From the novel, we know that Chicken George is the son of Kizzy and her white slave owner. However, they picked a black actor for the part, while he's supposed to be a mulatto!
A friend of mine told me that picking a mulatto male actor would have been controversial at the time, however can someone clearly explain this to me. Thank you!
I just want to say as a medical student who has just recently read about genetics that the person who said that people never come out as darker than both their parents are completely wrong.
Two ginger parents might (and sometimes have) a regular white child. Two brownish "black" parents might and sometimes have a child that is slightly darker than the darker parent. Not even that seldom.
I have a friend who has a white Mom, black Dad, looks black...
Her Boyfriend, white with white parents...
Eldest child looks like she has no part of white...she's very dark and the youngest looks like he has no part of black...blue eyed blonde...
There's no telling.
Here's to those who wish me well...
Defintely should have had a much lighter skined actor. No way Ben Vereen could have a White father. I am biracial myself and know what I am talking about.
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Seriously? That word "mulatto" is so stupid,racist and out of date, I don't know why some people even still use it. The better and more up to date term is "mixed" or "biracial". Not all biracial black people are light-skinned,even when they have a white and a black parent. Black folks come in all colors,you know. And make no mistake, mixed black people were seen as black,period---espeically during slavery times. Their being mixed didn't always save them at all. So your question is actually pretty ridiculous when you really think about it.
No, picking a "mulatto" male actor would not have been controversial at the time and we wouldn't have used the word "mulatto" either. We're not talking a century ago, are we? If you think before birth you have any idea what color your child will turn out to be, based on his/her immediate parents, then you don't know anything about genetics. You can no more predict skin tone than you can predict hair color.
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