Hunger Games/Harry Potter

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

Now, I haven't read Hunger Games (although B has and says he thinks I might like it), but I have been reading some of the hype about the movie. This morning's offering, in which so called fans are shocked by the way the casting director chose black actors to play black characters, had me thinking.

It took me an astonishingly long time, as I believe I've mentioned, to work out what was wrong with Emma Watson as Hermione. Her acting's fine, she fits theoretically, but in my head Hermione was black. There's nothing in the books to contradict that impression (I went back and checked).

Do you think it was anticipation of the same sort of outburst that led to Watson, rather than a black actor, being cast? Or do you think the casting director merely had a different mental image? I'm hoping the latter, but even that's a problem, when the immediate mental image of a hero is white.

Oh, and just to make Martha relevant, I'd just like to say, I'm still hoping for a non-white Doctor. It could happen, we've been told it could.

Comments

[absinthecity.livejournal.com]

I thought people were up in arms because there were more black actors cast as characters from the poor districts and that this was being construed as racist. Not that they merely imagined the characters differently.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

That would make more sense. Thse tweets are saying things like 'I don't care she's dead now I know she's black'

[absinthecity.livejournal.com]

Right...that might be coming from a rather different standpoint then! I just thought it was an observation on racial stereotyping - the poorer district 11 (which was where both characters came from if you've not seen the film as yet) seemed to be mostly black, and this was also one of the less wealthy districts where rioting kicks off.

I could kinda see how that might bother people if there was no indication in the book that these were black characters (I haven't read the book)