Hunger Games TweetsThis guy's taken to collecting tweets about the THG movie in which people express outrage that characters like Rue, Thresh and Cinna have been cast . . . as black
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Now, I can excuse missing Rue and Thresh's descriptions in the book.
Uh, I'm not sure I can excuse anyone missing Rue's description. She's so directly compared and contrasted with blond, white-skinned Prim...
Cinna, otoh, never has his race or skin color described that I recall, so I knew that was going to be a bigger wtf for some people who maybe had a different mental image of him than I did.
Some people just skim over character descriptions, and Collins didn't go into any great depth, anyway. So I can at least understand why some people might've formed a different mental image of Rue and Thresh. It's the way they're reacting that's, well, racist.
Sure, I'm just saying the one is not *less* racist than the other. Just more nonobservant or stupid (I mean, why would you not check to see if Rue is described with dark skin before objecting to her casting?)
Wow, those tweets are horrifying. I especially enjoy the way the people say something incredibly racist and then follow it with "I'm not racist." Well, I guess that's fine then!
I admit I was suprised with Lenny Kravitz' casting but only because I thought of Cinna as very restrained in his personal style which is not something Kravitz is known for (I barely recognize him in the trailers without his dreads and leather pants), but I thought the descriptions of Rue and Thresh were clear. I've actually been disappointed the casting hasn't gone further in giving more roles to POC.
I missed Rue's descriptions in the book because I read them too quickly - I was so anxious to see what happened next that I was constantly blowing through descriptive comments without really reading them. Same with Cinna, I only remembered his gold eyeshadow. But was I offended they were cast as black? No, I was like "Oh okay." Because how the hell is that a big deal??? Especially when you go back and look at the book descriptions. Ugh, white people, please to stop being so disgusting >_<
Reminds me of what happened when Blaise Zambini finally made his appearance. A lot of fandom had built him up as a playboy and that's what JKR did - practically described him as a model, which is saying something considering Harry appeared to be a straight boy fairly unconcerned with appearances and even he was like "Yeah, dude's good-looking." Despite the awesome fan service that really was, a ton of people pitched a fit because he was black. WTF. That kind of thing doesn't just smack of racism, it IS racism, plain and simple.
Wait, let me get this straight. People are complaining, because a character who IS described in the books as having dark skin, is being portrayed by an actor with dark skin?
It's distressing, looking at those tweets. You like to think Americans aren't so outwardly racist these days, at least, but something like this really makes you wonder. Scratch the surface, and hate comes boiling out . . .
Feel free to slap me down if I'm overstepping, because I admit I'm not nearly informed enough on the subject to make a proper judgement, but...
Here in Britain, we don't have quite the same kind of history as you do as regards dealing with people of different races, and I'm incredibly grateful for that when I see things like this.
Don't get me wrong, we have our bigots and racists too, as all countries do, and they make me ashamed to be English when I see them spouting their anti-whoever type evil, but it seems you have far more of them than we do.
I can't help but find that very odd given that, other than the American Indians, everyone over in the US whether white, black, yellow of whatever, is an immigrant of some sort if you dig back just a little way.
I'm just grateful that the people I consider friends see this kind of thing for what it is
I thought Lenny Kravitz was a brilliant bit of casting. He wasn't at all what I was picturing when I read the book, but now he's all I see when I think of the character.
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Uh, I'm not sure I can excuse anyone missing Rue's description. She's so directly compared and contrasted with blond, white-skinned Prim...
Cinna, otoh, never has his race or skin color described that I recall, so I knew that was going to be a bigger wtf for some people who maybe had a different mental image of him than I did.
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I admit I was suprised with Lenny Kravitz' casting but only because I thought of Cinna as very restrained in his personal style which is not something Kravitz is known for (I barely recognize him in the trailers without his dreads and leather pants), but I thought the descriptions of Rue and Thresh were clear. I've actually been disappointed the casting hasn't gone further in giving more roles to POC.
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Reminds me of what happened when Blaise Zambini finally made his appearance. A lot of fandom had built him up as a playboy and that's what JKR did - practically described him as a model, which is saying something considering Harry appeared to be a straight boy fairly unconcerned with appearances and even he was like "Yeah, dude's good-looking." Despite the awesome fan service that really was, a ton of people pitched a fit because he was black. WTF. That kind of thing doesn't just smack of racism, it IS racism, plain and simple.
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SERIOUSLY?
I'm not often speechless, but........
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Here in Britain, we don't have quite the same kind of history as you do as regards dealing with people of different races, and I'm incredibly grateful for that when I see things like this.
Don't get me wrong, we have our bigots and racists too, as all countries do, and they make me ashamed to be English when I see them spouting their anti-whoever type evil, but it seems you have far more of them than we do.
I can't help but find that very odd given that, other than the American Indians, everyone over in the US whether white, black, yellow of whatever, is an immigrant of some sort if you dig back just a little way.
I'm just grateful that the people I consider friends see this kind of thing for what it is
Reply
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I thought Lenny Kravitz was a brilliant bit of casting. He wasn't at all what I was picturing when I read the book, but now he's all I see when I think of the character.
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