Authenticity

December 8, 2022

I guess I wouldn’t make a very good extremist. I know it’s more fun to be self-righteous, because I’ve felt that way on occasion. But my difficulty with being moralistic is that I tend to see shades of gray in most arguments. That’s why I don’t feel comfortable with left wing or right wing culture warriors – their beliefs are often too dogmatic and judgmental for my taste.

Case in point – the question of diverse casting in TV shows and movies.

The argument in favor of including a variety of ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and physical abilities is that it allows all kinds of people to feel included in the story they’re watching, and it gives more opportunities for a greater array of actors to portray different kinds of characters.

The objection to that argument for some people is that the diverse actors sometimes don’t look like what that viewer expects the character to look like.

My view of this debate: I want to believe in the character that I’m watching, but whether or not I’m able to accept an actor’s performance depends not only on their acting ability, but also upon the story itself and whether or not that actor is credible in that role. Sean Penn was superb as the gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, even though Penn is not gay. I would not have accepted a female or disabled actor in that role, even if the actor did a great job. But I accepted a straight actor because his sexual orientation wasn’t obvious. Would I find Sean Penn convincing as Joan of Arc or Malcolm X? No.

A few nights ago I enjoyed once again the Civil War historical drama “Glory,” starring Denzel Washington as a black soldier fighting for the Union army. Washington’s performance was excellent. But some years ago I watched the Kenneth Branagh film “Much Ado About Nothing,” in which Washington played an Italian prince, and as skilled an actor as he is, I didn’t for one minute believe that he was a 16th century Italian nobleman.

And yet I saw the same play on TV recently in which the cast was all black, and I loved it. Not only was the acting outstanding, but since the play was set in contemporary times, they weren’t pretending to play European characters in Shakespeare’s era, so I was able to suspend my disbelief and simply enjoy the story.

I’m perfectly comfortable with diverse casting for stories set, say, in the 1960’s up to the present and into the future. For that reason, I’m fine with black, brown, or Asian actors in Star Wars, for example. But I just don’t believe tales set in the distant past if the producers try to impose 21st century casting values on cultures and narratives where current ideas of diversity didn’t exist. The play “Hamilton” would have been jarring to my sensibilities if the actor playing Thomas Jefferson had been the only non-white performer, but since almost all of the actors were black or brown, I wasn’t distracted by Jefferson’s race because the play made no pretense of being historically accurate; it’s casting, music, dancing, and lyrics were all contemporary.

But as a Tolkien fan, I was disappointed in the new TV series “The Rings of Power,” due to the politically correct decision to cast black and brown actors whose ethnicities were inappropriate for the story. The actors themselves did a good job, but they were not believable as inhabitants of a northern European Middle Earth. I felt like the producers were waving a red flag in my face, saying in effect, this is not a Europe of long ago, but rather is the United States in 2022. I did not believe a black elf or a black dwarf princess.

However, Tolkien did say that the Harfoots, the ancestors of the Hobbits, were “dark complected,” and so I would have been happy if all of the Harfoots had dark skin, suggesting that over thousands of years their skin colors changed hues. Instead, most of the Harfoots were white, with no explanation as to why some of them were black. The only explanation is that we are supposed to overlook the annoying inconsistency. Either make them all white, or all black, or all something, and if you’re going to make them look different from one another, give us a plausible accounting for that reality.

Unfortunately, some people who share my objection to inaccurate casting chose to not only invoke the dreaded “woke” accusation against the show, but went further by insulting and harassing the actors themselves. Many of those critics seem to be white nationalists who feel threatened by non-white cultures being increasingly represented in popular culture. Just as nasty were the lefty commentators who hurled the abhorrent insult “racist” against anyone, presumably including yours truly, who dared question the multicultural casting of an essentially white story.

I understand the desire to have more opportunities for all kinds of people to see themselves on television and in the movies. But in my view the best way to do that is to create new stories that reflect a greater human diversity, rather than try to force current social theories upon classic tales.

In the meantime, let’s let go of all the name-calling. To err is human, but to be tolerant is divine. I think I just made that up. But if you think it’s inauthentic, then maybe you’re a woke racist.