Race and Ethnicity Portrayed in Movies

“Whitewashing” is a term used in Hollywood by people and movie critics, meaning when white actors take parts that were meant for other races. When this topic came up in conversations with my friends, their opinions were so strong, I didn’t know where my views would fit in. My stand on this matter was simply: I don’t think “whitewashing” is bad, but it’s not right either.

When watching movies, I liked seeing characters that I could relate to, and I didn’t always look at race or ethnicity as being a main factor in my choices, but being an African American “black” female, I don’t see many characters I could relate to that wasn’t being portrayed as a drug dealer, pimp or villain. There aren’t a lot of black role models in Hollywood for young black children to look up to. I believe casting white lead roles in every movie production is leaving a message to all ethnic children who watch them that white actors are better suited for those roles than minorities.

I know some people are tired of hearing about race and ethnicity in movies, and believe it doesn’t matter. People should pay for movies that have great actors, point blank period, right? Well not exactly. I personally think it’s offensive and as a person of color, that a character who is written to be ethnic is being played by a white actor. It’s even more offensive when they said that they didn’t want to prevent white actors from being in the movie to justify casting them in the lead roles, leaving the minorities in the background. If the studios are worried about making money and using white actors to achieve that goal, then something is wrong.

But Hollywood has a long history of racial controversy stretching back to the 1930s when well known white actors routinely used face paint to play black characters. Once again there are amazing black actors like, Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx, who sometimes played characters that were originally written for white actors, but my personal issue on “whitewashing” is the fact that Hollywood just needs to come correct. Al Pacino is a great example of this because he’s a genius at his craft, and has played every ethnic race from every Latino culture, and is a great actor of our time, but you don’t see Pacino playing Shaft or an African King from Egypt.

Movies that are based off people are very important to come correct in, so there is no confusion. This aspect is what matters to me the most, and I find it a little bothersome when it’s not done correctly. If Hollywood didn’t want to cast the right ethnicity of people, then they should at least cast actors that are more palpable to that ethnic community, so it would be believable and also a way to avoid casting controversies. The movie 21 was claimed by fans to be the biggest whitewashed movie in the 21st century in Hollywood, which was based off a true story of six MIT students who were trained in counting cards. The six students in real life were all Asian and in the movie, all but one was white. Even though there has yet to be any solid evidence given that hiring non-whites for a movie will make it less profitable, Hollywood still prefers white actors for lead roles it seemed like. Those actions by movie companies are still going on as new movies like, The Last Airbender and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time that “whitewashing” would not stop, unless minorities are the ones to make that change and are in charge.

The fact of the matter, Hollywood is about money, bottom line. But like the Bible says — “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Among the entertainment industry's greatest evils apparently is racism. Like I’ve said before, there are people who think it’s not about race, skin color or creed, but about the skill in acting. Samuel L Jackson is a prime example; he’s in films because he’s good at acting; not because of racial equality in films, and I couldn’t do more than agree on many levels, but if he was to play a historically figure of some kind that was well known and white, people would throw a hissy fit. All this talk about “whitewashing” at first was confusing to me, I didn’t get it. I don’t. Obviously I’m not white, and I’m more passionate about this than others, but I’ve always been fascinated by other cultures and ways of living, and I want them represented accurately in movies to create equalize opportunities for minorities to get jobs on the big screen. I hate when Hollywood assumes that viewers won’t come to see movies that star people of color, and gladly panders to the racists who won’t.

I’m often disgusted, disappointed, and dismayed by the lack of progressive thinking. It’s sad to think that it’s believed people won't come to see a movie that has diversity and truth to it. How do they know if they don't try? I see it as an excuse to continue racial bias and prejudice and to perpetuate stereotypes. Big studios and independent producers should be embracing our diversity as a way to appeal to a wider audience instead of marketing to the pockets of a few. Big time productions should want people to come out, release projects that will draw their interests. Instead Hollywood just keeps regurgitating the same storyline over and over. Frankly Hollywood needs to join the 21st century.

And again it just shows that studios think that casting white actors to play characters of color is more reminiscent of traditional Hollywood discrimination than diversity, and that people of color have been placed in secondary and negative roles compared to the now-whitewashed main characters.

I would like to see more minorities in T.V shows and on big screens, it’s a great year for change.