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'm pretty sure that Katniss's ethnicity blew my 95% of readers, probably more actually.

The wealthier merchant class, including Katniss's mom and sister, generally are described with fair hair and skin.

I've seen this argument a lot and it blows my mind. Katniss and Prim are full sisters, so the argument that Prim represents upper-class, white privilege while Katniss represented coloured folk having a hard-knocked life boggles my mind.

Katniss and Prim's father had to carry the gene for blond hair if Prim ended up with blond hair. Katniss obviously would not look like Willow Smith (someone actually suggested her, I'm not joking).

The casting call shouldn't have specified only Caucasian actresses, because with a mixed father Katniss's looks could line up with a variety of actresses from different backgrounds. Just like they'll dye Lawrence's dark dark brown, they could have given a part-black, part-Filipino, or part-east asian actress blue-ish grey contacts) but the people behind the film chose not to do that. It's not really white-washing, but it's pretty distasteful and upsetting.