As a white person I have a couple thoughts on The Reaper's comment.
1.) Of course he (I'm assuming he's a 'he') doesn't identify himself as white. He probably doesn't identify himself as male either. In US culture (where I'm from) the default human being is a white, straight male (thus the reason I assume he's male). If you aren't white, straight and/or male you're a variation on a human being. So our culture allows The Reaper to be more enlightened than the rest of us. He can say first and formost he's a 'human being.' Others of us are human plus something else. In my case I'm a human plus a woman. I don't have to identify myself by race or sexual orientation because I'm the 'default' in those categories.
This notion of white being the default race won't change until there are more ethnicticities represented in popular culture. And by that I don't mean the supporting characters or the villains. We need the lead characters (the ones we identify with and route for) to be racially diverse.
2.) If talent is the only factor when casting then why is it that 99% of the people on TV are thin and really attractive? Why did the actors who where considered for Superman all have black hair and blue eyes? Appearance is a huge part of casting and race is a huge part of appearance. While some roles may be race neutral others are not. Think of how different Gone with the Wind would have been if they'd cast an African American as Scarlet O'Hara.
As I was saying to someone else earlier, if talent was the only thing, I don't think Alex Pettyfer would ever get another movie. But since he's attractive and lean and white and male, he'll still have way more jobs than, say, a curvaceous black woman with way more talent in one finger than he does.
And what you said about white males being the default human being is so true. Everything else is to "accomdate" minorities, but the majority of everything else in this world is solely for rich white males. :/
1.) Of course he (I'm assuming he's a 'he') doesn't identify himself as white. He probably doesn't identify himself as male either. In US culture (where I'm from) the default human being is a white, straight male (thus the reason I assume he's male). If you aren't white, straight and/or male you're a variation on a human being. So our culture allows The Reaper to be more enlightened than the rest of us. He can say first and formost he's a 'human being.' Others of us are human plus something else. In my case I'm a human plus a woman. I don't have to identify myself by race or sexual orientation because I'm the 'default' in those categories.
This notion of white being the default race won't change until there are more ethnicticities represented in popular culture. And by that I don't mean the supporting characters or the villains. We need the lead characters (the ones we identify with and route for) to be racially diverse.
2.) If talent is the only factor when casting then why is it that 99% of the people on TV are thin and really attractive? Why did the actors who where considered for Superman all have black hair and blue eyes? Appearance is a huge part of casting and race is a huge part of appearance. While some roles may be race neutral others are not. Think of how different Gone with the Wind would have been if they'd cast an African American as Scarlet O'Hara.
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And what you said about white males being the default human being is so true. Everything else is to "accomdate" minorities, but the majority of everything else in this world is solely for rich white males. :/
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