Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Tell me what are the specific "tribe's viewpoints" that are being opposed when people use the term "woke" as criticism for having Black actors play fictional characters in LOTR.
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Without expressing any particular opinion about the strength or weakness of this position, the viewpoint being opposed is the prioritization of ideology related to racial identity - i.e., the view that the skin colour of the actor is a crucially important consideration, such that it's absolutely necessary that casting pay attention to it and ensure that there are black actors in the show. I mean I'm sure there are some of them who are just "#### black people", a lot of it is, "it's a Lord of the Rings show, not an instrument for social change, just make the show good and stop prioritizing this other stuff that isn't central to whether the writing or production are enjoyable to watch". The attitude is less "don't cast black people", so much as "don't go out of your way to intentionally cast black people as some demonstration of how progressive you are." Which is
absolutely what's happening when the studio casts a black girl as the little mermaid, obviously - that's a deliberate choice to say "look, we cast a black girl, we obviously care about minority representation in film! Now, write a lot of stories about how great or terrible this is so that everyone knows this movie is coming out."
It's never exactly straightforward. For example, some of the backlash to this casting stuff lately has been "why do these producers think diversity exclusively involves either gender swapping or casting more black people, there are lots of other races that are underrepresented in film that are still not getting any attention while you all pat yourselves on the back for making a black elf." Do those people actually care about whether there are latinos getting roles in LOTR? Well, some actually do. Others don't really, but are making that point in earnest as an illustration about what they see as hypocrisy, and a less than honest commitment to "diversity". Others are just trying to score cheap points and get attention from their twitter followers. And yes, other still are essentially KKK members who actively dislike black people. So saying things like, "well, they all use woke because all the slurs they used to use are banned" was worth the rolled eyes.
For the record, my view is that the casting in TV shows and movies falls squarely on the list of things that are
absolutely not worth spending any energy caring about, but some people feel the need to fight political battles on literally every front so it's hardly surprising that this debate is a thing.