"Color Blind" Comics Casting
I keep hearing about "color blind casting," which I can't even tell at this point if it's offensive as a term. As someone who's ethnicity no one can guess, I can't really say it affects me, so I generally pull myself out of the equation. However I like to talk, so bear with my stream of conscioness.
On one hand it's good. We're giving it to the best actor, and gives a fuck if Jimmy Olsen is suddenly black, or a woman, or an ice mutant? It's really simple and super obvious.
On another hand it's kind of racist. They want to push diversity, so instead of just putting new characters into the cast, or using existing characters, they just change a character completely.
-First off, new characters work, and have often times become characters in the universe. Diggle and Felicity are the most recent examples. Harley Quinn. Briefly the girl from Smallville.
-Secondlyy, why would you need Jimmy Olsen in a Supergirl show? It makes more sense to add Natasha Irons or even fucking Henry Irons. Just CW the fuck out of him, and make him all young and DTF like every CW superhero. (I'm using CW loosely, because Supergirl is a CBS property)
On a third hand (you know, the third hand we all have) theres Fantastic Four. Which is problematic. As someone who's been reading since childhood, that shit is Aryan as fuck. And I mean like... maybe they've had one or two black people. MAYBE. And like one guy, Wyatt Wingfoot, who you could cast differently as who knows what the fuck "Wingfoot" comes from. But does anyone even know who he is? Not really. SO uncessary.
I actually am pretty solid on Michael B White. I mean he's like best friends with the Director, but I never gave Wes Anderson any shit for casting the same 10 people. And I think he is the perfect Johnny Storm personality wise anyway (although they'll probably ruin him, and make him all broody and dumb, and take away all the greatness Michael B could have been as Johnny).
That being said, like none of these things are out. Michael Clark Duncan was given alot of shit for the casting in 2003, and he was probably one of the better parts of that Daredevil film (because it certainly wasn't Ben and Jen). And Idris Elba is a fucking beast, he's done a fantastically adequate job of playing a character with practically no screen time, and I want him to be James Bond, and Tony Stark, and Batman, and whatever the fuck because he's fun and great and a phenomenal actor.
So Idris Elba for everything. Also, thank you for reading Von Arx (as I know you're the only one, and this seems easier than keeping you up talking about this during cartoon night, as you're on tumblr always anyway. Also hows life?)