Media Moments:"Hunger Games" Cast Subjected to Racist Attacks In Shocking Tweets!
As students of a Women and the Media course, one can only feel happy to see that African American women and men are being given, not "black roles" but an "equal role" in current films like "Hunger Games," knowing that they have been underepresented in the media, and have not been given many major roles, let alone two. However, the so-called fan's of "Hunger Games" tweets beg to differ: Hunger Games Cast Subjected to Racist Attacks In Shocking Tweets Biggoted fans objected to the characters;Stenberg and Okeniyi being "darker" than what the book portrayed them to be. One of the most outrageous tweets was;"Why did the producer make all the good characters black?" I wonder if the dissaproval of these actors will affect their future appearances in the sequel or other major films, but hopefully it will be outweighed by supporting audiences.
Stephanie, great topic! This actually caught my attention today as well, as it was mentioned on USA Today. In response to your question, I would say that it is likely that the disapproval of these actors chosen for the roles of "Hunger Games" will affect a future sequel, but not for future major films. I only say this because the reaction that the viewers have are targeted specifically towards this movie. But then again, there is a possibility that the way the casting played out by the director and producer may affect their future works as some people may have something against them. I would love to hear what other people's thoughts are now as I have never thought this way about films before.
ReplyDeleteThankyou! I agree, I feel as if a lot of "ignorant fans," (as the article mentions)shows the negative opinions of people, yet does not reveal/silences the positive feedback. I also agree about the change in perspective, towards the representation of the more uncommon social groups in the media. Although this was a negative take on "Hunger Games" I feel estatic about what made the director choose these actors instead, of say white actors.
ReplyDeleteOMG...To add to this post
ReplyDeletehttp://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made
@Stephanie your post really quelled my anger and outrage toward these people because you are right, these are only the negative comments and the media always puts a spot light on negativity. I am happy that young black have gotten this opportunity, it's interesting to me what qualifies in peoples’ minds as dark skinned and light skinned. We've actually had this question raised a few times in class.
The bottom line her for me is how people see or better yet CAN'T see their heroes. These racist comments make me think that "white" is still right to many people. "White" is our savior and good main characters should only be white. It actually hurt me, and I felt outraged when I read "KK call me racist but when I found out Rue was black I wasn't as sad". To me that comment is inhumane, but people have a right to feel any way they want right? Society is so conditioned to see white men and women in certain roles when it sees something different the outcry is letdown and disappointment. Which brings me to the question at hand I don't think this will affect the actors roles in the sequel, if anything people will go see it just to complain about it and that will make money. On the other hand the horrible publicity it would get from not using these actors is probably not worth the risk. Apparently these kids did a good job and they deserve these roles. General ideas and thoughts about racism are being more openly discussed than ever before, I think that the playing grounds will be equal one day, but it will never come if we stop talking about specific ideologies implanted in societies minds that make us actually embrace white supremacy.
Wow! I can't believe the racial discrimination! I don't even like reading those comments! I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I heard racial slurs uttered from someone’s mouth. Maybe I live in a bubble and I just want to believe everyone is kind to one another and respectable of race, class, gender and ethnicity. It's unfortunate that these people are truly pompous, unintelligent, ignoramus', and must feel the need to express themselves in such negative connotation. It's really a shame people don't have the knowledge nor the ability to be respectable of one's race -- for as far as this countries come. Comments like these just fuel the perpetuation of racial discrimination. To answer your question, I don't think it will affect their roles in future screenings. I think it'll be more of an issue if there not present in future films and will just cause more controversy. Plus, as the target audience, it's always nice to see characters throughout sequels. For example, Harry Potter and Twilight. Could you imagine Edward being played by someone else other than Robert Pattenson in the upcoming series of Breaking Dawn part II?! I think films should stay consistent just as food in restaurants should remain consistent, as I think the characters in Hunger Games should persist in future sequels.
ReplyDeleteThese tweets are genuinely shocking and awful. The fact that people would write that casting Black actors in these roles is "disgusting" or "ruins the movie for them" is so hurtful. It is hurtful to everyone involved in making the film, and to fans of the Hunger Games series. Most of all, these tweets demonstrate the incredible scope of white privilege, insofar as the white entitlement complex goes. The many closet white supremacists in this country apparently still feel as though they are entitled to seeing only positive representations of white characters, and only minor roles or villainous characters portrayed by actors of color. To be honest, I feel as though the Internet creates an impersonal space where these surprising views come out, where folks feel they can voice their incredibly backwards and hateful ideas without any blowback.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that the next two Hunger Games films stick with the same cast. Caving to the comments of a few Internet racists would be a very bad message to send.
First off, thankyou for all the great responses! I feel that Hunger Games is definitely a breakthrough from all the other Eurocentric films, to which all other cultures are negatively contrasted as “NoraEgloff” mentioned. American culture has been universalized to such an extent where they have become the only characters portrayed in the media, as an embodiment of what a human being should be. Hunger Games challenges white supremacy by giving major roles to non-white actors; however we can see that the world is not friendly towards change! I feel so excited to see that aside from all its racist attacks, the film still managed to be one of the most watched movies, which says a lot about the viewers!
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