When we think of Hollywood whitewashing an entire race of people from a country that is well known to be geographically not in a white area, we tend to think of Hollywood in the 30s, 40s and 50s, such as; Apache, in which a white man plays an Apache native warrior, or most notably the Ten Commandments, in which white actors are casted as Moses and Ramses II. You would think these occurrences are just the product of racism and ignorance, indicative of the time…right? Fast forward to 2016 where we are still casting White actors to play historically non-white figures. But why is this problematic? With the recent “Oscars so white” scandal, and Viola Davis’ speech on the lack of opportunity for people of color and the deplorable Exodus and Gods of Egypt films, it is very clear where Hollywood and America stand with POC actors. Not only are the movies themselves an issue because they ignore the existence of POC (people of color) as a whole and especially ignore the existence and importance of POC actors, but the fact is these movies are being green lit for production. In a 2014 interview with Ridley Scott for Variety.com, he fully admits that he whitewashes his movie, except for servant roles, where he sees black actors fit:
“I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such- and-such,” Scott says. “I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.”
Though, I don’t buy this explanation, it is very telling of current Hollywood. Scott is openly admitting that one of the reason’s his movie is whitewashed is because he thought it wouldn’t be funded if he introduced actors of color as the main cast. Consequently this thinking translates into America, as a whole doesn’t view black actors in heroic roles. Further example of this is the way Ridley Scott casted his actors. He casted the white actors in main, heroic roles, while he casted black actors as either servants, thieves, low class Egyptians or villains.
We can go on and on until the end of time of how and why directors are whitewashing movies that should be reserved for people of color, but until a higher standard for diversity and ultimately accuracy is required as a standard in Hollywood, these movies are going to continue to be green lit. Since little has changed from the 30s, 40s and 50s, it’s up to us as the audience to influence this change and boycott these films. Hit Hollywood where it hurts, in their pockets, and maybe we can make a difference.