seem as if Gotham is unwilling to delve into the layers of the character. I am also familiar with the animated series, and since DC is making money off of both series, it would make sense to just make the character consistent and accurate. Idon't mean to offend the white actors, because I'm sure you could do a good job at playing Bane, but you just aren't Bane. I feel like often times casting goes to the easiest actor, but if the directors were to look a little deeper and better understand the character the actor will be filling, there would be more daring, riskier, interesting casting choices being made.
It seems that unless a character is extremely explicitly stated as a POC, creators will shrug their shoulders and go "Well, they could be white, so we're not being racist." As the author pointed out, Bane is known to have a white father and Latinx mother and have been raised in Latinx culture. He is also obviously coded as Latinx in the animated images the article displays. Perhaps because there are not as many Latinx actors obviously available as there are dime-a-dozen white men, the studios don't feel like making the effort to find a Latinx actor and just go with their "default" option. I remember this happened with one of my favorite movies of all time, The Martian. In the book The Martian, the character of Mindy Park is obviously intended to be an Asian American woman, but I don't believe it is ever directly stated explicitly. This character ended up cast as a white woman in the movie. However, in the author's second book, Artemis, with a few exceptions, all of the characters have their race explicitly stated at some point in the text. Unfortunately, until studios are willing to actively pursue diversity, creators from authors to comic book artists to screenwriters must create the spaces for diversity in their work and fight the powers that be every time they try to erase it.
So I am in no way a comic book fan. I think they are fine, but there are too many different universes and story lines for me to ever be interested in. Therefore, I have no strong feelings about the on screen characterizations of comic book characters. With that background established, I can now speak to the issue of white washing Bane on screen through the live action narratives. It is rather interesting to note that the animated versions of Bane always seem to be portrayed accurately as a Latinx man. Bane's character, from what I understand, has the background of originally being a luchador fighting in the ring, who then becomes addicted to the venom (I think) serum and somehow makes him evil. Whatever. Regardless, Bane's character and background is one that is strictly Latinx. To take this away from a live action version of Bane is unacceptable and disappointing.
I always love comic works, and they tend to look deeper into humanity comparing with many other genres. From my point of view, these settings regarding races, social status and life expectations among cultures are the essence of the comic artists to voice their thoughts about the current world. By posing exaggerated characters and scenes, the problem of real world can be easily comprehended and discussed along with the entertainment happening. Actually, whether Bane is white or not is a long discussion in my eye as well as many others who care about the race representations in the comic worlds. Bane is a character of trauma and despair, and then descends onto violence. Is a white man being Bane an issue? I suppose not. But when Bane only being depicted as a white male that makes a weird assumption that violence is somehow connected to certain race and gender. I think that’s the point this article trying to make.
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