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Look, I'm not saying I don't want to see characters of color.

I just don't understand why y'all can't create original characters instead of race switching existing ones just for the sake of artificial diversity. Are we saying Hollywood writers are that unoriginal and hacky?
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Basically, yes. But Hollywood isn’t always hiring the people who would write such stories, or if someone tries, they may not be in an environment where it’s welcomed.

I grew up without fairy tales where any of the protagonists looked like me. So very possibly I can’t feel your pain here. That was a world where almost everybody on tv, from the shows to the commercials, cartoons, to even the news reporters, were white. If someone black was appearing on one of the variety shows, or when the “Julia" show was on the air, relatives and friends were on the phone letting each other know. It was that big a deal.
Harmonium1923 · 51-55, M
@bijouxbroussard Plus, you know, it’s acting. Like you don’t have to actually BE a princess or a gangster to play one. And you don’t have to BE Catholic or Jewish to play someone of that religion.
@Harmonium1923 Well, somehow they agreed with that when they had John Wayne playing Genghis Khan and Marlon Brando playing Emiliano Zapata. And those were actual historical figures, not fictional characters. 🤔
Harmonium1923 · 51-55, M
@bijouxbroussard I mean, what’s the “logical” conclusion? No Asian or Native American actor can ever appear in a Shakespeare play because oops, he didn’t write any plays with Asian or Native American characters?
LordShadowfire · 46-50, M
@bijouxbroussard I'm not saying it's ever okay to change the race of a historical figure, and yes, I know they did that. Ideally, we would never see white guys playing native Americans in westerns, or playing Asian people, etc. And I can't even imagine what it was like growing up in a world where none of the TV characters looked like you. I would feel very excluded in such a world.

What I'm saying is, instead of a reboot of a beloved character who's been around for a half century where they change something superficial like skin color while keeping the personality exactly the same, create new characters. They did that in the Rings Of Power series, and yes, I'm aware people are mad about that, but those people can go fly.
@Harmonium1923 The thing about Shakespeare, is that he rarely said one way or the other, unless it was kind of the point (like Othello, for example). And there were certainly some people of color in Shakespeare’s England.
There were his “Dark Lady Sonnets” rumored to be written for and about a mixed race lover:
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
LordShadowfire · 46-50, M
@bijouxbroussard I wouldn't be surprised if they were.
@LordShadowfire I do agree with that. I don’t have much use for reboots on GP; if the story was well-told the first time, why reinvent the wheel ? The thing that bugs me, though, are people who are selective about their outrage: the same people who would pitch a fit about Idris Elba as Bond probably saw no incongruity with Willem Dafoe playing Semitic, Middle Eastern Jesus Christ
(Not accusing you of that, just saying).
LordShadowfire · 46-50, M
@bijouxbroussard Yeah. My thing is, if you're going to be mad about a traditionally white character being played by a different race, you should also get mad when it goes the other way.