I wasnt going to talk about political stuff but this is acting and movie-related, so its okay. lol. Remember all the recent stories about diversity in films and all that? People are complaining about all the white folks in superhero movies, etc etc etc. I pointed out that the Avengers had a black man as the boss, and two Jews on the team. That seems pretty diverse to me. (Oh, but you probably count Jews as white, right? When you are pointing out how many white people are involved in something. But Ive never heard Israel called a nation full of white people before, so..... I get confused on that issue. Is Robert Downey Jr white? Scarlett Johansson? How ethnic looking do you have to be, to be not considered white in a movie? Serious question. NOT trying to be a dick. Im asking a serious question. Okay, fine. There were a bunch of white people in the Avengers. Fine. THEN, the Guardians of the Galaxy had ONE white guy, a black woman (under green paint, true, but shes still black... AND Hispanic. Thats like... double-diversity, right??), one gigantic Filipino, a racoon (okay, his voice was a white guy), and a large tree-thing. Hey, if youre gonna count the animated racoon as white because of the voice actor, then you gotta count Groot as black because of Vin Diesel. (I dont know how he refers to himself; mixed, maybe?) Regardless, thats pretty damn diverse. More not white than white cast. The main actors, anyway. And it did huge, huge box-officer numbers. HUGE. . Heck, THOR even changed one of the Norse gods to black.... for diversity. Oh, speaking of THOR. Is Natalie Portmann white??? Her birth name is Neta-Lee Hershlag. What about the other actress in THOR? Kat Dennings? Is she white? For purposes of diversity, I mean.... Are those white actresses? Serious question. If you had a movie with these two actresses, and say Bette Midler and Barbara Streisand, is that an all white movie? When someone is, as we say in the industry, (this is an actual term!) ethnically-ambiguous (seriously! thats actually on peoples headshots! and its in casting calls. Seriously!), when someone is that, are they white? Like... Gloria Estefan? If she was in a movie with J-Lo and Shakira, would any of them be considered white, if you were writing an article about how theres too damn many white people in this damn movie. Or would they all be Hispanic, and thus non-white, and not counted among the white people dominating the industry (allegedly...). Hell, Ive even confused myself now. See? This diversity mess aint easy, is it? How do you count certain people? As white, or Hispanic, or Jewish, or Middle Eastern, Persian, or.... what? Is Mandy Pantinkin white? (the you killed my father; prepare to die! actor). Is Ricky Martin? J-Lo? Any Kardashian? Duck Dynasty folks? Yes, white. The Honey-boo-boo crowd? White. If you had Kim Kardashian and Gloria Estefan in a movie, is that an all-white movie??? I dont say all this to be rude, or racist, or insensitive, or whatever. I say it as a grown-ass man, asking some honest questions, that people like to AVOID. Why? What does white mean, anyway? If you were casting a white actor, and say..... the actor who plays Howard on BIG BANG THEORY, is he white??? Would you cast someone like a Matt Damon to play the stereotypical Jew that is on BBT? I wonder what the casting call for the show THE GOLDBERGS was like... Are they white? What about Tony Shaloub? He was in PAIN & GAIN, etc... Is he white??? No? Then what do you call him? Whats the PC label for what he looks like? What do you call that look? People run screaming from the word Jew, and Jewish, but seem to have no problem saying Arab. Weird. If you were writing a casting call and you wanted people who look like Barbara Streisand and F Murray Abraham, how would you describe them? Code words??? Or if you were filling background for... the Shalom-Shalom High School, what would the casting call say......? See? I told you. This shit aint easy. And it makes people uncomfortable to even talk about it...... (Ask some of us here in Miami what craziness they went thru a few years back, trying to cast Jews for the Jewish funeral scene in MAGIC CITY.... We were like what does a Jew look like??? ANYBODY can be Jewish! Watching the guy try to pick people with... a certain look to stand on the front row was priceless! Thankfully it rained that day, and most of us who... shall we say, dont have the look they wanted, well, we covered of our face with an umbrella. Problem solved! lol) Anyhoo.... all this leads up to this excellent article about the Israeli-made show HOMELAND. A total Muslim-hate fest. Everyone in charge of the show is... an Israeli Jew. All of the bad guys are eeeeevil Mooooslims. This guy pointed out that ALL of the Muslim characters on the show are played by...... Israeli Jews. Okay, maybe its just ALMOST all of them, but still.... Isnt that kind of strange? Having eeevil Mooooslims played by...... Jews? Were there NO actual Arab actors available? Six supporting actors, who are not of Arab ethnicity, play Arabs in the show. The actor playing a Saudi prince is an Israeli American Jewish actor, Amir Arison. Why was an actual Saudi actor not hired? Surely there are quite a few of them, right?? . Were there any actual Arab actors considered? Or......... and this is the good part.... OR, was it, as this writer asked, Is it that Arab actors refused to be part of Homeland or that the people behind Homeland purposely chose to not have Arab actors portray significant characters in the show? Perhaps... someone didnt want to take a chance and cast actual Arabs, who might gain some following and popularity in the Arab world, like has happened on some of the Middle Eastern Idol talent shows? hmmmmmm... Thats pretty deep, isnt it?..... Racial/religious/political issues, all at once. Yusuf Swade, who plays Hasan Ibrahim, Abu Nazir’s bomb-maker, is also Israeli Jewish. Abu Nazir, a Palestinian is played by Iranian actor Navid Negahban (for some of my American friends, you may not know that Iranians are not Arabs.... totally different ethnicity). Raquim Faisel, another Saudi national in the show, is also played by an Iranian, actor Omid Abtahi. Hrach Titizian is of Armenian ethnic descent but is playing Danny Galvez, a character of Guatemalan and Lebanese origin. Zuleikha Robinson, who plays Roya Hammad, a Pakistani-British character, is of Burmese-Indian and English descent. I know, I know: YOU CAST THE BEST ACTOR AVAILABLE!!!! you are shouting. Sure you do. Of course you do.......... Just... isnt it strange that out of ALL the best actors available to play.... ARABS, none of them, not a single best actor available was an ACTUAL ARAB??? Isnt that........ strange? Seriously. Im just trying to imagine casting someone who isnt Jewish as say.... Netanyahus brother, who was killed in combat against eeeeevil Muslim terrorists. Im trying to imagine the casting call for that role, and someone who is NOT Jewish being considered. Yeah, that wouldnt happen. You know they would go out of their way to cast someone...... authentic. I bet you that under no circumstances would an Israeli-Jewish-owned company cast an actual Arab to play a prominent Jew in one of their shows. Hell no.... But with ARABS? Hey, who gives a shit, right? Mix and match; they all look the same to us, right? This was my rant for today. Hopefully Ive made you either A)think, or B)made you so damn mad that you are spitting out your sweet tea while furiously typing a reply. I have four movies from Redbox to watch. See ya later! chicagomonitor/2012/11/fear-and-loathing-in-homeland/
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 22:53:16 +0000
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