Trek XII Casting Spoiler + Bonus Rant
I think anybody who gives a shit about Trek XII (or Star Trek 2) knows already that Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast. Sorry if this is a thunderous spoiler that I should've cut. The subject of contention is who Cumberbatch is supposed to be playing. This, however, I will cut.
[I have problems with potential whitewashing]
It's still a "rumor" at this point, because everything is a rumor until the movie is out. There were rumblings awhile back that the subject of Trek XII was going to be Khan. When Cumberbatch was cast, speculation was that maybe he will play Khan. This did not make me happy. Then the rumors passed. Now, it has resurfaced, with "very strong indication" that Cumberbatch will indeed be playing Khan.
Here's the deal: I don't actually give much of a crap about The Original Series. I know this makes me a bad Trekkie in some circles, but it is what it is. I have no particular attachment to Khan the character one way or another (save for KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! jokes), so it isn't THEY'RE RUINING MY FAVORITE VILLAIN.
The problem is this: Khan is an Indian character played by a Latino actor. No matter which way you cut it, Cumberbatch playing Khan will be whitewashing of the highest order. There's no fucking ambiguity. No "well I guess 'olive-skinned' means possibly Mediterranean" like Katniss in The Hunger Games, or the thousands of other "well it isn't explicitly stated you guys" excuses. This is an Indian character by script, played by a very very explicitly Latino actor. THIS IS A MOTHERFUCKING CHARACTER OF COLOR. And now you're telling me you're going to cast the whitest of mcwhitington actor for him?
Bad enough that there's whitewashing, but this is fucking Trek. You mean we're actually going to SOCIALLY REGRESS in a Trek movie? (Bad enough that we've already socially regressed with Enterprise; let's go from Benjamin Sisko to Travis Mayweather, yeeeeeeeeeah) And no, don't come at me about Uhura in the first movie and tell me this is what I should've expected blah blah blah they already fucked up once why not again. I've made my feelings re: Uhura plenty clear already, so I'm just going to delete your comment if you bring it up, no fucking apologies. Besides, the situation isn't remotely comparable because it's not like they cast Uhura with Keira Knightley.
All this rage, I suppose, could be for nothing. Cumberbatch may not be playing Khan. There may not even be Khan at all in the movie. But if there is one time where it isn't advantageous to keep silent about your movie, this is it. I know some people may argue that JJ Abrams et al have no responsibility over what rumors are floating about their movie, but I'm going to fucking disagree. You have a fucking responsibility to the franchise and what it means to a lot of people. If a fuckton of people thinks that you're a whitewashing assbag, then you have a responsibility to diffuse these rumors. I don't think they will, because I think they're assbags no matter what, but it'd be nice if they'd prove me wrong. I pretty much have nothing but sour feelings about Trek XII at this point.
Not helping is that this follows very closely with two other incidences of whitewashing that glare the fuck out at me. Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, and Melina in Total Recall. Incidentally, all three involve Latino characters/actors. I think I'm more pissed about Melina, compared between her and Bane, because it's a female character. In the original Total Recall, Melina was played by Rachel Ticotin, who is of Puerto Rican descent. In the remake, her role is now taken up by Jessica Biel.
It's a funny thing about Ah-nuld's 80s action flicks. There's somewhat of a trend for them to have an actress of color "side kick," usually Latina. The aforementioned Rachel Ticotin in Total Recall, Elpidia Carrillo in Predator, Maria Conchita Alonso in The Running Man, and Rae Dawn Chong (multi-racial descent) in Commando. Yeah, they're Ah-nuld movies, but these ladies kick serious ass, too. I was quite surprised and pleased when they maintained this "trend" when Predators came out and there was Alica Braga. But you think about this current decade. You think about the 90s. List five "badass" female characters/actresses off the top of your head. I bet you they're inevitably all white. I imagine the major exception that most people would come up with is Michelle Rodriguez. I'm not above it all, mind you. My list is: Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley, Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, and Angelina Jolie.
The point is, we're making headway with badass ladies, but they're still inevitably white. Here's a movie with a built-in Latina badass, and they made her white (pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease do not "inform" me that Jessica Biel has Native ancestry; that's not the point). What the fucking fuck yo. And I just know if I try to bitch about it to people who don't get it, I will inevitably get as a rebuttal, "But Melina was an prostitute! It's a good thing they made her white, right? Because a Latina hooker is just so stereotype. That wouldn't have made you happy either." Trust me, I got this when I talked about Bane getting Tom Hardy-ed in TDKR. "But it's like Latino men are always criminals in movies! If you keep him Latino then people are just going to bitch that all Latino men are portrayed as criminals in movies. You just can't win." Or "I mean, it's like when they did 21 and they took out all the Chinese people even though it's based on REAL FUCKING LIFE, because it's just so stereotypical that Chinese people are portrayed at being good at math in movies. People would've bitched anyway; you just can't win."
Because apparently the answer to being racially stereotyped is to GET FUCKING ERASED.
I love how the rebuttal is never, "I think the answer to being racially stereotyped in movies is for characters of color to NOT be stereotyped." It's like it's some kind of MAGIC CONCEPT BEYOND ALL COMPREHENSION.
FUCKING MAGNETS HOW DO THEY WORK
[I have problems with potential whitewashing]
It's still a "rumor" at this point, because everything is a rumor until the movie is out. There were rumblings awhile back that the subject of Trek XII was going to be Khan. When Cumberbatch was cast, speculation was that maybe he will play Khan. This did not make me happy. Then the rumors passed. Now, it has resurfaced, with "very strong indication" that Cumberbatch will indeed be playing Khan.
Here's the deal: I don't actually give much of a crap about The Original Series. I know this makes me a bad Trekkie in some circles, but it is what it is. I have no particular attachment to Khan the character one way or another (save for KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! jokes), so it isn't THEY'RE RUINING MY FAVORITE VILLAIN.
The problem is this: Khan is an Indian character played by a Latino actor. No matter which way you cut it, Cumberbatch playing Khan will be whitewashing of the highest order. There's no fucking ambiguity. No "well I guess 'olive-skinned' means possibly Mediterranean" like Katniss in The Hunger Games, or the thousands of other "well it isn't explicitly stated you guys" excuses. This is an Indian character by script, played by a very very explicitly Latino actor. THIS IS A MOTHERFUCKING CHARACTER OF COLOR. And now you're telling me you're going to cast the whitest of mcwhitington actor for him?
Bad enough that there's whitewashing, but this is fucking Trek. You mean we're actually going to SOCIALLY REGRESS in a Trek movie? (Bad enough that we've already socially regressed with Enterprise; let's go from Benjamin Sisko to Travis Mayweather, yeeeeeeeeeah) And no, don't come at me about Uhura in the first movie and tell me this is what I should've expected blah blah blah they already fucked up once why not again. I've made my feelings re: Uhura plenty clear already, so I'm just going to delete your comment if you bring it up, no fucking apologies. Besides, the situation isn't remotely comparable because it's not like they cast Uhura with Keira Knightley.
All this rage, I suppose, could be for nothing. Cumberbatch may not be playing Khan. There may not even be Khan at all in the movie. But if there is one time where it isn't advantageous to keep silent about your movie, this is it. I know some people may argue that JJ Abrams et al have no responsibility over what rumors are floating about their movie, but I'm going to fucking disagree. You have a fucking responsibility to the franchise and what it means to a lot of people. If a fuckton of people thinks that you're a whitewashing assbag, then you have a responsibility to diffuse these rumors. I don't think they will, because I think they're assbags no matter what, but it'd be nice if they'd prove me wrong. I pretty much have nothing but sour feelings about Trek XII at this point.
Not helping is that this follows very closely with two other incidences of whitewashing that glare the fuck out at me. Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, and Melina in Total Recall. Incidentally, all three involve Latino characters/actors. I think I'm more pissed about Melina, compared between her and Bane, because it's a female character. In the original Total Recall, Melina was played by Rachel Ticotin, who is of Puerto Rican descent. In the remake, her role is now taken up by Jessica Biel.
It's a funny thing about Ah-nuld's 80s action flicks. There's somewhat of a trend for them to have an actress of color "side kick," usually Latina. The aforementioned Rachel Ticotin in Total Recall, Elpidia Carrillo in Predator, Maria Conchita Alonso in The Running Man, and Rae Dawn Chong (multi-racial descent) in Commando. Yeah, they're Ah-nuld movies, but these ladies kick serious ass, too. I was quite surprised and pleased when they maintained this "trend" when Predators came out and there was Alica Braga. But you think about this current decade. You think about the 90s. List five "badass" female characters/actresses off the top of your head. I bet you they're inevitably all white. I imagine the major exception that most people would come up with is Michelle Rodriguez. I'm not above it all, mind you. My list is: Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley, Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, and Angelina Jolie.
The point is, we're making headway with badass ladies, but they're still inevitably white. Here's a movie with a built-in Latina badass, and they made her white (pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease do not "inform" me that Jessica Biel has Native ancestry; that's not the point). What the fucking fuck yo. And I just know if I try to bitch about it to people who don't get it, I will inevitably get as a rebuttal, "But Melina was an prostitute! It's a good thing they made her white, right? Because a Latina hooker is just so stereotype. That wouldn't have made you happy either." Trust me, I got this when I talked about Bane getting Tom Hardy-ed in TDKR. "But it's like Latino men are always criminals in movies! If you keep him Latino then people are just going to bitch that all Latino men are portrayed as criminals in movies. You just can't win." Or "I mean, it's like when they did 21 and they took out all the Chinese people even though it's based on REAL FUCKING LIFE, because it's just so stereotypical that Chinese people are portrayed at being good at math in movies. People would've bitched anyway; you just can't win."
Because apparently the answer to being racially stereotyped is to GET FUCKING ERASED.
I love how the rebuttal is never, "I think the answer to being racially stereotyped in movies is for characters of color to NOT be stereotyped." It's like it's some kind of MAGIC CONCEPT BEYOND ALL COMPREHENSION.
FUCKING MAGNETS HOW DO THEY WORK