VILLAMARV Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Can't wait for the argument to reach classical composers of piano concertos. All those white keys whose role could have been played by a black key. Bit of a non argument this one isn't it. Why should there be any outrage in the first place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 My point isn't the anger as it highlights something pertinent, I feel they could have chosen better as some of the films are based on works of literature. The message is about casting, which is correct, it is changing but slowly. What pisses me off as stated is they could have chosen something a little more valid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 13 minutes ago, mjmooney said: I knew somebody would say that. But tbe covers are the responsibility of the publishers, not the author. True, but when presented with the mockups I am sure she would have discussed the ethnicity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 (edited) No running water in my office, it's being 'fixed' with a 'how long is a piece of string' ETA. This surely breaks health and safety regulations. Going to go home if it's not resolved shortly (cos I need to take a wicked shit). Edited March 5, 2018 by Dr_Pangloss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Not sure you can blame Rowling for not choosing Harry to be black? The characters in books are whoever the authors want them to be. JK Rowling is free to depict whoever she likes. If you want a story about a black child wizard then write a book about one. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted March 5, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted March 5, 2018 Stealth racism thread... Racism in mass media has always been down to marketing and profit. Back in the bad old days, the logic went something like: Racism is bad, but it exists. We need to appeal to the largest possible audience, which happens to be white. Featuring black characters may appeal to a black audience, and thus gain their custom, but on the other hand it may not appeal to a white (consciously or unconsciously racist) audience, and thus LOSE their custom. Economic mathematics says 'stick with white characters'. This became a self-perpetuating cycle, until eventually the advertisers and programme makers decided that the 'black pound' WAS worth chasing, and the white market had become sufficiently enlightened so as to accept it. I would say that this process is still ongoing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 2 minutes ago, mjmooney said: Stealth racism thread... Racism in mass media has always been down to marketing and profit. Back in the bad old days, the logic went something like: Racism is bad, but it exists. We need to appeal to the largest possible audience, which happens to be white. Featuring black characters may appeal to a black audience, and thus gain their custom, but on the other hand it may not appeal to a white (consciously or unconsciously racist) audience, and thus LOSE their custom. Economic mathematics says 'stick with white characters'. This became a self-perpetuating cycle, until eventually the advertisers and programme makers decided that the 'black pound' WAS worth chasing, and the white market had become sufficiently enlightened so as to accept it. I would say that this process is still ongoing. A lot of Hollywood movies keep Asian audiences in mind and it's fair to say that racism towards black people in countries like China and Japan is very strong. The casting in movies has very much kept the Asian 'opportunity' in mind. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said: No running water in my office, it's being 'fixed' with a 'how long is a piece of string' ETA. This surely breaks health and safety regulations. Going to go home if it's not resolved shortly (cos I need to take a wicked shit). Update on this, I've pretty much redecorated one of the toilets, thrown in half a bog roll to try and hide it. It had to be done. Edited March 5, 2018 by Dr_Pangloss 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a m ole Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 5 hours ago, Seat68 said: I am going to try and articulate this as best I can and hopefully at the end the racists won't claim me as one of their own. Some advertising posters popped up in the UK swapping the white leads for black actors, created by legallyblack. Now I have seen over the past few years the outcry associated with white actors playing black or asian characters. White washing is the term. The point of the posters is that a black actor could play those roles, with this I firmly agree, however, this is black washing. The faux outrage is levelled at the film makers and not at the source material, their outrage should be at JK Rowling, at Ian Fleming, Helen Fielding, they are the creators of the white characters. not really ‘black washing’ as those roles don’t exist, black actors didn’t have the opportunity to play them. There’s nothing to wash, as it were. Films work very loosely with the source material to translate the the big screen anyway, it wouldn’t be wild to have a black harry potter. I understand if the race is specifically mentioned or alluded to in the original material and has bearing on the story it would be harder to change that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 4 hours ago, mjmooney said: I knew somebody would say that. But tbe covers are the responsibility of the publishers, not the author. Ron Weasley, I grant you, is undeniably a ginger. Here's a story about the first edition of the first book selling for a fortune, with illustrations by Rowling, showing Harry Potter as a white baby: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/22/annotated-harry-potter-first-edition-auctioned "A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with author JK Rowling's notes and original illustrations, was sold for £150,000 at auction in London. The book, which was auctioned by Sotheby's at a charity sale in aid of the English Pen writers' association, was purchased by an anonymous bidder by telephone. The annotations by Rowling include comments on the process of writing and a section from an early draft of the novel, along with a number of illustrations drawn by her and a note on how she came to invent Quidditch, a sport played by characters in the books." He is also described as having green eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 I feel that the posters had a point, I stress this, as I have no issue with a black actor getting the part, I think they could have looked at better examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Builders' bums. There's a fat lad at work who exposes a good third of his bum crack whenever he bends over. It's absolutely horrendous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a m ole Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 5 hours ago, Seat68 said: I feel that the posters had a point, I stress this, as I have no issue with a black actor getting the part, I think they could have looked at better examples. I think that’s fair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 I think a white author is always (well, vast majority of times) going to have their leads as white. People write from what they know and their own experiences. As for films, I guess they could take more of a creative angle. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Boxing - a lot of the lads I sit with are all boxing fanatics and always talking about it. I can't stand it! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turvontour Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 5 minutes ago, Xela said: Boxing - a lot of the lads I sit with are all boxing fanatics and always talking about it. I can't stand it! I'm a bit hypocritical when it comes to boxing. I follow it, and like watching it when its on, but then cant understand how its still allowed to take place in this day and age. The entertainment of two men belting the shit out of eachothers heads until ones unconscious. And they want to ban ring girls? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted March 5, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted March 5, 2018 I’m not really into boxing. If I’m out with some people who want to see a particular fight, I’ll watch it and pick a fighter who I want to win to try and make it interesting, but otherwise I can’t be fussed. Can’t stand all the macho posturing that goes with it. Having said that, for whatever reason I find boxing films are generally the best sporting films. And I love “The Boxer” by Simon & Garfunkel 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 5, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted March 5, 2018 18 minutes ago, Xela said: Boxing - a lot of the lads I sit with are all boxing fanatics and always talking about it. I can't stand it! I don’t mind it but I don’t know anything about it. I think it’s he worst sport for people pretending they know what they’re talking about when a big fight comes up. “Joshua will knock him out in the fifth” oh, will he, Janet? Did your cats tell you that? 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 1 hour ago, Xela said: I think a white author is always (well, vast majority of times) going to have their leads as white. People write from what they know and their own experiences. As for films, I guess they could take more of a creative angle. Yes, i would have assumed so. Though the last book i read was the new book (Artemis) from Andy Weir who wrote The Martian. Andy is a middle-aged white man. In his new book the main character is a young brown (Saudi Arabian background) girl. and he writes the character really well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 1 hour ago, Stevo985 said: I don’t mind it but I don’t know anything about it. I think it’s he worst sport for people pretending they know what they’re talking about when a big fight comes up. “Joshua will knock him out in the fifth” oh, will he, Janet? Did your cats tell you that? Ha, I recognise myself after a few drinks in that Never been found out yet, so keep on trucking I guess! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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