There’s a great number of black actors and actresses in today’s entertainment industry. Moreover, they come in all different sizes, features, skin tones, and reputability which is why many in the black community when Zoë Saldana was chosen to play Nina Simone and Angelina Jolie was the named the actress for the role of Mariane Pearl in “A Might Heart.” In both cases the actresses had to darken their skin with make-up to fit into the role and neither actresses shared a likeness in terms of facial features.
Some defended the casting based on their skill in acting while other argued that there were qualified biracial actoresses who could’ve had the role of Pearl and that Hollywood was sending the wrong message by choosing an actress like Saldana because of her “commercial appeal” and Eurocentric features. It raises the question of whether being a good actor is all it takes for a role now and does this make it alright to eliminate ethnic backgrounds of those being portrayed as a result?
Singer, India Arie spoke up about it on Nina Simone’s Official website saying,
"So today I saw the images of Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone…AND I THINK THEY ARE RIDICULOUS," India.Arie said in a caps-riddled post on Simone's official website. "Yes there should be a movie made, and YES they should have chosen someone who LOOKS like Nina Simone, ESPECIALLY since her RACE played such a PIVOTAL role in WHO, WHAT and WHY, she was."
1 comment:
This is something I've seen time and time again in the entertainment industry. As a black female who enjoys acting, it is frustrating for me to see a white person take on a role when the race of the character that they are portraying was/is obviously a person of color. I suppose it would not be as infuriating if I felt that the reverse were true. If there were instances in which people of color were allowed to take on roles in which the characters were obviously written to be white, then perhaps I would be able to handle. A prime example of this is how Angelina Jolie was cast at Cleopatra. As the real Cleopatra was certainly not white I felt as if casting her as a white person was a disservice to history. Furthermore, when people see Jolie portraying black roles they may not have the knowledge to know that the person was in fact a person of color. As far as the Zoe Saldana case goes my viewpoint is slightly different. I think more information is needed to understand if Saldana identifies as a black Latina. I think that if she does then it is, in fact, acceptable for her to portray Nina Simone. This brings back the topic of doing race and the discussion that we had in class regarding the census. Since Hispanic was not listed as a race, but rather an ethnicity, do HIspanic people then get to decide what race they are? Or is it simply placed upon them by society? I feel like it's a slippery slope, and therefore more info is needed for me to asses whether I think it is wrong for Saldana to portray NIna Simone in the upcoming film.
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