I am going to watch the Hell out of this movie
My excitement about book-inspired movies is always guarded. Even if the trailer looks good, even if I trust the director, even if the initial reviews are positive, I try hard not to get my hopes up. I've been burned before.
That said, THE HUNGER GAMES TRAILER LOOKS SO GODDAMN PERFECT. *hyperventilates, faints*
Ahem.
There's a lot to love about this trailer, and a lot to look forward to in this movie, but one thing stands out for me. After the trailer was over and the shiver that had run down my back at the haunting four-note tune at the end had subsided, I raised my hands to the sky and said this:
"Rue is black! Rue is black! Thank you, God in Heaven!"
The Hunger Games uses the same technique as Ender's Game (though to a lesser extent) of avoiding superfluous physical descriptions of the characters. Unless a person's build or coloring is important to the plot, you probably won't hear about it. I respect that, especially since so many writers describe their characters in such obsessive detail that you'd think they would be personally offended if any of their readers didn't know the color of everyone's eyes and the style of everyone's hair.
But even in Ender's Game and The Hunger Games, canon does weigh in on a few things. In Ender's Game: Bean is small, Shen is overweight, and Alai is black. In The Hunger Games: Foxface is a redhead, Glimmer is beautiful, and Rue is black.
When these books give their readers such freedom in imagining the appearance of the characters, it is small and pathetic to get pissy about the few details that we are given. This goes double when it comes to race. You thought Alai was of Middle Eastern descent? Too fucking bad. You thought Rue was white?
What book did you read?
Rue is described in-text as having brown skin the first time Katniss sees her. To be fair, it was a brief description and it didn't come up again. That's why I feared that she would be a perfect candidate for racebending when the movie came out, and why I was so pleasantly surprised that the casting was done correctly. In fact, Rue's is the actor that best matches my own interpretation of her character out of all of them (Gale and Peeta also look good, though I imagined Katniss as looking more biracial than Jennifer Lawrence).
If you mistakenly imagined Rue as being white, the correct response to seeing her cast as African-American is to go back to the book and confirm that you were, in fact, wrong. Then, if you care to, amend your view of the character. The incorrect response (which a depressing number of people seem to have chosen) is to complain all over the internet that, "She doesn't look the way I pictured her!" Or, if you're not bothering to hide your racism, "WHAT? Rue is black?"
I'm not even going to get into Cinna's casting, because the internet's reaction to it makes me sad. Suffice to say that I didn't have a really clear idea of how I thought he should look, but now I will forever see him as Lenny Kravitz.
Hollywood: good job. You're doing it right for a change. Keep it up, and one day I might forgive you for The Last Airbender.
Moviegoing public: shut your fool racist mouths and let me enjoy this movie!
That said, THE HUNGER GAMES TRAILER LOOKS SO GODDAMN PERFECT. *hyperventilates, faints*
Ahem.
There's a lot to love about this trailer, and a lot to look forward to in this movie, but one thing stands out for me. After the trailer was over and the shiver that had run down my back at the haunting four-note tune at the end had subsided, I raised my hands to the sky and said this:
"Rue is black! Rue is black! Thank you, God in Heaven!"
The Hunger Games uses the same technique as Ender's Game (though to a lesser extent) of avoiding superfluous physical descriptions of the characters. Unless a person's build or coloring is important to the plot, you probably won't hear about it. I respect that, especially since so many writers describe their characters in such obsessive detail that you'd think they would be personally offended if any of their readers didn't know the color of everyone's eyes and the style of everyone's hair.
But even in Ender's Game and The Hunger Games, canon does weigh in on a few things. In Ender's Game: Bean is small, Shen is overweight, and Alai is black. In The Hunger Games: Foxface is a redhead, Glimmer is beautiful, and Rue is black.
When these books give their readers such freedom in imagining the appearance of the characters, it is small and pathetic to get pissy about the few details that we are given. This goes double when it comes to race. You thought Alai was of Middle Eastern descent? Too fucking bad. You thought Rue was white?
What book did you read?
Rue is described in-text as having brown skin the first time Katniss sees her. To be fair, it was a brief description and it didn't come up again. That's why I feared that she would be a perfect candidate for racebending when the movie came out, and why I was so pleasantly surprised that the casting was done correctly. In fact, Rue's is the actor that best matches my own interpretation of her character out of all of them (Gale and Peeta also look good, though I imagined Katniss as looking more biracial than Jennifer Lawrence).
If you mistakenly imagined Rue as being white, the correct response to seeing her cast as African-American is to go back to the book and confirm that you were, in fact, wrong. Then, if you care to, amend your view of the character. The incorrect response (which a depressing number of people seem to have chosen) is to complain all over the internet that, "She doesn't look the way I pictured her!" Or, if you're not bothering to hide your racism, "WHAT? Rue is black?"
I'm not even going to get into Cinna's casting, because the internet's reaction to it makes me sad. Suffice to say that I didn't have a really clear idea of how I thought he should look, but now I will forever see him as Lenny Kravitz.
Hollywood: good job. You're doing it right for a change. Keep it up, and one day I might forgive you for The Last Airbender.
Moviegoing public: shut your fool racist mouths and let me enjoy this movie!