Finn Jones cast as Iron Fist, people inexplicably take offence to his race

[sumanoskae]

snip

That was... incredibly well written.

I would argue (probably in contradiction to what I just quoted) that there's a reason such a trope even exists. Which is that the story of an outsider learning the ins and outs of something that he was previously barred from doing is much more compelling than just a guy learning a thing.

The movie Forbidden Kingdom comes to mind, which was about a loser white kid being trained by Jacie Chan to become a martial arts master in a fantasy version of Ancient China. It was partly fun to watch because the nature of kung fu was inherently incredibly foreign to someone who grew up a street urchin.

The trope can be useful, but there is also nothing about it that necessitates that it be about race. You could get just as much, if not more millage, out of a story that doesn't just ASSUME we know how different the two cultures are based on their skin color, and actually takes the time to establish that fact in universe.

I see no reason why the kid in Forbidden Kingdom, for example, had to be white - he was a 21st century teenager; he would have stuck out like a sore thumb in ancient fantasy China no matter what his race was. Partially because the story was about a fantasy world that never actually existed.

 

[sumanoskae]

Now, to start, I agree with you in most ways. You can go find my detailed opinion about all of this earlier in the thread if you care.

I just think it is important to point out something. Until race doesn't matter race matters. If we take the high minded approach of trying to ignore race, or any other such trait like sexuality or gender, then cultural inertia tends to lead us into prejudice practices and even contributing to an increase in racist views among the population. Let's use the relevant example of adapting old comic book heroes to movies/tv shows. Most old comic book hero's are white with no pressing reason to be so. Now, like you say, ideally we say "Who cares!" and cast whoever is best for the job. Thing is, unless everyone is on board is going to do so this will reinforce the status quo to the detriment of everyone for a whole multitude of reasons.

To name just one, because white people are more routinely hired for roles like this the body of experienced white people is large while the body of experienced minorities is small. This means that the amount of white people that can successfully apply for the job is disproportionately large, which means minorities will end up under represented, which reinforces the view that many have that white people just make better movie stars and minorities don't sell tickets. The stereotype is reinforced to the detriment of all of us.

There is a lot of merit to the approach you suggest, but I think it only works once the system is fixed or near fixed. We are not there yet in my opinion.

But where is the end point? I doubt we're ever going to live in a world where NOBODY is prejudice - all we can do is immunize as many as possible to the logic of bigotry. And the logic of bigotry is that where you came from matters more than who you are.

I think we're so used to racism lingering in the background that we forget that a newborn child has no concept of such a thing; the next generation is where our effort should be focused - they might just have a chance to grow up without our baggage. And I couldn't agree more that superhero movies are a fine place to ensure they don't, which is why we have to be even more careful about the integrity of our arguments.

Children are inexperienced, but they're not stupid - a lot of them can recognize when an adult is being a hypocrite or lying to them. That's why we need to make sure that the battles we pick are worthy; that when we call someone or something racist it IS actually racist, and not just wearing the trappings of racism. And the difference between those things is CRUCIAL - there is a countless amount of bigotry that slides under the radar because it isn't "Dressed up" as bigotry.

And casting a white actor for this one role in a universe that has so far been making an effort to be more inclusive than it's source material, to my mind, is not racist. If you're looking for a good example of white washing in American cinema, there are countless better examples.

Raking this one casting decision over the coals gives the impression that we're just hungry for blood.

Acting like everyone and everything bears the original sin of prejudice, that we're all innocent until proven guilty, is the EXACT same logic as prejudice itself, and that fact is all too clear to an observer with both an unbiased perspective and an undeveloped context.