Funny how they can always find Arab Americans when they want to cast them as terrorists...

[unusualmusic_lj_archive]

Re: The Upcoming Prince of Persia film:

Pics from jedifreac



The Princess of India

The Prince of Persia


And Bollywood? Doesn't exist. At all.

Jedifreac snarks magnificently here


In the meantime...


The Face of the Other: Are Manga Characters White?

AVATAR PICSPAM OF AWESOME

MOAR Avatar Protest Icons!!!

Comments

[fengi.livejournal.com]

I'd say the Tropic Thunder satire is getting more relevant, but apparently in real life Robert Downey wouldn't even need to pretend to be ethnic, just have the name.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

And that movie is actually getting a freaking Golden Globe nomination. I just can't.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

So, basically, if Persians are evil, they look like this. If Persians are awesome, they look like Jake Gyllenhaal.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

Dear God. I had forgotten that horror of horrors until you reminded me. *vomits copiously*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

Racism aside, the movie wasn't even well-written. I can't figure out its appeal.

My family's Armenian, so I got more questions than I'd like from people asking me to explain Xerxes to them. (First lesson: Armenia =! Iran, but whatev.) I'm not up on my Persian history, but I'm pretty sure shahs weren't running around with pierced cheekbones and bikini bottoms. But somebody stop me if my logic here is faulty.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

I'm not up on my Persian history, but I'm pretty sure shahs weren't running around with pierced cheekbones and bikini bottoms. But somebody stop me if my logic here is faulty.

I am torn between vomitting again and LOLZ at the absolute absurdity. I was reading somewhere that they were gayifing the Persians to contrasting then with the manly men Spartans, (cause gayness=effeteness=evil typifier, of course). And manly men are always noble and some shit. I don't know. The comic was apparently written by one frank Miller? Who has race and gender problems up the wazoo. Seemed to appeal to ignorant assholish white boys for the most part. And as for (First lesson: Armenia =! Iran, but whatev.)
I'm wondering 1. If they teach geography in American schools and 2. If the children are introduced to atlases in those classes. I'm guessing not.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

I'm wondering 1. If they teach geography in American schools and 2. If the children are introduced to atlas' in those classes. I'm guessing not.

DETAILS.

Ugh, Miller. Don't mention his name to eumelia. She's violent when riled.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

... oh wait, not Miller. Probably Alan Moore.

None of these supposedly great comic book writers impress me, so I mix them all up in my head.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Hey!

No blaming Moore for Miller's atrocities!

Moore is good and has owned up for his past errors :)... sorta... at the very least he treats situations with the sense of gravity they deserve and doesn't portray characters who are of colour, lgbt and other non-"normal" characteristics with some dignity and realism!

Unlike Miller, who should curl up, die and get a the crushingly bad review he so richly deserves!

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I've been told that piercings denoted slaves.

So not only was it racist and badly written, it was also... get this!... Historically inaccurate!

Shocking, I know.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

I'm shocked. Aren't you shocked?

And also, CHEEKS? Who the fuck pierces their CHEEKS? Hope they're not a stomach-sleeper.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

I didn't even see the cheek part. I was too busy goggling at the bikini bottoms. I mean. WTF???

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I like body modding, but cheek piercings do seem very uncomfortable.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

Absolutely SHOCKED, I tell you! Pass the smelling salts!

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

By the way, Baddass icon, though that NIN vid did disturb me profoundly.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the copious vomiting.

[bellvampress.livejournal.com]

LOL Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince of Persia? Oh lord.

The article you linked was a great read, and he pulled in markedness theory amazingly well!

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

I suppose that the best thing about blowups like this is that you end up learning a lot of stuff that would otherwise be a little harder to locate. *sigh*

[yana-ambf.livejournal.com]

This whole thing (the Gyllenhaal nonsense plus the whole Avatar outrage) are just so...outrageous, so infuriating, I can't even piece together a coherent comment. The ol' "Gee, we would've gladly hired a brown person; we just couldn't find one" defense got old decades ago. Unfortunately, this trend won't stop. Probably ever. The quest for profits trumps doing the right thing, or even giving two shits about consequences.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

But the thing is, their warped view of the world is fucking up their profits and they don't even know it! I mean seriously. Why would white people have PROBLEMS with Asian, Inuit whatever ppl in Liveaction film based on anime and manga, exactly? They are reading and watching this stuff with diverse lead characters without a murmer, for gods sake! ANd what they are doing is pissing off minorities who would happily swarm the movie to see their own! ANd considering the fact that the US pop. demographics are moving in a minority will be majority trend steadily and quickly, these kinds of decisions are even MORE stupid!

[yana-ambf.livejournal.com]

What you're saying is valid, very reasonable. Sadly, Hollywood is guided by the capitalist imperative to increase profits, and is often *unreasonable* in that quest.

Rich studio exec guy is thinking:
-I am rich. I want to continue being rich. How can I achieve that with this next project?
-What's popular these days? Anime? OK, greenlight it.
-Who to cast? I want a name! Who do kids like?
-Taking chances in casting is like gambling, which could threaten profits. I'll just follow the tried and true formula, and cast known faces.
-(and most disturbingly) Non-white audiences are a small market and are not where the advertising dollars are. My main focus is on pleasing mainstream, white viewers. Non-whites will see movies with white actors. White actors will not come out for non-white actors. So...all white cast it is! OK, shoot it!

This is a very unprincipled and ridiculous way of seeing things (as well as not based in any kind of fact!). However, it is pervasive and harmful. And profitable.

I should add...

[yana-ambf.livejournal.com]

Not to oversimplify and reduce everything to the economic, we also must consider the profound problem of the consideration of whiteness invisible and universal. This must continually be challenged in order to see any kind of lasting change.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

Non-white audiences are a small market and are not where the advertising dollars are. My main focus is on pleasing mainstream, white viewers.

I take it these execs haven't heard there's six billion of us on this planet now and the ones with white skin are in the minority.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

DETAILS!!!

[yana-ambf.livejournal.com]

See there, you guys keep trying to be reasonable and use "facts" and such. :) Think of it as a machine, an ever-hungry, money-eating and -shitting machine. The machine is programmed to think that mainstream=white=$$. It's all really soulless and horrifying.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

See there, you guys keep trying to be reasonable and use "facts" and such. :)

I'm told I'm crazy like that!

[yana-ambf.livejournal.com]

:)

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

now see, facts and such are only relevant when used by "objective" observers. And we all know that people like us are not "objective".

[quinacridones.livejournal.com]

I guess this is the beginning of the post-racial society some white people were talking about. (Since white people voting for Obama means racism is dead now.) This whole, "Hey! Now that there's no more race, we can make everybody white now!!!11eleventy". It was bad enough when POC get to play "normal" Americans, now they don't even get to play POC!

Unless, you know, we're doing casting for terrorists and drug dealers and monster hordes and such. Then of course we must use POC even though there are no POC actors.

[hematopoetic.livejournal.com]

ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!!

I know you aren't. But why does the stupidity never end?

[mothwentbad.livejournal.com]

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