We should also talk about what an unflattering photo that is.

Because Anna Shaffer is an absolute fox.




I have zero problems with her casting.

 

That actually makes me feel slightly better. I don't have any issues, particularly, with bending established characters races, it only grows annoying to me when it appears to be forced to try and establish minority quotas. Alternatively, when the story feels like it has been bent into a particular shape in order to fit a very particular left wing agenda. Ironically, it's an agenda that I largely agree with, but I don't see that it's one that is particularly helped by oversimplifying the opposing side. See Black Lightning (bad) vs Cloak and Dagger (good).

I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but yeah, if they can manage to get her hair red in a not ugly way, I'll be okay with it. Rather have her natural hair than that shit tastical wig that Geralt's wearing, though.

Edit: In fact, there more I look at her face, the more I'm okay with it. It's surprisingly close in terms of shape compared to The Witcher 3.

 

She looks vaguely like Rebecca Black in that top photo.

 

After reading that, I pray that her hair is as far from red as possible. Sigourney Weaver played a goddamn Egyptian woman. You're annoyed by programs meeting "minority quotas"? Imagine being a minority. I didn't see a black cowboy until Django, and I fucking love westerns. Wyatt Earp is in countless movies and TV shows, Bass Reeves isn't in one.

 

I am fucking triggered they didn't tap Christina Hendricks for Triss.

Edit: Actually they should have cast her as Yennefer too.

 

People don't have a problem with minority characters. Black Panther made 1,3 bln dollars. People have a problem with racebending established IPs. There was shit around Cursed Child, and since people see games as "canon", people have a problem with black Triss/Yennefer. Making Khan white in Star Trek: Into Darkness was just weird, even as good as Cumberbatch was in it.

If Netflix went for an original IP, no one would say a thing about this.

 

She doesn't look that black to me... This just seems to be an example of people trying to manufacture outrage. See how they're using quite possibly the worst image as a comparison?

Like, she can clearly fit into the character how they are portrayed in the games. Makeup does exist.

 

Lol, say that on Twitter. You'll have people insisting she's a beautiful BAME woman.

But I agree in principle. We don't really know shit until there are some in-character cast photos. I feel free to shit on Geralt, because he really does look meh.

 

I'm getting so tired of all the race-washing arguments that have been popping up over the last decade. Honestly, who cares. It's just a movie/tvshow.

These ladies are hot af. If they can also act on top of being hot af, then that is really all that matters.

 

Plenty of people. That's the point.

As if looking the part isn't a cruicial part of, you know, acting. We make a big deal out of mugglewear in HP movies, but the way the actors themselves look has become taboo because racism. Fuck that.

 

I wasn't using Bass Reeves/Wyatt Earp as examples of racebending, (I thought that was pretty obvious), but examples of WHY racebending is happening now. Nor was I disputing the fact that race bending upsets people. That is also pretty obvious. I just wanted that guy who I was replying to to consider how the other side feels.

 

Meaning minority representation? Imo the best answer is to create original IPs with the characters you want, although I recognize that promoting a new IP is tougher than using an existing one. But I still say you should try to make a new thing.

 

I mean, sure. But humanity is diversity right? No matter what, you're gonna have some people saying pretty much anything that is possible. I just try to avoid the fuck out of all the identity politics that is going on, which in my view largely serves to distract from the real problems that we have.

Like with Hermione being black in Cursed Child, it's clearly different to the books. Do I give a shit? No. For this game? I care a bit more. But I'll wait to see what we get. Same thing for Geralt. First look... a bit eh, but clearly only the start. Let's see how it plays out.

 

I gotta say, even if they manage to make up magic him into a perfect wig, make him a pasty impossibly pale person with every scar and blemism impeccably placed, the guy is just too pretty to be Geralt. I'm just having trouble seeing the actor as the old monster hunter knee deep in a swamp stinking of peat and steaming monster guts. I really want to have high hopes for this though.

I'm willing to admit that I'm a fanboy for Geralt, with all of his flaws. I'm going to find something to nitpick even if the guy manages to play him perfectly.

 

More like impossible. Why would Hollywood risk millions on a new IP when they can keep rebooting IP's from a time before civil rights.

 

@Cxjenious

The only issue I take with race bending is very specifically with already established characters, with already established appearances, and yes, this cuts both ways: I cannot stand to the point of being unable to watch many movies, very specifically because they engage in rampant whitewashing to pander to their white audience. I'll admit, rereading my post, I wasn't clear enough on this point: my issue is not specifically with race, but with fucking with already established appearances. It consistently annoys me that Harry's eyes aren't green in the movies, as an example, to the point of notably reducing my immersion and enjoyment of them. A personal flaw, perhaps, but one that I do think is shared by at least some of the populace that aren't racist or "I'm-not-racists."

On the subject of minority quotas, I'll admit, I should have elaborated a bit. Reading that combination of sentences, in particularly including my edit, makes me come across as a bit of alt-righter/anti-feminist/MRA. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am largely in favor of minority quotas in industries where minorities are under-represented. You could spend 10 minutes digging through my post/thumbs up history in the Trump threads if you had the desire, if this post is not sufficient proof of that for you. I would do it here, but I'm already wildly off topic for this thread.

What I was doing, really, was trying to speak to two separate issues, and frankly, doing a piss poor job of both: that of race-bending/appearance-bending established characters, which annoys me very mildly, and that of ham-fisted political commentary in modern television, which I feel has torpedoed more than one modern show that otherwise had the potential to be good. Anna Shafer's comments in the writing room, if that tweet is indeed legitimate, heightened these concerns of mine, as this is a show I'd really like to be good.

To go back to my previous example: Cloak and Dagger is a show that, in my uneducated opinion, has a solid story, good character building, and does a pretty solid job of minority representation, breaking racial stereotypes, and it manages this without relying on caricatures, for the most part. Black Lightning is a show that has a pretty solid story, decent character building, but it relies so heavily on caricatures of racist or otherwise bigoted individuals that I have a tough time getting at all invested in it. I understand turnarounds fair play, but as I said in my first post, I don't know that it's particularly helpful to the movements this movies purport to represent, in one way or another.

And that, I think, is probably enough of a derail for one thread. If you'd like, we could take this to PMs or to the currently active bigotry thread in the politics subforum.

 

I'm quickly losing interest in this. That Triss casting makes me sad. Sexy redheads are my favorite thing in the world.

Then again, I think Netflix is pretty over-rated, so my hopes weren't too high in the first place.

 

I think that is an incredibly dishonest argument, similar to the Hermione being black one.