Black Thor Actor Talks About Racist Comic Book Fans

[Technicka]

What policies would these be, exactly?

The policy of "separate but equal". And no, I don't mean the old segregation legal policy. I mean the practice of having "urban" schools getting the lion's share of students, but not the funds to support it; whereas your suburban schools are often in a much better state. Of course, current political madness in the US is closing that gap pretty fast, so it may soon be a non issue as everyone will get shitty schools.

Consider the disproportionate amount of non-white inmates in prison compared to their white counterparts. Now, it's a combination of race and class being used against people; but considering the majority of the lower class are ethnic people...

 

[sauerkraus]

I don't see an issue with race here. Casting a Norse god as a black guy is just as bad as casting him as a woman. It's not politically motivated.

In my opninion, they are depictions of gods.. What man can decide what a god looks like?

The men who invented the gods decided what they look like. /facepalm

innacurate casting of well defined characters irks me severely. Like when Jesus is played by a white guy. well, that makes me lol actually. but srsly, the right actor for the job is one that can accurately portray ALL of the character's attributes including aesthetics.

 

[MicManGuy]

It was probably with racist motivation that they cast a black man as a Norse god...

But putting that aside, to me it's just as insulting to cast a Norse god as black as it was to cast white people for the water tribe characters in The Last Air Bender. It ruins the immersion. It just looks completely silly.

 

[Groundchuck]

Really, couldn't we harness this outrage over a fictional based characters race into something more productive? I mean this seriously, what is the draw to debating the inaccuracy of a character in a comic book that loosely follow the beliefs of an ancient civilization. I say loosely because of the whole SPACE thing and the SCIENCE thing. Religion and science rarely share the same lunch table so using science to explain gods seems like a faulty premiss to begin with, so I feel all of this is some sort of media stunt to get even more people talking about it, which by the looks of this forum has worked, and I'm sure their is more people then this doing the exact same thing... I kinda feel like anyone will argue about anything, and now with the internet people can turn that into hype because we all should know by now their really is no such thing as bad publicity.

 

[Aleol]

Why can't actors just be hired for their talent?

That's probably why he was hired.

 

[Animyr]

He does look pretty awesome in that screenshot.

And my, has this thread grown.

 

[Jacob Haggarty]

Is it just me or does he look like a brute from halo 3?

Its that damned hat thing that does it.

 

[tj236]

You know... I bet if the Old Spice guy was cast, there would have been fewer complaints.

 

[tj236]

eh I get the complains tho... You can't make that massive of a change to an established character, especially one that well known and of the religious nature and not expect to hear a lot of flack about it... I mean imagine if I made a movie and picked Tom Hanks to play Martin Luther King JR.... you can bet the backlash would be horrendous and the people who complained about me casting a white guy to play a well known black figure wouldn't get called "racist"

Wow. I just pictured Tom Hanks in black-face. Just... wow.

 

[moviedork]

imagine if I made a movie and picked Tom Hanks to play Martin Luther King JR.

There's a huge difference between casting a character for a comic book movie and casting a historical figure for a Bio Pic. Casting Tom Hanks as Martin Luther King JR would be dumb because it changes Dr. King's entire message. Does casting Idris Alba really change Heimdall's message all-that much?

 

[Atmos Duality]

I liked black Nick Fury. Samuel Jackson was a good pick for the role because he does that barely-constrained rage bit very well, while still holding that air of absolute dominance (something very necessary to make a normally in-control character like Tony Stark look meek and subservient in comparison).

So why not one of the Aesir too?
To quote Ghostbusters:
"It's a she."
"I thought Gozer was a man?"
"It's whatever it wants to be."

 

[samsonguy920]

People need to get their head out of their ass for once and for all!

I, for one, like Idris Elba and I look forward to what he can do as Heimdall. Far as I am concerned the comic purists raising a stink about this are being just as racist as those not being as subtle.

 

[samsonguy920]

So why not one of the Aesir too?
To quote Ghostbusters:
"It's a she."
"I thought Gozer was a man?"
"It's whatever it wants to be."

I couldn't have said it any better. You, sir, have my sword.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Are people seriously still banging on about this? I mean, if it was about the actual Norse gods, I'd agree, for the simple reason that if an African god were played by a white guy in a movie, there'd be equal backlash and I'd agree with it.
But it's a fucking comic book. They're portraying the "Norse gods" as highly intelligent aliens from outer space. They can cast whoever they want because they're not the actual "Norse gods." They don't have to cast them according to the mythology.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

Black Thor Actor Tries To Boost Thor Movie Attendance With Marketing Stunt About Being Black And Norse.

Next, the all-white cast of the new production of "Roots" talks about how much they loved Levar Burton in Star Trek: TNG.....

 

[The Deadpool]

I think the people DEFENDING the casting choice are more worried about race than people complaining about it.

This isn't to say that the racists AREN'T whining too, but ad hominem arguments are never a good thing (Remember Niven's 16th law).

If you think this was a good casting call for Heimdall, one must ask... Would you be okay with Robert DeNiro playing Thor? I mean, he's a WONDERFUL actor. He's got good range. I'm sure he could play the part well, certainly as well as anyone, probably better than the current choice (whoever the hell he is). That'd be a great idea, right?

 

[Jenx]

The key point, however, is that without the context is does look like a double standard, which is one of the biggest parts of the problem.

Aye, double standards are always lurking somewhere out there. Actually there's another example I have of casting similar to this one, except in a very less known movie (I assume). If you've seen the 2000 TV movie by Hallmark called Jason and the Argonauts, one thing that always stood out to me an that always irked me was the fact that Orpheus was black. Now I live in Bulgaria, I've been to Greece several times too and I am fairly sure we do not have a lot of black people between us, even less in ancient times. The actor wasn't all that good at his role either, so I don't think the "best actor for the job" card can be used.

So here's the question - is it racist to think that a story about Mediterranean heroes should be portrayed by actors who at least look Mediterranean?

 

[jspheonix]

Jesus is meant to be black (logically), I don't see people complaining about his presentation in just about everything