This marks the second editorial this month discussing race in the movies. Last week Lauren posted this fantastic piece on white men playing Native Americans onscreen, and now I find myself compelled to write about race as well. I was, in fact, writing an entirely different piece on The Hunger Games when suddenly all anyone was talking about was how racist idiot fans were complaining because the character “Rue” was played by an African-American girl named Amandla Stenberg. Their complaint, it seems, was that Rue is supposed to be white, and also some racist nonsense that I won’t even put in print here, because it’s…well, racist and infuriating. This all came to the forefront when a Jezebel contributor named Dodai Stewart mentioned a Tumblr page called “Hunger Games Tweets“; this Tumblr collects images of tweets by supposed fans that “dare to call themselves fans yet don’t know a damn thing about the books.” Things like the fact that Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins refers to Rue as having “dark brown skin and eyes.” (Truthfully, this Rue-hating isn’t new–this race-based complaint was made when Stenberg was first cast.)
Seriously, people, this shouldn’t be an issue for fans for many reasons. Firstly, of course, for the obvious reason that Rue is, in fact “dark skinned” in the books, so Stenberg actually fits the character description. Secondly, race shouldn’t matter to you as a–cue the Drive soundtrack here–real human being. Now that I’ve got those insanely obvious parts of the argument out of the way, let’s get to the other stuff. Like the fact that race doesn’t actually matter in the world of the film or the book upon which it’s based. In Hunger Games, yes, Rue is black–as is the other District 11 Tribute, Thresh. But the awesome thing about Suza
nne Collins’ work is that Rue’s skin tone is described as a means to visualize her as a character, but it is never brought up again. Her apparent blackness, like Katniss’ olive-skinned complexion–is never used as a plot point or a defining characteristic; it does not define her experience of the Hunger Games or the world in which she lives. Rue is young, sweet, and yes, “dark skinned,” but her sweetness and innocence are what matter to Katniss and to the reader/viewer. Katniss merely sees a young girl who resembles her young sister back in District 12–skin color doesn’t matter to Katniss, nor should it matter to us.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have cared if Rue had been played by a girl who couldn’t be described as “dark skinned,” not only because race has nothing to do with character (in both the literary and moralistic sense of the term) but because it also shouldn’t matter if an actor of a particular race plays a character of a different race. Why can’t an actor who is black play a character who is originally described as white in the source material, or vice versa, et cetera, et cetera? (Mind you, I’m not advocating for blackface–I’m saying that there’s no reason a character can’t look/be different in an adaptation from page to screen. After all, we wouldn’t tell a short actor that he can’t play a tall character, would we? If we did, Josh Hutcherson would not be playing “Peeta” right now!) Unless a character’s racial or ethnic background is integral to the plot of a film or their personal backstory (as in, say, Tom Sawyer), then who cares what race the actor is? Why does it matter if a character is briefly described as white or black? What should matter is whether or not the actor cast in the role is a decent performer. Literary purists and Hunger Games snobs might complain that a white or latina Rue isn’t true to the book, but I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to be 100% true to a novel when adapting it to the screen.
Ultimately, none of us should care at all that Rue is black, in either the novel or the film. Obviously it’s a horrifying shame that some idiots both can’t read and can’t see past race. Rather than focusing on Stenberg’s skin tone, I prefer to think about how fantastic she is in the role, and how she gives one of the best female performances in the film. By the way–not that I like taking my social cues from psychotic, dystopian death matches, but if there’s one thing that the Hunger Games themselves teach us, it’s that we are all inherently equal humans seeking the same things: love, protection, family, and life. If race doesn’t matter in the Capitol, the Districts, or the Hunger Games arena, why should it matter to us?
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It doesn’t matter what race an actor is if they act the part well. In Percy Jackson, Grover was turned into a black character, but he was one of the best characters in the movie. Great casting. In The Last Airbender, everybody’s races were changed, and everybody sucked. Bad casting. (Well, except Dev Patel. I still think he was a decent Zuko.)
So the only time I care when they change looks from the source material is when it doesn’t make sense. Do it because you got the best actor or actress for the job. But if you change how they look and it turns out crappy, then… it doesn’t make sense.
In the case of Rue, it doesn’t matter anyway. As you said, that’s exactly how she looks in the book, too. But had they cast her as White, Asian, puerto Rican, whatever… I wouldn’t have cared, as long as the actress was good for the role. People are idiots.
Yeah, the case of Airbender is sad–I have no doubt that there were non-white actors that could have done those roles justice. I really can’t fathom why they made the casting choices they did, except maybe there was a fear of not having familiar people in the roles?
Even then it doesn’t make sense. Dev Patel was famous for Slumdog Millionaire, which came out years before and for a totally different demographic. Jackson Rathbone is like… 12th billing or something for Twilight, one of the least interesting of the Cullen clan. Noah Ringer was an unknown, and the girl who played Katara basically was, too. Etc. It was just bizarre, unexplainable casting all around.
Twitter: agracru
March 27, 2012 8:25 am
People are idiots. I couldn’t agree more; if a character’s race isn’t an explicit, central part of who they are in a novel, then there should be no outrage over adaptations casting a white person in a black role, a black person in a white role, a Latino person in a black role, or whatever. Hire the performer who will best represent the character. That’s why I like Kevin McHale in Glee; he’s a great Artie, even if he can walk.
I loved, loved, loved that Ross went the direction he did with Rue, Thresh, and most of District 11. “Dark skinned” could mean a lot of things– Italian, for example– but there’s something really brilliant and effective about making 11′s tributes black and then giving the entire District a black-predominant identity. Frankly, it made the riot scene– something we don’t see in the book– even more haunting and impacting.
In short, I support the choice. And I really think people complaining about race changing in movies need to knock it off.
Thanks for the support, Andrew! I agree that the inclusion of the riot scene really made the second half of the film that much stronger–I only wish they’d shown more of the other Districts as well (though I guess, as in the books, they’ll keep it for the second and third/fourth (gag) movies.
I think I have to say that I would’ve been annoyed had they cast white actors as Rue or Thresh. No, The Hunger Games isn’t about race, and those characters aren’t defined by their race. But it is a world, like ours, where race exists.
I don’t think the descriptions of hereditary traits like skin tone and eye color are in the novels purely for visualization. District 12 is not a large place, and yet Katniss can point to gray eyes and olive skin as hereditary traits shared by the poorest subset of District 12, those who live in “the Seam.” Whether discrimination lead to this racial group being forced into the hardest work of District 12, or whether the work has been inherited for so many generations that a race is emerging, we’re not told. Does race play any significant role in the novels? No. But it’s there, part of a richly detailed world.
Hollywood tends to blot over America’s racial diversity with a lot of white. It’s rare to see a character that embodies pure innocence played by a black person. So I’m glad that while children are crying over Rue’s death, the fact that she is accurately portrayed as black means that they’re being given the opportunity to sympathize with someone that the media all too frequently portrays as “other,” when they’ve even bothered to include them in the first place.
Anne, you make an important point that I did not touch on (but should have!). To quote you, “the fact that she is accurately portrayed as black means that they’re being given the opportunity to sympathize with someone that the media all too frequently portrays as “other”" is very significant, and a welcome addition to the movie.
It’s a shame that so many talented black actors are relegated to historical pieces like “The Help” and “Red Tails”, where they’re asked to celebrate historical moments where black men and women broke through social/civil boundaries, and yet they themselves are relegated to “token” roles in high school movies or sidekick roles. Actors like, for example, Elijah Kelley, are so supremely talented and yet they’ve barely been cast in lead roles (or indeed, any roles at all.) Someone needs to explain to me why Adam Sandler keeps getting lead roles but triple threats like Elijah Kelley are relegated to the sidelines.
Twitter: manilovefilms
March 27, 2012 9:15 am
Amen, of course. This is just the latest bit of ridiculous movie news. It should have never been a story, and it’s pretty sad that it is.
People should focus on more important things, like how troll-like Toby Jones is and how little announcing he did playing the announcer.
I don’t even remember him being in the movie, so that’s not a good sign.
I’m glad you’re bringing this up and I love the first half of your piece. However, I vehemently disagree with the rest of it, particularly sentiments like this: “Why can’t an actor who is black play a character who is originally described as white in the source material, or vice versa, et cetera, et cetera?”
If we lived in a utopian, actually post-racial society, you’d be right. But we don’t. Every new movie is informed by Hollywood’s deep, institutionalized racism. Even in 2012, opportunities for people of color (behind or in front of the camera) are minimal. Consider: in Oscar history, 138 white women have won acting awards. Only 6 black women have. I’d also recommend taking a look at this Sociological Images article: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/10/03/trailer-trashing/
So it does matter if, say, a black character is played by a white actor, because it’s taking a role away from a black actor. It’s whitewashing. It’s making Hollywood’s already lily-white output even whiter. And you know the main reason filmmakers do it? Because it’s assumed white faces will make a movie more financially feasible—because white audiences are less likely to pay if it’s not a white face onscreen. All of which is a function of Hollywood/America’s racism.
And you can see an extreme example of that in the racist reactions to the Rue/Thresh casting. Disturbingly, these white moviegoers are unable to see black actors as equally human. It’s messed up, but it’s not unusual; instead, it’s a more vocal expression of a pervasive racism.
So my long-winded point is this: it’s easy to say “it’s not about race” if you have white privilege. But if we want to fight racism in real-world America, we have to realize that race does matter.
You make a very fair (and eloquent) point that my argument is couched in rhetoric that only really works in a utopian society; it’s more than fair to say that while race shouldn’t matter it unfortunately does.
I would love it if people like Elijah Kelly (who I mention above as a triple-threat actor, singer, dancer) were on screen in the place of so many lesser white actors, but it’s just not going to happen any time soon.
For the sake of argument, do you think that racial-based casting specifically for the sake of ‘keeping true to the book’ is necessary, or that people need/should be okay with changes in an adaptation?
I just finished reading the first book, one thing I’d mentioned to Dylan upon finishing was that very few of the characters had a strong physical description. (Cinna especially comes to mind. It was more about his simplistic clothing and gold eyeliner than how he actually looked.)
I loved the girl they got to play Rue, she not only fit the description but was great In her role. Adorable too.
Damn racist assholes.
Thanks for the comment, Susannah! I remember thinking that the characters weren’t described too explicitly, which I actually liked, because it allowed me to really build them from the ground up in my own head. And yes, Rue was adorable and heartbreaking.
Twitter: ftstweets
March 27, 2012 12:28 pm
I was in such shock when I saw those horrible tweets. How completely ignorant and cruel some of them were, especially from really young people just made no sense.
I do have to say that I think that I think that District 11 being notably dark skinned did mean something in the novel. It was subtle, but Collins writes about how they were treated so much more harshly than other districts. Just an example: 12′s fences were hardly ever on, while 11′s always were. She may have been trying to make a point that there were still racial distinctions and differing treatment in the future. It wasn’t heavily stressed but I think it was deliberate.
If Rue and Thresh hadn’t been black I would have been very bothered, while I find the argument for Katniss not being played by a white actress a bit harder to agree with since olive is such an ambiguous description.
At any rate, Amandla Stenberg did an amazing job in my opinion. Overall, I thought casting was pretty spot on.
Jess, I think I need to re-read the books to catch those District 11 references a little more! I devoured the books so quickly (in about 2 weeks b/c I was hooked). Thank you for pointing out the differences that Collins’ mentions in the books (between District 11 and 12).
I think casting was pretty spot on, too–I was surprised by how so many of the actors looked exactly liked I had imagined. Lenny Kravitz actually looked exactly like I’d imagined Cinna.
Twitter: filmforager
March 28, 2012 8:57 am
Great post, Joanna. I agree with most of your points (aww Josh Hutcherson did look tiny!) but would also back up what Andreas commented. It shouldn’t matter, but it does when visibility for people of color on film is so limited and whitewashing continues to happen for the wrong reasons (ie, to make it more palatable for white viewers, not because a white actor happens to be most suited to the role). I look forward to a time when this sort of thing doesn’t even need to be discussed, but recognize that isn’t coming anytime soon.
Anyway. I absolutely loved Amandla Stenberg as Rue! Too freaking cute.
Thanks Alex. I think you and Andreas are right (see above). It’s sad that we even have to talk about this issue at all, but you’re both very right to point out the problems of whitewashing and opportunities for black actors.
I really hope Amandla Stenberg sees an influx of roles–she was really very impressive for such a young person!
Not a lot of Latinos or Asians in the future according to Hunger Games. Not that I’m missing out, cause it seems like TV sucks in the future, too.
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