That’s right. In this day and age where you can barely walk down a street without seeing hundreds of multi-cultural people, there are still those out there who think white skin makes them superior. Their most recent complaint is that Idris Elba, talented and up and coming actor, has been cast in Thor as traditionally white god, Heimdall.
Of course, the god in Nordic mythology and in the Marvel comic book on which the movie is based is light skinned and maybe should have been left as such to be historically accurate, but the Council of Conservative Citizens (or CoCC, fitting) released this statement on their website turning a simple case of not following the source material into a racial issue and may have crossed the line in doing so:
Norse mythology gets a multi-cultural remake in the upcoming movie titled “Thor,” by Marvel studios. It’s not enough that Marvel attacks conservative values and promotes the left-wing, now mythological Gods must be re-invented with black skin.It seems that Marvel Studios believes that white people should have nothing that is unique to themselves. An upcoming movie, based on the comic book Thor, will give Norse mythology an insulting multi-cultural make-over. One of the Gods will be played by Hip Hop DJ Idris Elba.
Even though Idris Elba is in fact a hip hop DJ, when you read all of that in context you can’t help but hear the hate these white power fools are trying to preach rather than trying to make a logical argument against the casting decision.
If you want to get really technical about it, why would any of the other actors be in this film? I mean, Chris Hemsworth is a native Autralian, Anthony Hopkins is as British as you can get, the only true Scandinavian in the movie is Stellan Skarsgard and he doesn’t even play a god he plays a professor. Seems like all of the casting is wrong for this movie, not just the one guy who has dark skin.
Elba spoke to TV Times (Via The Guardian) to defend himself against raging comic book fan boys unable to let go of their precious source material:
There has been a big debate about it: can a black man play a Nordic character? Hang about, Thor's mythical, right? Thor has a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers. That's OK, but the colour of my skin is wrong?I was cast in Thor and I'm cast as a Nordic god, If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that, and I think that's good.
While it’s not necessarily “good” to just change the race of a character to give your film a multi-cultural edge, it’s not exactly the end of the world either. Diversity may not be the only reason he was cast. After all, his name is gaining some clout in the industry and he may put a few butts in the seats when it’s all said and done. There’s a legitimate reason to be slightly upset in here somewhere, but no one has yet to be able to intelligently present it. So for now, why doesn’t everyone just kiss and make up and stop blaming Hollywood for all their problems.
