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Having My Say: Whitewashing and Blackfacing


Mike S here to talk about something we touched on in this week's Extended Edition of "We Came From the Basement" with Jason: The possibility of a black Superman and a black James Bond coming to the big screen soon.

It could work- more so for Superman than James Bond in my opinion.

Why?

Well, with Superman, there's not only precedent, but one other element that would make it harder for a black James Bond to be "accepted": identity.  With Superman, the black characters, are distinct characters that exist either in alternate universes, or simply take up the name of Superman.  The first easily recognizable one is John Henry Irons who took up the name during "Reign of The Supermen" after Superman's death back in the 80's  An original character who eventually went on to become Steel.  The next is Kalel (aka Calvin Ellis) from Grant Morrison's series "The Multiversity"- an alternate universe Superman.  Thirdly is Val-Zod (who I mistakenly identified as Zod-El during the podcast) of the New 52's "Earth 2"- a black Kryptonian who takes up the name of Superman after his Earth's original went missing.  Each one of these is an original, character with their own complete history.  They aren't Kal-El simply made black.

Because of this, the idea of a black Superman isn't all that controversial to me, provided that Hollywood goes the route that the comics did.

A black James Bond is a bit harder.  While the concept is interesting, and could work- the execution is the problem.  This wouldn't be an alternate universe James Bond, but simply James Bond in blackface- which in my opinion would be a bit insulting to the original character, since they would now simply be a bland, generic template to swap between race and gender.  It would also be insulting to blacks, as it would be essentially saying, "A black spy character wouldn't be accepted unless they were already an established, iconic white character.

Essentially, as I said- James Bond in blackface.

It also seems very lazy to me.  It's easier to make a black James Bond than create a brand new, modern black character to thrill audiences and add diversity to the genre.  Hollywood has little problem with making white spy characters, so why can't they do the same with black ones, or Asian ones, etc.  The same goes for female spy characters.  "Atomic Blond" showed it's possible.

Would I watch a black James Bond movie?  Yes.  Would I actually call it "progress" towards diversity of characters and casting in Hollywood?  No.  It's wrong to take ethnic movies, and casting the Asian characters as whites.  It's also wrong to trade on an establish white character's popularity by simply making them a minority or swapping their gender.

It's wrong to whitewash, and it's wrong to blackface.
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  1. FeedLiveRadioJune 30, 2020 at 8:31 AM

    Why a black James bond, that character is simply a terrorist destroying nations and fueling hatred with distraction where-ever he goes, Afro kings should not accept such a filthy, dirty and abusive character.

    ReplyDelete

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