I'm sure he's a nice guy and a fine actor, but why was he cast as Sinbad ? Last time I checked, Sinbad was supposed to be Persian. So...why cast a black guy ? Doesn't make much sense to me.
Think about this. Once bread becomes toast, you can't make it back into bread.
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He looks more Indian than Persian, then again I've seen some black Persians. Are they not similar to o Indians? Doesn't really matter, glad he's not white.
share[deleted]
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That's more hair and make-up's fault than his. They could've straighten his hair or given him dreadlocks, which is what I think they we're going for. But his hair looks more like it was just braided at the roots.
I can't believe I farted at Walmart
I totally agree.
"He looks more Indian than Persian, then again I've seen some black Persians. Are they not similar to o Indians? Doesn't really matter, glad he's not white."
Sinbad is not really Persian, though the name is. The earliest reference to SInbad is in Arabic. And so what? They've had pale-skinned people playing Sinbad all the time. When I first saw the actor, I thought he was Arab.
I agree...
to me it actually makes more sense for this guy to have played him then the other actors...
susan
The actor playing Sinbad is BLACK??? I must check my TV settings: I'm not seeing black, or even mildly chocolatey skin on him... Oh, wait. I do see black on Nala. My TV is apparently fine then. The problem must lie elsewhere...
"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."
Forget your TV, and your eyes you can stop pretending that he isn't black and the producers didn't hire a guy in a Persian role, where roles for those in that background is next to nothing and hired a guy who has afro hair and also has dreadlocks in the show. Cause Persians had dreadlocks right. And let me guess you will ignore the first comment and concentrate on the dreadlocks point- whereas this IS BLATANTLY RACIST.
There would be the typical 'it's racist' if it were the other way round.
No one seems to be mentioning that for a show about Persians there's next to none in the main cast!
Why the hostility? Why assume I would comment on one point and not others? Do you have anger management issues? Because if not, you sure make a great job pretending that you do.
I'll ignore your tone for the sake of furthering the discussion, because you raise some interesting points, albeit in a very rude manner.
"No one seems to be mentioning that for a show about Persians there's next to none in the main cast!"
I think here lies a fair bit of the issue: if asked to describe the show "Sinbad", I would never think to say "it's a show about Persians". I think it's a fantasy show about a famous legendary sailor character, and whether he is Persian or not is entirely irrelevant. Seriously, do you feel, when you watch this show, that the fact that Sinbad is Persian (are we even told the story is set in Persia?) affects in any way his character, his reactions, his behaviour, etc...? I don't. I think the "Persian" aspects of the show are only decorative (props, settings, etc...)
"There would be the typical 'it's racist' if it were the other way round."
As in, Othello being played by a white guy? I know some people would find it offensive to the black community, but I have no problem with that. Laurence Olivier was a wonderful Othello. So was Orson Welles. Acting is about faking things, what possible reason could there be for a non-Persian to be incapable of playing the part of a Persian? By the same reckoning, you'd have to hire a murderer to play one, and you could never, ever make a movie about Neanderthals, because there aren't any left and no one could possibly interpret one!
"Cause Persians had dreadlocks right."
Why focus on this capillary detail when clearly, there is nothing even remotely resembling an attempt at historical reenactment in this (again) FANTASY show? Do the costumes look Persian to you? Persian of what time-period? What about the architecture, the saddles on the horses, the furniture? I'm no expert on ancient Persia but even I can see they made artistic choices, not historical or realistic ones.
I get the feeling, reading you, that you don't really have a specific problem with the casting of this young man as Sinbad, but rather that you have a problem with Persians being underrepresented in the movie industry. Is that it? Why get all riled up about the absence of "Persians" on our screens? I haven't seen that many Kurds either, or any other Iranian ethnic minority.
"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."
I'll ignore your tone for the sake of furthering the discussion, because you raise some interesting points, albeit in a very rude manner.
I'll ignore your rather condescending tone and dismissive points I have raised.
it's a fantasy show about a famous legendary sailor character, and whether he is Persian or not is entirely irrelevant.
The fact that the character is uniquely Perisan, in that culture and that makes part of the story is an outstandingly ignorant point to dismiss. There would be no discussion of having Tarzan in Africa but the jungles of the Amazon? Or for that matter making Congucious a latino. That point alone is so undermining of race issues that as long as blacks get opportunities on the back of traditionally non-black roles is lazy and racist.
you'd have to hire a murderer to play one
This is a non-sensical point, someone from the same background would normally play that part or roughly colour i.e. Indians for Arabs etc.
The fact that you, yet again dismiss any roles for a specific culture and hand it over to another one without consequence and ask why yet again this is happening, shows that you are not bothered as long as black people get the role and not the other way round. Part of the character is their cultural make-up and to say that this is props and decorative is again - an ignorant comment to make.
"Cause Persians had dreadlocks right."
Why focus on this capillary detail when clearly, there is nothing even remotely resembling an attempt at historical reenactment.
In that case blacks won't mind when I do my Nelson Mandela musical biopic starring Jackie Chan as Mandela and Ashton Kutcher as Winnie. It's not accurate and it's just decorative and doesn't make a difference.
I get the feeling from you that being accurate is not even remotely important, just as long as Asians don't get on TV cause who cares about representing their culture right?
Your the kind of person that would think it's o.k. for Hollywood to re-write history and that the Americans were the ones that cracked the enigma code and the US being over represented in war films as the hero's is accurate right?
It makes no difference what you think cause your just an apologist looking to make excuses for why these roles should be mixed and not portrayed accurately.
"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."
Not occasionally.
Oh dear. You give me so much to choose from it's hard to decide. I'll try to select my favorite quotes from your post.
"There would be no discussion of having Tarzan in Africa but the jungles of the Amazon? Or for that matter making Congucious a latino." and "In that case blacks won't mind when I do my Nelson Mandela musical biopic starring Jackie Chan as Mandela and Ashton Kutcher as Winnie. It's not accurate and it's just decorative and doesn't make a difference." go together pretty well. You have no problem, apparently, mixing up fictional and historical characters. Mandela and Sinbad - same thing. Right. Historical fiction and fantasy: no difference. And I'm the ignorant one.
"This is a non-sensical point, someone from the same background would normally play that part or roughly colour i.e. Indians for Arabs etc."
Two things here: First, I'm not sure what you meant with that sentence exactly because its grammar is terrible, but you seem to say that it's OK for Indians to play Arabs? But not for this guy to play Sinbad? Weird. And second: who exactly today can have the same background as an 8th century Persian sailor? Talk about a non-sensical point...
I couldn't care less whether there are more or less Asian/black/white/male/female actors on my TV screen. I don't care where the actors are from, what their religion is, or whether they prefer cats or dogs. I do care whether I get good actors. I do care whether they do a good job at portraying a character. As far as I'm concerned, that's what I got with this Sinbad.
"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."
This keeps coming up on other boards. That a person is the wrong race or doesn't look ethnic enough to play a certain race. This is beginning to sound a bit racist as it seems to be about actors of color not being the right ethnicity to play a different ethnic group other than their own. Should Blacks only play Blacks?.
Do you want to go back to Northern Europeans playing everything? I remember Katherine Hepburn made up to look Chinese, John Wayne as Genghis Kahn. Good actors but it was silly.
This particular actor clearly appealed to the casting directors. He is attractive and engaging and willing to look a bit ridiculous. Was there a Persian actor available? I don't know. There were some Europeans in Persian roles in this series and there is Naveen Andrews, who isn't Persian but Indian.
I do like that you noticed Sinbad is a Persian story, not an Arab one. Too many times a story or style is called Arab when it is Persian or even Indian.
You are not bright are you? There are Black Persians....I should know I am a black Persian.
It just really bothers you that he is black. Probably bitter than he isn't white, like how you white people make Jesus blond hair blue eyes.
"Hello, Sweetie..."
Sad but true. I'm so sick of the racism that exists towards people in entertainment. Still, minorities almost always play stereotypical roles as rappers and thugs... What the hell?
Probably contributes to a lot of the racism that exists. Also the black people who think just because they're black they have to be into rap and hiphop music and dress with their pants falling off......
I love that at least on this show a black man has a better and more interesting role than the usual.
@ tabenver2 I know you are not talking bigot. How many times are Native Americans played by WHITE PEOPLE IS DARK MAKEUP?
"Hello, Sweetie..."
I just thought that he was dark.....
not actually black....
yes, some of the other actors are black...but...nope.....not Sinbad...
susan
Yeah, I noticed that too though I don't mind it as much because he has light skin and looks very middle eastern with long hair. If you can fake it well enough, who cares what race you are.
shareHe looks mixed or maybe from Northern Africa.
shareFor, literally, 100 years Hollywood has been casting white people as Indians, Egyptians, Asians, Hispanics and even African-Americans for awhile there, but now if a non-white is cast in ANYTHING white people start complaining like they've been sticklers for absolute racial accuracy EVER. Unbelievable.
sharei'll bring up this point...
why was tonto a white guy in the last movie...
there are so many great native actors out there...
there was absolutely no reason at all for him to have been white...
in a way I'm kind of glad that the movie was a flop
susan