Critic Accuses Prince of Persia of "Whitewashing"
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
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thank you! i was hoping other people noticed that.WrongSprite said:
good god toss the racism out the window on this one, especially while in the games he not only looked like an average white guy he had the accent for one too
do they even base the games in persia???
I won't bother reading 7 pages of what I'm going to assume are race arguments. Instead, I'll take this little spot on the board as a chance to say that I actually see their issue, and I empathize. Many of you are probably way too young to remember (hell even I am... almost) but Kirk Douglass played a Native American in a movie once, in fact if you look back on movies made in the 60s-70s you'll find that many races/nationalities were depicted, rather rediculously, by white guys.
Kirk donned brown makeup, as did his co-star and leading lady, accentuating this absurdity was his chiseled jaw, cleft chin, and other very caucasian features, even bright blue eyes. John Wayne, in 1958, played Genghis Khan. In 1931 Warner Oland (Swedish) played a Chinese man named Charlie Chan.
This isn't anything new, but it is rather silly, and it is a bit racist. I can get wanting to cast the better actor for the role, but what if Ororo Munroe had been played by, say, Natalie Portman in blackface?
And before anyone get's testy, I know Eddie Murphy did it a lot, but his work was characterizing and comedy, not drama, or action, or anything that could be construed as "srs business".
2¢
Kirk donned brown makeup, as did his co-star and leading lady, accentuating this absurdity was his chiseled jaw, cleft chin, and other very caucasian features, even bright blue eyes. John Wayne, in 1958, played Genghis Khan. In 1931 Warner Oland (Swedish) played a Chinese man named Charlie Chan.
This isn't anything new, but it is rather silly, and it is a bit racist. I can get wanting to cast the better actor for the role, but what if Ororo Munroe had been played by, say, Natalie Portman in blackface?
And before anyone get's testy, I know Eddie Murphy did it a lot, but his work was characterizing and comedy, not drama, or action, or anything that could be construed as "srs business".
2¢
I just want the actor to appropriately fill the role that they are cast for. I really don't care otherwise.
i completely forgot about this! thank you for reminding me, i personally did not care that he played kingpin, i was a bit in shock as i did not see him signing up for the role, but i was perfectly fine with itHuddledMass said:
idk if this was answered yet. as there are 7 pages of shit i am not really up to reading, but in the (originals or not) nick fury was black, i can't remember if it was the original or not, but for a long time he was black. so they have a legitamate point in picking a black maleBarbaricGoose said:
either way i dont care, as long as he plays the part good.
I hate when people blow things out of proportion. Besides, its not some historical movie, its a video game movie.
Now if they make a RE5 movie and all the enemies are white, then Id say somethings up, but then again, people got mad cause african zombies were black in the game.
Now if they make a RE5 movie and all the enemies are white, then Id say somethings up, but then again, people got mad cause african zombies were black in the game.
There's no such thing as "persians" anymore. People who call themselves "persian" are just Iranians too scared to reveal their heritage for fear of racist/xenophobic backlash (a reasonable fear in this day and age, I guess). Or just douchebags. So whatever.
Also it's a dumbass movie based on a video game. Who the hell cares? It's not like it's ever going in to the annals of time as an example of great cinema. It will be forgotten about within a year, so why bother making a big stink?
Why not complain about the fact that the entire cast uses really bad fake British accents the whole time too? How does that make any sense?
For that matter, why aren't these douchebags getting up in arms about the Karate Kid remake, which stars Jackie Chan and takes place in fucking CHINA, neither of which have anything to do with KARATE.
Also it's a dumbass movie based on a video game. Who the hell cares? It's not like it's ever going in to the annals of time as an example of great cinema. It will be forgotten about within a year, so why bother making a big stink?
Why not complain about the fact that the entire cast uses really bad fake British accents the whole time too? How does that make any sense?
For that matter, why aren't these douchebags getting up in arms about the Karate Kid remake, which stars Jackie Chan and takes place in fucking CHINA, neither of which have anything to do with KARATE.
This moron's entire argument is undermined by the fact that PERSIA NO LONGER EXISTS and therefore makes finding a Persian actor IMPOSSIBLE.
It's very relevant to a discussion about someone complaining about a white guy playing an ancient Persian, because an ancient Persian would be a white guy. I know that's not exactly common knowledge but it's been said on every page of this thread besides the first.MatsVS said:
The simple and obvious fact of the matter is that this is not whitewashing, this is just good casting.
Okay. I'm guesses this isn't malicious though. I'm going to say white privilege and execs not even seeing there blunder and leave it at that.
Well considering that the Prince isn't really of royal blood, and in fact adopted, he doesn't need to be Persian.
That said, I too sort of thought about this when I watched the movie, but then I thought:
Well how many really good Persian actors are there in the US?
Sure there might not be that many, because they are never cast for big roles... but then again Jake Gyllenhal looks the part if you ask me.
That said, I too sort of thought about this when I watched the movie, but then I thought:
Well how many really good Persian actors are there in the US?
Sure there might not be that many, because they are never cast for big roles... but then again Jake Gyllenhal looks the part if you ask me.
I feel that jake wasent the best guy to cast for the movie anyway im trying to think of a movie where he was actually good in it...donnie darko is the only one which comes to mind.
Aaaaaactually, I kinda agree with this argument. Casting a white actor for a Persian character would be like replacing Jackie Chan in Rush Hour with Chuck Norris. (Please, no Chuck Norris jokes you uneducated, dickwashed jerk-offs. You know who the hell you are.)
Honestly, I do kinda hate when they do something like this. Admittedly, it's partially because such actors are hard (if not impossible) to come by. It's understandable if you're hiring...say...a Chinese actor to play a Japanese part, for instance. It's not exactly the same, but it's fairly close (apologies to both examples). They could have at least hired someone in the general ethnic group, instead of using white-y.
Honestly, I do kinda hate when they do something like this. Admittedly, it's partially because such actors are hard (if not impossible) to come by. It's understandable if you're hiring...say...a Chinese actor to play a Japanese part, for instance. It's not exactly the same, but it's fairly close (apologies to both examples). They could have at least hired someone in the general ethnic group, instead of using white-y.
Who cares if he's white? Truth is that part of the North American audience spends the most money and if Hollywood thinks they need a white actor, well it's their money and their film.