The Non-White Role Of Racial Discrimination In Film

In the 1990’s where the film industry came to dominance, actors were cast to portray roles of racial minority characters conspicuously and blatantly. The concept of white washing, orientalism or cultural appropriation were not prompted into the minds of directors, actors, movie-goers or virtually anyone of the time yet. With this, there was barely or if any characters of colour being casted for roles that they were the basis of. This notion has since continued onto contemporary society today, however, audiences today are now realising the lack of authenticity in casting white actors in racially parallel roles. The idea of ‘white-washing’ that is defined as favouring white actors and casting them into a non-white role completely changes the structure of the character, and at times whole context, of the film. …show more content…
The main question that challenges Hollywood right now is why does Hollywood see such a need to place white actors in a non-white role? The most common theory on this is the idea that white people are more marketable. This is reinforced by the confession of director Lee Daniels, who produced a movie centred on a black-dominated cast, saying he struggled to get support from Hollywood studios. He claimed when his producers approached the biggest movie studios to fund the movie, the studios passed stating they were afraid the movie would not bring profits overseas. One of the producers, Pam Williams, said ‘films that deal with race don’t resonate with foreign audiences.’ Williams echoes the voices of many movie Studios in Hollywood, vocalising the prejudices and indifferences that non-white actors face. According to this line of thinking, many Hollywood producers have the mindset of providing their movies better commercial prospects than a lesser-known minority