wickedrum

It’s typecasting

sum1

That's like saying casting black roles with black actors is typecasting. It's not typecasting, it's authenticity. Like I said, the art of acting is about a lot more than just pretending.

PhoenixRising

See, this is a slippery slope that Hollywood is eventually gonna end up getting destroyed by. There's a big furor over a British actress of Nigerian descent playing Harriet Tubman in a biopic about her life. African American activists are saying that an African American actress should've been cast in the role. See, this is why I despise political correctness and identity politics, because this is eventually gonna kill art, Hollywood, and our society.

wickedrum

it's getting extreme

sum1

I think Harriet Tubman should be portrayed by an African American. That's not killing art, that's authenticity.

By the same token, Abraham Lincoln should have been played by an American, not Daniel Day Lewis, who screwed it up totally by playing him as some sot of posh Brit.

PhoenixRising

Well, to be fair, I didn't notice any British accent in Daniel Day Lewis' performance, sum1. He sounded pretty much like an American of the time would. I liked that he made Lincoln's voice high-pitched, which is what reports at the time described his voice as sounding like. But I usually agree with you about the other stuff.

sum1

I wasn't talking about his accent. His manner a attitude were all wrong.

PhoenixRising

Well, this was Abraham Lincoln and it was the 1860s. Can we be sure of the mannerisms?

sum1

You can tell from his manner in the photos.

PhoenixRising

Can you? He's totally still in all of them.

sum1

Yes you can. His facial expressions, the way he's holding himself. And note, I said manner, not mannerisms. It's not the same thing.

Make Them Laugh

that's true

eternalfate

Make Them Laugh

totally true Tia...I think we can all agree with you

sum1

Acting as an artform is less about pretending than it is about expressing oneself and projecting and bringing characters to life. Acting as purely pretending is what spies and undercover police do and it's not an artform. The art of acting is not about pretending primarily. Everything an actor puts into a performance is rooted in who they are themselves, in their own personality and nature and identity. An actor's ability to portray a role is limited by who and what they are. As such, it's very important to get actors of the right backgrounds to portray roles. I've seen so many cases of people who are not Irish making a mess of playing Irish characters, and I'm not just talking about accents. Similarly, I've seen many cases of British actors totally screwing up in trying to portray American characters. You said "if one has the ability to portray a role" -I don't think many such people don't have the ability with many roles they take, because they convey the wrong nationality or whatever when playing the role. Addiotionally, it's wrong to take roles that are important to specific ethnic/national groups when one is not a member of the group. That's theft.
I disagree.