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How do we feel about actors playing characters of other races?

Mistake

Member
I honestly don’t care as long as they’re good at acting it out. Anyone who gets offended needs to grow up
 

web3x

Member
I think in the case of a historical character it makes zero sense.

Outside of that, I don't care.

Fictional characters, in my opinion are all fair game.
 

Kimahri

Banned
I honestly don’t care as long as they’re good at acting it out. Anyone who gets offended needs to grow up

You know there are more emotions related to "shit you don't in particular like" than offended, right?

People care about different things, and for people who are say, above average interested in world history, race bending just for the sake of it might be perceived as anything from insulting to their intelligence to just silly and ultimately just uninteresting.

Offended has become this nonsensical catch all phrase that gets thrown into every situation where someone expresses some form of dislike, and it's well, silly.
 

buizel

Banned
a c t i n g


iu


though it could be argued ricky was just acting naturally here ^
 

Komatsu

Member
As a member of one of the most underrepresented communities in American media in proportion to its share of the population, I don't really care at all. As for whether it can be done well, I feel like it depends on the medium.

On the stage? Absolutely. One of the best Julius Caesars I have seen on stage was that of a Black British actor with the RSC.

When it comes to film and television, it's a bit trickier. I don't think we should see Britons of South Asian or West African ancestry in supposedly realistic period dramas set in the Tudor court. Or blonde Swedish actresses playing Lady Fujitsubo in a film adaption of Genji Monogatari. It just ruins the setting, which is also why the Memories of a Geisha adaptation is just painful to watch. Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li are both great actresses, but when it comes to the world of Gion and the whole Maiko culture, they're daytrippers. Just because most of us in the US can't tell the difference between the Chinese and the Japanese is not a good reason to cast Chinese actresses in what are quintessentially Japanese roles.

On the other hand, what is acting if not becoming someone else? Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Eddie Izzard, Terence Stamp, and Tom Wilkinson are all British thespians, but they were supremely believable as Nazi generals in Bryan Singer's Valkyrie. Phil LaMarr is an African American voice actor and yet he is absolutely perfect as Ramza - a noble in Ivalice which in the game is coded as an European kingdom.
 

UnNamed

Banned
I remember a very old interview with Lucy Liu where she said she would never be casted for a "typical Californian girl", which is bad considering she is a very good actress who often portraits the "typical Asian girl".
Also I want to remember those old style of acting where women were portraited by men or kids by adults.

So I don't much care if black people are portraiting white men/women.
 
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Mistake

Member
You know there are more emotions related to "shit you don't in particular like" than offended, right?

People care about different things, and for people who are say, above average interested in world history, race bending just for the sake of it might be perceived as anything from insulting to their intelligence to just silly and ultimately just uninteresting.

Offended has become this nonsensical catch all phrase that gets thrown into every situation where someone expresses some form of dislike, and it's well, silly.
Yes, and I’m even aware of emotions not found in the English language. If I meant to say “dislike” I would have used it. Now excuse me while I bake some synonym rolls
 
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