1/26/2017 Color-Conscious Casting Fights Hollywood's Diversity Problem - xoJane

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Color-ConciouCatingFight
Hollwood'DiveritProlem
Rather than pretending race doesn't exist, some producers are
taking the bull by the horns to address the depressingly disparate
representation of people of color in Hollywood.

..MITH JAN21,2016

Fellow pop culture fiends as well as pretty much everyone on the Internet has seen the grim
situation on the Oscars ballot this year: White, white, and more white.

While "minorities" are actually rapidly approaching demographic majority status, they're still
playing 25 percent and sometimes less, depending on genre of Hollywood roles, and when they
are on screen, they're often forced into painfully stereotyped boxes as mammies, spicy Latinas,
subservient geisha, and the like. It's a problem across the pond, too, with Idris Elba recently calling
for more diversity on screen.

Some have suggested that the solution to this is so-called "colorblind casting," which implies that if
producers simply ignore race, they can make casting decisions on the basis of merit and who's right
for the part. The notion has gained favor in recent years, especially as it ties in with millennial
attitudes about living in a "post-racial" society and not really seeing race.

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The problem is that this doesn't work. Aside from the fact that these notions are completely illogical
and racistwhen applied to society in general as well as pop culture, if "colorblind" casting was
effective, we would see more people of color on screen. We don't. That's because producers still have
racist attitudes, and they typically overlook people of color unless they're casting for specific roles,
with said roles often racist themselves in addition to being limited. That's what makes exceptions
like StarWars:TheForceAwakensso startling they acknowledge that women and people of
color can play any role, not just a purpose-built one, and that women and people of color are actually
the largest filmgoing audiences so it pays to cast leads who look like them.

Instead, Hollywood needs to take on a more proactive role in addressing racial disparity both in
front of and behind the camera, and one aspect of that is color-conscious casting, which is starting to
creep across the Hollywood landscape as well as in other settings.

One instance that's currently blowing up the Internet is actually in theatre, withHamilton,the
musical that wasn't cast unintentionally: It was very consciously, deliberately, carefully constructed
with a Black lead and a majority Black cast. A recent production of AwakeandSing! about a
Jewish family in the 1930s Bronx featured an all Asian-American cast, highlighting the diversity
of the Asian-American experience.

Back on screen, though, the upcoming updated NancyDrewcoming to CBS isn't just aging our girl
detective up. CBS executives also announced that they, too, are making a color-conscious casting
choice. We haven't met Nancy yet and we don't know much about her, but we know she definitely
won't be white. (Now here's hoping that she and George have a torrid affair, thus realizing the
dreams of every queer girl who grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries.) The network already has a
good record on the subject, since it both racebent and genderbent the casting of John or Joan, in
this case Watson on Elementary.

This kind of casting is changing the face of Hollywood, pushing it away from a white-dominated
environment and into one where people of color stand a chance at better representation. We have a
long way to go before we have anything even remotely resembling racial parity, but this is an
extremely positive start. It also illustrates a growing awareness among executives of the fact that
audiences are fed up with racist casting, and that when people are exposed to diverse casting, it pays
off at the box office. Making a conscious decision to write thoughtful roles for people of color, and
cast people of color in otherwise neutral roles, shows a desire to respond to a public that is calling
for more racial diversity in film and television, on stage, and in literature.

Color-conscious casting is only one element of a much larger puzzle, of course people of color still
aren't well represented among top executives, in the writers' room, among producers (Shonda
Rhimes shouldn't be the only well-known Black female showrunner), among directors and editors,
and so forth. That requires a commitment to color-conscious hiring, mentoring, and industry
practices, including the creation of a more friendly environment for people of color who might
otherwise feel alienated by racism on the job.

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Pop culture is important for many reasons, and in this instance, the push for color-conscious casting
ties in with the larger social conversation about race in America. White society is being forced to
acknowledge racism, complicity, and social structures thanks to the concerted efforts of movements
like Black Lives Matter. Communities of color are holding politicians, publishing houses,
Hollywood, and other institutions to account for their race problems, no matter how uncomfortable
white people are with having a conversation about the elephant in the room.

Those looking for evidence that racism is dead are going to have a hard time finding it in an time
when books about happy slaves baking cakes make it all the way through acquisitions, editing,
publishing, and distribution despite objections twice when white people continue to be cast in
white, Black, Latino, Asian, and other roles that should be going to people of color, when politicians
only talk about race under extreme duress, when young Black men are dying on the other end of
guns held by white police officers.

Color-conscious casting isn't going to magically fix the huge inequalities faced by people of color in
America, and it isn't going to eradicate racism, but it's an important decisive step in confronting the
collective notions that we can ignore race, that race doesn't matter, that racism is no longer an issue
in this allegedly enlightened era.

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LucLiuOnHollwood'RoleForAian
Women:DragonLadie,MartialArtGoddee,
AndMteriouexWorker
Lucy Liu is perfectly happy naming, and talking about, the elephant in the
room: racism is a problem in Hollywood.
Y..MITHMAY13,2013

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AUCLAReportaDiveritelloWh
In'tHollwoodOnoard?
Why is Hollywood delivering the same old story when audiences are
explicitly asking for more?
Y..MITHMAR3,2015

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JenniferLawrencePenOpenLetterto
HollwoodAoutPaInequalit,andIt'
Fantatic
Pay inequality in Hollywood and elsewhere is a huge problem, and
Jennifer Lawrence is tired of being a nice negotiator.
Y..MITHOCT15,2015

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TheProlemwithCatingZoealdanaaNina
imoneIn'tRaceIt'Colorim
This isn't about Zoe Saldana being "black enough."
YTAMARAWHITMAR4,2016

MOR

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