I don't get it ...

[fembuck]

The controversy over Jennifer Lawrence being cast as Katniss in Hunger Games is confusing the hell out of me.  Basically, people are saying that casting blonde, blue-eyed Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen is Hollywood white-washing at work, but I don't get it.

In the novel Katniss is described as having dark hair, grey-eyes and olive skin, while her mother and sister are described as grey-eyed, blonde's.  The family sounds fairly caucasian to me.  From the vague descriptions in the book it's impossible to tell what exact ethnicity Katniss is, but I think it's safe to say that she's not black, brown, asian or aboriginal, so the rage and indignance that is going on right now about the character being "white-washed" is so confusing to me.

The other actresses that are generally accepted to have been in the running for Katniss were:  Hailee Steinfeld (seems to be the fan favorite), Saoirse Ronan, Chloe Moretz, Lyndsy Fonseca, Emily Browning and Kaya Scodelario.

So... 

1) The novel leaves the character's ethnicity undefined, but generally she seems like a tan caucasian (Prim, her sister, being blonde an indicator of this imo, because if Katniss was part, black, asian, brown or aboriginal a blonde sister seems pretty unlikely). 

2)  All of the actresses in final consideration were caucasian.  If the list above really was who the casting directors had narrowed it down to, we would have ended up with a pretty pale Katniss, but even with slightly more olive skin (Steinfeld is the only one on that list who fits the description - and is the only one who's mixed), Katniss would still be white.

I don't see white-washing in Lawrence's casting.  I see Hollywood default casting at work here, but not 'white-washing'. 

They haven't changed Katniss's ethnicity because it was never clearly identified in the book. They just decided that because Katniss wasn't specified as being [insert ethnicity here] that they would cast a caucasian.  Suzanne Collins is happy about the casting of Lawrence.  She said she never thought they'd find someone so perfect for the role, so obviously she doesn't see the casting as white-washing or a misinterpretation of her vision.  And all of the actresses being considered for the role were pretty pale and/or blonde so it's unlikely we would have ended up with even a tan/olive skinned Katniss even if Lawrence hadn't been cast.

Is it right that Hollywood will generally just cast white unless they have to cast a person of colour?  No, absolutely not.  But as I understand the term 'white-washing', the Hunger Games casting really doesn't apply.  If they got Mortez to play Rue (a black 12 year old), I'd say you have an argument for white-washing there.  But Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss?  Ish don't think so.

No one denies that white-washing and race-switching is a problem in Hollywood movies, I just think that the casting of Jennifer Lawrence in this particular movie is a weak example to get into such a large snit about.  This is not The Last Airbender, Prince of Persia:The Sands of Time, or 21.

Comments

[fembuck.livejournal.com]

I'd have been thrilled if Lyndsy got the role, but I'm happy with Lawrence as well. People seem to either really like or really hate Winter's Bone, but once you watch it I think you'll see why Lawrence has got so much buzz, and why she's an exciting choice for Katniss. Just like how seeing Lyndsy as Alex on Nikita made me think she'd do a great job as Katniss too.

when I was reading the book, I definitely envisioned Katniss as white mainly because her mother and sister were blonde, which means to both sides of her family would need genes for blond hair

I'm with ya on that. Until I started hearing the race!wank, it honestly never occurred to me that Katniss could be read as mixed-race. The olive-skinned description made me think of someone vaguely Mediterranean looking, like Mila Kunis (though I know she's Eastern European), basically a tan white person.

I've basically come to think that the race!wank isn't even really about Hunger Games. It's about people (rightly) being upset that it's really hard for minority actors to get good work or to see minorities represented on screen, and people are just talking their frustration out on this film even though the argument is pretty tenuous.

Though it's strange that Lyndsy and Kaya were probably front-runners up until the day the Oscar nominee list came out

The Oscar nominations definitely shot Lawrence and Steinfeld up to the top of the list. But I don't really have a problem with them shooting to the top of casting director's lists because of that. People are reacting like it was Miley Cyrus who got cast, like Lawrence is some basic bitch that gets work because people know her name now, but Lawrence can actually act, really well. So well she was nominated for an Oscar, which is why people now know her name.

It sucks that someone with less buzz around them like Fonseca probably dropped down on the list because of the Oscar nominees, but the film certainly won't suffer from Lawrence being cast.

[karatam.livejournal.com]

Collins definitely approved of the casting (http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/21/hunger-games-suzanne-collins-jennifer-lawrence/)

[fembuck.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!

What a wonderful endorsement. Authors usually don't really release statements like that, so she must be very, very pleased to put it out there like that.

I was already excited to see Jennifer in the role, but now I'm super excited!