On March 7 of this year, Sony revealed the casting of talented, biracial actress, Zendaya, as an unknown character “Michelle” in the upcoming film Spiderman: Homecoming. However, following this news, reports have surfaced that Zendaya might be playing the iconic character Mary Jane Watson, and some people are less than pleased about the possible casting.
Zendaya, most known for her role on Disney’s K.C. Undercover and her hit song Replay, has faced more controversy than most her age. From the infamous, racist comments by Guiliana Rancic, following Zendaya wearing her hair in dreads to the Oscars, to the most recent comments by GMA correspondent stating: “casting white actors in what one might assume should be a role reserved for colored people”, in an introduction to a segment on Zendaya’s casting. She has handled all the controversy with poise and grace, and fortunately she has not had to handle this on her own.
James Gunn, director of Marvel’s massive hit, Guardians of the Galaxy, originally tweeting:
If you’re complaining about the ethnicity of Mary Jane your life is too good. https://t.co/b6XDUpRQ3i
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) August 19, 2016
On his Facebook, he went on the record releasing on a longer post stating:
“For me, if a character’s primary attribute – the thing that makes them iconic – is the color of their skin, or their hair color, frankly, that character is shallow and sucks. For me, what makes MJ MJ is her alpha female playfulness, and if the actress captures that, then she’ll work…Whatever the case, if we’re going to continue to make movies based on the almost all white heroes and supporting characters from the comics of the last century, we’re going to have to get used to them being more reflective of our diverse present world. Perhaps we can be open to the idea that, although someone may not initially match how we personally conceive a character, we can be – and often are – happily surprised.” (read the rest of his statement here).
Zendaya recently got another huge endorsement from the man himself, Stan Lee. He stated both: “If she is as good an actress as I hear she is, I think it’ll be absolutely wonderful,” and when speaking on casting actors and actresses in general, “The colour of their skin doesn’t matter, their religion doesn’t matter, all that matters is that this the right person for the role.”
It is important to remember that this is not a casting based on red hair, as so many are shallowly arguing. Anyone can rock a red wig and cosplay as Mary Jane Watson, the controversy is a lot bigger than someone hiding behind a computer screen complaining about a wig. Growing up, Mary Jane was honestly one of my favorite characters, not because she had red hair, but because she was a strong and independent character. She was a character that I looked up to, not because of what she looked like, but because of both who she was and who she inspired me to be. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of representation in mainstream media in showing kids of all backgrounds and social status that they can be a hero.
Oh, and to everyone arguing about the hair, if this photo edit is anything to go by, I don’t think she will have a problem…
Keep your head held high, Zendaya!
Sources:
http://www.thewrap.com/zendaya-spider-man-homecoming-role-reveal-mary-jane-watson/
https://www.facebook.com/jgunn/posts/10153548508766157