For being concerned about a character's race and changing it. You would think we had moved past all this. But no, the racists decided to minimize the oppressed white male minority group. That's right. Oh don't believe me? Why else would they change the character's race? Are they making suzannah asian or leaving it as written? Whay if they are racist and change her from being black? That wouldn't be rigjt? Why not?
shareWhy else would they change the character's race?
Ignoring the character's description to deliberately cast someone wrong is racism. That is not PC. PC is equality.
shareAs I've elucidated in other posts, there is a difference between ignoring race as written, and looking past race as written and casting a person who is good for the role.
Maybe I am just an optimist, maybe you're just being cynical, maybe you're just trolling this point for the sake of trolling it (since you did concede in earlier posts that you had not considered some of the ways in which they might handle a black Roland).
The point is, you are completely disregarding the possibility that they LOOKED PAST the race as written, not ignored it, possibly even agonized over the decision to cast Elba as Roland. You seem to think there is only ONE possibility in this regard - that they are doing it for the sake of SJWs, when there are actually many possibilities that could have led them to casting Elba as Roland. One of which actually is that his ABILITY as an actor is equal to the role, REGARDLESS of race.
The thing is, I would guess from your driven insistence on this issue, that you have never been involved in a production of any kind. When I speak of these possibilities, I speak from experience. No, I haven't been in a Hollywood production, but I have been on both sides of producing a play, as well as independent film production, both as an actor and a designer, and let me tell you the folks who make these decisions DO NOT make them lightly. The decision to cast Elba as Roland, may have had a few people chiming in with "well it'll show we're open to colorblind casting" but I guarantee you it started with them looking at who would be the best actor, and they decided on Elba because of his ability, and did not come from a place of "How can we push our liberal agenda." Believe it or not, films are not produced that way. What producers look at is bottom lines, not agendas. Good actors fill the bottom line, and Elba is the kind of actor - regardless of his race - that will put butts in the seats.
I don't know if you're aware of this but I've already changed things. I killed Ben Linus.
--Sayid
The only thing you said that is accurate is that they only care about the bottom line. Part of that is hitting demographics. I think you already know this but have your head in the clouds.
shareSo I'm not accurate in saying that you're completely disregarding the idea that there could have been several different reasons leading to the casting of Elba as Roland? You maintain that there is only one reason for doing so?
I don't know if you're aware of this but I've already changed things. I killed Ben Linus.
--Sayid
Well anything is possible, but what would lead a company to make such a decision? Were there no white stephen king or eastwood look alikes? Seems more likely they are targetting a demographic that doesn't usually fill theatres with this genre.
shareThere are a lot of black actors they could have tapped that are far more popular than Elba if that were the case, potter. The fact that they went with someone who is considered to be a rising new talent, and who has crossover appeal (generation demographic here - older people and younger people love him, it seems), and who has already played at least one character where the race was changed, speaks volumes.
They could have gone for Denzel Washing, Will Smith, Samuel L Jackson or a number of other black actors if they were looking just to get a demographic score. Instead they chose someone who has gravitas and a persona all his own, and who while relatively popular, is also relatively new. He's still somewhat of an untested element by Hollywood standards, and giving a starring role for him to shoulder, there must have been some iota amongst the creative team (writer, director, etc.) that he could carry the role - beyond "because he's black and will draw a black audience."
I don't know if you're aware of this but I've already changed things. I killed Ben Linus.
--Sayid
That's possible, but no matter which black actor they chose your argument would be interchangeable. It is still choosing a black actor to appeal to a demographic. It wouldn't necessarily be the case that they would pay the millions for Denzel, when Elba will do.
shareAre we only looking for look alike or we looking for acting talent? Cause I see a lot of people say Scott Eastwood would have been perfect....ywt don't care that he is a God awful actor
shareChanging a character's race from a novel is not racism. This choice does not imply that one race is inferior to the other. It just means that they picked a black actor for one of many possible reasons.
As a white guy, I'm happy that who they chose as the lead. He's a phenomenal actor and perfect for the role.