I love Hollywood

[DuneFishUK]

I know nothing about the comicbook Thor, but this one looks interesting. The only concern is how Branagh handles the effects work - he was a great choice for director... but does he understand the more fantastical looking stuff?

Re: Idris Elba - yeah, wierd casting. Won't complain if it works though

Have you ever read 'The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul' by Douglas Adams?

Yarp.

[TheDukester]

I don't find it "offensive" that a black man is playing a Norse god, but it just seems... stupid.

+1.

It's just attention-seeking and doing something strictly for the sake of doing it. And I like Elba.

This is just stupid, though. Marvel Fail.

[Omphalos]

The comic book was pretty stupid. There was some lame guy with a cane, and when he struck the cane on the ground, he turned into Thor and his cane turned into Mjolonor (sp?) I remember about half the time spent in Asgard battling Loki and trying to save Freya and Odin from his shennanigans, but a good half was spent fighting crime on earth too. Think he was in Avengers for a long time too.

[Nekhrun]

If ever there was a comic I was pre-disposed to like it was Thor, and aside from a couple of story lines, I've hated it most of my life.

[A Thing of Eternity]

I don't find it "offensive" that a black man is playing a Norse god, but it just seems... stupid.

+1.

It's just attention-seeking and doing something strictly for the sake of doing it. And I like Elba.

This is just stupid, though. Marvel Fail.

I'm offended if it's supposed to be some absolutely retarded form of PC.

I know one member here who WOULD find it offensive, but Leto Atreides II ran away some time ago now (he's no longer even a moderator at the White Power website from my city though, so maybe he's just off the net for now).

Just in case anyone was not aware that he was one of those deluded weaklings.

[SandChigger]

(He's on Twitter now although I haven't checked lately to see if he's active. He messaged me about a new Dune group he was starting up... on Google or Yahoo? I took a look but didn't join...)

[Redstar]

I don't find it "offensive" that a black man is playing a Norse god, but it just seems... stupid.

+1.

It's just attention-seeking and doing something strictly for the sake of doing it. And I like Elba.

This is just stupid, though. Marvel Fail.

I'm offended if it's supposed to be some absolutely retarded form of PC.

I'm curious what you three think the difference between excessive PCness and color-blind casting is, and whether any of you feel the latter is something that should be striven for. I've already stated why I think this isn't such a big deal (if it turns out to not be tokenism) but there are modern cases when a film warranted accurate casting but was white-washed or just poorly cast.

[SandChigger]

I'm really looking forward to seeing an Asian play Othello someday.

(And I'm just assuming it hasn't been done. )

[TheDukester]

I'm curious what you three think the difference between excessive PCness and color-blind casting is, and whether any of you feel the latter is something that should be striven for.

I just don't think this was color-blind casting. A gut-level reaction, I suppose. I think it's Marvel trying to be hip and cool ... not to mention signing a hot actor.

(Same thing with the same actor in The Losers, for those interested in such things. Elba's character — "Roque" — was not a black man in the comics series.)

[SandRider]

wasn't Tony Stark a black guy for awhile ?




[edit]

oh, wait; that was Johnny Dune ...



[/edit]

[TheDukester]

No, Tony Stark himself was always a white playboy-type. For at least one stint, though, the Iron Man armor was worn by James "Rhodey" Rhoades, who was definitely a brother.

[A Thing of Eternity]

I don't find it "offensive" that a black man is playing a Norse god, but it just seems... stupid.

+1.

It's just attention-seeking and doing something strictly for the sake of doing it. And I like Elba.

This is just stupid, though. Marvel Fail.

I'm offended if it's supposed to be some absolutely retarded form of PC.

I'm curious what you three think the difference between excessive PCness and color-blind casting is, and whether any of you feel the latter is something that should be striven for. I've already stated why I think this isn't such a big deal (if it turns out to not be tokenism) but there are modern cases when a film warranted accurate casting but was white-washed or just poorly cast.

Well, there's a huge difference in a case like this. Say I wanted to make a movie about a street thug, or a banker in NY, or a race car driver, and I cast him/her without thinking at all about race - THAT is colour blind casting.

And of course it is something that should be striven for when the role does not suggest/demand a certain ethnicity.


But, say I want to cast someone as the first Emperor of Chin - I'd be pretty stupid to pick a white/black/arab, etc actor for the job. That's not PC of course, just stupidity - which is what this case most likely is. Would a Norse god be black? Nope.

When a white person is cast for a non-white role it's generally just stupidity or pandering to Western audiences, but when someone with dark skin (especially black in the US) is cast in a clearly caucasian role it can really only be one of two things, idiocy or a lame attempt to look modern and PC.

There's my rant.

[Redstar]

I'm curious what you three think the difference between excessive PCness and color-blind casting is, and whether any of you feel the latter is something that should be striven for. I've already stated why I think this isn't such a big deal (if it turns out to not be tokenism) but there are modern cases when a film warranted accurate casting but was white-washed or just poorly cast.

Well, there's a huge difference in a case like this. Say I wanted to make a movie about a street thug, or a banker in NY, or a race car driver, and I cast him/her without thinking at all about race - THAT is colour blind casting.

I don't believe color-blind casting is something that can be done (yet). Whites appear to have the luxury of being "color blind", but minorities don't and always have it at the forefront of their identity in society.

And of course it is something that should be striven for when the role does not suggest/demand a certain ethnicity.

Except I'm not really sure if (this) Thor calls for a specific ethnic background at all. It seems like the cultural source would be obvious, but, as I've said before the comics and comics in general have never really been good with cultural sensitivity or being accurate. There were always non-white gods in pantheons they didn't belong in, which was obvious tokenism... Remember the afroed, hoop-ring wearing Amazon on the Wonder Woman cover?

I'm just wondering if this instance, regardless of the actual intent, could lead to more color-blind casting and ultimately be a good thing. Being a black or Asian kid or whatever and knowing you can try out for any role would be nice.

But, say I want to cast someone as the first Emperor of Chin - I'd be pretty stupid to pick a white/black/arab, etc actor for the job. That's not PC of course, just stupidity - which is what this case most likely is. Would a Norse god be black? Nope.

When a white person is cast for a non-white role it's generally just stupidity or pandering to Western audiences, but when someone with dark skin (especially black in the US) is cast in a clearly caucasian role it can really only be one of two things, idiocy or a lame attempt to look modern and PC.

Avatar: The Last Airbender was clearly set in an Asian and Inuit-inspired world, with Asian and Inuit characters, yet when it came time to cast the lead roles all the actors just so happened to be white. (They fixed this by replacing the villain with an Indian even though in the show he was the lightest skinned, so it's all good)

Mickey Rourke is set to play Genghis Khan in a new film of his life in the same vein as John Wayne playing the character in yellowface decades ago. Are either of those examples right? It seems pretty obvious why these ethnic characters are cast with white actors, but then you always get those people that argue "color-blind casting" (easy to be blind to skin color when you're white and don't have to worry about seeing a non-white lead) or that calling it out is itself racist or excessive PC. Confusing the matter is the double-standard that it's generally okay or even praised for non-white actors to play white roles but not in reverse.

Post-racial society? People like to pretend it is but our movies really tell the real story.

[Robspierre]

Directors and Producers have the biggest say in casting, they pick their favorites. That is why most are white.

Rob

[lotek]

well in the end it doesn't matter pc or not, Thor is white and therefore should be played by a white actor(or Michael Jackson... well maybe not)

[Freakzilla]

He's dead, thank God.

[lotek]

Or is he???
http://michaeljacksonnotdead.wordpress.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SandRider]

I gotta make a run into the LittleBigTown right now,
but when I get back, remind me to tell y'all about
the time Russell & I met Jim Morrison at the top of
the Landmark in the mid 80s... he was talking about
the Air Force back-engineering these UFOs out on the
test site ... and this was like two years
before Bob Lazar walked out of Area 51 and ruined
George Knapp's journalism career ...

Art Bell was still broadcasting out of that trailer house in North Las Vegas back then ...

[Freakzilla]

I CAN'T WAIT to hear this one!

[lotek]

talking of Bob Lazar

The Face on Mars: Unmasked by New Images

[Freakzilla]

talking of Bob Lazar

The Face on Mars: Unmasked by New Images

Oh my god! What happened to your face?

[SandChigger]

Oh my GOD! It's "Bonzo for Barsoom" Bob Williams!

[lotek]

ha ha ha good ones!

[merkin muffley]

Oh my GOD! It's "Bonzo for Barsoom" Bob Williams!

!

As we speak Neanderthals living in the left nostril of the face on Mars are snorting crystal meth off the small of Barbara Hand Clow's back trying to stay awake until 2012.

[Freakzilla]

That makes me wonder, would you have to bring your own oxygen supply to smoke meth on Mars?