Racist "Hunger Games" fans disappointed

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

The article goes on to describe several characters from the book, including a girl named "Rue"
and gives twitter posts and facebook entries of fans who were shocked and disappointed she was
played by a black actress -- despite the fact that the book clearly described her as having dark skin.

Even worse, a number of these fans -- who READ THE BOOK -- admit that their feelings for Rue
(and other characters who were also portrayed by black actors) were muted when they saw her on the screen.

IMAGINE THAT:  The ability to like a character or care about a character was actually muted by the portrayal
 of that character as black.  That means **not only** can these fans not imagine a likeable character as black but
 actively dislike blacks enough that they cannot enjoy seeing them on screen.


This mindset also ties in heavily in the stereotyping we've been seeing in the Trayvon Martin case, where people
 describe the kid as a "gangsta" and gang-banger  (even though the had candy in his hands) -- there are people who
 by virtue of his skin simply cannot see, or even imagine someone likeable if their skin is dark.

And sure we can try to comfort ourselves by saying such people are rare -- but as the article shows, the responses of such people are not rare, nor hard to find, nor even ambivalent of their dislike.  Which pretty much mirrors the stereotypes and responses we've seen in the Trayvon Martin case, and complaints even about Trayvons parents --- never ever is the benefit of a doubt given to the kid or his family,  yet every defense and justification given to someone who distrusted them simply by the stereotypes in their mind of them.


What's sad to me is I bet there are people who wont see the connection between the movie fans, and the reaction in the media to people who immediately assume "Blacks cause 90% of crimes" or "He probably walked around like a gangsta"  or  "His mother was trying to cash in on his death".   The immediate assumption of greed, aggression, and unlikeability  is a telling theme we've read over the last few weeks, and seeing reactions to the movie show us yet again the issues go beyond this one single case in Florida.

Comments

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

Read about this yesterday. There aren't enough faces or palms in the world for the required reaction.

What gets me the most about this is not that people with these attitudes still exist (they always will) but that they still feel comfortable saying this sort of thing in public! We might have come a long way, but obviously we're not yet to the point where people with absurdly primitive attitudes like this are rightly ashamed enough to hold them only in private.

You're right to tie this in to Trayvon. What we know about the Trayvon case may still be constantly evolving, but look at where some of the the pro-Zimmerman arguments are coming from: Stormfront generated false images of "Trayvon", inflamatory stories about an empty marijuana bag and a school suspension, and tatoos of his mom's name and religious prayer beads - standing in contrast to tons of other stories about everyday teen stuff and friends, college plans and prom. In other words, largely irrelevent facts that, for any other ethnicity, would be taken and digested as "A typical kid. Sometimes gets in trouble, not always making the best choices, but not a bad kid overall." But in Trayvon's case, apparently his ethnicity means that these same events are examples of him being some kind of scary thug, and proof that he was a rampaging out of control ogre monster looking to eat a terrified helpless neighborhood-watchman.

Some people are making a lot of noise about some kind of media double standard* but the only double standard going on here is the one in which melanin content somehow affects film quality, and colors (ha) the perception of a teenager's facebook page.
--
*The double standard doesn't exist; black on white crime often IS reported, starting locally, as with all stories. However, since the perps are usually arrested and you rarely have it SWEPT UNDER THE RUG (as the Sanford PD is wont to do) it doesn't often explode nationally in the way this one did. It has nothing to do with some kind of liberal racial conspiracy, and everything to do with ratings; "What, the guy was arrested and will be prosecuted? No story there. Nothing to get outraged about." Contrast with "What? They're not even going to bother INVESTIGATING further? Oh, we can milk this for ratings for MONTHS." Hell, look at how many "missing black girl" stories get national attention in contrast to "missing white girl" stories. It's all about what will get the most shock and ratings, not advancing some kind of racial baiting narrative in anticipation of unleashing a modern-day Helter Skelter.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Zimmerman's supporters weren't the first to bring up Trayvon's character.

In the rush to decide the case quickly, Trayvon became a wonderful kid and Zimmerman became a paranoid racist. Showing a perfect child to not be perfect and humanizing Zimmerman isn't a bad thing.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

We might have come a long way, but obviously we're not yet to the point where people with absurdly primitive attitudes like this are rightly ashamed enough to hold them only in private.

You have that backwards. The only way to deal with these attitudes is to confront them openly and honestly so that can people can see the absurdity. Having them hidden is what we've done up to this point and it's why it's still going on.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

look at how many "missing black girl" stories get national attention in contrast to "missing white girl" stories. It's all about what will get the most shock and rating

Since only 13% of the country is black (and what really matters is the viewing audience which is likely a smaller percentage), it's pretty obvious why there aren't many "missing black girl" stories.

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

she was played by a black actress

Yet one more reason to go watch the movie. :p

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Fave Spartacus:Vengeance character - Oenomaus. Played by Peter Mensah. He's badass!

Although the historical Oenomaus is from Gaul, but nevermind...

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Apart from a comment much earlier at the beginning of this debate some time ago I've shied away from this little tragedy: mainly because it seems to me that what you say is true, and it seems impossible to debate with such folk with a level head. I suspect that some folk of particular political alignment, um, er, have issues with other folk based on their colour, but that is merely inference drawn from an interpretation of their positions through their postings. In this, I must admit, I find some folk more egregious than others.

There are however, a few folk, on what you chaps call "The Right", who seem actually free from such biases: but given that it isn't done to name names I cannot compliment them on their unusual freedom from such opinion.

Saddening. Or salutary. Or somesuch.

[a-cheshire-grin.livejournal.com]

This is ridiculous!! I can't with such people...! -.-''

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

Sadly, stupid people are far from rare, an apt demonstration of which can be gleaned by picking any online news story at random and scrolling down to the comments section. In fact, pessimist though I may be, I would dare argue that there are more stupid people out there in the world then there are smart, rational people.

I mean, for Christ's sake, look at the success of Twilight.

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

Hey. Forks was a beautiful integrated town in the Twilight movies. I was actually a member of the Klan, but became a raging liberal after seeing the rainbow of diversity represented in the grand finale of Eclipse.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Cause when people see Jesse James, Dog, or Eminem they think "clean cut and upstanding".

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

Atta BOY!! Argue the exception AS the rule!!

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Wow, they're in this movie? It has EVERYTHING!

[houndofloki.livejournal.com]

Are Dog, Jesse James, and Eminem viewed as thugs? Dog is an ex-con who works as a professional bounty hunter. Jesse James takes great pains to intentionally cultivate a "thug" image. Eminem has an actual history of violence.

Whether or not it's fair to write off someone like Dog or Eminem as a thug for having a violent criminal past is another discussion, but it's silly to try and compare their situation to that of a black teenager who is a thug simply by walking down the street in an outfit that is currently stylish among teenagers (white kids wear hoodies constantly, too. They don't get the same treatment).

[fornikate.livejournal.com]

what does that have to do with anything

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I remember the grief the Wachowski brothers got for using so many African American actors and actresses as leads in the Matrix movies, or the hard time George Lucas had in financing his movie "Red Tail" about the Tuskegee Airmen.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

Dude, do you remember the grief Star Trek had for a while when they cast a black actor to play the main Vulcan character (Tuvok) on Voyager? That and hating on the female captain was a cozy pastime for a while there, among many "fans".

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Lucas was trolling. Even Stewart called him out on it.

[meupatdoes.livejournal.com]

Anyone remember the last line of Matthew McConaughey's closing argument (http://youtu.be/C7f-BgDgpmE)in A Time to Kill?

[meupatdoes.livejournal.com]

I should probably also include that I originally read about this in an article (http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/hunger-games-cast-subjected-to-racist-attacks-in-shocking-tweets-1673504.story) that included this sentence:

"These people are MAD that the girl that they cried over while reading the book was 'some black girl' all along."

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

"White" reading of books is sadly even an international problem, although the US is the only country where I've seen it expressed in such ways as Jezebel gives examples of in the article.
An older but very good example is Ursula Le Guin's world famous Earth Sea books. Those are smack full of ppl of color, and while there are white people in them, they are a small minority, and yet
time and time again over the years, they've been read and discussed as "white". It doesn't even help that the author herself pipes up sometimes and reminds readers of the skin colors in the books.
And then they did an abysmal tv adaptation in the early 2000's, and almost every single character was white. And then there was Racefail 09, the big on line debate among authors and readers just a few
years ago, where "white" dominance in reading and character interpretation was so blatant, it rendered the whole debate that name, and several authors publicly embarrassed themselves.

All these things are absolutely evidence that there is a big issue with how other cultures and skin colors are viewed, in media or elsewhere. I would even say that such examples as The Hunger Games - hugely successful
books in the white middle class, are part of an empirical sociological evidence pattern for this, but you will always find big clusters of people who willfully close their eyes to that.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

It's worth noting here that some of the most successful US films of all time have been hideously, obnoxiously racist. The Birth of a Nation, and Gone With the Wind are two of the most famous. Film has long been one of the most successful methods for propaganda, and people who really want to use it to spread a message of hate could do so quite well when it suited them to do so. Equally it's also very effective as a means to spread a message of good faith and good will, though this tends to be less commonly done.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Irrelevant! Racism is over in this country, didn't you hear?

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Just look at the Prez!

[di-glossia.livejournal.com]

The dumbest part is that the author specifically stated that Rue and Thresh were black (http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/04/07/hunger-games-suzanne-collins-gary-ross-exclusive/):

"Some readers have expressed real frustration that white actors were cast in the roles of Katniss and Gale, who they felt were clearly described as biracial in the book. Do you understand or share any of that dismay Suzanne?
SC: They were not particularly intended to be biracial. It is a time period where hundreds of years have passed from now. There’s been a lot of ethnic mixing. But I think I describe them as having dark hair, grey eyes, and sort of olive skin. You know, we have hair and makeup. But then there are some characters in the book who are more specifically described.

GR: Thresh and Rue.

SC: They’re African-American.

So will those roles go to black actors?
GR: Thresh and Rue will be African-American. It’s a multi-racial culture and the film will reflect that. But I think Suzanne didn’t see a particular ethnicity to Gale and Katniss [the white lead character] when she wrote it, and that’s something we’ve talked about a lot. She was very specific about the qualities that these characters have and who they are as people. Having seen Josh and Liam and Jen perform these roles, that’s really the most important thing. They’re very much the characters to us."

Imho, the coolest part of the book was that the most sympathetic characters outside of District 12 were black. It was a very refreshing viewpoint in a post-apocalyptic world. Thresh and Rue are supposed to be from somewhere in the American South, where large black populations exist. There was also a considerable number of blacks in the Capitol, not including Lenny Kravitz's character. These people are racist and incapable of reading comprehension, quite honestly.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Yup. I would have thought there would have been more outrage (??) over a 'darker fellow' being cast as Cinna, since from what I remember of the books there's no real physical description of him. When I read it I pictured him as white, since I am, myself, white. Now when I reread them, I'm of course going to picture Lenny. Hopefully he won't bust out with American Woman at any point.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

This is where things can get dicey. If we see movies that for instance perpetuate messages like alternating pictures of grotesquely distorted views of Jews with rats or that show blacks as thuggish pimps, robbers, and rapists, the odds of these messages directly associating themselves together increase quite a bit. Now there are a lot of people that will deny that films have propagandistic powers to preach evil messages like this, to which my sole response will be "Well, failing history forever is hardly unusual on the Internet."

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Oh, and if anyone else tells me that there were better actors than Idris Elba for Heimdall and Michael Clark Duncan for the Kingpin, you fail.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

John Oliver, on the Daily Show the other day: "We better talk about hoodies, or else we'd have to start talking about guns!"

Nailed it.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Guns dont create victims. Targets create victims!

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

actively dislike blacks enough that they cannot enjoy seeing them on screen

I'm not sure what to say. Their loss. Its saddening.