Nu Vibez and Roleplay Guide Magazine - December 2015 | Page 50

The Black Stormtrooper:
If there is anything needed in movies it’s more racial diversity in leading roles. And a recent case in point
is Lionsgate “The Gods Of Egypt”. In
this soon to be released film almost
all the Egyptian roles went to white
non Egyptian or African actors: The
film’s director had this to say:
“We recognize that it is our responsibility to help ensure that casting decisions reflect the diversity and culture of
the time periods portrayed,” … “In this
instance we failed to live up to our own
standards of sensitivity and diversity.”
Ridley Scott’s “Exodus: Gods and
King,” which featured Christian Bale
as Moses and Joel Edgerton as Ramses, was criticized last year for its predominantly white cast. Here is what
Ridley Scott said to excuse the lack
of diversity in this picture:
“It’s always art against economics,” …
“As soon as you’re at the higher levels
of budgeting, you’ve got to get the film
made and the only way to support the
film is to have actors who can support
the budget.”

50 NU VIBEZ & ROLEPLAY GUIDE MAGAZINE

Finally Emma Stone was cast
in the Cameron Crowe film
“Aloha” playing as a character
who is supposed to be of Chinese, Hawaiian and Swedish
descent. The public responded with disapproval asking
why someone white would
be cast in that role. We could
go on citing more cases of
“white washing” roles written
for non-white characters, but
the examples given will suffice. Now here is how all this
relates to our black stormtrooper issue.

Reaction to John Boyega’s
face when he takes off the
Stormtrooper went viral. One
commentator covered it this
way:
“Earlier today, it seemed like
#BlackStormtrooper might actually eclipse #BlackFriday as a
trending topic. That’s because
the official trailer that aired Friday for the next film in the Star
Wars saga—The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams
and scheduled for release in
December 2015—opens on a