“That’s not the way it happened. Shall I start again?”

Look, I like Jake Gyllenhaal. I have never actually seen a full movie with him in it, but that’s besides the point.

But scroll between the face and the title a bit, and you can see where the problem might be. Despite the the copious amount of Photoshop shading, Mr. Gyllenhaal only looks vaguely Iranian, Afghani or part of any modern-day culture born out of the Persian empire– if you squint your eyes.

For many people, including those of the culture being portrayed in the movie, having a Caucasian person portray a person of a different ethnicity is annoying, frustrating but also unsurprising considering that Hollywood has a long history of ”ethnic impersonation” especially through yellow/black-face and the slightly less common brown/red-face. Disney has similar problems with POC characters in their animated features  (Look at the difference between Aladdin and Jafar for example).

It’s all a matter of accurate representation.

Now, I don’t think people are asking the movie to stay truthful to the game. I mean, game (and comic book) movies take some plot restructuring in order to translate to the screen. The game itself also has some problems with representation as well, as elements of Arabic culture get mixed in with the ancient Persian culture. However, at least The Prince (who remains nameless in the game) looks somewhat Persian.

Now, it’s very easy to understand why movie makers put Caucasian actors in roles portraying POC characters: money. Big names draw in people and due to a history of racism (that we’re slowly overcoming) the majority of the big names are going to be white. That’s the other factor that is going on here: jobs that could potentially go to struggling actors are going to actors that probably could live off of their earnings if they stopped working for the rest of their life.

So, you might be wondering what actor could have been cast instead of Jake. Well, in reading about the casting, a commenter on one site presented this actor: David K. Zandi. He’s only had small roles in major movies (MIB 2 and Marci X) and was almost Darius in Alexander, but this could have been his breakout role. Also, as a member of the Iranian royal family, he can trace his lineage to the Zand dynasty of  Persian Empire (the last to rule.)  It’s almost as if they could had a “Persian Prince” to play the Prince of Persia. That and scruff  him a bit and he’d look like the Prince in the game.

It could be worse:  see Ron Schneider in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry which was offensive and dumb all around for it’s sexism, racism and homophobic humor. But things also could be better.

In the case of the Prince of Persia, it is very easy to point out and say “Why not cast someone from the region you’re trying to portray?”

Going from animated to live, such as with the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender movie, is slightly more complicated but no less frustrating.

The people at Racebending cover this much better than I can in a blog post, but I’m going to attempt at summarize the situation as a fan of the series because it was something of a successful attempt by Nickelodeon of expanding the horizons of their young viewers to the existence of other cultures. Avatar is heavily influenced by Asian (East, South and North) & Inuit culture. Obviously, the show is fantasy based but you’d be hard pressed to find the analogues to  real world peoples and their culture.

It may be hard to see from the picture, so I’d check the Avatar wiki for a better view of the characters and the description of the world of Avatar. Aang, the hero, who is the last of the Air Nomads who based off of Shaolin and Tibetan culture, the Water Tribe characters who are based off of Inuit / North Asian cultures, the Earth Kingdom members are inspired by Chinese culture and the Fire Nationis based off of Japanese cultures and the various cultures of Pacific Island countries. Aang has the lightest skin tone out of the group, but with the rest of the characters, it would be hard to present them as Caucasian.

Noah Ringer, left, as Aang doesn’t look awful. However, it wouldn’t have been too hard too find a good child actor who looks closer. It’s the rest of the casting that has made major fans more upset. Sokka and Katara are being played by white actors (to see the difference look at the main picture and then scroll down to the movie picture, it’s quite obvious.) Members of the Fire Nation have it better and worse. The Fire Nation has apparently moved to Middle Eastern and Indian influences with Zuko being played by Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionare fame and Admiral Zhao being played by Aasif Mandvi of The Daily Show. This means that the only POC characters in the film are the antagonists.

After this, some people might convinced that these casting choices were bad ideas, but would hard pressed to call it racist. However, denying people accurate representation of themselves and the culture is racist. Just because it isn’t obvious racism or it isn’t intentional doesn’t it any less racist. People can do racist things and not be automatically labeled or considered capital “R” racist. Usually, that accusation is reserved for those who make a habit of repeating racist actions or supporting racist views. And honestly, it’s easier to learn to learn why certain things are racist than it is to run off and buy a white hood.

While the above holds true, Paramount was actively looking for white actors to play the lead roles. Racebending provides this as evidence. Yeah, that’s kind of discriminatory.

But for every “21“  there are  movies that people do it right. They’re usually lesser known movies have been better such as the Maori based Whale Rider  (adapted from the novel) or Smoke Signals where the majority of the actors and creators  were  Native-American/First Nation people.

Now outside of general fairness, why else should people push for authenticity (whether it be through casting or otherwise)? Well having appropriate cast or at least staff members (Avatar had consultants they referred to for many things) allows for the cultural elements of movies like Prince of Persia which are deeply immersed in the culture they are trying represent. So when people are entertained by something in movie or another medium and are curious to find about the culture or the mythology behind it. Without authenticity of having 300 (both the movie and the graphic novel being horribly inaccurate) represent the Spartans.

For example I’ve learned some Japanese and Japanese Mythology through the fighting game King of Fighters. I’ve learned about the Siege of Masada through X-Men spin off the Exiles (see here).

You don’t think that entertainment can educate people?  Well, at least for readers of my generation, I bet that they can all point to one place where they first learned some Spanish.

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Chapter 5: The Camera Loves You
• Chapter 7: Sound It Out
• “Don’t see me from a distance.”