Whitewashing has been a serious problem in Hollywood for decades and decades. While it might not have stood out so much in the past because of the social mores of those times, it is much more egregious when it shows up in the present, which is not helped by the feeble excuses that are often used to defend said casting choices.
Here are 5 of the movies with the most blatant whitewashed characters in the past decade:
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Exodus: Gods and Kings had a lot of white actors playing character who should have been a lot more Middle Eastern in appearance. When called on it, Ridley Scott stated that casting Middle Eastern actors was never even under consideration because he would not have been able to get the movie financed if that had been the case, which speaks volumes about the whole situation as well as all of the stakeholders involved in it.
Gods of Egypt
Speaking of which, Hollywood has been whitewashing ancient Egyptian characters for a long, long time, which is rather problematic because the evidence suggests that the ancient Egyptians resembled their modern counterparts for the most part. As a result, it should come as no surprise to learn that the casting choices for the titular characters in Gods of Egypt were unimpressive to say the least. One cannot help but suspect that the people behind the movie should have opted for animal heads whenever appropriate, which might’ve made for a somewhat impression. For that matter, the distinctive animal heads of much of the ancient Egyptian pantheon might’ve made for a more memorable impression as well, which is something that the lackluster Gods of Egypt could’ve benefited from.
Hunger Games
In The Hunger Games novel, Katniss Everdeen was described as having grey eyes, olive skin, and straight black hair, which are common characteristics in people from District 12. With that said, the worst part is that the casting call for the character specified a Caucasian, meaning that actresses with other appearances were never even considered.
The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender was notable in that its fictional cultures drew extensive inspiration from a wide range of real world cultures, with examples ranging from Chinese culture to Inuit culture. For whatever reason, the live-action movie based on it decided that Inuit and East Asian-looking characters would be played by white actors, while the members of the antagonistic Fire Nation would be played by Indian and Middle Eastern actors for unknown reasons. Suffice to say that the live-action movie had some serious problems.
The Social Network
In The Social Network, a character of Indian descent was played by a half-Chinese, half-Italian actor, which was particularly problematic because said character is supposed to be a representation of a real living person. The director David Fincher claims to have auditioned a hundred Indian actors in countries situated all around the world but could not find someone as suitable as the actor who ended up being chosen. This seems rather odd considering that India has a thriving film industry packed with people who make use of English on a regular basis.
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