Spot1990 said:
rob_simple said:
To all the people outraged/upset/crying racism over Depp getting the role: just how many big Native American actors are there that could have fit the role, instead?
I know that will reek of ignorance, but the only Native Americans I have ever seen in films are usually old blokes and, from what I understand, even some of them are actually Hawaiian or something because it's that difficult to find good NA actors.
Is there really an actor as talented as Depp who would have been a sure thing for a solid performance? Or are we, once again, getting all bent out of shape for the sake of it?
OT: This is a shame, I was looking forward to seeing the film.
Maybe cast a household name as the whiteguy then? I mean Arnie Hammer, really? Why not cast Depp as the Lone Ranger if they wanted him in this so bad? They can't say he was wrong for the part because well look at the part they did give him
And yeah people are getting bent out of shape because it's really racist. I mean if they'd re-written the character to be a white guy it'd be less bad, simple whitewashing but this is the equivalent of Native American black face. Take 21, yeah people got upset because they got a story about Asian students but replaced them with a bucnh of white guys. Bad yeah, but it'd be much much worse if they had taped their eyes back and spoke in Engrish throughout the whole movie. Which is basically what this movie did.
Really if you're not ok with this:
Then you should not be ok with Lone Ranger. And if you are ok with the above, then yeah you're probably a racist who will never understand.
...Okay, let's take a deep breath and then point out all the ways you are over-reacting.
Is Alan Rickman a racist for playing Hans Gruber?
Is Gerard Butler a racist for playing King Leonidas?
Is Mel Gibson a racist for portraying William Wallace? (Note:
Specifically William Wallace, disregarding all the other crazy shit he gets up to.)
None of those men carry the heritage of those they are playing, so why is that not racist? Is it only when skin colour becomes involved that it's considered offensive to portray someone else's nationality? Or is it just called fucking acting?
Given that Depp has claimed in the past to have Cherokee ancestry --which I'm inclined to believe, based on his facial structure, slightly tanned skin, dark hair & eyes-- it's absolutely nothing like blackface; also ignoring that blackface was performed at a time when black people had next to no rights whatsoever and was openly mocking them. If you honestly can't see the difference then you're probably a kneejerk reactionist who will never understand.
Here's the thing that annoys me the most about this: if Hollywood made a film where a an American actor of Chinese descent played a character of Japanese descent nobody would give two shits, but because Johnny Depp is noticeably different to a pure-blooded Native American people are up in arms.
So let's examine your other alternative: changing Tonto to be a white guy. Well, in that case, why not also make the Lone Ranger a knight of King Arthur's court and set the whole fucking film in Bosnia in the year 2030? How about in the next Batman film, instead of Robin as his sidekick, Batman has a black investment banker, called Chad?
Now that we've put that to one side, I will say it again: find me this rich stable of Native American actors who would have fitted the bill, and who were eschewed in favour of Depp, and then you will have a fraction of a point. Until then this has sod all to do with racism.
