Damn! I was about to go back to the OP to post before I read yours, and I just had to agree with you. This entire thread is so disturbing on so many levels.
I'm the first one to support typecasting in many cases; Downton did it superbly, with all three daughters clearly resembling either their mother or grandmother(s). But hell, even there, Cora didn't look at all like her mother, or indeed, not at all "Jewish", which her character was actually half. In the next years, especially in Europe, after the end of the show, the focus on that subject will regain its historical significance in new and horrifying ways. The fact that these same themes are being discussed so casually here without even an acknowledgement of the intrinsic wrongness of this sends a shiver down my spine, especially in light of this new political reality. To use a similar anti feminist analogy, it's like reading a commentary on the size of the female actors' breasts.
That's not to say there isn't a time or place for discussion about genetics, or the unique genetic profile of African Americans. Henry Louis Gates ' show on PBS does this superbly. Those of you who WANT to learn and obviously have zero knowledge about history and the science of genetics should watch. But like it or not, casually throwing around uneducated thoughts while debating the casting of a black actor as the son of a white actor issues indeed sound racist. To answer the question of a previous poster who asked whether to try to educate, I'm becoming increasingly despondent about the possib of ever succeeding in that regard. When I try to do so gently I'm usually argued with. When I do so more forcefully I get labeled. It's really scary to feel that we in the US are once again living in the worst part of the most bigoted, sexist, isolationist years of the 20th century.
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witchywomanfrombrooklyn
8 years ago
Please ignore my typos, caused by autocorrect on my iPhone. My computer is down and I don't know how to edit a post. Thanks.
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