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SHOCKING! The Wiz has Black People in it!!! Where the White People At???????

 
 
 
Derec said:
How is it "breaking racial barriers" if you purposely exclude white actors? It seems to me it's more about reinforcing those barriers, not breaking them.
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It takes place in a fictive world where everyone is black. There are many fictive worlds where everyone appears to be white (the original Wizard of Oz, for example) and even blaxploitation films have white characters so it's certainly rare. The 'racial barrier' might not mean 'the barrier that separates blacks and others' but a barrier that prevents blacks from creating fictive worlds where they are the 'default' people. (In the Diana Ross film, race is not mentioned).

If someone created an all-female version of 'Lawrence of Arabia', I'd say that would be 'breaking gender barriers', since the original film had no speaking roles for a female character.

(Aside: The Diana Ross-Michael Jackson film version of The Wiz, box office bomb that it was, was nevertheless a childhood favourite of mine and I've seen it a dozen times or more.)

Ease on down the road!
 
laughing dog said:
Derec said:
Why would they need to be in blackface? Would a white character or two really have been so incredibly offensive?
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Interesting that you use the word "offensive". The point of the Wiz was to have an all black production. That was part of the artistic vision.
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I hear the Hasty Puddings Theatricals are putting together an all-male version of The Wizard of Oz.... :hobbyhorse:
 
Keith&Co. said:
Derec said:
Purposely excluding people just because of their race is pretty much the definition of racial barriers.
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Wow. You really gave my wife a laugh.

She doesn't think you're using the term 'racial barrier' correctly.

See, to her, when just about all of Hollywood sees a person's skin color and decides that they can only play maids, chauffeurs, criminals or the camp cook, that's a barrier. When you can only play a cop show if you're the junkie or the snitch, never the detective; when you can only be friends with the white college kids if you're the first character the monster eats after it escapes it's ancient prison; when the only thing you can do on a safari is refuse to go any further because of silly native superstitions (that turn out to be right, but only after you're off the screen); those are barriers.

Being of the wrong race FOR ONE SINGLE PRODUCTION may be a race-based decision on the part of the director or the producer or maybe the guy who coordinates stunt doubles, but it is exactly NOT a RACIAL BARRIER.
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Well, ya know, white men have been wanting to play Evilena now for years. Oh the injustice of it all!!!
 
Jayjay said:
What about witches? Are we still so bigoted that we have white or black actors playing the Wicked Witch of the West in greenface, rather than finding a real witch to play the role? Where is the outrage from the Magical-American community on this?
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There was a black witch in the Salem witch trials...

Tituba was the first person to be accused by Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams of witchcraft. She was also the first to confess to witchcraft in Salem Village. At first she denied that she had anything to do with witchcraft, but Samuel Parris beat her until she confessed to helping Mary Sibley (or Sibly) make a witchcake. When questioned later, she added that she knew about occult techniques from her mistress in Barbados, who taught her how to ward herself from evil powers and how to reveal the cause of witchcraft. Since such knowledge was not meant for harm, Tituba again asserted to Parris she was not a witch, but admitted she had participated in an occult ritual when she made the witchcake in an attempt to help Elizabeth Parris.[2][3]
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To be sure, there is disagreement if Tituba was black or NA...
 
Metaphor said:
laughing dog said:
Interesting that you use the word "offensive". The point of the Wiz was to have an all black production. That was part of the artistic vision.
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I hear the Hasty Puddings Theatricals are putting together an all-male version of The Wizard of Oz.... :hobbyhorse:
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The All Dorothy Marching Band for the gay pride parade in the movie MY FELLOW AMERICANS
 
When people are excluded due to race for centuries it is only natural they might want one or two things all to themselves.

If excluding whites from this production is racism, it is a drop in an ocean.
 
Keith&Co. said:
At least one barrier in the 70s was an assumption in Hollywood that blacks could not carry a production as the main characters. That they were inappropriate as leads. They would not be successful in drawing audiences.
If they had created a diverse The Wiz, then people defending that assumption would have claimed that it was the whites in the movie/Broadway production that had drawn the crowds. So the only way to prove that blacks could be successful as leads in roles that were not specifically created for blacks would be to make sure no one had any ammunition to whine that it still didn't prove what they wanted to prove.
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I saw the original production on Broadway, and I agree completely.

There was a common perception at the time among theater critics and producers that white audiences would not be interested in plays and musicals that featured blacks. But The Wiz proved them wrong. The factors that made a Broadway production a success - story, script, music, clever set designs, gifted actors - were independent of the race of the cast members, or whether the story focused on the experiences of minorities.
 
Derec said:
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untermensche said:
When people are excluded due to race for centuries it is only natural they might want one or two things all to themselves.

If excluding whites from this production is racism, it is a drop in an ocean.
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That plus the fact that "The Wiz" was written as "The Wizard of Oz" reinterpreted through black American culture. Adding a lot of white actors to lead roles would be a form of bastardization in that regard, kinda like Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" or David Karadine in "Kung Fu."
 
Derec said:
Also, we live in an age where there are many originally white characters cast with black actors - there are even calls to cast Idris Elba as the next James Bond (even though he is way too old), yet an updated Wiz could not have a more diverse cast? Really?
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James Bond is an English character who has been played by Scottish, Irish and Australian actors. There's been no outrage about non-English actors playing him so what would be the big deal about a black guy playing him?

He's only a character and if the next casting director decides that James Bond can be played by a black guy despite what the source material says then who really gives a shit apart from racists?

They should cast a woman in the role just to shake things up and piss off the kind of people who get outraged by this kind of nonsense.

edit: Idris Elba is also 4 years younger than Daniel Craig and is thus obviously not "way too old"
 
This is the way some people want the world to be.

Despite hundreds of years of incredible racism and torture and slavery there must be no tiny pockets of all black entertainment enterprises.

They are an abomination.
 
Lead was thought to be a healthy part of a balanced breakfast. And why not spread it on an elementary student's face and testicles.

Life was simpler then.
 
I've got you all beat. I was a black-face slave in our schools production of "Tom Sawyer" when I was 8 or 9 years old. Suck it, bitches.
 
James Bond was Scottish

“I am a Scottish peasant and will always feel at home being a Scottish peasant.” Fleming has Bond say at the end of 'The Man with the Golden Gun,' refusing a knighthood.

And if a black man can play James Bond, then a white man can play Don Shaft. After all, he's only a character.

Eldarion Lathria
 
Eldarion Lathria said:
“I am a Scottish peasant and will always feel at home being a Scottish peasant.” Fleming has Bond say at the end of 'The Man with the Golden Gun,' refusing a knighthood.

And if a black man can play James Bond, then a white man can play Don Shaft. After all, he's only a character.

Eldarion Lathria
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Anyone can play DON SHAFT, whoever he is. Is that JOHN SHAFT's white cousin?

BTW, you do know there are  black Scottish people, right?
 
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