Fantastic Four reboot-- Casting, Rumors, Pix, ect;

That's an interesting observation. I wonder why that is?

 

Oh, us geezers are just ornery.

 

Haha...actually I think it was one or two of you that convinced me that Benedict Cumberbach was actually a good choice for Khan. I believe that when a character's ethnicity is integral to the story than that is when, and only when, it should be considered in casting. Some of you convinced me that that expectation did not really apply to Khan's character.

 

I have an idea why that is, but I'm just too sick of the subject to get into it. If you look around the BBS, you'll see it dragged out and argued and debated and beaten to a bloody pulp over and over and over.

One thing is clear: I like Star Trek and that's why I come here.

 

And it will come up every time a similar casting choice is made--even though the philosophy of Star Trek is one of embracing difference and change.

 

And every time I'll just have to do this and acknowledge that my parents and grandparents were right. Kids don't know squat.

 

As shown by using Kirk, Spock and Khan all over again.

Though I've made that comment before so I'm just repeating myself as well.

 

It seems to be an annoying tick of sci-fans and especially comic fans where they have a breakdown anytime there's a change from the version of the comic they had as a kid. Some who complain about the race change aren't even inherently racist; it's just an odd form of literalism that comes up.

 

No one but Trekkers care about anyone but Kirk and Spock and Seven of Nine.

 

Don't tell the Trekkers. They're sensitive about the not liking change thing.

 

Using Kirk Spock and even Khan in a Star Trek movie is a bit different than casting a black actor as the Human Torch.

 

Fair enough, I take your meaning.

 

I can only speak for myself but in my case, it's just been a realisation (with age) that there are numerous things which are infinitely more important and worth getting worked up over.

 

I'm one of those "older" members and i don't like the change at all because it reeks of "Change for change's sake" to me.

Like it or not, the team had white skin color and Sue and Johnny were sister and brother.

I can't speak for the production team and their decision process but to me it smells off providing a racially different character so they can appeal to more people at the movies equalling a bigger take.

I know that movies are a business first and everything else is a distant second but that doesn't mean i have to like it.

I am really excited to see Black Panther and if Luke Cage's own show on Netflix comes even close to the quality and tone of Daredevil i'll be one happy camper but i simply don't like unneeded changes to the core material.

I also was against Idris Elba in Thor, fortunately Elba is a terrific actor and his Heimdall is awesome. It's however still weird to see a black or asian dude in a pantheon of supposedly nordic gods.

 

^ Except they're not really Nordic Gods, they're aliens.

If people are annoyed by the skin colour changes, then they should also be annoyed by the fact that Hugh Jackman is a foot taller than comic Wolverine; that Ian McKellen isn't as physically imposing as comic Magneto; that Charlie Cox's hair colour is different from comic Matt Murdock's; that Robert Downey Jr isn't the Errol Flynn/Timothy Dalton lookalike from the comic (who was never as kooky as onscreen Tony); that Ra's Al Ghul has been played by an Irishman and then an Australian instead of an Arabic actor; that Mark Ruffalo looks nothing like how Bruce Banner is drawn in the comics, etc, etc.

With the exception of Patrick Stewart or Henry Cavill, few actors in film adaptations of comic superheroes look exactly like their on-the-page counterparts. What matters to me is how they capture the essence of he character and I think all of the above examples have done so. Differing skin colour is just another example of that.

 

^^ And that's exactly why I've never had much interest in TV or movie adaptations of comic books. Not only do they have a tendency to mainstream the imagination out of them, but they have a tendency to make arbitrary changes that detract from what I liked about the original.

I'm not sure how old you guys are, but I'm from the "people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character" generation. The current generation seems to have turned that upside down; it's like they're trying to create a positive kind of racism, and that ain't gonna work.

 

^ I understand your first paragraph. I don't share your view - all adaptations from the page to the screen make changes, be it Hannibal or Harry Potter, Gone Girl or Gone With The Wind. But fair enough, at least you're consistent in your dislike of changes to the source material.

I don't really understand your second paragraph though. Can you expand on it? Are you suggesting people are only liking certain actors or performers because of their skin colour?

Personally, I find Kanye West an ass in the same way I find Liam Gallagher an ass and I find Richard Blackwood (a black British comedian) to be as unfunny as I find various unfunny white comedians. I just don't get hung up about colour one way or the other.

 

Yeah, some cosmetic changes might be necessary going from one medium to the other, but I'm talking about changes that dilute the character or concept. Giving credit for Reed Richards' inventions to Doctor Doom or having Batman find his paraphernalia in a forgotten R&D warehouse. Sherlock Holmes in the 21st century. If you're going to change the concept, why not just create something new? The Incredible Hulk TV show was really very good, but it wasn't the Hulk-- they should have created a new character. Why have a character named Ichabod Crane who isn't Ichabod Crane and give no reference to the Washington Irving story (and I'm saying that about my current favorite show)?

Kind of, yeah. For example, there was recently a thread that related to racism somehow and, being an old hippie, I made my usual comment about there being only one human race. The hipsters piled on, because this is now considered racist. Apparently, "race" has become conflated with "culture" and is something that non-whites have earned because of the abuse they've suffered at the hands of whites. Saying that there's no such thing as race is now "white privilege." Welcome to the Age of Extremism.

Exactly as it should be. But that kind of thinking is just as likely to be called racist now. You've got to prove your street cred!

It's Millennial politics. This, too, will pass.

 

Folks who expect to see filmmakers just rubber-stamp the trivia of source material should just stick with macaroni and cheese on the menu.