I was hoping that this wouldn't happen; Hate Groups Protest Casting of Black Actor as Heimdall
Source
Upset that British actor Idris Elba-of The Losers and The Wire-was cast as Heimdal in Marvel's cinematic take on the traditionally pale Norse myths, a Missouri-based hate group is urging a boycott.
The Council for Concerned Citizens, a legitimate hate group based in St. Louis, takes offense at Marvel's choice to employ color-blind casting when filling the role of Heimdall, the sentry of Asgard. A post on their website states:
"It's not enough that Marvel attacks conservatives values, now mythological Gods must be re-invented with black skin. ... It seems that Marvel Studios believes that white people should have nothing that is unique to themselves."
This Council isn't the only organization that takes umbrage at Elba's presence in the halls of Asgard: A site called Boycott Thor seems to be a clearinghouse of news items devoted to it, as well as Marvel's other left-wing tendencies, including the pro-African series Black Panther.
For his part, Elba has addressed this head-on in the past: "Thor's mythical, right? Thor has a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers. That's OK, but the color of my skin is wrong? I was cast in Thor and I'm cast as a Nordic god. If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future."
Unfortunately for the future, there are always going to be people who want to hold on to the past.
Yes, let's forget that Thor was red headed and red bearded in the Myths, let's forget the fact that Loki has naturally grown horns on his head and let's COMPLETELY OVERLOOK the fact that the Norse Mythology had NOTHING to do with sci-fi in the first place, let's concentrate on the fact that they cast a black actor as a Norse God.
Because clearly 'white culture' is something that been pervaded and taken on over by other groups.
Look, coming from another country and culture, I can't speak from experience what it's like to be discriminated because of one's skin colour but I can tell you that Western Culture has had a deep influence here on the East. Our clothing, music, viewpoints, governments, social structure and view points have all been influenced to a degree by the west. At one point I had to come to a reconciliation between the two cultures that have influenced me and make up an integral part of who I am, whilst expunging the negative/harmful aspects of it. I'm still a flawed human being, I still make mistakes but I feel all the better for what I have done.
The world is still reeling from the effects of Colonialism and one group is systematically preferred over another based on race, gender and sexuality. There is a huge abundance of movies, shows, stories, plays and other forms of media starring straight white male actors and only a handful of ones starring LGBTQ's, women and poc's.
Sure times are ever so slowly changing but we still have far too many preconceptions of 'others' to shed and not only there are new problems and hurdles arisisng, old ones keep playing over and over again.
Anyway, that's all I have to say regarding this, for now. I'll post more if I have something else to say.
EDIT: Just found this article on Comics Alliance. It explains the whole problem better than I did.
Upset that British actor Idris Elba-of The Losers and The Wire-was cast as Heimdal in Marvel's cinematic take on the traditionally pale Norse myths, a Missouri-based hate group is urging a boycott.
The Council for Concerned Citizens, a legitimate hate group based in St. Louis, takes offense at Marvel's choice to employ color-blind casting when filling the role of Heimdall, the sentry of Asgard. A post on their website states:
"It's not enough that Marvel attacks conservatives values, now mythological Gods must be re-invented with black skin. ... It seems that Marvel Studios believes that white people should have nothing that is unique to themselves."
This Council isn't the only organization that takes umbrage at Elba's presence in the halls of Asgard: A site called Boycott Thor seems to be a clearinghouse of news items devoted to it, as well as Marvel's other left-wing tendencies, including the pro-African series Black Panther.
For his part, Elba has addressed this head-on in the past: "Thor's mythical, right? Thor has a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers. That's OK, but the color of my skin is wrong? I was cast in Thor and I'm cast as a Nordic god. If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future."
Unfortunately for the future, there are always going to be people who want to hold on to the past.
Yes, let's forget that Thor was red headed and red bearded in the Myths, let's forget the fact that Loki has naturally grown horns on his head and let's COMPLETELY OVERLOOK the fact that the Norse Mythology had NOTHING to do with sci-fi in the first place, let's concentrate on the fact that they cast a black actor as a Norse God.
Because clearly 'white culture' is something that been pervaded and taken on over by other groups.
Look, coming from another country and culture, I can't speak from experience what it's like to be discriminated because of one's skin colour but I can tell you that Western Culture has had a deep influence here on the East. Our clothing, music, viewpoints, governments, social structure and view points have all been influenced to a degree by the west. At one point I had to come to a reconciliation between the two cultures that have influenced me and make up an integral part of who I am, whilst expunging the negative/harmful aspects of it. I'm still a flawed human being, I still make mistakes but I feel all the better for what I have done.
The world is still reeling from the effects of Colonialism and one group is systematically preferred over another based on race, gender and sexuality. There is a huge abundance of movies, shows, stories, plays and other forms of media starring straight white male actors and only a handful of ones starring LGBTQ's, women and poc's.
Sure times are ever so slowly changing but we still have far too many preconceptions of 'others' to shed and not only there are new problems and hurdles arisisng, old ones keep playing over and over again.
Anyway, that's all I have to say regarding this, for now. I'll post more if I have something else to say.
EDIT: Just found this article on Comics Alliance. It explains the whole problem better than I did.