House of Wings

racebending:

chelseabigbang:

So Maria Howell has been cast as Seeder in Catching Fire and I’m so glad there was no whitewashing, but this makes me side-eye a little bit because remember when Katniss was described as being olive-skinned and everyone said that just meant she had a tan or some shit?

Seeder was described the same way  and Katniss said she “looks almost like she could be from the Seam with her olive skin and straight black hair streaked with silver”.  Of course Seeder is from District 11, the District that has been presented as being heavily populated by black people.  But I mean…doesn’t this mean something?

Doesn’t this denote that Seeder and Katniss are of - or close to - the same coloring?

Is anyone else realizing this?

Is anyone else?

Am I the only one?

I can’t be. 

That being said, JLaw is Katniss so there’s no changing that but I think it’s interesting that olive skin means POC for a minor character but when referring to the main character, it means white+makeup. 

No, you’re not the only one.   Straight up, the production is cool with casting actors of color in these films—as long as they play supporting role PoCs who die to benefit the white protagonists.

Hate Lionsgate forever.

(Source: romeosareveryundependable)

someotherchick:

sorry i’m just getting to these now!!!

a good place for these questions (though I totally appreciate them and will answer them to the best of my ability) would have to be this tumblr. they’ve handled this before and i’m pretty much paraphrasing what’s been said there and elsewhere in my answer.  (also causcasian isnt really the correct term???)

a major part of katniss’s characterization is that she sees herself as a person of color.  she sees a divide between the seam (olive skin, dark hair, gray eyes) and the merchant class (who are blonde and blue eyed and fair), that is based on both phenotype and economical markers—something that is consistent with the divide between white people and people of color in our society today (speaking as someone from the USA).  

also katniss has more than a little bit of resentment just for the merchant class, separate but connected to her anger and hatred over the system that the capitol has created.  there is emphasis on mrs everdeen leaving the merchant class she was born in and joining the abject poverty of the seam, and while some may read that as a class issue, the fact of the matter is that katniss focuses on the physical as well, and in that case there is a distinct difference between the seam and the merchant class, which makes it a race issue as well as a class issue.  

it’s this situation/textual clues on top of her physical description that led people to read her as a person of color (not to mention that the place where District 12 is placed has historically been home to people of color as well as white people, so)

in my opinion, casting a white person as katniss (or as people of the seam, so i’m not too upset over white!peeta) would be whitewashing, regardless if the white person in question had what could be considered olive skin (though clearly JLawrence had neither).  

since katniss’ racial background isn’t stated to have a specific modern day equivalent (unlike rue and thresh clearly being described as black in the narrative), i would personally be fine with any visibly brown woman of color being cast in the role.  

wingsandtails: although it’s very possible that she’s supposed to be melungeon, considering her location

however, in the case of rue it gets a whole lot more complicated.  it’s not just racism, but rather a special form of especially insidious racism called “anti-blackness”.  people decided to read rue as white because they couldn’t fathom the idea of a black girl being seen as innocent, whose death could inspire action and and revolution.  

whether unconscious or not, the idea of rue, a young black girl, and her death being held as inspiring action against an oppressive regime didn’t sit right with them.  

because in our society, these deaths aren’t treated with the same importance as the deaths of small white girls.  

whether a consciously because of this or not, the people behind the hunger games movies chose the safest route:  a white savior katniss.  

i guess the idea of a brown woman being the leader and figurehead of a revolution (and inspired by the death of an innocent black girl, no less!) was too frightening to contemplate.  

i mean, it’s not like us people of color have anything to throw a revoltion over… right?

• made rebloggable by request