watermeloncholy:

thephantomcasebook:

The Likely hood of the Martells being cast white is so ridiclously farfetched of an idea that I’m still chuckling at people on Tumblr getting mad over even the thought. there are way to many great Latin/Hebrew (if you know who I’m talking about ladies) actors out there.

But if they do cast the Martells white I’m going to laugh at everyone who throws a tantrum over it. A cable channel who puts on bullshit like Bill mahr and the newsroom doesn’t have a racist agenda. They simply liked someones proformance better then someone elses.

Anyone who says they’ll stop watching is a liar, you’ll watch, I know you will … don’t say you won’t. Haterz gonna hate, and if you don’t watch Game of Thrones what else will you come on Tumblr to bitch about?

So if you’re actually angry about something that hasn’t happened yet, and most likely won’t happen … you need to calm down. 

So get mad at nothing, burn cars, hate off this post …

I’m still laughing at you.

It’s time to take your laptop or computer or whatever and throw it out the window because the sound of it hitting the pavement would make more sense then everything you just typed here. 

I’ll never understand why people are so proud of their blatant ignorance. You’re so much more enlightened and above all this because you can laugh at people who get upset about how gross it is that the erasure of characters of colour—from stories where they’re clearly identifiable as such—continues to happen. 

I’m not even sure where you got Hebrew from, but Dorne is based on Medieval Palestine, Moorish Spain and Wales. The Martells are a mixture of peoples (Arabs/black Arabs, Spaniards)—none of which are canonically Latin@/Hebrew.

It doesn’t matter if there are capable actors of colour out there, they’re still only getting roles where they’re playing spicy Latin@ stereotypes, black stereotypes, Asians stereotypes, and Arab stereotypes. As an actor of colour, choices in roles are limited because the industry sees them as gardeners, gang members, model minorities, terrorists, not as inspirational protagonists or multifaceted people to be admired. It’s a big deal when there are so many people out there who can’t accept that there are heroes and heroines of colour in stories. It’s a major problem that so many people default to white when characters’ descriptions indicate otherwise (even when it’s overt that these characters are not white, people still default to white). You think it’s ludicrous that the Martells would ever be cast as white people and that people are overreacting, but you’re wrong—there’s enough evidence and real life examples of why people are so adamant about protecting characters of colour. 

It is not far-fetched that the Martells would be white-washed, and do you know why? Because white-washing happens constantly. See Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Hunger Games, 21, Arabian Nights etc. This happens all the time. People are tired and angry and frustrated and you’re turning around and throwing all their concerns in their faces because you think it’s so fucking hilarious to laugh at people who think POC representation in the media is a serious issue. 

No matter how liberal a network purports to be (just because they make shows about liberal white dudes), the decisions they make are largely dictated by an industry that caters to straight white cis men. Hollywood is an industry that has an extremely racist history and the fact that it’s the year 2012, where everyone assumes everyone is liberal and enlightened, doesn’t change the fact that racist things still happen in that industry. It’s not like racism disappeared when civil rights happened, if that were the case, 90% of lead roles in films wouldn’t go to straight white cis men. And this is an actual statistic not some paranoid notion of how the entertainment industry works. In 2011, the face of entertainment looked about the same as it did in the 1950s. Hollywood is an absolute joke when it comes to diversity and anyone who doesn’t realise that isn’t paying attention.

At this point, 95% of the main characters in ASOIAF are white. The Martells are not white and they’re the only noble house in ASOIAF like this. End of story. If white actors are even considered for these roles, it’s an indication that HBO and the casting director are lazy and aren’t trying hard enough. The truth is that actors of colour are rarely given equal opportunities to audition; so many of them are talented, but never get a big break because people forget they exist/assume they don’t exist. They’re out there and they’re starving for roles. It’s not about simply “liking the performance better than someone else’s.” When you say that, you’re implying that if the Martells are white-washed, the actors of colour who auditioned weren’t up to par and, I’m sorry, but that’s utter bullshit. There are mediocre white actors who don’t even have to lift a finger to get casting auditions or lead roles in movies, yet there are brilliant actors of colour who are on screen for 10 minutes playing the best friend. Many casting calls directly exclude people from colour from auditioning for lead roles, which means that these studios and casting people aren’t even bothering to look at new talent or talent that has been around for a while, but aren’t getting the roles that they should have because they’re not white enough. The excuse is always, “they picked the best person for the role,” when there’s a case where white-washing happens, but when it’s the opposite—when casting people actually do colourblind/diversity casting (see Idris Elba as mythical god Heimdall in Thor)—people’s true colours come out and they start talking about how Hollywood’s being overly politically correct. 

Honestly, I’m burnt out from constantly talking about the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry. You should have never made this post because there’s so much that you don’t understand and seemingly never will.

A middle finger to the OP and a standing ovation for watermeloncholy.