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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I Tried To Stay Out Of It.....

Let me begin by saying sorry for the missed post yesterday...I had to take care of some things before going out of town. There is a movie coming out any day now, entitled "A Mighty Heart", the story of the wife of captured and murdered reporter on Iraq Daniel Pearl. A few months ago people were kicking up dust as St. Angelina Jolie Of Hollywood, clearly white, plays the title role of the biracial wife, clearly non-white. I brushed it off...after all, isn't that why they call it acting? Actors have played various races and ethnicities through the ages.

But after viewing the trailer, and seeing Angelina in that fright wig with that ridiculous accent (were WAS that woman from anyway?) I have to say I was nonplussed and disturbed, even though I couldn't put my finger on exactly why. It just didn't seem right for this Hollywood powerhouse to be playing even a half black woman. You are so aware of who she is in real life, that you cannot suspend your disbelief, even for a second.

Now, let me make it clear that on a personal and professional level that I have no problem with St. Jolie, but in this instance I think that she still could have gotten her story out and made her point clear by being behind the scenes and just producing. What, Halle Berry was't available?

Do you think that it's not right for non-blacks to portray black characters, or is it a non-issue?

3 comments:

Coco LaRue said...

I don't think we've come far enough to pretend that race doesn't matter. I wrote a play a while ago and when we were casting, we debated a Puerto Rican actor playing the role based on my life. While race wasn't the central point of the piece, I still felt like he wouldn't be me if he weren't played by an African-American. And a cute one at that. I know it might not seem that important, but race colors how society sees us and who we become. (Pun intended.) And beside that, there are plenty of actresses of color they could have cast.

Anonymous said...

Well said as usual, Coco!

Anonymous said...

what jolie playing a blackwoman..hollywood is delirious no question about that..they only saving their asses to please white folks..and that's it.

well what about black folks wtf we buy tickets too?