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Murdoch: Since when are Egyptians not white?
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Ether_Snake
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No.
Discotheque
Banned
kind of got used to edgerton and bale now.
the most ridiculous is jon turturro and sigourney weaver in the background though. like holy shit that's too distracting.
the most ridiculous is jon turturro and sigourney weaver in the background though. like holy shit that's too distracting.
The Incarnation
Member
That character was probably based on Thutmoses III, so techincally yes.
DeaconKnowledge
Member
Love this picture. It's so controversial that scholars invented an entire theory to explain how the "red" people were actually white people who slummed and fucked their color out with lowly blacks.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Well, it also relates to the speculation of Jesus being black right, as the jury is also out on the color of the jewish people in those times?
A lot of people are claiming that white artists drew, painted, wrote and sculptured Jesus white so white people would be closer to god. It goes without saying that regardless if your Jesus, Moses or Santa Claus, and these figures and characters are all encompassing in our culture that you would want some balance.
We need to make a new deity. Like the real human being from community. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4KWz1qMSw
A lot of people are claiming that white artists drew, painted, wrote and sculptured Jesus white so white people would be closer to god. It goes without saying that regardless if your Jesus, Moses or Santa Claus, and these figures and characters are all encompassing in our culture that you would want some balance.
We need to make a new deity. Like the real human being from community. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4KWz1qMSw
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.
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.
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
basically we can blame shakespeare and his theatre company for making everyone in antiquity white and/or british
Oh, I'm not at all defending it at all. But there was a lot of outcry before those parts were likely cast.
That could be awesome! Most Americans are so ignorant about West Africa that a movie like that would be really important.
Ether_Snake
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It started when the first pictures of the movie and the casting of all the bad people being black was revealed.
victreeb3l
Member
Yep thats what I was trying to get to. A diverse population.
Surface of Me
I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
He probably remembers.
SMH indeed.
This is fucked up, like holy shit.
Unrelated note, anyone else not know Aaron Paul was in this?
Byakuya769
Member
Nah. Gotta take this opportunity to interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast on the continual belittlement of darker skinned people to bring you my unrelated shitting on religion.
Wiktor
Member
Yeah, but they were propably scared of the altenrative ..which is a movie about black ruler of a slave empire that gets destroyed by white messiah
Alligatorjandro
Banned
Oh ok
Because the story is fictional but the time and place are not?
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:
Were ancient Israelites really pale skinned Caucasian looking people like Christian Bale?
Shouldn't they look more like modern day Palestinians?
Ah, okay.
Maybe. Specific traits associated with Europe (like light eyes and light hair) might have been brought by the Greeks and later Romans, but most scholars think modern Egyptians are descended from people who evolved in Egypt.
DNA studies of mummies show them more closely related to modern Egyptians than to people in the Middle East or the Horn of Africa.
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.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Lord_Balkan
Member
He isn't technically wrong, that is how the government defines 'white'. I'm not saying I necessarily agree with it, but when you look it up:
http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/2007instructions.cfm
http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/2007instructions.cfm
Father_Brain
Banned
I would say the problem is that, unlike the similarly whitewashed Noah (which is hardly itself immune from such criticism), it maintains at least vague trappings of historical fiction, what with being set with in a specific kingdom that actually, provably existed in documented history.
They would have looked just like Palestinian people. Palestine is pretty diverse, though.
http://screenrant.com/exodus-gods-kings-race-controversy-ridley-scott/
Ridley Scott explains the whitewashing of the main cast:
Ridley Scott explains the whitewashing of the main cast:
Byakuya769
Member
"Mohammad such-and-such."
Wow.
Wow.
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.
And while casting of black actors is not the biggest racial problem the world faces (though I don't think it's a trivial or unimportant one either) this is pretty indicative of the systematic and often subtle ways people of darker skin are being held down by society.
p.s.
"Mohammad such-and-such."
Yeah, no.
...but on the real, DID we really need another reason to believe that Ridley Scott ain't shit, this movie ain't gonna be shit, and ain't nothing he's done since maybe the 90s been shit either?
DXB-KNIGHT
Member
Muslims believe that even Moses wasn't white.
timetokill
Banned
no, it's Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such
Very classy of him.
The concept of what makes someone "white" means very different things to many different people
this is also ignoring the fact that Ancient Egypt was probably one of the most diverse countries most likely during ancient times (Egypt didnt care what your skin color was as long as you were Egyptian) Hell, "race" for the Egyptians was most likely viewed as just differentiating different skin tones rather then different cultures like we view race today, so it really doesnt matter whether the Egyptians were black or white.
In general, Northern Africa was and still is an incredibly diverse area filled with a huge amount of different ethnicites. Calling them white or black or arab, or asian, or anything is silly really.
this is also ignoring the fact that Ancient Egypt was probably one of the most diverse countries most likely during ancient times (Egypt didnt care what your skin color was as long as you were Egyptian) Hell, "race" for the Egyptians was most likely viewed as just differentiating different skin tones rather then different cultures like we view race today, so it really doesnt matter whether the Egyptians were black or white.
In general, Northern Africa was and still is an incredibly diverse area filled with a huge amount of different ethnicites. Calling them white or black or arab, or asian, or anything is silly really.
TheKaeptain
Banned
At least Ridley Scott was honest as fuck about this shit. Other filmmakers wouldn't have been that straight forward.
IISANDERII
Member
Caucasian Russian or Jewish Russian?
A lot of the Egyptians in the story are real historical figures though. Basically Exodus is an early example of the Alternate History genre.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Valtýr;140831320 said:
There are like four people in all of Hollywood that have that privilege. QT, PTA, Cameron, and Spielberg.
Bullshit. There are a bunch of other filmmakers like QT and PTA. As long as you don't make expensive blockbusters and your films are profitable, you automatically have a much higher level of creative control. Listing those two next to Cameron and Spielberg is a joke.
If we really want to look at who actually can command full creative control, we need to look at directors who helm 200 million dollar films regularly. Even Spielberg doesn't do that. The only people who do are always at the mercy of the studio system. That's why Cameron only makes one movie every decade now.
If we really want to look at who actually can command full creative control, we need to look at directors who helm 200 million dollar films regularly. Even Spielberg doesn't do that. The only people who do are always at the mercy of the studio system. That's why Cameron only makes one movie every decade now.
TheKaeptain
Banned
There is no one in Hollywood that gets what he wants like QT. No one. Harvey backs him no matter what the idea is.
He wasn't Jewish. Because his grandmother was part Asian, he had an "exotic enough" look, and played tons of foreign characters as well as many whites.
That's fair. It's a pretty cheap film, but it did make a ton of money! I think the idea that minorities as leads affect the box office in a huge way is nonsense anyway. It's just something producers are afraid of based on their own projection on the audience.
He probably remembers.
SMH indeed.
...........
Yep, boycotting the fuck out of this movie.
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