Because if it's Navy Blue, it's not any good!
http://thisfeliciaday.tumblr.com/post/79718617942/tiger-lily-doesnt-equal-human-torch-plus-a-very-long
My copper pieces on the subject.
We're all one race, the human race. Sadly, the human race historically been good at picking on members of its own race for stupid reasons. Whether that reason is a dumb blonde, a soulless redhead, an albino freak, a barbaric Celt, Mongrel, or Rus; whether you have freckles, wear glasses, are tall, short, or skinny, or, more recently, how concentrated your melanin is, has changed throughout history.
It's not an issue of skin shade. It is an issue of cultural background. In America, historically, it's generally assumed that African Americans weren't educated. While examples of educated people of color exist, in the Slave States there was rarely incentive to provide a field hand with book smarts, so young black men weren't formally educated. This lead to people making a rule of thumb that dark skin equals uneducated. After emancipation, and as it became acceptable for the children of slaves to be learned, the uneducated stereotype held on, leading to present day negative stereotypes of African Americans. The stereotype is wrong, but it is not without a historical foundation that has been engrained in our culture.
That said, in any job, be it acting or scrubbing toilets, neither your body's concentration of melanin, or your cultural background should be a factor. The only thing that should matter is the individual's ability to do the job he or she is hired for. In the case of acting, being a certain skin tone is not a factor for playing a darker skinned person's part. The Stage has used face black makeup in the past. Being blonde isn't a factor. Hair dye and wigs are easy to use. Having a certain accent isn't a factor to a good actor, that's what speech/dialect coaching is for. Even being a specific gender shouldn't matter, actors in Shakespeare's day dressed cross gender when the role called for it. Is it easier to play a black person's part in a play if you're black? Yes. Is a woman better able to play a woman? Yes, but in the end, an actor's talent should be the only deciding factor. I've known white men who can act the part of a boisterous black lady as well as any African American woman I've seen.
Does this mean I think they are not discriminating in this case? I don't know. I don't have the script, for all I know the new twist has a Biff World twist where whites are (culturally) the Native Americans and Peter Pan is an Asian visiting a tribal African female shaman/story teller named Wendy. Additionally, I didn't see every audition for the part. Even if you gave me a list of people that auditioned, I still don't have the script and I still didn't see the people audition.
Is it possible this is a case of bias? Maybe. Is it probable? I don't know, do the producers, directors, etc have a history of being "racially biased? ” Is there evidence that they chose this actor because of her skin tone? If not, you only have speculation.
Stop giving Hollywood a "minimum ethnic actor count" standard and let the best human being win the part.
That's my first copper piece, my second ties into it. We're told here that in days gone by, stories were just about white people. While most of the people in European folk stories are lighter skinned, that doesn't make them prejudice against people with other skin tones. It simply means the story wasn't focused on people that had differing skin tones. Look at Beowulf. He's described as a Geat. That's a cultural/racial label if ever there was one. Caesar's writings portrayed the Celts in a barbaric light, that's also a "racial" discrimination. Macbeth describes the title role as a Moor, which some scholars think may mean he was Arabic, African, or Hispanic.
The point is, European literature is full of "racism," just not the exact prejudices we see today. To tell present or past authors, directors, or story tellers that you have to have a specific mix of your own prejudices represented so you feel good is arrogant. You aren't the writer's muse. Go write the story yourself if you want, but don't slander him or her because he or she didn't suit your tastes.
I think the story concepts presented in the ending of the blog I'm linking to sound fun. They could very well make for a good story. But just because I didn't get the story I wanted is no reason to toss the race card into the mix. Enjoy the story for what it is, or leave it alone. If you don't enjoy it, fine, but don't mud sling because your preferences aren't catered to.
