Critic Accuses Prince of Persia of "Whitewashing"

[Samurai Goomba]

I find it funny anyone would be willing to defend Hollywood from these claims. They've been whitewashing for the last 50 years or more. It's to the point now where we're actually surprised when they DO keep authentic ethnicity in mind when casting characters for a movie.

That said, there's not much anyone can do about it. And it's more important that the movie is good than that it is accurate. Besides, it's based off a freaking video game. So I'd say it's not going to be either good or accurate (based on the current track record games have).

 

[AWAR]

I don't think Persians back then were all that black after all...

 

[Simalacrum]

I dunno... I think if this guy wanted to criticise Prince of Persia for not having an authentic protagonist, he should have started with the video games...

Personally, I think the film director (or employer, whoever) was trying to capture the image of the video game character, rather than a Persian prince, when considering what actor to use.

 

[Harrowdown]

The prince from the games wasn't exactly Persian either. Gyllenhall is actually a pretty good match to the source material.

 

[berault]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the guy is doing this for the media attention.

Hell in the games the prince was white, blue eyed, and talked with what seemed to be an english accent.

http://wallpapers.free-review.net/wallpapers/18/Prince_of_Persia_Sands_of_Time.jpg

Above is a picture of the prince from the box art straight from The Sands of Time.

 

[Zerbye]

"Maybe there's some latent racism at work here, but I think it's safe to say that a good old-fashioned hunger for money has a lot to do with it too."

The fact that PoP will make more money with a big white star says loads more about the "latent racism" of our society than the racism of Hollywood. Are there any actors that are Persian that can bring in the dough that JG can? Hollywood is, as pointed out, driven by money. And if people are more willing to pay the big bucks to watch a white guy act as something he's not, that says more about the expected fanbase than it does Hollywood. Maybe they'll just go "Avatar" next time, and have CG Persians acted by white actors. That way, Hollywood can be PC, and the crowd can still get their A-list actors.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Prince of Persia was miscast but not because of whiteness...it was miscast because the lead should have been David Belle http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1042642/

Exhibit A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x98jCBnWO8w (if someone can tell me how to embed the video I would appreciate it)

David Belle IS the prince in real life. If you haven't already see B13, IMO the best action movie of the 00s

 

[Jamash]

Does this mean we can accuse the upcoming Kane & Lynch film of "Blackwashing" (because Jamie Foxx is cast as Lynch), or would that be racist?

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Is there anything these days that can't be seen as racist?

Except this is something Hollywood has been doing since forever.

They wanted a big-name actor, for their big budget Hollywood action picture. If you can name a young but well known persian actor who could pull off action roles such as this, let me know.

"Because you do not know any and cannot name them, they must not exist!" Fail. Maybe I don't know them because, despite their talent, they rarely get cast in starring roles because Hollywood has a bunch of established, marketable young white guys it can cast instead. It's not about racism directly, it's about appealing to all audiences.

I doubt they sat around the table and went 'Hey, audiences want white people in their movies! Let's give them that!'.

You might be surprised. It's obvious some movies (transformers, the star wars prequels) were designed to "appeal" to as many different groups as possible. Usually age groups in this case, but I really wouldn't be surprised if I found out Hollywood was considering how ethnicity would affect audience response. I mean, you've gotta assume that issue comes up all the time in making movies. Not when artists create great films, but when the big budget salesmen for the next Avatar or whatever sit down to brunch.

Does this mean we can accuse the upcoming Kane & Lynch film of "Blackwashing" (because Jamie Foxx is cast as Lynch), or would that be racist?

Seems like a fair point to me, although I love Jamie Foxx.

 

[Darth Caelum]

Ethnicity[sub]Is that the proper word?[/sub] matters little to me. As long as the Movie breaks Reality from sheer Awesomeness, i don't care.
Doesn't seem all that likely to me though. I would be glad to be proved wrong though.

 

[z0nbie]

Michael Clarke Duncan played the Kingpin in Daredevil ... is that racist towards whites ? If a movie came out about a video game or comic book that had a Persian actor playing a white character I'm they would see it as inspiring ... grow up people... no one cares ... and in the end "no one caring" is what everyone wants right ?

 

[BarbaricGoose]

No one ever complains about Blackwashing.. Like when Samuel L. Jackson was cast as Nick Fury?

 

[atalanta]

Maybe no Persian actors applied for the role, maybe a few did but they weren't good enough, maybe they weren't well known enough to star in a Summer blockbuster.

I'm pretty sure that I don't know of any particularly famous Persian actors.

Possibly because Hollywood doesn't hire Persian actors to play Persian characters? Like we're seeing right now?

Eh, whatever. I burned myself out raging hard at the Avatar: The Last Airbender casting, which was failtastic on every front imaginable. Besides, this movie is going to be terrible anyways.

 

[Brad Shepard]

I dont care about race as long as the acting is good.

 

[JohnDoey]

He just wants something to complain about

 

[Broady Brio]

And? It's just a movie. Maybe a bad one at that.

 

[Woodsey]

Maybe no Persian actors applied for the role, maybe a few did but they weren't good enough, maybe they weren't well known enough to star in a Summer blockbuster.

I'm pretty sure that I don't know of any particularly famous Persian actors.

Possibly because Hollywood doesn't hire Persian actors to play Persian characters? Like we're seeing right now?

Yeah, and sometimes they get Brits to play Americans and Americans to play Australians and Australians to play South Africans.

That's why it's called acting. If this whole thing is going on skin tone, there's not an overly compelling argument; if you search for Persian guys on Google then there's not much difference. Admittedly facial features move away from "general Caucasian" but this guy's argument is limited at best.

 

[Sodoff]

wow.. aren't there bigger fish to fry?

I mean come on..
who cares