MovieChat Forums > Nina (2016) Discussion > what a stupid controversey!

what a stupid controversey!

posted 8 years ago by waats1
88 replies | jump to latest

I keep reading about how Zoe shouldn't play Nina because Zoe isn't black....they are claiming shes in "black face" and its racist... im like WTF??? LMAO! Zoe Saldana has been a Dark skin Spanish woman her entire life. She is Dominican/Puerto Rican and she only played a Spanish woman in 1 film, Columbiana... other than that she always played an African- American woman in damn near all her roles (if shes not an alien that is).... So let me get this straight, its OK for Zoe to play a "Black" Woman or come from a "Black" Family in all of her films (accept for Columbiana of course), weather its a comedy film (Guess Who?, Death at a Funeral, etc) or any other film that the majority cast is Black (Drumline) or if shes playing an iconic black character (Uhura from Star Trek) and any other film where she plays the only "Black" person with a "Black Name" among a cast of White actors, and NO ONE BATS AN EYE!!! BUT, GOD Forbid she plays a well known Singer.... people need to get over it. U don't hear us Spanish people complaining on how they cast a white or black actor to play a Spanish person and talk with an obvious stupid accent... Do you? you want examples of that? I got plenty of them..

[–] mahou_fancy_lala 8 years ago

Zoe is not dark-skinned by any means, though. I know a lot of people think all black people look alike and have the same skin color (i.e., charcoal), but they do come in shades just like white, Latino, and Asian people do believe it or not. Zoe is fairly light-skinned in comparison to Nina so having a light-skinned actor put dark makeup on rather than hiring a woman that resembles Nina instead... that's messed up. Of course people will just say others are overreacting, but I doubt your race is the one being so poorly and terribly represented in the media to begin with.

[–] YakkityNYC 8 years ago

Be careful in casting aspersions like the word "stupid" in discussions of topics of which you have little knowledge or experience, waats1; we are all intelligent adults here who need not resort to name-calling. You might also learn the distinctions among the words "Spanish," "Latin," and "Hispanic."

...U don't hear us Spanish [sic] people complaining on how they cast a white or black actor to play a Spanish [sic] person...

Well, perhaps not the "Spanish" people per se, but the late superstar Selena's Mexican fans certainly raised an uproar initially over the controversial casting of Puerto Rican parented Jennifer Lopez as the Queen of Tejano in her eponymous biopic (ironically, both women were born in the U.S.).

Free your mind and your culo will follow.

--------
You know it was a good day if you did not have to bite anyone.
Gus B., mini dachshund

[–] waats1 8 years ago

...................................................................................................................................................................................its stupid........................................................................................................................................................

[–] lndultsch 8 years ago

Really? People are bitching about that? Ugh... If anything, I'd complain that she's way too pretty. Ms. Simone was very aware that on top of the colour of her skin, her not being a beauty made things even more difficult for her. By the way, is the movie as bad as the critics and scores say? I was just thinking that her life could make for a powerful biopic, which is what brought me here, but it seems this one missed the mark?

-Posts are edited because I grammar-nazi myself too-

[–] rocinante-421-313928 8 years ago

Not being black enough isn't the problem. Acting abilities aside, the problem is that Zoe Saldana follows the stereotype of black women that are considered attractive by mainstream media because they have white facial features. Thin lips, thin nose, nice long hair, etc.

Nina Simone was the antithesis of that, but she was beautiful, glamorous and charming despite of that. By exposing that lie she became a living contradiction, and that's not an irrelevant fact. That's not something to be overlooked in a biopic.

Viola Davis was an obvious much better choice for the role. I wonder if they ever approached her and how that turned out.

[–] gibsonjoseph 8 years ago

The fact that Zoe has been cast as an African American woman in other hollywood films is exactly the point. She is cast because Hollywood wants a black woman with more european features. Less of the lips, nose, and hips. Nina Simone spoke against this "white-washing" of black features in the media and Hollywood before. She spoke about how much she had to struggle against the reaction to her very African features. When asked who she would cast as herself in a film on her life, she said Whoopi Goldberg. Nina's die hard fans (and she has many) knows this about her life. This is why we feel it is inappropriate. It is disrespectful to her legacy and is one of the things she fought against in her life. Any person calling themselves a fan of Nina Simone knows this. Can you now understand a little where we are coming from? Not every story is yours to tell.

P.s.

Your spelling is atrocious.