[tousuarshatly]

Actors Amandla Stenberg and Dayo Okeniyi definitely hit it big when they landed the roles of Rue and Thresh, respectively, in "The Hunger Games."

But the relative unknowns playing tributes from District 11 in the dystopian saga (which scored a historic $155 million its opening weekend and rave reviews) are the subject of an offensive debate among a few, totally clueless fans of Suzanne Collins' blockbuster young adult novel, as pointed out at Jezebel.

Why? Although both Rue and Thresh are described as having "dark brown skin" in the book, some bigoted fans, oddly enough, object that both Stenberg and Okeniyi are black.

Complained one fan on Twitter: "Why does rue have to be black not gonna lie kinda ruined the movie."

Added another ignorant fan: "Why did the producer make all the good characters black?"

"Why is Rue a little black girl? Stick to the book, dude," said another.

In something of a spoiler tweet, another fan admitted he was "racist" when he learned of tragic Rue's racial identity.

Another tweeter even uttered the "N" word in decrying adorable African-American actress Amandla Stenberg's race.

"I'm still pissed that Rue is black," wrote another.

"Ewwww rue is black?? I'm not watching," another person wrote.

The Tumblr blog "Hunger Games" Tweets was first to decry the shocking, offensive trend. "The reactions are all based on feelings of disgust," the blogger wrote. "These people are MAD that the girl that they cried over while reading the book was 'some black girl' all along. So now they're angry. Wasted tears, wasted emotions. ... This is a BIG problem."


Link: http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/hun...-1673504.story

Interesting article. I'm not a real fan of the Hunger Game Series but my sister and cousins love it.

What do you guys think about some of the fan's reactions? For those who know the series well, were the fans ignorant toward's the story itself and towards the casting?

[vipluka]

I read a lot of old science fiction and Sword & Sorcery. Most of it from the early 20th century. A lot of characters are often described as having dark skin or brown skin but we know from the authors, the stories and the times in general that the characters were white and these terms were used to describe a sort of adventurous people who were tanned and weathered. Sometimes when younger people read them now they get the impression that the characters were not white. Understandable I guess because modern authors probably would not use those terms to describe white characters but I have seen people actually get upset when you try to explain this.

I haven't read the Hunger Games nor seen the film nor do I have any intention to. I kind of doubt that a modern author would describe someone as having dark brown skin and them not being some sort of 'ethnic' person. My wife read the series and saw the movie and I just asked her and she said Thresh and Rue are meant to be black so I don't know what people are worked up about.

I have to admit I was annoyed about Heimdallr being made black in the Thor movie but I figured it was just some dumb comic book movie and not a movie about actual Norse mythology. But then again Heimdallr is suppose to be white and is described as the whitest of the god. He isn't described as having 'dark brown skin' like the characters fromt he Hunger Games.

Anyhow my point is that it sounds like these people are idiots or didn't actually read the books.

---------- Post added 2012-03-27 at 00:50 ----------

My wife said the character that Lenny Kravits plays never had his skin color mentioned but that he had brown hair. Without it being mentioned I guess that character could be played by anyone.

[Teprophopay]

I´ve also read a few articles criticizing the casting of Jennifer Lawrence as the heroine, because her character is discribed as having "olive skin" and apparently that equals bi-racial to some people.

[pouslytut]

The best actors should get the role atleast thats how i see it. Seriously who goes to see a movie just because of the actors ethnicity/race, i see movies that interest me not because it stars a white/black/mexican/asian/whatever person.

[Jellowstrom]

It has hit an 8 on IMDB. Though am sure it will come down.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/

[Xfxhbcxp]

lol what? i don't discount gungirs explaination as to what "dark brown skin" might have meant to the author or not. to me its not that big of a deal either way. i haven't read the book or was even aware of its existence before hand, so i can't speak on it really. does it talk about their race anywhere in the book? other than the "dark brown" identifier? regardless people seem to be blowing this way out of preportion.

i am much more upset about the thor character being portrayed as black, as thats got to do with my heritage, and not just some science fiction story. even though the thor movie and the comic book isn't exactly a great representation of norse mythology to begin with lol.

[brorwargy]

I was pretty upset when they white washed the Avatar movie, but I didn't start tweeting and yelling "Dam crackas ruining my movie!" Can't attack the actors for this, crossing the line IMO.

[wMceqj7F]

I was pretty upset when they white washed the Avatar movie, but I didn't start tweeting and yelling "Dam crackas ruining my movie!" Can't attack the actors for this, crossing the line IMO.

lol exactly. or the dragonball z movie for that matter.

[Gmvkgkmn]

http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hu...the-movie-made

Lmao this nonsense again. Of course the main character was of some sort of Caucasoid background. Buuut....

Now as you may know, Katniss, the main character in the book and film, was described as having "straight black hair" and "olive skin." It's a post-apocalyptic world, so she could be a mix of things, but some pictured a Native American. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jennifer Lawrence won the part and dyed her hair dark.

But when it came to the casting of Rue, Thresh, and Cinna, many audience members did not understand why there were black actors playing those parts. Cinna's skin is not discussed in the book, so truthfully, though Lenny Kravitz was cast, a white, Asian or Latino actor could have played the part.

But. On page 45 of Suzanne Collins's book, Katniss sees Rue for the first time:

…And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that's she's very like Prim in size and demeanor…

Later, she sees Thresh:

The boy tribute from District 11, Thresh, has the same dark skin as Rue, but the resemblance stops there. He's one of the giants, probably six and half feet tall and built like an ox.

Dark skin. That is what the novelist, the creator of the series, specified. But there were plenty of audience members who were "shocked," or confused, or just plain angry.

My coworker says it was excellent and I trust her judgement so I will definitely be seeing it.


As we all know, "Dark skin" can mean anything. They didn't include any other excerpts from the texts. But a lot of people were clearly not reading very actively.

[PebydataFeents]

i just don't really understand the outrage over these actors. if they were suppposed to be dark skinned then thats what it is. black/hispanic/indian etc. would have worked just fine.

[arcalmanard]

lol exactly. or the dragonball z movie for that matter.

I haven't noticed anyone being upset over Samuel L Jackson playing Fury, an originally white character. Maybe the director of the hunger games should have caste him for all these roles to avoid controversy

[Rchzygnc]

I´ve also read a few articles criticizing the casting of Jennifer Lawrence as the heroine, because her character is discribed as having "olive skin" and apparently that equals bi-racial to some people.

I think it's just that when you read a book, you get really attached to the characters and blah blah blah. I remember being sorta upset over the woman who played the female lead in the Da Vinci Code. I believe in the book she has Red Hair...But in the movie, she does not. But apparently a lot of people had the idea that Katniss (Hunger Games) was a "Native American" or something and then the woman they hired for the role didn't meet their expectations.

---------- Post added 2012-03-27 at 05:59 ----------

Are we ruling out the idea that the people creating the movie might have consulted with the writer of the book as to what she had in mind with each character? It does happen...

[doksSirmAdods]

I don´t know much about this book or movie, but I just checked out a trailer and it comes off as some sort of Battle Royale ripoff meets Gladiator in a not too distant future. But it looks interesting enough, I suppose. Based on the trailer and a quick glance at the cast listing on IMDB these "dark characters" do not seem to be in the leading roles though...

[Romarionsion]

I haven't noticed anyone being upset over Samuel L Jackson playing Fury, an originally white character. Maybe the director of the hunger games should have caste him for all these roles to avoid controversy

The movies are pretty much based on Marvel Ultimate which is different from the normal Marvel universe. In the Marvel Ultimate universe Fury is a black man.


I was disappointed with the casting of the new Conan movie but I didn't go around railing against the film. I just thought it was dumb. The movie was terrible anyway so whatever.

I do tend to think it matters if a movie is based on a preexisting franchise and we know what the character is suppose to be. If they want to make a fantasy film about a 'ethnic' main character then find a story like that or make one up. Don't appropriate one. No one would be happy if I made a Shaft film or something along those lines with a white dude in the lead role.

It is not just when non-whites get cast in white roles. It goes both ways for me. Stop fucking with people stories. Especially when the people who wrote them are long dead and can't say anything about it.

[zenihan]

@Gugnir

Was one of the Norse gods in Thor suppose to be Asian? Just curious.

[Ebjjrxrd]

@Gugnir

Was one of the Norse gods in Thor suppose to be Asian? Just curious.

Yeah. He isn't a Norse god though.

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/godsjapn.htm

He is always hanging out with them in Marvel Comics version of Asgard. I forget which one it is specifically though.


I'd better revise that statement to WAS always hanging out with them. I don't read modern comics. I stick the bronze age so I only know what went on from roughly the late 60's - early 80's.

[BopeDolaNeone]

Yeah. He isn't a Norse god though.

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/godsjapn.htm

He is always hanging out with them in Marvel Comics version of Asgard. I forget which one it is specifically though.


I'd better revise that statement to WAS always hanging out with them. I don't read modern comics. I stick the bronze age so I only know what went on from roughly the late 60's - early 80's.

Oh, okay. I don't know much about the Thor series so didn't know that.

[Mmzmptvk]

I've only seen scenes from it while my wife watched it so I've never seen the whole thing and don't know much about the film. I do not typically go see comic book movies. I saw the first Iron Man and I went and saw Captain America because I like that character and it was made like 1940's pulp style comics. I tend to think modern action movies suck for the most part.

[Ephejvll]

Complained one fan on Twitter: "Why does rue have to be black not gonna lie kinda ruined the movie."

Added another ignorant fan: "Why did the producer make all the good characters black?"

"Why is Rue a little black girl? Stick to the book, dude," said another.

In something of a spoiler tweet, another fan admitted he was "racist" when he learned of tragic Rue's racial identity.

Another tweeter even uttered the "N" word in decrying adorable African-American actress Amandla Stenberg's race.

"I'm still pissed that Rue is black," wrote another.

"Ewwww rue is black?? I'm not watching," another person wrote.

I did not read the book. Saw the movie. I enjoyed the performance of the actress portraying Rue. Very cute kid!

[Casyimipist]

i just don't really understand the outrage over these actors. if they were suppposed to be dark skinned then thats what it is. black/hispanic/indian etc. would have worked just fine.

there are dark skinned whites

olive skin is an exclusively caucasoid skin color that is not uncommon among certain white European groups




do you know sicilians,greeks and cypriots...???