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

 

[The Good The Bad The HBK]

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.