This kind of "keeping it simple" has absolutely nothing to do with what the real world is like or how things really work, but is intended to lead to the answer - and only to the answer - that the questioner wants to hear.
Poll Do you consider Discovery to truly be in the Prime Timeline at this point?
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This kind of "keeping it simple" has absolutely nothing to do with what the real world is like or how things really work, but is intended to lead to the answer - and only to the answer - that the questioner wants to hear.
That's quite funny considering that not only was Chekov never played by a genuine Russian but his accent is so ridiculously fake that nobody who's not suffering from some serious brain injury would ever talk like that yet it never kept anyone from watching that series, and I am guessing you included. But here you want genuine Arabs to play Arabs in a world of make-believe. Maybe you'd like also the jewelry to be real and the alcohol to be authentic while you're at it and maybe the inebriated should only be played by people who've imbibed more than half of a bottle of whiskey...
It isn't the mid 20th century anymore.
Anton Yelchin was of Russian descent.
What's really funny is that your reply there has absolutely no relevance to the post you quoted.
Dwayne Johnson could pull it off, but they're trying to avoid classic Trek actors.If we can get Robert Downey Jr. to do some Trek stuff he can play any race he wants. But I think he is the only one in Hollywood who can pull it off.
So is Walter Koenig.
Costume jewelry are not a group of hundreds of millions of people from around the world who are in need of more positive representation in TV and film, and inebriated people are not specific to any one particular group, and can be played by anyone. So those are poor and dismissive comparisons.
Logistically, it's not always possible to have a person of the same descent as the character play the character, but wherever possible it would be nice if casting directors made more of an effort to cast someone who matches the background of the character. Representation matters, and it's not the same as acting drunk or wearing fake jewelry.
Why does it matter? Does it show? It definitely doesn't since his accent is as fake as they come. The only area where his Russian origin would matter? IE the accent is completely fake!
So tell me. How could his so-called Russian origin have any impact on his acting?
And beyond representation, employment discrimination is also a thing that needs to be stamped out. It's bad enough that, in your example, there aren't many roles for Arab characters being written in American film/television/theater. To then not hire an actor of Arab descent to play those few roles that exist, that's employment discrimination, no matter what hypotheticals you want to come up with.
I don't see why if it doesn't show in the movie? If something is not apparent when watching the movie then it's just a luxury that is likely to cost you more than you're willing to spend.
The only important question about any detail whatsoever is "Will that make people want to watch the movie more or less?" If the latter then it's worse than just a waste of time, energy, and money.
Chekov's accent is faker than a three dollar bill, yet I've never heard people complain about it. They like it because it's kind of ridiculous as is his constant contention that everything has been invented in Russia. Chekov is but a caricature of a cold war Russian to please people who needed to see the Russians as ridiculous because they were seen as the enemy. If they did the same about Uhura, the franchise would never survive.
This.
It's a matter of people getting jobs. In this case, Actors.
I'm not Arab but I am Half-Persian. If there are two actors competing for a part who are just as good but one is Persian and the other is not Persian, then I prefer that the Persian actor be cast if the role calls for that background.
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So what you're saying is that not discriminating (IE choosing the actor based on his ability to incarnate the role regardless of his origin) is discriminating when choosing an actor based mostly on his origin and not his ability to defend the role is NOT discriminating!
Orwellian!
What if the Non-Persian one was significantly better, would you still choose the Persian one?
EDIT: I'm going to walk away from this.
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What??? Are you serious?
Sorry. That was very insensitive. You were angling me into a question I'd rather not have to answer, hypothetical or not. If the Non-Persian were dramatically better, I'd very reluctantly cast him or her.
Except movies are also an industry, one that employs millions, and industries (especially of that scale) that conduct themselves in this fashion cause an incredible amount of societal harm, whether physically, socially, or economically.
I stated my case plainly. You're the one literally engaging in doublespeak, since you're intentionally using "discriminating" in multiple ways here.
Your hypotheticals are meaningless. There is no actor who is so "significantly better" at being the ethnicity you are casting for than an actor who actually is the ethnicity you are casting for. You literally cannot "incarnate the role" better than having been born doing so.
I would still choose the Persian actor.
The first Tomb Raider movie must be something you dislike.
I get both sides of this discussion. It’s ‘representation’ vs ‘try acting darling’ with just a hint of ‘all those dark chaps/pale chaps look alike’ (for a nice shining example of the latter, see Hans Gruber.)
It’s an argument that is very difficult to sanely win to be honest. TOS was filmed in sixties Hollywood, finding a ‘representative’ actor would have been difficult in their price range. In the modern era, the world seems so globalised that people may find themselves wondering how Memoirs of a Geisha managed to cast practically every Chinese actress of the time who was known in the West, in a film about Japan. Or something like that.
I would say only Vulcans should be cast as Vulcans, but of the three Vulcan television appearing personalities I can think of...well, they all live in the UK, and trust me, the last thing you want is more exposure to John Redwood.
Perhaps one day we can judge actors by the content of their portrayed character. It’s a dream. But the likelihood of Hollywood dropping it’s addiction to stereotypes across the board soon is very small. Now excuse me, I am off to drink a cup of tea before planning a villainous plot before the fog closes back in, and a bus and a black taxi have just driven by which means I can set my watch to good old Big Ben and pull up my drawbridge for the night. Supercalifragilisticexpialodocious.
I disagree. I am of Polish descent (My parents were born there) but I have a friend who's studied Polish and knows it much better than I do, Plus he's read tons of things about the Polish culture and also knows it better than I do, yet he has no Polish people among his ancestors going back three or four generations. It wouldn't make sense to cast me instead of him for playing a Polish in a movie based on my origin, assuming we were both actors of course, which we aren't, but that is immaterial to my point.
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