Michael Peña needs to be in everything.
He is great in comedic and dramatic roles.
Black people getting murdered by cops and a black actor getting a role over an Indian actor are pretty much the same thing.
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MANAA criticizes the White-Washing of Asian-American Roles in "The Martian"
- Thread starter richiek
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Michael Peña needs to be in everything.
He is great in comedic and dramatic roles.
Black people getting murdered by cops and a black actor getting a role over an Indian actor are pretty much the same thing.
harriet the spy
Member
I was actually surprised that a) they kept that plot point and b) china appears better in the movie than the book.
Gentleman Jack
Member
The cast is pretty diverse. Having not read the book I found little fault with the representation within NASA and the China National Space Administration plays a pretty prominent role in the film. Putting it alongside "21" and "Last Airbender" feels like a cheap shot.
Classy move by Yahoo's editors to leave Michael Pena out of their 'look at how whitewashed this film is' cap from the film.
Classy move by Yahoo's editors to leave Michael Pena out of their 'look at how whitewashed this film is' cap from the film.
MadLaughter
Member
Weir said that Irfan Khan was lined up for it but had to drop at the last minute due to Bollywood. It happened at the very last minute, so they had to go with a proven actor with a big name who was both free and willing to work on it.
darkazcura
Member
It's unfortunate Irrfan couldn't do it, but you are telling me they couldn't find one available Indian actor? Give me a break.
Yeah that's not offensive at all.
Unless you are being sarcastic.
in the 1984 movie 2010, Dr. Chandra, real name Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai (btw heis Indian in the novels) was played by this guy:
did anyone complain? I don't know, there was no internet back then for people to air out their stupid grievances.
Yeah that's not offensive at all.
Unless you are being sarcastic.
freeofgreed
Member
or they could've gone the 3rd option and kept his name and had an indian guy play him and kept both groups happy
See here's the thing. If you never hire none white actors, then of course you're not going to have experienced none white actors. Plus i highly doubt that there were no good Indian actors available aside from the one they asked.
Mysterious
Banned
One of the black actors played an Indian. I was taken back when he said he was Hindu in the movie. And then there were almost no Asian or Indian scientists at NASA.
Zvonimir Boban
Banned
old manatee
Banned
Lol @ Joel Edgerton as Rhamses. Ridley Scott's last good movie was Thelma and Louise.
juicyfruitas
Member
Oh so it was in the book?
Hollywood likely fluffed that portion up to rake in extra $$$ from the Chinese film market
LMAO at that image in the OP.
I don't think that the issue is a lack of "diversity" (which just means non-white people), the problem is a lack of Asian actors in Hollywood. I can only think of two and last time I saw Lucy Liu was in Sleeping Dogs. According to the OP, the book had at least two Asian characters, one was changed to white and one was changed to black.
Now, people might think that it's good to see black people getting more roles but this particular actor is the worst example of that. He's in every movie already. In terms of representation in American media, Asians are very far behind black people so the race changing on these characters of an highly underrepresented race is basically kicking a man while he's down.
It seems to me that there is a certain number of spots allocated to non-white people in these movies and they all have to share. Why is an Asian character changed to black? Why couldn't they just make that black guy the main character instead and leave the Asians Asian, for example? Too much "diversity"? Not enough "relatability"?
But the main issue at hand here is the underrepresentation of Asians in Hollywood.
I don't think that the issue is a lack of "diversity" (which just means non-white people), the problem is a lack of Asian actors in Hollywood. I can only think of two and last time I saw Lucy Liu was in Sleeping Dogs. According to the OP, the book had at least two Asian characters, one was changed to white and one was changed to black.
Now, people might think that it's good to see black people getting more roles but this particular actor is the worst example of that. He's in every movie already. In terms of representation in American media, Asians are very far behind black people so the race changing on these characters of an highly underrepresented race is basically kicking a man while he's down.
It seems to me that there is a certain number of spots allocated to non-white people in these movies and they all have to share. Why is an Asian character changed to black? Why couldn't they just make that black guy the main character instead and leave the Asians Asian, for example? Too much "diversity"? Not enough "relatability"?
But the main issue at hand here is the underrepresentation of Asians in Hollywood.
darkazcura
Member
Well maybe his parents are south and north Indian.
/didn't read the book so I have no idea if he book states where his parents are from.
Granted, the movie still has 3 major Asian characters in the movie.
The scientist who is in charge of building the equipment that is needed to rescue Wattyl, China's space program director and his assistant.
As long as it looks foreign
in the 1984 movie 2010, Dr. Chandra, real name Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai (btw heis Indian in the novels) was played by this guy:
did anyone complain? I don't know, there was no internet back then for people to air out their stupid grievances.
Are you offended by representation? It sounds like you have some deeply rooted issues.
This is what I mean by "too much diversity".
torre_avenue
Banned
But, that's the thing. It shouldn't have to play a role in a person's characterization for you to start caring. It shouldn't have to take Chiwetel Ejiofor speaking Hindi or singing a Bollywood song for you to say "Hey, that's not right." If the character was meant to be cast race-blind, then your argument makes sense. But, when the character has an Indian name and you cast a non-Indian for the role, then it gets a bit fishy. You can try to work your way around the conflict by saying that "There aren't many good Indian actors", "he did the role amazingly, why should I care?", etc etc, but for the people who do care, the other Indians like myself who find it very rare to see an Indian character who isn't a terrorist, a doctor, or another walking stereotype, stuff like this matters. The same way it mattered for Native Hawaiians with Aloha, the same with Asians with The Last Airbender. This was a chance to see a portrayal of an Indian character who is an actual fully-fleshed out character, and it got denied for the sake of another name on the marquee.
The Faceless Master
Member
how many default characters are in the movie?
MHWilliams
Member
That does explain it, but it's still a shame. Especially given the large number of Asian Americans in STEM fields.
Bingo. Imagine if everytime you said you didn't like a thing or you think something could be done better, it was categorized as anger or outrage.
The point is right there in the quotes:
“So few projects are written specifically with Asian American characters in them and he’s now changed them to a white woman and black man. This was a great opportunity to give meaty roles to talented Asian American actors — and boost their careers — which would’ve enabled our community to become a greater part of the rescue team.”
Not hard to understand. Can you name a major Indian actor? What about three? Five? No? That's not because there aren't talented actors, it's because they get fewer chances.
teruterubozu
Member
Perhaps Matt Damon had some casting input.
After Exodus, I think Ridley Scott had it covered.
The Faceless Master
Member
why did you quote me?
WrenchNinja
Member
I was bothered by this, but I did enjoy his acting in the movie. It is disappointing that the only Indian dude in the main cast got a race change, while five of the astronauts are all white dudes. But hey, they had a hispanic guy on their six man team, diversity right.
He's telling you race doesn't matter, man. Who cares that it was a minority who ended up getting a race change in the movie, his race doesn't add any characterization!!!
MadLaughter
Member
There were at least 3, possibly 4 named Asian characters in the movie. Bruce NG, and the two members of the chinese space agency, and I couldn't tell since the room was dark, but the guy running mission control also seemed asian.
freeofgreed
Member
in the 1984 movie 2010, Dr. Chandra, real name Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai (btw heis Indian in the novels) was played by this guy:
did anyone complain? I don't know, there was no internet back then for people to air out their stupid grievances.
Yeah i wish we could go back to those days when monorities knew their place, and couldn't complain about being excluded.
Rice-Eater
Member
Might as well include the thousands of cheering Chinese if you're going to include those two. I get it, their characters were significant to the plot and they got to speak. But they weren't major characters throughout the whole movie.
I guess I'll wait for the next Netflix show about a white character traveling to Asia to learn the ancient arts to see Asians get major roles in something.
I'm talking about Iron Fist instead of Marco Polo season 2
I just don't really think that argument can be applied here.
"there's too much diversity in this movie so let's change one of the minorities into another minority."
If Ridley Scott honestly thought that there was 'too much diversity" how does this help him reduce it?
harriet the spy
Member
Yes, but
in the book it was slightly more interested - they wanted to put a chinese astronaut in Mars in one of the next Ares mission (hinted at in one of the movie ending shot), and wanted to be able to say that they 'saved the american'. The head of the chinese equivalent of NASA still thinks it's a waste of a great rocket for just one astronaut instead of the knowledge they'd have gotten from launching that rocket with a scientific purpose
AstroNut325
Member
What I take away from Dragon's post:
Just because I'm OK with something doesn't mean it's OK overall.
Ok fine. So the people who aren't ok with it, are y'all implying that it isn't possible to have an Indian person look like Chiwetel? Or that it isn't possible for a person of Indian origin marrying a person of African American descent and having children? Or are we just not able to imagine a non-indian person playing an Indian character in a movie?
And are we forgetting that the leader of Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the movie is played by an Asian?
I'm failing to see what exactly is worth raging over.
MadLaughter
Member
Not that this movie has to adhere to the real world, but sadly NASA isn't that diverse either.
Sure, yeah, I don't think that a character's ethnicity being different between a book and movie (or comic and movie, or whatever) is bad in and of itself, or necessarily has an impact on the quality of the story. The reason it's viewed as a problem is that the changes tend to happen in one direction: characters of color being changed to white. In aggregate this means it's more difficult for actors of color to get decent roles (and causes a knock-on effect of having fewer experienced or well-known actors of color, leading to something of a vicious cycle), and that non-white audiences have fewer chances to see themselves represented on film.
This one is sort of an atypical case because the movie actually has pretty decent diversity and representation on the whole, and because the character wasn't changed to be white. I don't think The Martian is an egregious example of Hollywood badness or that Ridley Scott is an appalling racist, but I can understand where the complaints are coming from. The movie doesn't exist in a contextless void.
I meant there is a diversity cap and that minorities have to share it. If they added a minority character instead of shifting them around, they would run into the issue of "too much diversity".
Not that this movie has to adhere to the real world, but sadly NASA isn't that diverse either.
Erm, the comparison is to the novel.
Diversity cap... what the what?
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
As good as Chiwetel Ejiofor?
Thats so utterly absurd...
As others have pointed out, the film has a pretty diverse cast as far as Hollywood films go but at the same time, what happened with the American Asian characters is not okay. There's always more work to do, especially with the representation of Asians on screen. Whenever the subject is brought up I'm reminded of how Natalie Portman was supposed to play a Korean character in Cloud Atlas, as if in the end product Asian representation wasn't weak enough.
I'm Indian and I had no issue with this... Chiwetel Ejiofor is a ridiculously talented actor and I enjoyed watching him. He's a better actor than Iffran Khan who was offered that role. Am I going to pretend to feign anger over this? Lol no... should they have offered the role to another Indian in Hollywood? I guess so.
However, my dad is Indian and he said he would've been there to watch it with me IF they let Khan be in the movie. So there's that for you...
However, my dad is Indian and he said he would've been there to watch it with me IF they let Khan be in the movie. So there's that for you...
Thatonemoor
Member
This is pretty shocking seeing that the cast in the movie is really diverse. Guess they just didn't want to put in the extra effort to cast the proper races. It's probably laziness rather then racism.
For Mindy Park, I actually don't remember her being explicitly described as Korean American in the book. Was she? I remember having a moment where I wondered if she was Asian or not, and then decided it didn't really matter. Same goes for Rich Purnell, who I don't remember being described by his physical attributes either, and portrayed more by his personality?
Apparently Irrfan Khan was cast for the role of Kapoor, when an existing Bollywood contract kicked in and he pulled out 3 weeks before filming started. At which point casting did a collective "Oh Shit!" and scrambled to find a replacement who was decently well known.
Mindy Park was supposed to be Korean American, but at no point in the book does it actually describe her ethnicity. The only thing making her Korean is the assumption that all Parks are Korean, and that's not true.
Mindy Park was supposed to be Korean American, but at no point in the book does it actually describe her ethnicity. The only thing making her Korean is the assumption that all Parks are Korean, and that's not true.
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