Mall of America hires a black Santa Claus...

[BrometheusBob.]

Did you see him on SNL recently?

[ΣNΣMY]

I didn't say it was ok for 'ethnics to steal white culture', nor did I said 'it's not cool for a white actor to play a white guy in China', nor did I say there were no White people in Asia.

You are clearly reading what you want from my posts so this discussion isn't really going to be productive.

No just reading what you post.. like it was so out of place for a white guy to be in China at the time. Alexander the great was in what's now tajikistan (borders China) before the wall was built. Or that a white actress Emma Stone plays a mixed woman with red hair.. It's ok to have black santas but not ok to peckerwoods in China or have white actresses play red heads.

[JimRaynor]

Did you see him on SNL recently?

Yes, amazing, he just booked a deal with netflix for three comedy specials, getting paid 20 million per set!

[Mike D]

what happens to non-white santas from where i'm from

[Death_Adder]

Mall of America hires a black Santa Claus...

ten minutes later

Mall of America gets looted and vandalized...

[Death_Adder]

So point to where in my post that I said he was playing a Chinese character?

EDIT: It's a fiction movie not based on any existing story (real or fiction) so the main character could have been made any race. Their decision was to create a White savior for the main character in a movie taking place at a time and location where White people were not really found.

That's not really a big deal on it's own.

But in the bigger picture it can be frustrating to people when it seems like there is a trend of shoehorning White actors into roles many more times than the other way around. Just on the top of my head I can think of Ben Affleck playing Tony Mendes in Argo, Emma Stone playing Allison Ng in Aloha, Jake Gyllenhaal playing The Prince of Persia, Angelina Jolie playing Fox in Wanted, forgot the name of the actor but whoever it was that was in World Trade Center in the role of Jason Thomas (a Black Marine) etc etc.

You do know it's being made by a Chinese film company and the director who's Chinese also wanted Matt Damon. There's no white-washing going on there.

Now the white-washing argument you can have is Scarlet Johanson in Ghost in the Shell.

As far as those white washed roles you mentioned, there has been more race bending of white characters than whitewashing recently. Off the top of my head:

Will Smith - Deadshot
Jaimie Foxx - Electro and John Little in the upcoming Robin Hood movie
Michael B Jordan - Johnny Storm
Sam Jackson - Nick Fury
Chiwetel Ejiofor - Baron Mordo
Lawrence Fishburn - Perry White
Idris Elba - Heimdall and Roland Deschain in Dark Tower
Tessa Thompson - Valkyrie
Upcoming Spider-Man movie you have Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, the villain Shocker, and possibly Mary Jane being race bent.

Those are just off the top of my head. I know the trend of race bending characters who were originally white in whatever medium they were created in, into (mainly) black character outnumbers the white washing that Hollywood is doing recently.

[BrometheusBob.]

You do know it's being made by a Chinese film company and the director who's Chinese also wanted Matt Damon. There's no white-washing going on there.

Now the white-washing argument you can have is Scarlet Johanson in Ghost in the Shell.

As far as those white washed roles you mentioned, there has been more race bending of white characters than whitewashing recently. Off the top of my head:

Will Smith - Deadshot
Jaimie Foxx - Electro and John Little in the upcoming Robin Hood movie
Michael B Jordan - Johnny Storm
Sam Jackson - Nick Fury
Chiwetel Ejiofor - Baron Mordo
Lawrence Fishburn - Perry White
Idris Elba - Heimdall and Roland Deschain in Dark Tower
Tessa Thompson - Valkyrie
Upcoming Spider-Man movie you have Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, the villain Shocker, and possibly Mary Jane being race bent.

Those are just off the top of my head. I know the trend of race bending characters who were originally white in whatever medium they were created in, into (mainly) black character outnumbers the white washing that Hollywood is doing recently.

I will come back to address the rest of your post but first thing I wanted to mention is that I don't agree that the director/film company needs to be White for it to be whitewashing. When I talk whitewashing I mean the tendency for White people to get non-White character roles (and/or shoehorned into roles where a non-White character would be far more likely based on the movie setting), who puts them there is not something I'm addressing (or concerned with).

[Death_Adder]

I will come back to address the rest of your post but first thing I wanted to mention is that I don't agree that the director/film company needs to be White for it to be whitewashing. When I talk whitewashing I mean the tendency for White people to get non-White character roles (and/or shoehorned into roles where a non-White character would be far more likely based on the movie setting), who puts them there is not something I'm addressing (or concerned with).

Ok, but this doesn't apply with the Great Wall movie. That movie is more along the lines of the "white savior narrative" like Avatar, Dances with Wolves, etc.

The director himself said that Matt Damon's role was not originally conceived for a Chinese actor.

Zhang Yimou

“In many ways ‘The Great Wall’ is the opposite of what is being suggested,” the filmmaker stated. “For the first time, a film deeply rooted in Chinese culture, with one of the largest Chinese casts ever assembled, is being made at tentpole scale for a world audience. I believe that is a trend that should be embraced by our industry.”

“Our film is not about the construction of the Great Wall. Matt Damon is not playing a role that was originally conceived for a Chinese actor,” Yimou added. “The arrival of his character in our story is an important plot point. There are five major heroes in our story and he is one of them — the other four are all Chinese. The collective struggle and sacrifice of these heroes are the emotional heart of our film.”

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/08/the...ou-1201713306/