With all of the recent backlash that has come from the casting of Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, I figure that now is as good a time as any to discuss the portrayal of another popular comic book character that is having their racial identity transformed; The Shredder.
To preface this discussion, I would like to note that I am addressing what I see as a hypocrisy when it comes to social reactions to race changes in film. I am not too concerned with an argument about whether or not fictional characters should have their racial identities changed, but rather am focused on the double-standard that comes with the reactions to the practice altogether.
While there is no dearth of fury over "making Johnny Storm Black" or people accusing studios of being politically correct for changing Nick Fury and Heimdal into non-Whites, there seems to be little ruckus made when a traditionally non-White character is made into a White character. I've seen the range of arguments.
1) It is okay to change the race of minor characters, but you shouldn't change the "look" of major characters.
2) <insert established minority character> isn't popular enough, so changing them into a White person doesn't make a difference.
3) Changing how they look changes the portrayal of the character.
There are many many variations of the above arguments, but it all boils down to society accepting White people taking on the roles of characters that are traditionally POC, but loathing an inverted scenario in which POC take on the roles of traditionally White characters. When an Irish man and a French woman were cast in the roles of Saudi Arabian father and daughter (the Al Ghul family in The Dark Knight trilogy), the actors were given kudos for a brilliant performance. Yet when it is brought up how the characters are a whitewashed portrayal, the common defense is that all that matters is that the portrayal is well done. Yet, before Jordan is even seen in a trailer, he has been demonized as being ill-cast, not because of lack of ability, but because he doesn't "look like" Johnny Storm.
Now how does this all relate to TMNT? Shredder is a full fledged Caucasian male in this film. The Shredder, a rather well known Japanese supervillain in comic books, whom was Japanese in the original TMNT film trilogy and cartoons, is now being cast as a White male. Now is the actor in question of dubious ability? Hardly. The veteran actor, William Fichtner, is known for playing villains on film, and in terms of ability, is likely to serve the role well.
What is disturbing however is that the same people whom complain about "accuracy" and "legacy" when it comes to White characters being recast, are no where to be seen or heard now that a popular minority character has had their race changed to White.
So why is it that society holds this double standard? Are non-Whites truly seen as being that unimportant to this society? It does not seem that people are so attached to the idea of iconic characters being portrayed exactly as they are in literature, because these bouts of anger over race changes only seem to occur when the character is originally White, but rarely, when the character is originally non-White.
This makes me think of The Hunger Games and how people took to Twitter with racist banter about Rue, whom is Black in the book as well as the film, yet movie-goers were still irate because of the sympathetic nature of the character and their seeming inability to be sympathetic for the death of a Black child.
To preface this discussion, I would like to note that I am addressing what I see as a hypocrisy when it comes to social reactions to race changes in film. I am not too concerned with an argument about whether or not fictional characters should have their racial identities changed, but rather am focused on the double-standard that comes with the reactions to the practice altogether.
While there is no dearth of fury over "making Johnny Storm Black" or people accusing studios of being politically correct for changing Nick Fury and Heimdal into non-Whites, there seems to be little ruckus made when a traditionally non-White character is made into a White character. I've seen the range of arguments.
1) It is okay to change the race of minor characters, but you shouldn't change the "look" of major characters.
2) <insert established minority character> isn't popular enough, so changing them into a White person doesn't make a difference.
3) Changing how they look changes the portrayal of the character.
There are many many variations of the above arguments, but it all boils down to society accepting White people taking on the roles of characters that are traditionally POC, but loathing an inverted scenario in which POC take on the roles of traditionally White characters. When an Irish man and a French woman were cast in the roles of Saudi Arabian father and daughter (the Al Ghul family in The Dark Knight trilogy), the actors were given kudos for a brilliant performance. Yet when it is brought up how the characters are a whitewashed portrayal, the common defense is that all that matters is that the portrayal is well done. Yet, before Jordan is even seen in a trailer, he has been demonized as being ill-cast, not because of lack of ability, but because he doesn't "look like" Johnny Storm.
Now how does this all relate to TMNT? Shredder is a full fledged Caucasian male in this film. The Shredder, a rather well known Japanese supervillain in comic books, whom was Japanese in the original TMNT film trilogy and cartoons, is now being cast as a White male. Now is the actor in question of dubious ability? Hardly. The veteran actor, William Fichtner, is known for playing villains on film, and in terms of ability, is likely to serve the role well.
What is disturbing however is that the same people whom complain about "accuracy" and "legacy" when it comes to White characters being recast, are no where to be seen or heard now that a popular minority character has had their race changed to White.
So why is it that society holds this double standard? Are non-Whites truly seen as being that unimportant to this society? It does not seem that people are so attached to the idea of iconic characters being portrayed exactly as they are in literature, because these bouts of anger over race changes only seem to occur when the character is originally White, but rarely, when the character is originally non-White.
This makes me think of The Hunger Games and how people took to Twitter with racist banter about Rue, whom is Black in the book as well as the film, yet movie-goers were still irate because of the sympathetic nature of the character and their seeming inability to be sympathetic for the death of a Black child.
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