Hortense is supposed to be mixed race???

Sarah:

Well I understand your point and I thank you for replying. I guess a better question would have been, wouldn't it have made more sense to cast a person who actually is "mixed" (i.e. half black/white). For example, Halle Berry or Lisa Bonet. I'm assuming here of course that the person who played "Hortense" is'nt actually mixed. I acknowledge that this may in fact be an incorrect assumption on my part, but I doubt it. Nevertheless, it would have made *Secret & Lies* imminently more watchable if it starred Halle Berry, but that's another story; perhaps one that I should write, but I digress...

It's kind of like the movie *Powder*, supposedly about an "albino" with special gifts. Many people have observed that the makeup used on the actor playing Powder, was so distracting that it was hard to "get into" the movie. The movie just sort of reminds you that this guy isn't actually an albino. Are there no gifted actors who also happen to be albino?

For the record, let me also acknowledge that 95% of African-American's are mixed-race to some extent just based on the history of slavery in America. Perhaps one day we will all be a nation of Lenny Kravitz & Halle Berry look-a-likes (God willing); in the meantime, it's generally easier to identify a person who is a 1st generation child from a couple of black/white parents.

I knew this question was a sensitive one and would probably piss somebody off. Please forgive my temerity, and thanks again for the reply.

mc

sarah42579: "Although I am half black and white, with a lighter complexion, some people still see me as fully black."
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Yes, this is the logic that was touched on in the movie "Showboat" with the performer (in the 1950s movie, it was Ava Gardner) who was half-black or had black geneology and so she couldn't perform in the show. The leading man quickly pricked her finger and licked the blood off.

He said to the accusers when they approached 'you mean to say that she is black, and if a drop of her blood is in me, then I am black as well?'

And when he told them he had a drop of her blood in him, this caused him to lose his job as well.

Now by racial definition, you wouldnt be fully black. Blacks just aren't as discriminatory as whites. You do have your white heritage.

But as my brother in a mixed marriage explained it to me, this notion is that white is a purity and that black is impure.

Even Hollywood looks at having any black features automatically making one black; hence all the light-skinned black actors we see in movies and tv shows.

Twenty years ago, a soap opera called "Santa Barbara" sought to have a black-and-white romance, but the young girl they chose to cast had more latino heritage than she did black, which I think was none.

They already had a white-and-latino romance, so there would be no hopeful 'groundbreaking' in this storyline, so it fell to the wayside.

But I remember wondering, why not just go out and cast a brown-skinned, black curly haired young girl for the part? Because she wouldn't be deemed pretty by the standards of white vanity.

Tiger Woods once said that with all his heritage, he considered himself 'Cablinasian'.

ABC newswoman Carole Simpson, who is a light-skinned black woman, said that Tiger Woods can call himself whatever he likes, but when he tries to hail a cab, he is going to be cabless.

i.e., he is black.

sarah42579: "Although I am half black and white, with a lighter complexion, some people still see me as fully black."
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It dawned on me that another interesting racial categorizing from Hollywood was on the soap "Dynasty".

Dihann Carroll would show up and she would declare she was the first black b*tch on television. Amusing.

But she was John Forsythe's half-sister on the show. She had a white daddy, so she was half-white.

But it didnt stop there. She would be paired up with Ken Howard and he believed himself to be Troy Beyer's father (I didn't watch the show, I know how none of this turned out).

So now we got Troy Beyer, a lovely young girl portraying Dihann Carroll's daughter.

A 'black' girl? She had three white grandparents, but that one quarter black blood in her made her black.

I used to tell people that Vanessa Williams wasn't the first black Miss America, she was the first Miss America to have at least one black parent.

Was Halle Berry the first black woman to win an Oscar or was she the first woman of color?

Is Charlize Theron the first African to win the Oscar?

It was almost twenty years ago that it was noted how 'young black females' like Lisa Bonet and Jasmine Guy were all looking like Lena Horne's granddaughters. Why were none of them able to be full-fledged black girls?

Why did there seem to be no interest in casting black girls like Erica Alexander to portray Denise Huxtable?

Even the oldest daughter, Saundra, she had a white ancestor.

I didn't have any problem with how dark she was. I have a white parent and a black parent and I'm very pale in skin color, yet both of my sisters (same parents) are very dark skinned. It all has to do with the way our DNA lines itself up. And as someone said earlier, Halle Barry has a white mother and black father yet she's more dark complected.

I do find it hard to believe she's mixed, but I also think the casting is excellent for the acting, chemistry between the players et al.... I also think they allude to this question of her bearing resemblence to her mother in the scene in the pub when Cynthia tells Hortense "you look more like me than Roxanne does...you have my build". I think it was important that the mother look at her daughter and see more similarities than differences, and the more different they appear to outsiders, the more impactful it is that the mother sees the similarities. If Hortense appeared mixed it would have been a different story.

@malexis - I'm sorry and don't mean to be rude, but despite your own life experience, your statement "cast this properly" shows you don't get it. The posters above you just explained there are many, many, mixed people with varying skin tones and features. Why do you think the character in this movie might not be one that looks less Caucasian?

@NoirDamedotcom - excellent post.

Noire Dame,
Agreed on the red hair. There is a great percentage of "Black Irish" (Irish Caucasian people with black or dark hair) there. I'm mixed race , also. My mother's Scottish ancestry is likely of the black Scottish demographic.

On the subject of what "mixed" or "biracial" is supposed to look like, a friend knows someone whose mother is completely white, but he himself is the darkest one can possibly be.
I have seen and casually met people having very dark skin with "Nordic" features like the thin noses and lips- I'm sure we all have seen them at least. And it makes me ponder whether they have Scandinavian ancestry out of curiosity.

Sometimes I'm really hard at work, other times it's just an act.

There are tons of people that you've probably spent your whole life thinking that they were "black" when they were mixed. My favourite example is Bob Marley whose father was white, but he looks 'black'..doesn't he? He doesn't look mixed, does he? Mixed people can be very dark-skinned...you need to get out more, every mixed person does not look like Lisa Bonet.

@PathosRising. If you read the posts before yours, then you would logically come to the conclusion that it is very possible for the mother in this film to have a daughter with the color/features of the actress in ths film. Don't go into a diatribe based on your assumptions of what the conversation is about just because the subject is race. Give the posters the benefit of fully reading their posts because there is nothing untrue in the posts regarding white people having mixed race children that look "fully" black.

I agree 100% that the casting was ridiculous, the girl was obviously not half and half despite the endless idiotic posts here denying what is obvious. Being black is also far more than just skin color, you can easily see just how different Africans are in skull shape, nose, facial characteristics, eyes by googling up images of albino Africans. They don't look anything like Europeans. The character looked predominantly black to me and was clearly cast for her acting ability, not because she looked the part.

Jean-Baptiste was not miscast. Media sterotypes promote the idea that people of color and or mixed are supposed to look one way or another. And it's just not true. Recently, my Anthroplogist Proff. brought a picture into to class of his ex-wife. My Proff. is is White, and the woman in the picture, whom he only let us get a quick glance of, was a woman of color. He then challenged the class to determine her race based on the picture. 80% of the class guessed wrong! Me included. His ex-wife was Asian but most of us guessed Latino or Indian because her skin tone was darker than the sterotypical Asian. So please people stop assuming you can tell a persons race by their skin color.