Fandango Provocatively asks:
Does diversity casting in TV shows or movies, where fictional characters who were presumed to be white in the source material are portrayed by non-white actors, concern or bother you? Why do you feel that way?
It’s funny, Worms asked a very similar question in one of her posts the other week, so I’m basically gonna repeat my answer.
Whenever somebody does fiction, they are already asking us to believe that they are something they are not. Daniel Craig is stepping into that suave dinner jacket, and asking us to believe that he is James Bond. Harrison Ford is picking up that whip and asking us to believe he is Mister Whiplash Indiana Jones.
So if a black guy asks us to believe he is a white guy, what’s the difference?
They’re asking us to believe that they’re something they’re not. So what? We’re intelligent people, aren’t we? We can do that?
Incidentally, examples that have been around for years, but nobody ever batted an eyelid. Peter Pan (a boy) was usually played by a woman. Who cares? Or, pantomime dames were normally played by men. So what? I bet nobody ever complained at these, so why start complaining now?
We should be colour-blind, gender-blind, and so on and so on.
Mister Bump 
I agree with you Pete. And I enjoyed the diversity in rings of power. Nicely done.
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Why start complaining now? Because social media allows people to hide behind anonymity and to express whatever bigoted, racist opinions they have while sitting on the toilet in the comfort of their own homes using their smartphones to stoke divisiveness for thousand of other like-minded lemmings to read and repost or retweet so they can all feel good about their narrow-minded ignorance. Misery loves company.
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These people exist now. They existed ten, fifty, a hundred, two hundred years ago. Fine, social media never existed then, but why would having a certain actor play a certain role be relevant?
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These days everything is relevant and nothing is relevant.
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I think social media gives people a platform to express views they might not otherwise express.
But I think those people would have held those views previously in any case, just not had the means of expressing it.
I think in instances that you suggest, it is holding that distasteful view which is the main thing. It’s a tricky one but I think people on sm have probably formed their views already.
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I agree. Before social media and racist, bigoted herd mentality and group think could take hold, people still had theses views, but they didn’t openly express them.
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Nicely said, MB!
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Well said
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this stuff is really quite straightforward, I find. In this casew you’re not really talking about anything different to what already happens.
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