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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

background illustration by Louise Pomeroy.
Used without permission.

 

green-queen: (via sellthelie) This is the only reason I want to see Prince of Persia. liveship: as much as I enjoy both Jake Gyllenhaal and Prince of Persia, I’ll be skipping this one. ‘cause he’s not actually, you know. Persian. thisisdisgusting: Would it be that much betterif he were? If they had chosen someone with lesser acting abilities, race might be an issue, but Jake Gyllenhaal is talented enough that I’m willing to believe they chose the actor with the best abilities and/or passion for the job. eugenides: I think it does make a difference. It’s just infuriating how BOTH the lead protagonists are completely white (Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton). It’s annoying how it seems like the “white” ethnicity is capable of portraying almost ALL ethnicities (like Asians?!  Avatar: the Last Airbender anyone??), but other ethnicities can never portray a white person. ARGH. Seriously, they’re just selling out because Jake Gyllenhaal is a big name. There are plenty of Middle Eastern actors out there experienced enough to take this part (Oded Fehr? who’s actually Israeli and not Iranian…which I guess moots my point, but still!). Could they have found a whiter-white person to play this role?  thisisdisgusting: I see your point, but I just don’t buy that there is an availability of talented and experienced Iranian or other Middle Eastern actors. (Although as long as we’re talking racial appearances, I argue that the majority of Middle Eastern ethnicities look as little like Iranians as the average Caucasian does.) Even in my high school, which had an 80% Asian population, a hugely disproportionate number of drama students were white because that’s who signed up. Because of cultural differences or whatever else, there’s a lack of other races of actors, and chances are, only a small portion of the Persian actors who heard about the role actually auditioned. That would make for pretty slim pickings if the casting directors were only looking at Iranians and other Middle Easterners. Now maybe they did cast Jake Gyllenhaal just to make money. Or maybe the only way the filmmakers could get away with making a Prince of Persia movie with the budget they wanted was by convincing Walt Disney Pictures that it would sell––which casting Jake Gyllenhaal would guarantee. Or maybe Jake Gyllenhaal is a huge Prince of Persia fan and begged them for the part (in light of which, “You’re not Persian” would seem kind of petty). Or maybe I’m making a fool of myself right now because I admit I haven’t read up on their reasons for casting Jake Gyllenhaal (beyond Jerry Bruckheimer always having wanted to work with Jake Gyllenhaal because he’s brilliant) or on who else auditioned. But I think a lot of other people don’t look into it either before deciding to boycott the movie because Jake Gyllenhaal is not Persian. arthurian: ARE YOU FOR REAL. ARE YOU REALLY FOR REAL HERE. “I just don’t buy that there is an availability of talented and experienced Iranian or other Middle Eastern actors.” - HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THAT MAYBE THE REASON YOU DON’T ~BUY~ THAT IS BECAUSE THERE ARE BARELY ANY IRANIAN OR MIDDLE EASTERN ACTORS GETTING WORK BECAUSE MAINSTREAM HOLLYWOOD IS REALLY FUCKING RACIST? AND THEREFORE THE MAJORITY OF TALENTED PEOPLE OF COLOUR ARE GOING TO GET OVERLOOKED? there are countless cases of people of visibly non-Caucasian ethnicities talking about how hard it is to get work that isn’t stereotypical background characters. and if you’re going to try and tell me that the ability to act is like, sole provence of the white man and PoCs can’t be as talented/well-trained/whatever then that is a different kettle of fish entirely and I wouldn’t even want to continue to discuss this with you. Jake Gyllenhaal is a talented hottie, but I am pretty sure the likelihood of there being someone closer to Persian who is equally talented and attractive is not as low as you’d like to believe, and it falls to the producer/director/casting agents to look for those people instead of defaulting to Generic White Male. THIS. OR THAT. WHATEVER. CAPS. WELL SAID. In addition, isn’t it terrible when actors like lebanese-american Tony Shalhoub (aka MONK) have played virtually EVERY RACE EVER EXCEPT BLACK/ASIAN just because they are “a little hairy”? Apply same logic to Stanley Tucci and John Rhys-Davies.

green-queen: (via sellthelie)

This is the only reason I want to see Prince of Persia.

liveship:

as much as I enjoy both Jake Gyllenhaal and Prince of Persia, I’ll be skipping this one. ‘cause he’s not actually, you know. Persian.

thisisdisgusting:

Would it be that much betterif he were? If they had chosen someone with lesser acting abilities, race might be an issue, but Jake Gyllenhaal is talented enough that I’m willing to believe they chose the actor with the best abilities and/or passion for the job.

eugenides:

I think it does make a difference. It’s just infuriating how BOTH the lead protagonists are completely white (Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton). It’s annoying how it seems like the “white” ethnicity is capable of portraying almost ALL ethnicities (like Asians?!  Avatar: the Last Airbender anyone??), but other ethnicities can never portray a white person. ARGH. Seriously, they’re just selling out because Jake Gyllenhaal is a big name. There are plenty of Middle Eastern actors out there experienced enough to take this part (Oded Fehr? who’s actually Israeli and not Iranian…which I guess moots my point, but still!). Could they have found a whiter-white person to play this role? 

thisisdisgusting:

I see your point, but I just don’t buy that there is an availability of talented and experienced Iranian or other Middle Eastern actors. (Although as long as we’re talking racial appearances, I argue that the majority of Middle Eastern ethnicities look as little like Iranians as the average Caucasian does.) Even in my high school, which had an 80% Asian population, a hugely disproportionate number of drama students were white because that’s who signed up. Because of cultural differences or whatever else, there’s a lack of other races of actors, and chances are, only a small portion of the Persian actors who heard about the role actually auditioned. That would make for pretty slim pickings if the casting directors were only looking at Iranians and other Middle Easterners.

Now maybe they did cast Jake Gyllenhaal just to make money. Or maybe the only way the filmmakers could get away with making a Prince of Persia movie with the budget they wanted was by convincing Walt Disney Pictures that it would sell––which casting Jake Gyllenhaal would guarantee. Or maybe Jake Gyllenhaal is a huge Prince of Persia fan and begged them for the part (in light of which, “You’re not Persian” would seem kind of petty).

Or maybe I’m making a fool of myself right now because I admit I haven’t read up on their reasons for casting Jake Gyllenhaal (beyond Jerry Bruckheimer always having wanted to work with Jake Gyllenhaal because he’s brilliant) or on who else auditioned. But I think a lot of other people don’t look into it either before deciding to boycott the movie because Jake Gyllenhaal is not Persian.

arthurian:

ARE YOU FOR REAL. ARE YOU REALLY FOR REAL HERE. “I just don’t buy that there is an availability of talented and experienced Iranian or other Middle Eastern actors.” - HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THAT MAYBE THE REASON YOU DON’T ~BUY~ THAT IS BECAUSE THERE ARE BARELY ANY IRANIAN OR MIDDLE EASTERN ACTORS GETTING WORK BECAUSE MAINSTREAM HOLLYWOOD IS REALLY FUCKING RACIST? AND THEREFORE THE MAJORITY OF TALENTED PEOPLE OF COLOUR ARE GOING TO GET OVERLOOKED? there are countless cases of people of visibly non-Caucasian ethnicities talking about how hard it is to get work that isn’t stereotypical background characters.

and if you’re going to try and tell me that the ability to act is like, sole provence of the white man and PoCs can’t be as talented/well-trained/whatever then that is a different kettle of fish entirely and I wouldn’t even want to continue to discuss this with you.

Jake Gyllenhaal is a talented hottie, but I am pretty sure the likelihood of there being someone closer to Persian who is equally talented and attractive is not as low as you’d like to believe, and it falls to the producer/director/casting agents to look for those people instead of defaulting to Generic White Male.

THIS. OR THAT. WHATEVER. CAPS. WELL SAID.

In addition, isn’t it terrible when actors like lebanese-american Tony Shalhoub (aka MONK) have played virtually EVERY RACE EVER EXCEPT BLACK/ASIAN just because they are “a little hairy”? Apply same logic to Stanley Tucci and John Rhys-Davies.