Olive skin (and The Hunger Games... again)
-There are just some things that cause in me a nasty visceral reaction that I cannot put into words right away. Like the whole "But she's talented!" thing had me wincing until I figured it out.
And now this whole tanning of Jennifer Lawrence. :-/ I'm sure the photomanip-people aren't being malicious about it, but all it does for me is highlight how wrong Jennifer Lawrence is for the part. So you've changed her hair, and now you're changing her skin... might as well just get an entirely different actress! It's the easier, cheaper way to go.
I am almost 100% positive Lionsgate will not feature a tanned!Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. (They might encourage her to stand in the sun more, fair enough. Maybe JLaw can tan instead of burn.) Because to do so is to basically admit that they cast the wrong girl. Oh yeah, and blackface.
When will white people understand that skin color isn't tantamount to clothes, to be taken off when people tell you you're ugly, deny you jobs, refuse to marry you, and treat you like an animal because your skin is dark...
-Do you know who I associate with olive skin? Rafael Nadal. It's because I got into this ridiculous conversation with my cousin who is an avid Rafa fan. She kept insisting he was olive-skinned. He looks brown to me. In fact, he is browner than me.
It's like white people invented the term "olive-skinned" to explain being brown while partaking from the cup of whiteness...
-You know what else is funny? I thought Suzanne Collins made Katniss (even if white) dark-haired and olive-skinned because she wanted more people, across ethnicities, to relate to her heroine. With the casting of a blonde... I feel foolish. I feel like Collins was playing dress-up.
-Some comments have expressed the idea that Suzanne Collins not describing people in racial terms ("Rue is African-American") but just by physical descriptors is somehow a show of a post-racial world. Or at least, one that is post-our racial world (as some kind of colorism is still at work).
See, I don't believe that at all. Most of the characters Collins bothers to describe are white. I'm pretty sure Rue and Thresh (and District 11) are the exceptions. To me, not describing your characters is an invitation to default to white, not a statement about being post-racial or whatever.
I want The Hunger Games to be more diverse. Especially because of demographic trend extrapolation into the US' future that shows pretty clearly that the white population is and will shrink percentage-wise. I also want to believe that Collins wants the same thing and wrote the books that way. But I'm not entirely convinced.
-Also, this post is awesome.
-I can't decide on a Peeta, and by all indications, they're just letting the Gale character go to the dogs. The more I see of Hunter Parrish, the more I see him in the role, but the Peeta in my mind was always kind of chubby. @_@ Not exactly handsome, but frickin' adorable. I have no idea why. (It might be the UK cover.) All of the Peetas so far have been lean and have really defined jaws...
And now this whole tanning of Jennifer Lawrence. :-/ I'm sure the photomanip-people aren't being malicious about it, but all it does for me is highlight how wrong Jennifer Lawrence is for the part. So you've changed her hair, and now you're changing her skin... might as well just get an entirely different actress! It's the easier, cheaper way to go.
I am almost 100% positive Lionsgate will not feature a tanned!Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. (They might encourage her to stand in the sun more, fair enough. Maybe JLaw can tan instead of burn.) Because to do so is to basically admit that they cast the wrong girl. Oh yeah, and blackface.
When will white people understand that skin color isn't tantamount to clothes, to be taken off when people tell you you're ugly, deny you jobs, refuse to marry you, and treat you like an animal because your skin is dark...
-Do you know who I associate with olive skin? Rafael Nadal. It's because I got into this ridiculous conversation with my cousin who is an avid Rafa fan. She kept insisting he was olive-skinned. He looks brown to me. In fact, he is browner than me.
It's like white people invented the term "olive-skinned" to explain being brown while partaking from the cup of whiteness...
-You know what else is funny? I thought Suzanne Collins made Katniss (even if white) dark-haired and olive-skinned because she wanted more people, across ethnicities, to relate to her heroine. With the casting of a blonde... I feel foolish. I feel like Collins was playing dress-up.
-Some comments have expressed the idea that Suzanne Collins not describing people in racial terms ("Rue is African-American") but just by physical descriptors is somehow a show of a post-racial world. Or at least, one that is post-our racial world (as some kind of colorism is still at work).
See, I don't believe that at all. Most of the characters Collins bothers to describe are white. I'm pretty sure Rue and Thresh (and District 11) are the exceptions. To me, not describing your characters is an invitation to default to white, not a statement about being post-racial or whatever.
I want The Hunger Games to be more diverse. Especially because of demographic trend extrapolation into the US' future that shows pretty clearly that the white population is and will shrink percentage-wise. I also want to believe that Collins wants the same thing and wrote the books that way. But I'm not entirely convinced.
-Also, this post is awesome.
-I can't decide on a Peeta, and by all indications, they're just letting the Gale character go to the dogs. The more I see of Hunter Parrish, the more I see him in the role, but the Peeta in my mind was always kind of chubby. @_@ Not exactly handsome, but frickin' adorable. I have no idea why. (It might be the UK cover.) All of the Peetas so far have been lean and have really defined jaws...