[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

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

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

[GiRTh]

Originally Posted by Livia

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

Not according to J K Rowling.

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

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

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

I meant the character itself is race neutral. It makes no actual difference to the character, book, story, movie etc if she were black, white, mixed or green.

Whereas, changing the skin colour of a character whose race is relevant would be changing things.

[GiRTh]

Same old crazy debate.

As much as I think Spike and Jada have a point I wish they'd dedicate a little more effort to others issues rather than any perceived slight they feel the academy has shown them.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by GiRTh

Same old crazy debate.

As much as I think Spike and Jada have a point I wish they'd dedicate a little more effort to others issues rather than any perceived slight they feel the academy has shown them.

Which other issues?

Why can't they fight for equality where there clearly isn't any?

Jada's also spoken about the gender gap when it comes to Hollywood pay too.

[GiRTh]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Which other issues?

Why can't they fight for equality where there clearly isn't any?

Jada's also spoken about the gender gap when it comes to Hollywood pay too.

Welcome back Marsh

I agree there is an issue here but not too sure how a boycott can affect anything. If they want to be political then there are plenty of issues where their input wold be appreciate and possibly affect change. I dont think this boycott will change anything and I dont think if they boycott for the next five years it will change anything.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by GiRTh

Welcome back Marsh

I agree there is an issue here but not too sure how a boycott can affect anything. If they want to be political then there are plenty of issue where their input wold be appreciate and possibly affect change. I dont think this boycott will change anything and I dont think if they boycott for the next five years it will change anything.

There's always going to be other issues. But this is one area they are involved with and are affected by so this is obviously where their efforts will go.

[GiRTh]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

There's always going to be other issues. But this is one area they are involved with and are affected by so this is obviously where their efforts will go.

And I wish them well.

[Mokka]

Originally Posted by GiRTh

Welcome back Marsh

I agree there is an issue here but not too sure how a boycott can affect anything. If they want to be political then there are plenty of issues where their input wold be appreciate and possibly affect change. I dont think this boycott will change anything and I dont think if they boycott for the next five years it will change anything.

I said it on the first page and I will say it again... A boycott is a very reasonable and effective way to get people talking about the issue... and to bring a long standing issue into the awareness of the greater public. Especially when it is big stars who are going to get big press reporting it.

It is already working, because it has people like us having healthy debate on the issue... and if it is true that the public dollars dictate what movie gets made or not made based on where we spend our box office dollars... then the public need to be aware of the issue... not just the executives in the offices.

[GiRTh]

Originally Posted by Mokka

I said it on the first page and I will say it again... A boycott is a very reasonable and effective way to get people talking about the issue... and to bring a long standing issue into the awareness of the greater public. Especially when it is big stars who are going to get big press reporting it.

It is already working, because it has people like us having healthy debate on the issue... and if it is true that the public dollars dictate what movie gets made or not made based on where we spend our box office dollars... then the public need to be aware of the issue... not just the executives in the offices.

Hollywood execs have far more power that Jada and Spike. They wont do anything if they dont want to. This debate has been about since Halle Berry won her Oscar, a full 15 years ago, and made it public knowledge she was the first black woman to do so. Not much has changed since then.

[arista]

Originally Posted by GiRTh

Same old crazy debate.

As much as I think Spike and Jada have a point I wish they'd dedicate a little more effort to others issues rather than any perceived slight they feel the academy has shown them.

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

[the truth]

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

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by the truth

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

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.

[Ammi]

..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...

[lostalex]

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.

[Livia]

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.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

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

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

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

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

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

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

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.

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

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Livia

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.

The whole point of it is that Hermione being white isn't an intrinsic part of her character. There are references in the books to her being white but they never established her race as an important part of her character meaning that, appearance wise, any race could play her as long as they could match the specified traits of her appearance (Bushy hair and such).

When it comes to James Bond, the films have rarely done 1:1 adaptations of the books, most of the older films borrowed the name and plot points of books but it's only really Casino Royale that stuck really close to the source material. At this point it's fair to say that the James Bond of the books and the James Bond on screen are two different entities. The James Bond of the films is an amalgam rather than one consistent character, the interpretation of the character changes with the actor and the film version being white isn't important at all to the character. James Bond needs to be a man and he needs some sort of UK accent, those are really the only two important elements when it comes to the basics of the character's appearance.

If they ever do a reboot where they stick to the books more religiously, a consistent depiction Bond's race, appearance and personality would probably be important but when it comes to the films it's up to interpretation.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

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.

I think that's kind of the point.

She doesn't need to "ensure" she was played by either colour. It was open for any actors. As long as they were English which was relevant.

Black people flush red too? As do mixed race.

[Alf]

Is James Bond race neutral?

Because I hear Idris Elba is being considered.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by wannashag

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?

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

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?

Is he Scottish or Irish or English in the books?

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

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?

Now this would be a relevant and kosher argument for being specific about the skin colour of an actor.

In Hermione's case, there is no such specifics. It makes no odds to the character/story what colour she is.