Why James Bond Isn't Black

[3sanna]

As a result of the recent Sony hacks, it has been revealed that the head of Sony has been pushing for Idris Elba as the new James Bond. This unsurprisingly resulted in a backlash from people such as Rush Limbaugh, who insisted James Bond must be white and scottish (as this article points out, if this is the rule all actors who played Bond besides the original Sean Connery did not have the second part of the requirements). This backlash of course raises this question- why isn't it natural to cast a black man/woman as a lead in a movie? This is articulated by Chris Rock, who is quoted in the article, who says "When it comes to casting, Hollywood pretty much decides to cast a black guy or they don't. We're never on the 'short list.' We're never 'in the mix." In most movies, it is not simply natural to cast a black lead, or a black supporting role, but a conscious choice. We don't get to see Lupita Nyong'o as a lead in a romantic comedy, we don't get to see David Oyelowo in the same roles as his white peers. Seeing as this is not a question of whether or not audiences respond negatively to actors of color, as there is no statistic to say they do, it is rather a question of why the movie industry has become so grounded in perpetuated racial divide. As it is undeniable that representation on screen matters, why does it seem a movie screen will not reflect what one sees just walking down the street?

www.newrepublic.com/article/120659/idris-elba-james-bond-limbaugh-hollywood-have-similar-race-biases

[3UIfeoma]

I believe that the honest truth is this: in Hollywood, black people usually have specific roles. Black people aren't casted in movies unless its a conscious decision, like Rock said, and when we are, its to fill a quota. You have to have the token "black guy"- most usually seen in comedy, mainly as the lead character's best friend, but also seen in action movies and thrillers. On the other hand, sometimes its a cast of mainly black people, which to some may seem like a good thing, because diversity, right? I don't believe it is, because it feels too forced and purposely done whenever you cast an entire movie with mainly one ethnicity. Unfortunately in Hollywood, its not natural to see black people be casted solely because they are a good actor or actress. It reminds me of the character "Token" on South Park, whose name corresponds with his role of literally being the token black kid, and who mainly only shows up when the plot is in need of a black person. Also, when you think about it, in American society, the default person is usually considered a white male. If I were to describe an incident, and I say "I was on the train and some guy said '.......'" most people would automatically picture a white guy. I would have to say "some black guy said '......'" in order for people to visualize the person I'm referring to. Likewise with drawings and cartoons; if people saw a basic stick figure drawing, most would think its a white person unless stated otherwise. I'd have to shade the face brown to show its a black person, and draw hair to show its a woman. On "The Simpsons", a show with yellow people, those yellow people are understood to be Caucasian even before they identify themselves as being so. The black characters are then made brown with black hair; the Asian characters are made a paler yellow with almond shaped-eyes.                                     

[3mkristion]

In my opinion, america is full of bologna. As a young aspiring black actor, I pay very close attention to the amount of African Americans, I see in a show or movie. It really upsets me when I get into a very good show and I realize that they are no black actors, I turn it off. It is absolutely unbelievable that they couldn't find at least one black actor to put in that show. Then when there is a black actor they use the same dam person! I am tired of seeing Samuel Jackson in almost every action/superhero movie that comes out. Are black people not allowed to be superheros? What are African American boys suppose to look up? All of the superheros are white and green lantern was black in the cartoon but when then the movie came and they went white. Don't forget storm from X-men, you would think black people aren't allowed to have powers. In X-men the last stand they added 3 new characters to magnetos side who were Hispanic, congratulations they had some diversity. Then again there is hope, there is hope that in the future when they remake 12 years of slave or another civil rights movie that I can be slave or activist. I'm so excited to see the future of Hollywood.

[3hsamori]

This article just shows how racist Hollywood can be. When I was growing up my parents wouldn’t allow watching a show unless there was an substantial amount of black actors or the show was animated. My family has a huge issue with black actors not getting as much publicity as white actors. Seeing white actors in movies or TV shows is seen as the norm while seeing black actors is seen as unusual. They label movies that consist of all black actors as a black movie while a movie consisting of all white actors is considered a movie for everybody. This shows the racism is still alive in this country just in a different form. I believe that it would be interesting to see a black James Bond; they should start making a lot of the huge icons in the movie industries black like a black Indiana Jones or just find a way to add more black actors into the industry. I remember in the movie the Incredibles there was really only one black character which was frozone which is an example of to including black actors and black people into the industry. Also recently a lot of black directors are emerging like Tim Story and Steve Mcqueen.

[10wjeremy]

First I'd like to mention that I don't think the backlash is about the actor being black, but rather the character being black. This has become a very common practice in media where characters are having their sex or race changed. Examples include The latest Annie, Human Torch in the new Fantastic Four, The new lady Thor from Marvel Comics, and the upcoming female ghostbusters. When these characters were first established, they were established a certain way, and some people like it to remain that way. However, I see nothing wrong with a character having it's sex/race swapped in a reboot. James Bond's personality isn't "white". There is nothing in the movies that required him to be white to be reasonable. James Bond being Black will do nothing to change his character, so why not have him be black, or a women, or an alien, or a dog? (Ok, maybe being a dog would change up his character a bit).
But, why do we need to take pre-existing characters and change them, instead of just creating new characters that are black? I wrote an article on the lack of originality in Hollywood a while back. (Which received no comments, thanks guys.) Why can't Hollywood produce original movies with original black characters? Besides for crappy comedies, most Hollywood movies use pre-established characters that were created during more racist times, thus being primarily white. If Hollywood produced orginal movies, no one would complain that the character is black, because he would be a new character. However, since that probably won't happen soon, we might continue to see a trend of characters having their race swapped. As long as it doesn't ruin the character, which it usually doesn't, it should be fine.

[3zrheanna]

This is just one of many examples of classic racism in American culture. Some may say that this lack of representation for people of color in the media is not a big deal.. or not a true issue in comparison to other forms of racism such as the police brutality that has been plaguing our society for years, especially within the last couple of months. Though this may be more subtle, it is still prejudice, and it has a bigger influence than people realize. We are constantly surrounded by the media, everywhere we go and in everything we do. This lack of representation of not just African Americans, but all people of colour, sends a message, especially to the impressionable youth growing up in a highly digitized age.