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Disney tried to cast a white guy as the hero of live-action Mulan movie

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If you're bothered about the plot changes, yeah that doesn't sound like Milan at all. Another story entirely.

On the other hand, if you are really complaining about a white actor, get a grip.
so a black girl is cast as hermione..."great!!!"
but a white guy is cast as a chinese soldier..."RACIST!"
Original post by 1010marina
If you're bothered about the plot changes, yeah that doesn't sound like Milan at all. Another story entirely.

On the other hand, if you are really complaining about a white actor, get a grip.


You don't see anything wrong with casting a white man as a Chinese character? Really?
Reply 23
Original post by sleepysnooze
so a black girl is cast as hermione..."great!!!"
but a white guy is cast as a chinese army captain..."RACIST!"


They're not even similar lol
Original post by RobML
They're not even similar lol


how? ...am I misunderstanding something here...?
Original post by sleepysnooze
so a black girl is cast as hermione..."great!!!"
but a white guy is cast as a chinese soldier..."RACIST!"


Different scenario entirely. The entertainment industry is largely dominated by the White majority and therefore when a minority member is cast in a role that people think is "supposed" to be for a white person, it is revolutionary and should be celebrated because it should happen more often. Minorities should not only be cast in roles that conform which widely perpetuated stereotypes. Casting a White guy as a Chinese soldier as you put is whitewashing. What's wrong with casting a Chinese person in that role. There is no shortage of roles for white males, let minorities shine for once. If a movie is remade, it must be done right and that starts with casting.
Original post by mkap
whats wrong with this?....


Ironically, I bet you're the type of the user that was up in arms about the black hermione thing. But this ones fine since the actor's white right?

TSR make up your damn minds.
Original post by wolfmoon88
Different scenario entirely. The entertainment industry is largely dominated by the White majority and therefore when a minority member is cast in a role that people think is "supposed" to be for a white person, it is revolutionary and should be celebrated because it should happen more often. Minorities should not only be cast in roles that conform which widely perpetuated stereotypes. Casting a White guy as a Chinese soldier as you put is whitewashing. What's wrong with casting a Chinese person in that role. There is no shortage of roles for white males, let minorities shine for once. If a movie is remade, it must be done right and that starts with casting.


oh so I'm not misunderstanding anything here - all you're saying is "one rule for whitey, another rule for minorities" - do you understand liberal equality? because *this* isn't it. you are wanting segregatory rules for different races, essentially, which is nothing short of regressive. if race doesn't matter in 2016, then why argue about something like this? if your narrative is that races are different in significant ways beyond mere aesthetics, you are giving people ammo to justify actual racism!

but my bigger problem here is that you are using different racial groups in your social narrative as nothing but props, accessories and window dressing to your godforsaken agenda. that's really patronising. you're just dolling these people up as symbols, as if that's all they are. tokens. not individuals whom are more than merely their race!
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by sleepysnooze
so a black girl is cast as hermione..."great!!!"
but a white guy is cast as a chinese soldier..."RACIST!"


White's massively dominate the film industry, so yes when a "minority" race is cast as a main character, for the sake of their talent and not as a minority race sidekick, it is ****ing great. When a white guy is cast as what should be a Chinese character, it's simply perpetuating the domination of whites in the film industry.

I genuinely don't understand how this is so difficult for you to grasp?
Reply 29
Original post by sleepysnooze
how? ...am I misunderstanding something here...?


Firstly: A white guy isn't being cast as a Chinese soldier- "Instead, the proposed remake of the studio's hit animation movie would feature a white male European sailor who saved the young heroine and conquered her heart" This undercuts the entire point of the movie, condenscending, sexist, and racist all in one!

Secondly: Mulan is a Chinese folk hero, Hermione is just a recent literary invention. It's insulting to Chinese history

Thirdly: The ethinicity of Hermione has no bearing on the story, whereas it does with Mulan

Fourthly: White explorers weren't even kicking about in China around the time, it's dire historical inaccuracy, whereas Harry Potter is entirely fictional and based on nothing

Fithly: Plus this whole thing is a part of a massive harmful trope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_savior_narrative_in_film
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Twinpeaks
White's massively dominate the film industry, so yes when a "minority" race is cast as a main character, for the sake of their talent and not as a minority race sidekick, it is ****ing great.


so you're appealing to pure tokenistic racial-window-dressing logic

When a white guy is cast as what should be a Chinese character, it's simply perpetuating the domination of whites in the film industry.


what if he's the best actor for the role? if a black actor was the best for hermione, why not a white guy for a chinese guy?

I genuinely don't understand how this is so difficult for you to grasp?


because I'm trying to force it to make sense for your sake but gosh darn it reality is so stubborn like that
Original post by sleepysnooze
so a black girl is cast as hermione..."great!!!"
but a white guy is cast as a chinese soldier..."RACIST!"


It's not a difficult concept imo. The issue is hermione's race has nothing to do with the portrayal of her character. She could be indian, korean or black and it shouldn't change anything. It was set in a place that has a range of ethnicities anyway.

But being Chinese is important to Mulans character simply because for story purposes, her dad is Chinese.. The story doesn't make sense if she isn't. Whole point is to stop her dad being drafted into their countries military. So her race is tied in with her character. A black or white Mulan would be incredibly stupid unless you're rewriting the entire story.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by lucabrasi98
Ironically, I bet you're the type of the user that was up in arms about the black hermione thing. But this ones fine since the actor's white right?

TSR make up your damn minds.


I thought Black Hermione was wonderful :blushing: People need to learn to accept other races rather than only caring about their own race
Reply 33
Original post by sleepysnooze
so you're appealing to pure tokenistic racial-window-dressing logic



what if he's the best actor for the role? if a black actor was the best for hermione, why not a white guy for a chinese guy?



because I'm trying to force it to make sense for your sake but gosh darn it reality is so stubborn like that


I don't really agree that this is bad because there's not enough minorities in cinema- read my argument instead
Reply 34
Original post by lucabrasi98
Ironically, I bet you're the type of the user that was up in arms about the black hermione thing. But this ones fine since the actor's white right?

TSR make up your damn minds.


i found that a black hermoine was creative bc the books didnt suggest she was white, we just assumed so.
Original post by lucabrasi98
It's not a difficult concept imo. The issue is hermione's race has nothing to do with the portrayal of her character. She could be indian, korean or black and it shouldn't change anything. It was set in a place that has a range of ethnicities anyway.

But being Chinese is important to Mulans character simply because for story purposes, her dad is Chinese.. The story doesn't make sense if she isn't. Whole point is to stop her dad being drafted into their countries military. So her race is tied in with her character. A black or white Mulan would be incredibly stupid unless you're rewriting the entire story.


um, no. you're falsely conflating "chinese" (the nationality) with "chinese" (the race). hermione was english in the harry potter books, so her race would naturally be anglo-saxon/caucasian. but if you're saying that a white person can't play a nationality-wise chinese character, then by that same reasoning, hermione can't be played by a black person if race and nationality MUST be equivalent
Original post by sleepysnooze
so you're appealing to pure tokenistic racial-window-dressing logic
what if he's the best actor for the role? if a black actor was the best for hermione, why not a white guy for a chinese guy?
because I'm trying to force it to make sense for your sake but gosh darn it reality is so stubborn like that



1. No. There's a substantial amount of academic literature on this, if you took your head out of your own arse long enough to educate yourself. Head on Google Scholar, who knows you might learn something new, I know it mustn't happen very often for you, but worth a shot.

2. If you bothered to read the OP or article properly, you would have saved yourself some embarrassment by understanding that it's not a case of finding the perfect white guy for the role which they just couldn't refuse. They are only in the story writing stages, and set the entire plot based on a white European soldier. If you're going to get anywhere on this damn site, learn to ****ing read the opening posts. You did the exact same thing in the thread regarding 'accidental penetration' and rape. Why are you so idiotic as to not bother reading a post and then subsequently waste time making completely invalid points?

3. You lack the basic reasoning ability that presumably someone your age should have developed a long time ago. If you are nearing the age where you are thinking about higher education, I'd be very worried if I were you.
Original post by RobML
I don't really agree that this is bad because there's not enough minorities in cinema- read my argument instead


right, so there "aren't enough" of them, so you're going to feed more minorities into cinema for...what goal exactly? a cosmetic, superficial, tokenistic justification? like that's going to change anything or fool anybody? again, you're treating these people as props, not individuals. it also doesn't actually refelct whether the actors have skill or not, it literally just suggests that they were picked due to their race, which is regressive and if anything is just going to damn these different groups with a reputation of "you only got here because of special treatment" - what a perfect ingredient to a society of racial tolerance
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 38
Original post by sleepysnooze
right, so there "aren't enough" of them, so you're going to feed more minorities into cinema for...what goal exactly? a cosmetic, superficial, tokenistic justification? like that's going to change anything or fool anybody? again, you're treating these people as props, not individuals. it also doesn't actually refelct whether the actors have skill or not, it literally just suggests that they were picked due to their race, which is regressive


I just literally said that isn't why I think the script is bad. You must be trolling. Respond to my actual argument please.
Original post by sleepysnooze
right, so there "aren't enough" of them, so you're going to feed more minorities into cinema for...what goal exactly? a cosmetic, superficial, tokenistic justification? like that's going to change anything or fool anybody? again, you're treating these people as props, not individuals. it also doesn't actually refelct whether the actors have skill or not, it literally just suggests that they were picked due to their race, which is regressive and if anything is just going to damn these different groups with a reputation of "you only got here because of special treatment" - what a perfect ingredient to a society of racial tolerance


As a white man you don't understand. People are very influenced by the fact that there are just a multitude of white heroes in the media being white saviours. It brainwashes them and it devalues minority men. Same case with the women.

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