Jay Zepher
Active Member
- Aug 21, 2020
- 54
- 61
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Regarding TV shows and movies replacing known white characters whether real, historical, or other with African American or other non-white characters, I find it is a positive thing to include non-whites in established entertainment roles, but I do have a problem when it rewrites history. Besides providing a false history with incorrect biographical representations, these castings might also lead eventually to a false premise in the minds of viewers with little historical knowledge that people in the past were tolerant of other races when unfortunately, the opposite was true.
It is fine to see a black actor romance a white actress in Bridgerton on Netflix and witness the romance accepted in the culture of Victorian Britain, but how many viewers realize that historically that would've never been accepted in that mostly hypocritical culture which looked down upon other races. Yes, Queen Victoria did actually welcome an African queen into the palace in which the royal woman remained as her guest, but would she have allowed her to marry into her family?
These were very racist times and we should not forget that or try to erase it from memory by presenting an alternate history in which blacks and other people of color were readily accepted by the peoples of that time. It is a phony utopia that never existed, though certainly, it would've been awesome if it did.
Now presenting a black Achilles and a mixed-raced King Arthur is more problematic because we don't know what they looked like or if they really existed. More likely, the characters were created centuries ago to represent someone who might have existed and in both those cases the characters were definitely not described as of African descent. Homer even says Achilles had blonde hair.
Once more, I see no problem with expanding African American/African European representation in entertainment, but if not basing it upon actual historical descriptions then maybe that should be noted in the production so as again, to not create a false historical premise. This, bearing in mind there are many actual African figures in history that can and should be represented by black actors and actresses. The great African Kings Pianki and Talahaka, for example, and Cleopatra as well was probably of African descent as were many Egyptian pharaohs. And so, I have a problem with Hollywood's repeated white washing of Cleopatra as much as I do of black washing. There's also Hannibal, one of the greatest generals in history who nearly brought down the Roman Empire.
Point is, there are plenty of real life historical African heroes and figures in history if Hollywood would ever take the time to look into it, instead of presenting an alternate history that never existed and that's only going to make things worse by causing people to forget the real culture and historical contributions of Africans to the world.
It is fine to see a black actor romance a white actress in Bridgerton on Netflix and witness the romance accepted in the culture of Victorian Britain, but how many viewers realize that historically that would've never been accepted in that mostly hypocritical culture which looked down upon other races. Yes, Queen Victoria did actually welcome an African queen into the palace in which the royal woman remained as her guest, but would she have allowed her to marry into her family?
These were very racist times and we should not forget that or try to erase it from memory by presenting an alternate history in which blacks and other people of color were readily accepted by the peoples of that time. It is a phony utopia that never existed, though certainly, it would've been awesome if it did.
Now presenting a black Achilles and a mixed-raced King Arthur is more problematic because we don't know what they looked like or if they really existed. More likely, the characters were created centuries ago to represent someone who might have existed and in both those cases the characters were definitely not described as of African descent. Homer even says Achilles had blonde hair.
Once more, I see no problem with expanding African American/African European representation in entertainment, but if not basing it upon actual historical descriptions then maybe that should be noted in the production so as again, to not create a false historical premise. This, bearing in mind there are many actual African figures in history that can and should be represented by black actors and actresses. The great African Kings Pianki and Talahaka, for example, and Cleopatra as well was probably of African descent as were many Egyptian pharaohs. And so, I have a problem with Hollywood's repeated white washing of Cleopatra as much as I do of black washing. There's also Hannibal, one of the greatest generals in history who nearly brought down the Roman Empire.
Point is, there are plenty of real life historical African heroes and figures in history if Hollywood would ever take the time to look into it, instead of presenting an alternate history that never existed and that's only going to make things worse by causing people to forget the real culture and historical contributions of Africans to the world.