Ten little ninjas, sitting in a row
Just FYI Khan was supposed to be from northern India and yet he was played by Ricardo Mantelban who spoke with a Latino accent so it’s not like they got his race right the first time either (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
NO
A) There were immigration restrictions on Asians during the fifties/sixties. This means it is entirely possible that they may not have actually been able to find an Indian actor to play the role.I can’t find the source where I originally read this, so never mind. If anyone has a link please let me know so I can have all my receipts.B) So yeah, they fucked up in the 60s. But there’s this magical thing called progress, which means that by now we should be able to get it right. There is no dearth of brown actors in this day and age. There is no lack of great Indian actors. There are many who have the acting chops and are of the right race to play Khan.
C) At least Montalban was a POC playing a POC. There is a major distinction between that and a white person playing a POC.
D) Cumberbatch is a white man playing a POC. There are already so few roles which are written/given to POC and the number has now been significantly lessened.
E) Khan was genetically engineered to be a better human. He’s stronger, smarter, faster than any other human, including the white male protagonist. He was genetically superior to all others. And he was a POC. This, written in the 60s, was earth-shatteringly progressive. It is still progressive today, as most heroes are still white. Having such a vital character taken from the ranks of great roles for POC (of which there are very few) is incredibly upsetting and problematic.
F) Usually when POC are cast as villains they are thuggish, dull, and ineffective. Khan was none of these things. He was sympathetic. He was complex. The role of Khan is a great one and it is absolutely important that he was specifically written to be a POC.
G) Star Trek was ground-breaking for providing major roles for POC actors in a time when there were few. Uhura and Sulu, a black woman and an Asian man, were main characters. Martin Luther King Jr actually spoke with Nichelle Nichols and asked her to remain on the show when she wanted to leave because of how important it was that there was a prominent black female character on television. Star Trek was a show about racial progress in the media. It was about moving forward. Casting Cumberbatch as a character who should be played by a POC is a step backwards.
H) There’s some really gross history between India and Britain, which adds to how problematic it is that a British actor was chosen to play an Indian character. So not only has Khan been whitewashed, he’s been whitewashed in an historically despicable way.
I) Stark Trek: Into Darkness was distributed by Paramount Pictures, the same studio responsible for whitewashing the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie adaptation.
Representation is important and it is incredibly hurtful that so many people do not see how important Khan as a character of color is.
(via stopdropandbeauty)
Ruth Negga as Freyda Baggins—daughter of Drogo Baggins and ward of Bramble Baggins; Elf-friend; bearer of the One Ring. She and her companion, Samwise Gamgee, delivered the Ring to the fires of Mount Doom, thereby destroying the source of Sauron’s power. After witnessing the crowning of Queen Elessar, she journeyed back to the Shire with her original companions, and helped to rout the dark forces that had overtaken the land in their absence. For a time, she continued to dwell at Bag End—but plagued by her time as Ringbearer, she chose to give her estate and the Red Book of Westmarch to her companion, Sam, and sail on the last of the White Ships in Arwen’s place.
At the end of the Third Age, she sailed to the Uttermost West, to rest forever in the peace of Valinor.
(part of the series YOU LOOK UPON A WOMAN, a project which reimagines Lord of the Rings with a cast of women of color)
(via cleolinda)
The navigator who made you orgasm every time she appeared onscreen is Navigation Officer Darwin, played by Aisha Hinds.
The BAMF with the white hair is unnamed (but give fandom like five minutes, just you wait). She was played by Jodi Johnston and was credited as…
Also, Heather Langenkamp (Nancy, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”) plays a green alien. She got the role after showing the alien design to J.J. Abrams.
check it out
http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Tulsa_native_Heather_Langenkamp_talks_Star_Trek_role/20130517_282_D3_ULNSus275352
Badass! Thanks! :D
YES!!!
I KNEW THAT WAS HER!!
I CHECKED HER IMDB AND EVERYTHING. BIG FAN OF AISHA HINDS.
SHE’S MY MARTHA WASHINGTON.
….and I know just who you’re talking about!! I kept thinking that wind-swept white hair-do is fly~
So, now I need to know who the weird toothy guy with the blue plug in his head is.
…AND NOW I’VE READ THE LINK AND KNOW, HAHAHA!!I actually said CUPCAKE! aloud when he appeared in the movie.
Now I need a red dress and some eyebrow pencil so I can look like a bridge crew member. I already have the platinum hair. :-)
And it was nice that they called Hendorff by his name- not ‘cupcake’. I hope they survived Kronos!
(via nibantaichou)
