Reflection 5: Black and White Movies—On Colorblind Casting

Colorblind casting is the practice of ignoring the traditional race of a fictional character and, instead, casting an actor of another ethnicity. And depending on who you ask, it either robs actors of certain races of opportunities to work, or it opens the doors to more work for a variety of actors of various races. For much of Hollywood's history, colorblind casting has been a non-issue. Typically, if a film called for a character of color, producers would simply cast a white actor to play black, Asian, Latino, or whatever else was called for. This practice, eventually called "whitewashing," lead to many offensive stereotypes in the movie industry. In the 21st century, actors of color have seen their roles dramatically rise, but charges of whitewashing still exist—just witness the recent controversies over Emma Stone playing a half-Asian woman in Aloha or the casting  of mostly white actors in Egyptian-set Exodus: Gods and Kings. Do you believe an actor's race should be a consideration in casting? How would you feel, for example, about a black James Bond? What about an Asian Batman?

• "Fans Petition to Have Scarlett Johansson Removed as Star of Ghost in the Shell Movie" (IGN)
• "Michael B. Jordan Slams Haters Who Don’t Want a Black Human Torch" (HollywoodLife)
• "Pierce Brosnan Backs First Black James Bond" (Guardian)
• "Whitewashing was One of Hollywood's Worst Habits, so Why is It Still Happening?" (Huffington Post)
• "Rooney Mara as Pan's Tiger Lily: A Look at the Controversy" (Entertainment Weekly)
• "When is Color-Blind Casting Okay and When is it Not?" (Movieline)

Requirements:

• Must be in MLA Style
• Must be one page in length
• Include a works cited page
  

Due: We 10.14