Friday 24 December 2010

Fear of a Black Asgard


I haven't really talked about what I think about casting Idris Elba as a Marvel character based on a Norse Mythological deity who was referred to as "The White God" because I think it would be redundant.  I've already said my piece on why positive discrimination is a self-defeating crock, and it applies here. In any case, I can't have any respect for the whole "colourblind casting" phenomenon considering the Jamie Foxx as Frank Sinatra fiasco. However, since it's still going - as nerd controversies are wont to do - I thought I'd talk more about this post at Man vs Clown!, and the whole Black Heimdall thing.



I'm not even going to dignify the group of fools mentioned in the link, who are allegedly seeking to protest Thor on the basis of Elba's casting.  They might claim that this is about respect for the source material, but it clearly isn't.  They attack Marvel for the "anti-white" Black Panther, and accuse the company of fostering an anti-white agenda.  If there's an agenda here, I suggest those folks look in the mirror.  I have no time for such tiresome ideas as the poisonous nonsense they spew.

My issues with Elba's casting are about fidelity to the source material.  There is justification for a black Norse God in the original comics: every 500 years or so, there is a cycle of Ragnaroks, and the Asgardians are reborn, often in new forms.  This explains why Thor is blond and clean-shaven, as opposed to red-headed with a magnificent beard, in modern times.  This would've been a perfectly logical opportunity to give a fellow Asgardian a race-lift, but they didn't.  Heimdall was a white dude, and Asgard was still as white-bread as it always was.  Still, I have to admit it's a bit of a stretch - changing hair colour and facial hair is one thing, but switching haplogroups is another entirely.  I have to wonder what people would think of a black Doctor - I'd be far more open to that than a black James Bond, personally.  Interesting that nobody seems to bring up a female James Bond in these discussions...

I digress: my problem is only that "this is not how it was in the comic."  It's as simple as that.  If you're going to make changes, make them mean something.  What does making Heimdall black accomplish?  It makes Asgard look more cosmopolitan - what does that accomplish?  Does it make some bold statement?  Is it a groundbreaking casting choice that shakes the entertainment industry to the core?  Not really: it just seems... token.  Patting each other on the back, self-congratulating, obsequious self satisfaction, over something that simply isn't that big a deal these days.  That almost annoys me more than the alteration in the first place: that smug implication of the Thor makers thinking "look at how progressive we are, aren't we so much better than those nasty racists and white-centrics?" Yeah, there's a little ironic comedy in casting a black dude as "The Whitest God," but that doesn't exactly scream respect for the source material, does it?

Elba has his own thoughts on the subject:

"There has been a big debate about it: can a black man play a Nordic character?" he told TV Times. "Hang about, Thor's mythical, right? Thor has a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers. That's OK, but the colour of my skin is wrong?"

Wow, way to completely sidestep the issue, Mr Elba.  Yes, it's OK for Thor to have a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers because that happened in the source material.  It isn't an issue of "realism" - if you're going that route, then you're pretty much saying there's no point in attempting any semblance of verisimilitude, and then you can throw suspension of disbelief right out the window.  How would you like it if someone dismissed a grave misinterpretation of Shakespeare by retorting "Hang about, Oberon and Titania are fairies.  That's OK, but my idea is wrong?" A certain aspect of your appearance is not the same as the character from the source material.  Trust me, I'd be just as ticked off if they cast anyone who isn't black as Imaro, Ace Jessel, T'Challa, Blade or Spawn, and definitely as angry as I am about The Last Racebender fiasco.

"I was cast in Thor and I'm cast as a Nordic god," he said. "If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that, and I think that's good."

Personally, I think it's a little cowardly.  You guys want to impress us with your "signs of the times of the future"?  Do something better than this.  Do something really daring.  Multicultural casts have been around since Star Trek, probably even earlier, with black, Asian and faintly demonic aliens in the regular cast, as well as a Russian at the height of the Cold War.  That was edgy, unusual, brave, even a bit dangerous... 45 years ago.  Casting a black man as the modern reincarnation of a white Norse God - which does not equate to his counterpart in the comics - in 2011 is not brave, unusual or daring.  It's just kinda sad.

Do you want to know what is brave, unusual and daring?  Uwe Boll's Blubberella.

A disclaimer: I consider Uwe Boll a festering boil in the ear canal of Cinema, so this is not praise of Boll.
Rather, it's a scathing indictment of Branaugh's Thor.

Think of a fat superheroine.  You can't, can you?  While male superheroes can be of multiple phenotypes, from bricks like the Thing to striplings like Spider-Man, athletic peak-condition humans like Batman to massively muscular like the Hulk.  There are even a few obese superheroes and villains.  With female characters, there are precisely three archetypes: athletic, voluptuous, and muscular.  There are no fat superheroines.  In three quarters of a century since the birth of superhero comics, there hasn't been a single fat superheroine.*

Uwe Boll is the first.  Of all the people to blaze a trail with the first example of a bold new direction in a well-trod genre, the man who brought us goddamn Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark is the one to bring us the first obese superheroine.  It may be fatsploitation, it may be crude, it might be offensive - but it's the first.  And that, my friends, is indescribably wretched.

So Thor has a multicultural cast: big freakin' deal.  It isn't big, it isn't daring, it doesn't improve the source material, it doesn't improve the real problem of racial casting issues, and most of all, it doesn't matter.  All it does is differentiate itself from the source material for little to no reason for meaningless kudos.

Here's how I approach making changes in adaptations:

  • Is it necessary for conversion to the medium?
  • Is it necessary for character or narrative development?
  • Is it necessary for subtextual depth?

If none of the above apply, don't change it.

And yet, I'm not against the idea of black Norse Gods - with sufficient narrative or idealogical justification.  As I noted earlier, there is justification for physical changes in the Marvel comics according to the Ragnarok cycle, but why should some gods simply change their hair colour, while others hop ethnicities?  It makes no sense, it's arbitrary, and it's lazy. However, if all the changes were uniform, I would actually accept it.  If all the Asgardians turned black - keeping the sense of uniformity, that this is a family or tribe of gods, rather than a Model UN of gods - you know what?  I'd respect that.  It would be a bold decision, possibly one that could backfire - but I would respect it as a bold decision.

Everyone knows the Norse gods were white dudes.  Everyone knows that the original Heimdall was not black.  But why turn just one incidental cast member black, when you could turn all of them black?  Sure, the white supremacists would be up in arms - but they're already up in arms, while you'd have consistency, the sense that these gods are all brothers and sisters and cousins and so forth. Cast Djimon Honsou as Thor, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Balder, Richard Roundtree as Odin, Denzel Washington as Loki - then Idris Elba as Heimdall.

It isn't as if black people haven't proven to be successful draws at the box office: witness Sidney Poitier, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes - all proven box-office draws.  Samuel L. Jackson is, in terms of cumulative gross of the films he's starred in, the most profitable actor in history.  Television has proven shows with all-or-predominantly black casts can be successful, too: Roots is one of the most celebrated television series of all time, The Cosby Show and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air two of the most beloved sitcoms.  I know I loved all of them.

I'm not saying that I would necessarily recommend that a Thor film should have black actors playing the Asgardians - but I am saying that if it were to be the case, I'd have a lot more respect for its sheer boldness, rather than casting a minor character and claiming it to be One Giant Leap.  Besides, a superhero movie with a mostly-black cast has already been done.  Instead of ticking multiculturalism boxes and showing how wonderfully enlightened we all are, let's put our money where our mouth is and start bringing real black superheroes to the fore.  Let's see proper movies for Spawn and Steel, a Black Panther epic, a Storm spinoff, a Bronze Tiger flick, The Falcon, Cyborg.  They really missed a trick in not doing John Stewart Green Lantern over Kal Rordan Green Lantern.

Oh, and Luke Cage: Power Man, starring Isaiah Mustafa.  This must happen.



*Apart from Big Bertha and Zephyr, the first of whom I stupidly discounted since she moonlights as a supermodel, the other I had no idea about. I'm such an eejit. That's what you get for making silly sweeping statements without fact-checking, folks!

That said, Blubberella is still, sadly, the first cinematic obese superheroine, so my point kinda, sorta, nearly stands. OK it doesn't stand, but still.

24 comments:

  1. I don't really care about the Thor Comics, I'm not an exceptionally big fan of them. I'm mainly concerned about the original Source material here..

    It's something that, if I could separate the Comics from the Eddas and Sagas, But again, it isn't easy when it is something you feel strongly about, I'd feel more at ease about it.

    On the other hand I think that a really really gutsy thing would have been to follow the storyline of "The First Captain America" and cast an African American to play Cap. That would have been daring and I'd have supported it.. I'd love, love, love to see Lenny Henry as The Doctor.. I'd have loved to have had Joanna Lumley as the Doctor as well.. I thought that was inspired the first time I saw "Curse of the Fatal Death"

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  2. Other than that, the trailer looks pretty good. They could have been multicultural with non norse god characters. Where are the Asian, Arab, Hispanic, or Native American Norse Gods? It is kind of racist to change it to only include on minority, don't you think.

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    1. WHAT?HISPANIC AND ARABS ETC,ARE NOT minority groups in america? of they are too but blacks are not the minority worldwide.

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  3. I don't really care about the Thor Comics, I'm not an exceptionally big fan of them. I'm mainly concerned about the original Source material here.

    I'd really love for a proper Norse Mythology film to be done, or even a miniseries. There was a fantastic Bible series a while back: Genesis had imagery of volcanoes and lava, then they had incredibly brutal recreations of the rest of the books. Samson's was particularly violent. I'll have to track that down, it'd be a great basis for a series on Greek/Norse/Any mythology.

    On the other hand I think that a really really gutsy thing would have been to follow the storyline of "The First Captain America" and cast an African American to play Cap. That would have been daring and I'd have supported it..

    I would only really have supported it if they took full advantage of a black Caps: as in, deal with the racial climate of the 1940s and the difference between then and now. If they just cast Will Smith as Steve Rogers (and if I was casting a black Captain America, you can bet it wouldn't be Will Smith) and make no mention of the racial element whatsoever, that would be an incredibly cowardly and insensitive copout. I haven't read TFCA, though.

    Other than that, the trailer looks pretty good. They could have been multicultural with non norse god characters. Where are the Asian, Arab, Hispanic, or Native American Norse Gods? It is kind of racist to change it to only include on minority, don't you think.

    Excellent point. Why not make Freya Arab, Loki Asian, Odin Native American and whatnot? It would make the multicultural aspect of the Asgardians somewhat sensible. As it is, Elba just sticks out like a sore thumb.

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  4. I was mistaken, it was "Truth: Red, White & Black".. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Bradley

    its been a while since I read anything about it.. and No, I certainly would not want Will Smith to be cast in the part... And I'd certainly want them to address the issues of the day, Which if I'm not mistaken they do in the comic..

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  5. "Think of a fat superheroine. You can't, can you?...With female characters, there are precisely three archetypes: athletic, voluptuous, and muscular. There are no fat superheroines. In three quarters of a century since the birth of superhero comics, there hasn't been a single fat superheroine."

    >clears throat<

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bertha_%28comics%29

    Tex
    ("Kal Rordan"? Quantum LOLs!)

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  6. I don't have a problem with a black actor playing a Nordic god. I figure the decisions have more to do with marketing the film and the fact that in theatre, where Branaugh has some experience, the actor's race doesn't matter all that much anymore. I've seen Asian-Americans in The Importance of Being Earnest, I've seen African American Oberons against White Titanias. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that he can pull off the role, and I don't think Branaugh would bring in someone who couldn't.

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  7. While appearring in plays for several years, I saw an Asian Stanley Kowalski, and they kept the Polack references. I wrote a play about the War of the Worlds panic and a black woman was cast as Orson Welles' compatriot John Houseman. And those are just the roles I can sum up properly, meaning you get in one sentence why that's weird. Taht's just how its done in theater. I also saw plenty of plays with siblings being played by different races. And that attitude, commonplace in theater, is one that Branagh has carried with him to his Shakespeare movies:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_You_Like_It_%282006_film%29

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love%27s_Labour%27s_Lost_%282000_film%29

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Much_Ado_About_Nothing_(film)

    I think all this is is a complete lack of hesitation to cast an actor in a role based on race on Branagh's part. He wanted Elba, and he got him.

    One more thing- there has long been talk about how the producers agonized about making Thor work with Iron Man, the Hulk, and Captain America. Now in the preview we see Asgard most likely moved to outer space, Thor's line of "what your ancestors called magic..." and the fact that Natalie Portman's character being changed from a nurse to seemingly a scientist/scientist's assistant (that field possibly being astrophysics), and I think we can see their solution- they may be firmly casting the Asgardians as aliens. Branagh most likely thought that he could cast Elba because these alterations allows for it, plus the fact that the comics were never that close to the myths, anyway.

    As for a true Norse myth movie:

    Odin- Thomas Kretschmann I read Ingrid and Edgard D'aulaire's book of Norse Myths as a child, and their image of Odin as a brown haired man who looks relatively young thanks to the apples of Idunn has always stuck with me. but I wouldn't mind if they aged him up a little.

    Freyja/Sif- Amanda Seyfried. Her as either role suits me.

    the head of Mimir: MAx von Sydow.

    Loki- Jude Law

    Thor- Johann Hegg from Amon Amarth- I normally wouldn't cast musicians in these casting calls (except for Epica's Simone Simons as Atali in REH's "The Frost Giant's Daughter"), but I think this could work.

    Frigga- Maria Bonnevie

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  8. Taranaich, you must understand that there is ONE reason and only ONE reason for make a secondary character a "cool black guy": demographics. The same happened with Mace Windu. There is no artistic, ideological or narrative decisions here. Only movie.

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  9. there was no problem with Mace Windu, we knew black people existed in the star wars "Universe"...

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  10. But the only reason he was in the movies was because Lucas want to "sell" that kind of character. Was a marketing choice.

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  11. its been a while since I read anything about it.. and No, I certainly would not want Will Smith to be cast in the part... And I'd certainly want them to address the issues of the day, Which if I'm not mistaken they do in the comic..

    Ah,

    >clears throat<

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bertha_%28comics%29


    Big Bertha's really an arguable case: the point of her superpower is that she can mould her body to any shape. She just happens to go obese when she needs to beat people up and absorb damage. In her alter ego, she's a skinny fashion model, after all. However, I did bring up "can you think of a fat superheroine" and Bertha does count. So I'm a beet of an eejit. Gulp!

    That said, Boll's horrible movie is still the first *film* to feature a fat superheroine. I guess we should count ourselves lucky he didn't get the rights to Big Bertha.

    I figure the decisions have more to do with marketing the film and the fact that in theatre, where Branaugh has some experience, the actor's race doesn't matter all that much anymore. I've seen Asian-Americans in The Importance of Being Earnest, I've seen African American Oberons against White Titanias. It doesn't really matter.

    The thing about Shakespearean productions using ethnic roles (I remember an Othello where everyone was black except Othello, who was white) is that Shakespeare's been constantly adapted over centuries. Therefore a black Oberon is just another new spin on the old tale. Making the new spins in the first adaptation of a property's putting the cart before the horse, IMO.

    One more thing- there has long been talk about how the producers agonized about making Thor work with Iron Man, the Hulk, and Captain America. Now in the preview we see Asgard most likely moved to outer space, Thor's line of "what your ancestors called magic..." and the fact that Natalie Portman's character being changed from a nurse to seemingly a scientist/scientist's assistant (that field possibly being astrophysics), and I think we can see their solution- they may be firmly casting the Asgardians as aliens. Branagh most likely thought that he could cast Elba because these alterations allows for it, plus the fact that the comics were never that close to the myths, anyway.

    But that just makes the "if they're aliens, why do they look human" elephant-in-the-room even more pronounced. It just makes a mockery of the whole idea of the Asgardians being aliens when they're basically a Model UN of Earth. I dunno, the alien aspect always bothered me for some reason.

    Taranaich, you must understand that there is ONE reason and only ONE reason for make a secondary character a "cool black guy": demographics. The same happened with Mace Windu. There is no artistic, ideological or narrative decisions here. Only movie.

    Of course, however, as DC noted above, Branagh has a history of multicultural casting in his movies. I will note he didn't pull any of that with Frankenstein or

    As for Mace Windu, I think Samuel L. Jackson's own enthusiasm to get in a Star Wars film had as much to do with it as Lucas wanting to sell a black character.

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  12. I watched the preview again and it looks like their is an Asian guy in it (IMDB confirms). The largest minority in the United States identify themselves as Hispanic and they are strangely absent. Carlos Mencia as Odin. Make it happen.

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  13. "Let's see proper movies for Spawn and Steel, a Black Panther epic, a Storm spinoff, a Bronze Tiger flick, The Falcon, Cyborg. They really missed a trick in not doing John Stewart Green Lantern over Kal Rordan Green Lantern."

    I'd love to see an Imaro movie.

    Miguel

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  14. Hell, yeah. I'd love Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Imaro, but he tends to play bad guys so well he'd probably be better as Kanoko. It'd be nice to see him in a heroic role. I just think he's fantastic in general.

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  15. The source material here is not the Norse myths but the Marvel comics. In the comics, the Asgardians really are aliens and can mostly appear however they want to appear. The existence of Beta Ray Bill, also an alien but not Asgardian, provides a further twist. No one will care that aliens look human any more than with any of the Superman films.

    I'm not personally bothered by any casting decisions, which may always have been made because whomever was the best audition. It's not as if Marvel Films have been in any way faithful to themselves regarding supporting characters so far. Jarvis is not an Artificial Intelligence in the comics but there was little or no outcry over this when Iron Man came out. The villains of second Iron Man film have little to do with their comic version, especially CrimsonWhipDynamoLash. These are bigger deviances from the source than the purely cosmetic issue here.

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  16. The source material here is not the Norse myths but the Marvel comics. In the comics, the Asgardians really are aliens and can mostly appear however they want to appear. The existence of Beta Ray Bill, also an alien but not Asgardian, provides a further twist. No one will care that aliens look human any more than with any of the Superman films.

    The bolded part makes me wonder if Heimdall picked a new form specifically for the irony. That'd be quite funny, actually.

    These are bigger deviances from the source than the purely cosmetic issue here.

    I think black Asgardians are a bit more than a purely cosmetic issue, personally, but eh. It is strange there wasn't much outcry over Jarvis, but then, I think people were just so bowled over about Robert Downey Jr taking the role that they kinda forgot it.

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  17. Just to mess with Al, Zephyr, one of the heroes in Jim Shooter's Harbinger series from Valiant was indeed fat. It was sort of a running joke. Her teammates called her Zeppelin behind her back.

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  18. Just to mess with Al, Zephyr, one of the heroes in Jim Shooter's Harbinger series from Valiant was indeed fat. It was sort of a running joke. Her teammates called her Zeppelin behind her back.

    Man, I just *knew* I should've used "name a fat superheroine in the movies" or some such. Almost a century of comics out there, there's bound to be a BBW among them. Serves me right!

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  19. in the original script of The Warriors by Walter Hill, they were supposed to be an all black gang, but they don't dare to do it
    and what about Daredevil film with Kingpin being a black man?
    what happens with that project of a film of Luke Cage-Powerman with Tyrese?
    (except for Epica's Simone Simons as Atali in REH's "The Frost Giant's Daughter")
    WOW...
    Francisco

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  20. If a sub-Saharan mythology film was being cast, nobody would dare cast a "white" in a positive role. Why no "black" Loki? This isn't demographics, it's politics.

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  21. and what about Daredevil film with Kingpin being a black man?

    Ah, now Kingpin - and Nick Fury, for that matter - differ slightly, in that while it's not *too* much of a stretch to think those character could in fact be black, it's a bit more (for me at least) to imagine an alien Viking God to be black. I had my reservations about both, but in the end, I'm more willing to say "sure, why not" for a modern white character to be portrayed by a black actor. I haven't heard anything about Tyrese's Luke Cage, but though I hold a soft spot for Mustafah, I wouldn't mind Tyrese.

    Simone Simons as Atali? As the ancient proverb goes, "I'd buy that for a dollar!"

    If a sub-Saharan mythology film was being cast, nobody would dare cast a "white" in a positive role. Why no "black" Loki? This isn't demographics, it's politics.


    Indeed, but then, I think people would be really stupid to cast a white person in a sub-Saharan movie.

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  22. Charles Saunders29 January 2011 at 19:10

    Well, you know I had to get in on this sooner or later. I just posted some commentary on this issue on the blog section of my website:

    www.charlessaunderswriter.com

    The title is: The Heimdall Hullabaloo. As you'll see, I have something of a unique perspective on this issue.

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  23. I'm looking forward to seeing Thor! The Heimdall thing isn't really a deal breaker for me, it's the Marvel version of Norse mythology rather than the Havamal.

    We've seen a couple of the Marvel characters change race from white to black, like the Kingpin in Daredevil, and Nick Fury in Iron Man and the Hulk. Is it a big deal? Not really. I think Marvel is trying to appeal to a broader audience, especially since these characters originated from the 60's and there weren't a lot of black characters back then.

    Now I'd love to see an adaptation of Hammer of the Gods by Mark Wheatley!

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