Do You Care When White Actors Play Non White Roles?

[GoodBadHBK]

I guess for me it all depends on how they're portrayed whether i find it well done, funny or offensive. I have yet to find something that has offended me and I doubt there's anything that could.

Example 1: Carlitos Way. When Pacino is near actual Puerto Ricans there's an obvious difference but the film is so well done i tend to forget Pacino is even supposed to be Puerto Rican.

Example 2: Navajo Joe. Burt Reynolds plays a native American Indian and to me he looks more like a caveman at times than an Indian. Again this to me doesn't bother me at all, maybe because Burt is awesome and the movie is fun to watch.

Not even black face bothers me. I think RDJ in Tropic Thunder is obviously the go to for best black face. C Thomas Howell in Soul man is so dumb and over the top its hilarious to me. Even white face, I guess that's what you would call it is hilarious. The Wayans bros, Chappelle, Murphy all did white face and all were hilarious.

I honestly would love to see a movie where black people become white characters and white people become black characters and the opposite writes for the other. To me that's comedy.

In closing I'm all for any race playing the character of another race as long as it's well done, entertaining and not made to offend or be cringe.

 

[puppybird]

That’s all it is Gary- acting

 

[Kardashians]

they had a white man play a native? unacceptable imo. i need hot eye candy ffs, i get so little of it as is!

 

[GoodBadHBK]

they had a white man play a native? unacceptable imo. i need hot eye candy ffs, i get so little of it as is!

There's been quite a few im sure. Not sure what Lee Van Cleef and Charles Bronson are but they also played native Americans

 

[SwaggyT]

I like it when Koreans play native Americans

 

[Kingz]

Not typically but most of the examples in the OP don’t bother me.

Puerto Ricans can look many different ways. Same with Cubans. So Pacino in Carlitos Way and Scarface is fine when he pulls it off. Latino and native characters are different.

You hear John Leguizamo bitching about it(specifically Pacino is Carlitos Way) but he plays Italian-American characters all the time while trying to act like an authority on who can play Latino characters.

Burt Reynolds I used to think he was part native because he looked part native. Especially in his younger days. So why not? He didn’t have to go through hours of make up to play a native. He wasn’t making fun of anybody.

Black and Asian characters are pushing it. Like Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a bit much.

Obviously any straight black face stuff where they actually are playing a black person like the 30’s is gross.

Not Tropic Thunder where a white guy is playing a white guy playing a black guy.

 

[Simple Southerner]

I'm not white and I don't care

 

[Ruprecht]

Don't care about race in casting in itself, but I can think of examples I found offensive. Casting David Carradine instead of Bruce Lee in Kung-Fu was pretty offensive, though Carradine's depiction wasn't as outright offensive as say John Wayne's Ghenghis Khan in the The Conqueror.
The Conqueror gave everyone cancer.

 

[Zer]

Best Mexican casting ever

@Chesten_Hesten

 

[tastaylvr]

Nobody cares unless it’s a black person playing any role lol

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I care because it s cringe AF. It simply doesn t work.
Just like I remember Homeland they had a scene with a riot in Pakistan and they picked light Athletic and Explosive people in the crowd lol.

Counter examples though: in Yellowstone there is this fine AF Native girl. Like drop dead gorgeous. So I googled her and it turns out she‘s half white half chinese. But she pulls it off and I love her.

 

[Osculater]

Constantine should had been played by a blonde but was played by a dark brunette really grinds my gears

 

[William Huggins]

I like it when Koreans play native Americans

I haven't seen that section on Porn Hub.....

 

[Witchhunt]

Nobody cares unless it’s a black person playing any role lol

Eddy Murphy was great playing the donkey in Shrek.. everybody loved it!

 

[Pittie Petey]

I wanna see my Chicano brothers and sisters represented by Chicanos, not polar bears, thats why I got so much heat with Red One

 

[Andy Capp]

When it comes to representation or historical/canonical accuracy in movies/TV, context and nuance matter a lot, so I don't think it's up to me to get offended on behalf of other people in this case. If someone watches a show and objects I will consider their reasons and decide whether their objection makes sense.

So, I don't care until there's a reason to care. I abstain from the poll since there's no "It depends" option.

 

[Pittie Petey]

White folks don't think it's a big deal when there's a buncha blue eyed "Indians" running around on screen but let a movie director try and change the race of some random ass comic book character and, boy oh boy, you ain't never seen so much pissing, moaning and whining in your life

 

[Natural Order]

Only white adjacent should be permitted to play non-white roles.

Pure whitey is unacceptable.

Also, all film should have a racial balance score in a red circle on the front, determined by some form of government agency; 1 representing neo-nazi film propaganda, 10 representing the rave scene in Matrix: Reloaded.

I think we owe it to the fragile mind of society to implement such things.

 

[Spam On Rye]

I'm fine with Olivier playing Othello.

 

[Seano]

I only care when it seems to be done for no reason other than to create racist buzz around the film. I think this has become a sort of marketing strategy over the past few years.

I'd prefer to see new roles rather than just flip race/sex/sexuality to get people talking about an otherwise shitty movie.