Do You Care When White Actors Play Non White Roles?

[method115]

Overall no. If the characters race is part of the story though then I would. Like I don't want Tom Cruise playing Malcom X for example.

 

[Lycandroid]

i don't give a fuck, it's acting nothing more nothing less. Seems rather pathetic to care about these issues, whatever the reason for race swapping as long as the performance is done well it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Mostly yeah. If it’s meant to be historic then 100% I find it annoying when they’re blatantly inaccurate.

I don’t really get pissed about it in old movies. You just have to understand that that’s how things were. But I do find it funny when you see it

 

[GoodBadHBK]

Soul man and tropic thunder are bad examples. It's not a white actor playing a black role, it's a white actor playing a white guy playing a black guy.

You could get a black guy to play the white guy who is playing a black guy, but that's just confusing.

What about Elvis and Paul Newman playing Native Americans?

 

[Kassitus]

If its a modern fictional character I don't care. If they get Leo Dicaprio to play shaka Zulu that would piss me off but also be funny lol

 

[wwkirk]

It depends, however, I'm inclined to go with "it's acting; it's not really them". I only balk when the switch seems ill conceived for whatever reason.

For old time shows, I just give em a pass. Charlie Chan, Kung Fu, don't care. But Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn, that's just annoying. [Note I'm electing to treat the question as commutative and as qualitatively multivalent.] Straights playing gays or vice versa, no problemo. Likewise Anglo playing Español, still no problemo. (Whoa! Starting to get a bit carried away with my cultural appropriation tendencies.)

Let me just say, there was one ostensibly black role played by a white that I thought was pretty cool:

 

[Koro_11]

I don’t really care if they’re portraying a fictional character, but when you make Cleopatra black and try to change history then yet that’s pretty stupid.

 

[The Diplomat]

1. If it's a historical thing based on actual people, I'd prefer to be as accurate as possible. It's hard to have talent + looks for a specific role, but when it works, it works.

2. If it's based on source material, I'd prefer to not change the artist's vision.

Both have their own fan base (history and literature/comic nerds) that built the idea of the thing being made to begin with, so I think in those scenarios, it's best to stick with who ever works on the page.

What really pisses me off, is Tom Cruise playing a frenchie.

 

[The Diplomat]

1. If it's a historical thing based on actual people, I'd prefer to be as accurate as possible. It's hard to have talent + looks for a specific role, but when it works, it works.

2. If it's based on source material, I'd prefer to not change the artist's vision.

Both have their own fan base (history and literature/comic nerds) that built the idea of the thing being made to begin with, so I think in those scenarios, it's best to stick with who ever works on the page.

What really pisses me off, is Tom Cruise playing a Frenchie.

 

[High Test With da Best]

Takayoshi Sanchez

"Kid Yamamestizo"

 

[Osculater]

"El Nino Yamamestizo"

 

[Hog-train]

I mean this shit is corny AF.

 

[LangfordBarrow]

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.

Gave you the like but those aren't examples of really racist black face with the big white lips drawn on. I'm a big fan of Buster Keaton but some of his early shorts with Fatty Arbuckle had some blatant racism without any black face and Fred Astaire had a scene in Swing Time that some people find offensive but I think it was just meant as a tribute to Bojangles. They were just different times almost a century ago. I just watched Ben-Hur a couple of weeks ago and one of the roles that stand out to me in the vein of this thread is the Sheik.

 

[Xanzito]

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

That's the real question. What the f. Is Charles Bronson? Is he native american? Is he asian? White? I have no idea