I think it was actually a very poorly-planned attempt at diversity. Since the announcement, there was outcry about the lack of black and brown actors in the main cast. So, hoping to stave off further criticism, somebody high up probably insisted on hiring minorities for other roles.
Forgive my ignorance ,but was Moses actually Egyptian ?
Egypt, as a premise for films, is so boring and tired anyways.
I remember when I first got interested in Africa how many brothers tried to spit the Egypt game and I never ever ever felt a connection to the place or people.
I'd much rather see a story about the Mali empire brought to the big screen.
Oh, I'm not at all defending it at all. But there was a lot of outcry before those parts were likely cast.
He probably remembers.
SMH indeed.
And my point is that the more important issue here is how black people are portrayed in films and the type of roles black actors can get.
And my point is that the more important issue here is how black people are portrayed in films and the type of roles black actors can get.
Why are people so concerned about the ethnicities of fictional characters? Do people not realise that the entire story of Exodus is categorically false?
Don't get me wrong, there is some pretty clear white washing here, but it strikes me as pretty pedantic that people would waive their fingers and go "no, no, no, this magical story about snakes and plagues and physics defying water is entirely out of touch with the reality that the people who didn't partake in these fictional events were quite possibly of a slightly darker skin tone, that won't do at all!"
SMH
Why are people so concerned about the ethnicities of fictional characters? Do people not realise that the entire story of Exodus is categorically false?
Don't get me wrong, there is some pretty clear white washing here, but it strikes me as pretty pedantic that people would waive their fingers and go "no, no, no, this magical story about snakes and plagues and physics defying water is entirely out of touch with the reality that the people who didn't partake in these fictional events were quite possibly of a slightly darker skin tone, that won't do at all!"
SMH
Greek statues were gaudy as fuck.
It's just weird and kind of annoying. Nearly every movie about Egypt casts Northern European actors as those parts, even though it would be very difficult to find anyone in Ancient Egypt who looked just like Christian Bale. There were probably people who looked sort of white in that society, but they certainly weren't the majority. Why are there no movies about Egypt in which all of the actors are Black? There were lots of very dark people in Egypt. That's no less inaccurate than an all-white cast.
It's also pretty creepy that most of the dark-skinned characters are relegated to the background:
It started when the first pictures of the movie and the casting of all the bad people being black was revealed.
Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and brought the whiteness of his Macedonian background (blonde hair, blue eyes) to Egypt.
Or so I've always been told.
source: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/alexanderthegreat.htm
(He's also the one that founded Alexandria by the sea, the city Cleopatra called home.)
"White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "White" or report entries such as Irish, German, English, Scottish, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish.[16]
It's funny that western Europe considers itself the inheritors of Rome. When its far from the truth. Rome never really fell like we learn. Constantinople became the new capitol and there was an unbroken line up until the Ottomons took over and even then its not like its culture just went away. Western europes Roman traditions come from the Holy Roman Empire which had hardly any ties to the Roman Empire and just used them to gain legitimacy.i think its important to remember that as westerners we are more inheritors of the greek and roman tradition than we are of the traditions of the ancient near east. as such, there exists a great bias on our part to project western ideas of race and culture onto peoples for which those ideas may not hold.
basically we can blame shakespeare and his theatre company for making everyone in antiquity white and/or british
Crazy that the least whitewashed Hollywood blockbuster was made by its most famous racist. Apocalypto. Wish I could time travel and give him, Michael Jackson, and Cosby a stern talking to.
White (Not Hispanic or Latino) - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Why are people so concerned about the ethnicities of fictional characters? Do people not realise that the entire story of Exodus is categorically false?
Don't get me wrong, there is some pretty clear white washing here, but it strikes me as pretty pedantic that people would waive their fingers and go "no, no, no, this magical story about snakes and plagues and physics defying water is entirely out of touch with the reality that the people who didn't partake in these fictional events were quite possibly of a slightly darker skin tone, that won't do at all!"
SMH
Were ancient Israelites really pale skinned Caucasian looking people like Christian Bale?
Shouldn't they look more like modern day Palestinians?
I cant mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. Im just not going to get it financed. So the question doesnt even come up.
You can usually understand and/or justify individual casting decisions, and that's the way the system perpetuate itself - it's never anyone's fault, the discrimination lives in the ether.http://screenrant.com/exodus-gods-kings-race-controversy-ridley-scott/
Ridley Scott explains the whitewashing of the main cast:
http://screenrant.com/exodus-gods-kings-race-controversy-ridley-scott/
Ridley Scott explains the whitewashing of the main cast:
"Mohammad such-and-such."
Wow.
http://screenrant.com/exodus-gods-kings-race-controversy-ridley-scott/
Ridley Scott explains the whitewashing of the main cast:
Valtýr;140831320 said:One would think a prominent filmmaker like Ridley Scott would have the brass to cast who ever the fuck he wants in whatever movie he wants.
At least Ridley Scott was honest as fuck about this shit. Other filmmakers wouldn't have been that straight forward.
Egypt was as it is now a confluence of cultures, as a result of being a crossroads geographically between Africa, the Middle East and Europe, Scott said. We cast major actors from different ethnicities to reflect this diversity of culture, from Iranians to Spaniards to Arabs. There are many different theories about the ethnicity of the Egyptian people, and we had a lot of discussions about how to best represent the culture.
Caucasian Russian or Jewish Russian?time to blow his mind and tell him Yul Brynner was Russian
Why are people so concerned about the ethnicities of fictional characters? Do people not realise that the entire story of Exodus is categorically false?
Don't get me wrong, there is some pretty clear white washing here, but it strikes me as pretty pedantic that people would waive their fingers and go "no, no, no, this magical story about snakes and plagues and physics defying water is entirely out of touch with the reality that the people who didn't partake in these fictional events were quite possibly of a slightly darker skin tone, that won't do at all!"
SMH
Valtýr;140831320 said:One would think a prominent filmmaker like Ridley Scott would have the brass to cast who ever the fuck he wants in whatever movie he wants.
Caucasian Russian or Jewish Russian?
Blazing Saddles was a satire made on a shoe string budget...
Edit: Honestly, I would have thrown M. Night Shyamalan into that conversation until a few years ago. Dude got to make whatever the fuck he wanted for 10+ years, regardless of how many duds he released.
There is no one in Hollywood that gets what he wants like QT. No one. Harvey backs him no matter what the idea is.
Mel Brooks.
He probably remembers.
SMH indeed.