What Happened, Miss Saldana?

As I'm sure you have all heard by now, there exists a lot of controversy surrounding the recent casting of actress Zoe Saldana in the role of American singer-songwriter Nina Simone in the upcoming biopic, Nina. 

Nina has garnered quite a lot of attention in a very short amount of time, including a Facebook page which has over a thousand followers dedicated to boycotting the movie. The controversy? Zoe Saldana is Puerto Rican and Dominican, and wore a prosthetic nose and makeup to match Nina Simone's skin tone. Critics of the casting are emphatically stating that Saldana's performed in, "blackface." 

Quickly, an outpouring of support for Saldana came in from African American celebrities such as Queen Latifah, Paula Patton, and Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson, the latter of which made the following statement: 

"Many people who are talking about it don't even realize what they're getting into. Imagine if I were to do a biopic about Lena Horne, who's obviously light-skinned, or Dorothy Dandridge. Would it be fair if I put up a sign that said 'No black women apply?' That would be ridiculous. Black Americans should know better than to have this discussion over a creative project. We're not talking about white against black. We're talking about black against black." 

- Robert L Johnson to The Hollywood Reporter, March 16, 2016 

However, almost as quickly, Jeff L. Lieberman, director of the Netflix documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? which was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary this year, was quick to argue against Johnson's perspective, criticizing not only the inaccuracies of the biopic's narrative, but also continuing the debate surrounding Saldana: 

"For Mr. Johnson to now claim that this is black people against black people is outrageous, and a desperate distraction. People of all colors are angered because Hollywood has a long history of casting lighter-skinned actors, and even today [...] dark-skinned people are still passed over, even for the role of a woman whose story is defined by her proud blackness."

- Jeff L. Lieberman in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, March18, 2016 

So, it appears as though we are left with a brand new sort of a debate, creating yet another layer to the "Hollywood whitewashing" debacle:  Is it possible to whitewash with a black actor? We have seen countless examples of when white actors have been cast into non-white roles, either individually or discussed during lectures of this course (Gods of Egypt, Exodus: Gods and Kings, The Prince of Persia, Pan, The Last Airbender, Breakfast At Tiffany's, and the cringe-worthy list goes on). This issue calls to mind another example from 2013, when the world was introduced to Johnny Depp's version of Tonto in the Disney film, The Lone Ranger. Though Disney originally pegged Depp for the role of the titular hero, the actor insisted that he play the Native American sidekick Tonto, as Depp himself is of some Native American descent. Depp also was made an honorary member of the Comanche nation a year before the film was released. If Ms. Saldana identifies as black and Mr. Depp considers himself Native American, can we fault them for the characters they have played? Has casting become less of an artistic decision and more of a politically (and racially) correct one? 

It will be very interesting to see how the issue of depicting race on screen develops in the casting field. It may even perhaps stir up what it means to be a "star" in acting circles: perhaps we may see less big name celebrities portraying diverse characters and instead favor smaller names who accurately represent race and culture. At the end of the day, it is us, the audience, consumer, and financial means by which the entertainment industry thrives that determines what change we see. If films like Nina fail to perform financially due to controversy such as this, then perhaps producers and distributors might begin to see things in a new light. 

References: 

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/07/03/johnny-depp-as-tonto-is-the-lone-ranger-racist/

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/02/zoe-saldana-nina-simone-black-makeup-film-trailer

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/17/nina-simone-blackface-criticism-zoe-saldana-biopic-slavery

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/director-nina-simone-documentary-calls-876837

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nina-distributor-zoe-saldana-casting-876379

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/10/hollywood-whitewashing_n_5515919.html

http://time.com/4246449/nina-simone-zoe-saldana/