only 17% of americans are black, theyre 18% behind in graduation, its hard to make any factual period pieces about powerful people with African americans in the lead roles

Yes its not good for business,
Chis Rock presenting the Oscars
Live on SkyMoviesHD (for UK) 28th Feb
will be great.

Do they need to be factual or period pieces?

Any films at all would be a start.

I'd say the problem is the films "needing" to be factual. Most of the films with leading black characters tends to be related to slavery/times when black people were treated like second class citizens like The Help, 12 Years a Slave etc.

..I don't know, I find this a bit of a difficult one because The Oscars have always been controversial with some actors for one reason or another...Marlon Brando was the first person I recall to have 'famously' snubbed them when he won his Oscar for The Godfather..(I think it was The Godfather..)...and a native American lady attended in his place to reject the award...was that in protest to the treatment of native American Indians..?..hasn't Robert De Nero snubbed them as well, I'm not sure...but I think many minorities have been protested against not being represented enough, not enough parts for females in comparison to males, not enough older female parts, not enough English acting representation...(and yet Idris is saying that America is the place to be for diversity..?..)...

..it's hard to say also with this years nominations because I haven't seen most of the movies, so don't know whether they're the best ones and the ones that should be getting the shout outs...I did watch The Danish Girl last night though, which I think is nominated...and although I do thinks it's a great movie and very worthy, for me it's definitely not a better movie than Beast of No Nation, for instance..but that's just my personal choice, Beast of No Nation is the sort of movie that hits you and makes a huge impact in your thoughts, it's brutal and feels very relevant atm...the recruiting of child soldiers, so comparable to IS and something that we've all talked about so much in recent times...maybe Hollywood/the Academy felt in some way that in nominating it, they would be almost 'giving a nod to IS'..?..it all gets so political I think as well...I think that I'm less surprised that Idris wasn't nominated, than I am that Abraham Attah wasn't because Hollywood is the home of the child actor/star, is it not...and his performance for me, was the best ever of any child actor that I recall, he really is an incredible actor...but I don't know really, is it a racism thing with Beast of No Nations or just such a real and brutal storyline that they don't want to address this year..interesting...

yay, my not watching the oscars finally has some meaning. This is the kind of activism i can get behind.

never say i didn't do anything for the blacks.

http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/...dcr6Xxdc9.jpeg

In the Potter books, Hermoine came back from France with a suntan. Hardly race neutral.

http://time.com/4156751/jk-rowling-b...mione-granger/

Not according to J K Rowling.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b014efe0d6389c

So the reference to her getting a suntan, and her face flushing red... they just mean nothing now.

I recall also that JK Rowling retained the right of having a say in casting when she sold the film rights and was directly involved in casting Harry, Ron and Hermoine
. As there are other black characters in the book, I'm surprised that she didn't ensure Hermoine was played by a black actress.

2 shakey references and suddenly Hermoine can never be played by a black actor? Also I'm pretty sure black people blush too

Is James Bond race neutral?

Because I hear Idris Elba is being considered.

No he is not race-neutral. He is white in the books. But what's more, a black man could not integrate in the places that James Bond did. A black Bond would be a terrible spy. What's more, Bond is an established character.

How about we have a white Luthur next time?

I added another bit to my comment after you wrote this.

Is he Scottish or Irish or English in the books?

If Idris get the role then he would be one of the best actors to have ever played the part. Should we rule him out just because he doesn't fit into the characters ethnicity even though he's a superior actor?

why would she? sounds to me like she just wasn't bothered whether Hermoine was played by a black or a white actress?

No one will ever top Sir Roger as Bond.

So you believe a White actor should have been considered for the role of Nelson Mandella? That's what the second part of your statement says to me?

Nelson Mandela is not a fictional character.

Don't be silly, Nelson Mandela is a real historic figure, James Bond is not, him being white isn't vital to the story

..there is a huge difference though wanna, with a fictional character and someone in real life...

You didn't say fictional.

Did I need to say that? I thought you would assume. :thumbs:

Ok do you think a White actor should have been considered for the lead role in Boyz and the Hood?

..oh, must type quicker...I know it was just a one off character..(unless there are sequels..)...but Denzel recently played the lead in The Equalizer..I hadn't actually realised that it was based on the old series but that character was white in the series and Denzel stepped into the role beautifully, without any thought really other than to his acting...(it was a bit naff and corny I have to say/the movie but you know what I mean..)..

If he was good enough and could carry the part then yes. I would have no problem with it.

..not when it's about something with a predominantly black population but that's it though isn't it...black actors seem to mainly get parts which would be specific to that..not so much the 'neutral' parts....

Been along time since I watched that movie but isn't Boyz n the hood specifically about racial issues? That would be like saying a black guy could play Edward Nortons character in American History X............clearly not. However could a white guy play Will Smiths part in I Am Legend? Absolutely

silly me calling it Boyz And the hood, you know I mean n


I am a first class turd sometimes.

...:laugh:...yeah well we didn't like to say/awkward moment passed...

Is that a dig at me? :/ I knew what you meant, I never said otherwise :shrug:

Would I ever have a dig at fine classy lady as yourself?

I'm a gentlemen.

I hope not :nono: I wasn't correcting you, I didn't even notice you'd typed "and" instead of "n" until after you pointed it out :laugh:

..it's the 'neutral'/makes no difference roles really, because it's always been said by actors/actresses that just being nominated for an Oscar leads to more offers of roles etc and much better ones, even if they didn't win..I guess that an example could be Eddie Redmayne..(I just thought of him because I was having a conversation with Liv about The Danish Girl just now..)...anyway his character, Stephen Hawking couldn't be more different to his character in The Danish Girl, that happens with white actors doesn't it...the diversity of their roles..?...and being nominated for Oscars obviously help a lot for them individually ...but with black actors..?...do they get the same diversity of 'neutral roles...or so they have to wait for something that only a black actor/actress could do because of the character/like Nelson Mandela which was mentioned...?...someone who has to be black/no question....

I detest eddie redmayne as an actor, can we replace his dreadful ham acting with a black man with a large member

..that wouldn't have worked with Stephen Hawking though..:laugh:...he's obviously quite a fragile looking person and Eddie does have that fragile look...also in The Danish Girl, it would have to have been a character of slight build and that character was also a real person and white/not a fictional character....I don't know how his acting in the Danish Girl will stand up against others because I haven't seen other Oscar nominated movies yet...and it's obviously only going to be my opinion when I do...

Maybe they should have had a black Stephen Hawking?:laugh:

He's an actual person though like Nelson Mandela :nono:

The books have been out for twenty years or so and read by millions and millions of people who've had a picture of Hermione in their heads. The films came out... Hermione was white. Had she been black originally, had Rowling made it clear she was black, no one would have a problem with it. But you can't suddenly change a white character to a black character for no reason at all. And the most annoying thing is, if someone has a problem with a white character being changed to a black character overnight, they're made out of be some kind of racist. (Not by you, Niamh... I'm speaking generally).


We're talking race here, not nationality.



Yes we should.

I love Idris... I met him on Monday, he was charming. But he isn't Bond. How would you feel about a white actor playing Shaft?

Why is race so much more of an issue than nationality is? You're either sticking rigidly to his description or you're not :/


Re Hermoine: again what's the big deal? Characters when transferred to film are often very different from their description in the book, like the Divergent series, one of the characters is described as being 5'8" in the book, the actress who played her was 5'2", why is race a much bigger issue to height or nationality when it's not really important to the story?

Outside of the movies... why would you assume that Hermione is white?? Why should a writer have to portray any character with a specific skin colour?? That really reduces the chances of people all over the world finding relating qualities to that character.
And I think the real question here is, why would it be a bad thing to thing of her as having a different race... The colour of a person should not be such a divisive issue... and people who do get upset over it, you have to question why it is that they see skin colour as a negative, or why they see skin colour at all.

And again, why would bond have to be white to be bond?? I really am at a loss to understand your logic here.