Bbc tv casts black people in the role of the bad guys :/

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Boy do we need more Roseanne Barrs, then!

(round here, not sure about on the BBC)
 
I feel like everyone in this thread is either wayyy on one side of the argument or the other, and I'm the only person saying "Hey maybe in some cases it's okay to cast people of a different colour skin for a role and in some cases it's silly"

Is it just the medication on speaking or what

Surely if the ancient Greeks always portrayed their heroes as pasty white Scottish guys then it would make most sense to cast that type of actor for that role. I have no idea if that's the case, and I suspect that it isn't, but why haven't we seen traditional portrayals of these heroes, as the ancient Greeks used to portray them? Surely that would help a lot in this discussion. Or maybe we have and all the drugs I've taken are making me blind
 
All I said was that Northwestern Europeans (and their American Cousins) looked silly accusing Greeks of racism in defense of cultural appropriation.
 
warpus said:
I feel like everyone in this thread is either wayyy on one side of the argument or the other, and I'm the only person saying "Hey maybe in some cases it's okay to cast people of a different colour skin for a role and in some cases it's silly"

Is it just the medication on speaking or what

Surely if the ancient Greeks always portrayed their heroes as pasty white Scottish guys then it would make most sense to cast that type of actor for that role. I have no idea if that's the case, and I suspect that it isn't, but why haven't we seen traditional portrayals of these heroes, as the ancient Greeks used to portray them? Surely that would help a lot in this discussion. Or maybe we have and all the drugs I've taken are making me blind
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The general view I get from this thread is that blacks in historical Greek roles (mythological, but still GREEK) isn't all that fitting, which is obvious to anyone in their right mind. You'd have to go out of your way to pay more attention to who you're hiring if you want such an obviously different portrayal than anyone would expect. Unless you're so blatantly ignorant of human perception and ancient lives that you genuinely don't see skin color no matter the role, that is.

But of course OP must be racist. This off-topic section is so far gone I'd probably get banned in a day if I got involved in these threads.
 
ashendashin said:
The general view I get from this thread is that blacks in historical Greek roles (mythological, but still GREEK) isn't all that fitting, which is obvious to anyone in their right mind. You'd have to go out of your way to pay more attention to who you're hiring if you want such an obviously different portrayal than anyone would expect. Unless you're so blatantly ignorant of human perception and ancient lives that you genuinely don't see skin color no matter the role, that is.
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You say this like black people didn't exist in Greece back then.

Most people in this thread have already conceded that blanket ethnic rewriting is questionable. And again... that isn't what's happening here. In the entire production there's four black people. Four! It's hardly an aggressive rewriting of history where Hitler's suddenly a woman of colour or the entire eastern Mongol Horde is made up of Danish Vikings. It's a handful of fictional characters that are black instead of white in a region of the planet where black people certainly existed in that era.

Not to mention that Troy is an ancient legend and not a well-documented historical event where the players within are known variables. Is it truly, truly, so incomprehensible that someone may have been black circa 1200 BC and that this black person may have been important? This ignores that this is a production which includes literal gods, meaning historical accuracy flies out the window regardless.

To really rain on the "white is right" parade, Greeks have more in common with Ethiopians than they do with Macedonians. This would add weight to the argument that Greece had a significant population of sub-Saharan people back then. To suggest that an ancient Greek hero cannot be black is a blatantly racist viewpoint to set forth. Simple as.
 
Vincour said:
You say this like black people didn't exist in Greece back then.

Most people in this thread have already conceded that blanket ethnic rewriting is questionable. And again... that isn't what's happening here. In the entire production there's four black people. Four! It's hardly an aggressive rewriting of history where Hitler's suddenly a woman of colour or the entire eastern Mongol Horde is made up of Danish Vikings. It's a handful of fictional characters that are black instead of white in a region of the planet where black people certainly existed in that era.

Not to mention that Troy is an ancient legend and not a well-documented historical event where the players within are known variables. Is it truly, truly, so incomprehensible that someone may have been black circa 1200 BC and that this black person may have been important? This ignores that this is a production which includes literal gods, meaning historical accuracy flies out the window regardless.

To really rain on the "white is right" parade, Greeks have more in common with Ethiopians than they do with Macedonians. This would add weight to the argument that Greece had a significant population of sub-Saharan people back then. To suggest that an ancient Greek hero cannot be black is a blatantly racist viewpoint to set forth. Simple as.
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Well then I must be a plebeian, because full on black skin on important figures isn't something I've ever even conceived about ancient Greece. Sure, I'm aware of their location, but I'm limited to public perception in this case, which can be shaped by a number of things. Perception is the key part here, and main characters based in Greek mythology being black doesn't fit for me.

Though this could be one of those shows where they constantly switch viewpoints so the actors may be irrelevant, which would make the whole argument moot. Or they might even decide to put a decent amount of thought into a tv show for once and shed some light on how much people tended to move around back then, but I somehow doubt that. But then I don't watch much tv so I don't really have a place here. The BBC just sucks from what I can tell.
 
ashendashin said:
The general view I get from this thread is that blacks in historical Greek roles (mythological, but still GREEK) isn't all that fitting, which is obvious to anyone in their right mind. You'd have to go out of your way to pay more attention to who you're hiring if you want such an obviously different portrayal than anyone would expect. Unless you're so blatantly ignorant of human perception and ancient lives that you genuinely don't see skin color no matter the role, that is.

But of course OP must be racist. This off-topic section is so far gone I'd probably get banned in a day if I got involved in these threads.
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But the fancy English Trojans isn't equally jarring?
 
Casting actors across ethnic/racial boundaries is obviously immersion-breaking.

If it's done regardless, the show apparently doesn't try to be historically immersive or accurate. Which is ok too and doesn't necessarily make it a "troll production".

For instance, Merlin that takes place in post-Roman Britain has a number of black actors, and I remember being somewhat bothered by it, because they felt clearly out of place.
Then again, absolutely nothing in this show (even leaving dragons, fairies, magic etc aside) is even remotely historically accurate or plausible. Sets & locations aren't. Weapons & armor aren't. Socio-economic & political conditions & relationships aren't.
This didn't stop me from watching for a while, and my 8-year old son currently finds it awesome: the intended target audience doesn't even register those inaccuracies, and I'm trying not to spoil his fun.
 
Moderator Action: Closed by request.
 
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