Why Can't Hollywood Find Any Native American or Japanese Actresses?
First it was "Memoirs Of a Geisha" where the two lead parts went to Chinese actresses. Where there no Japanese actresses to play the roles? Isn't this an insult to Japan and their culture? How does this validate the films authenticity? Most Asians and many Americans can tell the difference between a Chinese and a Japanese, even with makeup!
Now it is the soon-to-be-released movie, "The New World." Colin Farrell will play Captain John Smith (will he have an English accent?). I can live with this but what about the important role of Pocahontas? The then 15-year old Q'orianka Kilcher was chosen for the part. She is Native American, right? Well....sort of. She is Swiss/Alaskan on her mother's side (I'm sure what "Alaskan" means) and was born in Germany. On her father's side she is part Quechua/Huachipa, indigenous tribal groups from Peru.
This, I suppose, would suit the role if she was meeting up with Pizarro in the Inca Empire. But, isn't there a single young actress from a North American Native American tribe (especially from the East or North East tribes that could have filled the roll? I'm sure that she does a fine job playing her role. But....
Remember when the blue-eyed Swede, Max von Sydow, played the role of Jesus in "The Greatest Story Ever Told?" Would Hollywood hire a dark-complexioned Italian to play the role of a Scandinavian Viking? I'm afraid the answer is "yes."
I just don't get it. Next will we see an African-American playing the leading role in a movie about George Washington? or a Vietnamese playing the role of Abraham Lincoln?
It makes just about as much sense as just about everything else Hollywood is doing these days. They expect the rest of the American people to be "politically correct." Why can't they try it themselves?
I don't plan on seeing any of these films but....just maybe...I might have if I had thought that they had gotten more appropriate actresses to play these parts.
I'm sure that "Geisha" will be a big hit in Japan, too! Right? Wrong!
Now it is the soon-to-be-released movie, "The New World." Colin Farrell will play Captain John Smith (will he have an English accent?). I can live with this but what about the important role of Pocahontas? The then 15-year old Q'orianka Kilcher was chosen for the part. She is Native American, right? Well....sort of. She is Swiss/Alaskan on her mother's side (I'm sure what "Alaskan" means) and was born in Germany. On her father's side she is part Quechua/Huachipa, indigenous tribal groups from Peru.
This, I suppose, would suit the role if she was meeting up with Pizarro in the Inca Empire. But, isn't there a single young actress from a North American Native American tribe (especially from the East or North East tribes that could have filled the roll? I'm sure that she does a fine job playing her role. But....
Remember when the blue-eyed Swede, Max von Sydow, played the role of Jesus in "The Greatest Story Ever Told?" Would Hollywood hire a dark-complexioned Italian to play the role of a Scandinavian Viking? I'm afraid the answer is "yes."
I just don't get it. Next will we see an African-American playing the leading role in a movie about George Washington? or a Vietnamese playing the role of Abraham Lincoln?
It makes just about as much sense as just about everything else Hollywood is doing these days. They expect the rest of the American people to be "politically correct." Why can't they try it themselves?
I don't plan on seeing any of these films but....just maybe...I might have if I had thought that they had gotten more appropriate actresses to play these parts.
I'm sure that "Geisha" will be a big hit in Japan, too! Right? Wrong!
posted by Bird of Paradise at 6:49 PM
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