For the last couple of days on my FB page, my friends and I have been going back and forth about the Nina Simone biopic due out later this year. We are not happy. It may seem whiny of us to both complain that #OscarssoWhite and at the same time, kvetch about the casting of Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone. Saldana is black after all so where's the problem? As I see it, there are three problems and each of them makes us squirm or wiggle a little in our seats. Something about that casting just doesn't quite feel right and I think I know what it is.
The first problem is erasure, which leads us to #OscarssoWhite situations. The second problem is colorism, which leads to the casting of Zoe to play Nina, a woman she simply doesn't resemble and the third, I think, has to do with respect and honor.
Erasure
We don't exist. It's really that simple. TV and movie producers would have you believe, from the world they present to us on screen, that we simply do not exist. Cleopatra? Elizabeth Taylor. Moses? Charlton Heston. The Last Samurai? Tom Cruise. The King of Siam? Yul Brynner. And on and on the list goes. This year's Gods of Egypt? Egypt...you know, the country in Northern Africa? All but one of the gods are White because Black gods don't fill theatres, I guess.
When Viola Davis pointed out last year that it's really difficult to win hardware for roles that don't exist, she wasn't lying. You can't win if you're not even in the competition. You can't win if you're invisible, erased.
Until producers, writers, casting directors and others who have the ear of the money men (and women) start standing up for more diverse casts, Oscars will remain white, we will remain invisible. We cannot open the door for ourselves, we don't run things. Someone must open it for and to us. That's not affirmative action, that's diversity and inclusion, a whole other thing.
Colorism
This is probably the worst kept secret in Black America. We complain that White folk don't give us any love, but frankly, we don't give each other much love either.
Zoe Saldana is a woman several shades lighter than the character she has been hired to play and while complexion ain't everything, this is Nina Simone we're talking about. Nina Simone's daughter loudly expressed her dismay (that's putting it mildly) at Saldana's selection. She wasn't focused on complexion per sé, but the likelihood that the chosen actor could convincingly portray her mother.
As we were discussing on my page yesterday, so much of Nina's Nina-ness had to do with her look, her presentation, her unapologetic blackness that to cast a woman who just doesn't embody those traits is tantamount to betrayal. Many are the beautiful, talented, dark chocolate actors who could well have embodied both the letter and the spirit of Ms. Simone's character without need for black face or prostheses. Saldana may well execute the role effectively, but many of us will look askance at her much the same way we looked cross-eyed at Ms. Taylor's Cleopatra or Mr. Cruise's Last Samurai.
Honor
For forever, people of color have been cast aside, dismissed and disregarded. The result of that is that we honor our own. We insist on it. I may have my issues with Michael Jackson, but I honor his talent and gifts. I may have my issues with Kathleen Battle, but I honor her talent and gifts. And so it is with those of us who beat the odds and rise to worldwide, nationwide, citywide, hell, block-wide recognition. It's what we do.
In pursuit of that aim, we expect our people, the people we revere, to be treated with more than a mere modicum of respect. The rage, horror, sadness that some of us feel at this casting is no less than the rage, horror, sadness we felt when Joseph Fiennes was named as the actor chosen to play Michael Jackson in an upcoming British comedy.
Don't piss on us from a height and expect us to believe that it's rain. It's not rain and we know it and we will express our dismay at being 'rained' upon loudly.
The first problem is erasure, which leads us to #OscarssoWhite situations. The second problem is colorism, which leads to the casting of Zoe to play Nina, a woman she simply doesn't resemble and the third, I think, has to do with respect and honor.
Erasure
We don't exist. It's really that simple. TV and movie producers would have you believe, from the world they present to us on screen, that we simply do not exist. Cleopatra? Elizabeth Taylor. Moses? Charlton Heston. The Last Samurai? Tom Cruise. The King of Siam? Yul Brynner. And on and on the list goes. This year's Gods of Egypt? Egypt...you know, the country in Northern Africa? All but one of the gods are White because Black gods don't fill theatres, I guess.
When Viola Davis pointed out last year that it's really difficult to win hardware for roles that don't exist, she wasn't lying. You can't win if you're not even in the competition. You can't win if you're invisible, erased.
Until producers, writers, casting directors and others who have the ear of the money men (and women) start standing up for more diverse casts, Oscars will remain white, we will remain invisible. We cannot open the door for ourselves, we don't run things. Someone must open it for and to us. That's not affirmative action, that's diversity and inclusion, a whole other thing.
Colorism
This is probably the worst kept secret in Black America. We complain that White folk don't give us any love, but frankly, we don't give each other much love either.
Zoe Saldana is a woman several shades lighter than the character she has been hired to play and while complexion ain't everything, this is Nina Simone we're talking about. Nina Simone's daughter loudly expressed her dismay (that's putting it mildly) at Saldana's selection. She wasn't focused on complexion per sé, but the likelihood that the chosen actor could convincingly portray her mother.
As we were discussing on my page yesterday, so much of Nina's Nina-ness had to do with her look, her presentation, her unapologetic blackness that to cast a woman who just doesn't embody those traits is tantamount to betrayal. Many are the beautiful, talented, dark chocolate actors who could well have embodied both the letter and the spirit of Ms. Simone's character without need for black face or prostheses. Saldana may well execute the role effectively, but many of us will look askance at her much the same way we looked cross-eyed at Ms. Taylor's Cleopatra or Mr. Cruise's Last Samurai.
Honor
For forever, people of color have been cast aside, dismissed and disregarded. The result of that is that we honor our own. We insist on it. I may have my issues with Michael Jackson, but I honor his talent and gifts. I may have my issues with Kathleen Battle, but I honor her talent and gifts. And so it is with those of us who beat the odds and rise to worldwide, nationwide, citywide, hell, block-wide recognition. It's what we do.
In pursuit of that aim, we expect our people, the people we revere, to be treated with more than a mere modicum of respect. The rage, horror, sadness that some of us feel at this casting is no less than the rage, horror, sadness we felt when Joseph Fiennes was named as the actor chosen to play Michael Jackson in an upcoming British comedy.
Don't piss on us from a height and expect us to believe that it's rain. It's not rain and we know it and we will express our dismay at being 'rained' upon loudly.
4 comments:
Well said. I think you also allude to an element of insult to the whole thing. Insult in the White writers and producers ignoring the loud protestations of Ms. Simone's family and Black people at large when they first proposed this 3 years ago. Insult in the ignoring of the significance of blackface to Black people. Insult in insisting on doing this, in this way, despite being told there was a better way.
I remember my mother telling me a story once about having seen a play (in Trinidad) and gushing about it to a friend. His response to her was, "What a bunch of Trinis could tell me about a play?!". As far as he was concerned, she as a Trini, had no opinion that he could respect. You see where I'm going here?
Compounding my issue is that every time I see Zoe, I see blue. I see aliens.
Might seem minor, but give me someone with gravitas, with enough acting chops to at least make me sink into the meat of the story and forget the 'rain'.
Compounding my issue is that every time I see Zoe, I see blue. I see aliens.
Might seem minor, but give me someone with gravitas, with enough acting chops to at least make me sink into the meat of the story and forget the 'rain'.
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