"Hunger Games" cast members attacked with racist tweets

If you need further proof that racial prejudice isn't totally extinct in American society. this MSN Entertainment article about racist Twitter messages directed at two of the cast members of "Hunger Games" provides it in buckets.

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Actors Amandla Stenberg and Dayo Okeniyi definitely hit it big when they landed the roles of Rue and Thresh, respectively, in "The Hunger Games."

But the relative unknowns playing tributes from District 11 in the dystopian saga (which scored a historic $155 million its opening weekend and rave reviews) are the subject of an offensive debate among a few, totally clueless fans of Suzanne Collins' blockbuster young adult novel, as pointed out at Jezebel.

Why? Although both Rue and Thresh are described as having "dark brown skin" in the book, some bigoted fans, oddly enough, object that both Stenberg and Okeniyi are black.

Complained one fan on Twitter: "Why does rue have to be black not gonna lie kinda ruined the movie."

Tell me the person(and I'm using the term loosely) who sent that "kinda ruined the movie" tweet doesn't richly deserve a smack across the face or a kick in the family jewels.

Oh man I just read about this yesterday, and I find it hard to believe that SO MANY people wouldn't see a problem with the line "Why is ______ black? That ruins the ______"

This tumblr provides a good view of the sad and the sarcasm.

Hawaiian Shirt wrote:

Oh man I just read about this yesterday, and I find it hard to believe that SO MANY people wouldn't see a problem with the line "Why is ______ black? That ruins the ______"

INORITE? I like movie adaption casting to be accurate myself, but even IF these characters had been white in the book I do not see how that would 'ruin' the movie. And even IF it did ruin the movie for me I would have enough goddamn shame not to say so in public what the fuck.

The fact the thse characters were not even white in the source material just gives the whole thing another level what in holy hell is wrong with people.

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I find it hard to believe that SO MANY people wouldn't see a problem with the line "Why is ______ black? That ruins the ______"

There are instances where it's a legitimate complaint.

Say you wanted to make a movie about The 1994 Stan Lee Cup Champions New York Rangers. Cool, I'll pay $5 to see it. But then you cast Samuel L Jackson to play Mark Messier. People have legitimate reason to be annoyed that you got a black mushroom cloud laying motherfucker to play a very white mushroom cloud laying motherfucker.

Granted, Messier's race isn't particularly important, but if there were some other error that was just as blatantly obvious and equally unimportant to the plot (say, linesmen calling penalties), you'd feel the people whining about attention to detail and accuracy and such are somewhat justified.

Kind of that like Norse God that was played by a black guy. Not important to the plot, but kind of distracting and unbelievable.

Of course, when the characters are described as having dark skin and could be taken to mean anything from black to Hispanic to Oriental, it's idiotic to whine about the actors playing them being black.

I'd like to see a venn diagram of people who are pissed off about this casting choice vs. people who are pissed off about the live action Akira.

That's it. From now on, anyone who goes to see a movie based on a book has to prove they've read the actual book before they can buy a ticket. Otherwise, they give up all complaining rights.

One question: is anyone complaining because the black characters die?

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That's it. From now on, anyone who goes to see a movie based on a book has to prove they've read the actual book before they can buy a ticket. Otherwise, they give up all complaining rights.

Well, complaining rights about not being true to the source material at least. After watching five whole minutes of Twilight, I feel I'm allowed to complain.

And strangle Stephy M.

Hawaiian Shirt wrote:

I'd like to see a venn diagram of people who are pissed off about this casting choice vs. people who are pissed off about the live action Akira.

Wait... The Akira thing wasn't just some looming boogie man that hadn't progressed past the "optioned" stage? It's a real thing?

EileenK98 wrote:

That's it. From now on, anyone who goes to see a movie based on a book has to prove they've read the actual book before they can buy a ticket. Otherwise, they give up all complaining rights.

One question: is anyone complaining because the black characters die?

My son and his boyfriend went to see the movie, and he says he hasn't heard or read anyone complaining about the black characters dying. Possibly because a good many white people die as well. In s Dystopian future where whether or not you and your people will starve to death is dependent on getting to the end first, I really don't think the color of the people who dies is a deciding factor.

Ok I just saw this movie and Rue is fucking adorable. How can these people complain?

Owait they're racist I forgot again...

Eh, I'll say what I said before.

1) The people complaing about Rue being black are racist idiots

2) It's possible to have missed her description or misread it, or just deliberately ignored it and imagined her how you like

3) Even following the description in the book, she's never explicitly stated as being black. A person of colour, yes. Heavily implied as black, yes. But not outright stated "Rue was black".

4) Somehow, despite those things, the people complaining about her being black seem even more racist than if it was hammered into the story Steinbeck-style. Like, why do you care if she's cast as black? if you see a green-eyed redhead in your headcanon, does the movie really ruin it THAT MUCH for you? Some people act like they were somehow tricked or deceived when they found out Rue was black because, gee, gosh, she was described as being "innocent", then they found out she was black.

There needs to be a fucking award for what this actress and the girl who played Cho Chang has gone through.

Maybe those people are so conditioned to Hollywood having protagonists be white as default and allowing black people only when it's an "issues piece" (i.e., a movie about the woes of not being white), that they don't realize the racism of their statements?

Nah.

EileenK98 wrote:

That's it. From now on, anyone who goes to see a movie based on a book has to prove they've read the actual book before they can buy a ticket. Otherwise, they give up all complaining rights.

I read the book- that's why I'm not seeing the movie. Ba-zing! (On a more serious note, The Devil's Advocate was a terrible book. Maybe in this case, from a certain point of view, that's a good rule, but I don't see it catching on. People aren't going to read Moby Dick to be allowed to spend three-ish hours in the theater.)

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One question: is anyone complaining because the black characters die?

Considering that all sympathetic characters except Riley Finn the love interest exist to take a bullet for the protagonist or die in ways to wring pathos out of the situation, complaining about characters dying is like complaining about them dying in a Friday the 13th movie.

I saw The Hunger Games yesterday. I really don't see why there's all this fuss about the actress playing Rue being black. I've read the book, and the description of the character there could indeed describe a black person (or would African-Panem be a better description?) It could also describe people of other races, but black is a perfectly valid assumption, and the character was well-played. Also, given that America is multicultural, it makes sense that a future nation in the same region would be multicultural, too, rather than all white or all anything else.

Lady Anne wrote:

I saw The Hunger Games yesterday. I really don't see why there's all this fuss about the actress playing Rue being black.

Because:

A) Characters are white unless explicitly stated otherwise. Any physical description that omits racial identification defaults to white. Duh!

B) Characters that sweet and sympathetic can't be anything other than white - preferably blond. Also duh!

Freezer wrote:

Lady Anne wrote:

I saw The Hunger Games yesterday. I really don't see why there's all this fuss about the actress playing Rue being black.

Because:

A) Characters are white unless explicitly stated otherwise. Any physical description that omits racial identification defaults to white. Duh!

B) Characters that sweet and sympathetic can't be anything other than white - preferably blond. Also duh!

A) The description in the book states that she has brown skin.

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And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that, she's very like Prim in size and demeanor.

Which just means that the people shitting themselves over it are idiots that can't read.

(Disclaimer: I'd forgotten that part of the description from when I read the book, but I also didn't give a shit because she was perfectly cast. She does look like the girl playing Prim, and she was as sweet and sympathetic as I could have hoped.)

myeerah wrote:

A) The description in the book states that she has brown skin.

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And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that, she's very like Prim in size and demeanor.

Which just means that the people shitting themselves over it are idiots that can't read.

All that means is that she's white, but tanned. (The power of prejudice is indeed strong)

Freezer wrote:

myeerah wrote:

A) The description in the book states that she has brown skin.

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And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that, she's very like Prim in size and demeanor.

Which just means that the people shitting themselves over it are idiots that can't read.

All that means is that she's white, but tanned. (The power of prejudice is indeed strong)

Damn, you have a point.

Mr.Doobie wrote:

Ok I just saw this movie and Rue is fucking adorable. How can these people complain?

Owait they're racist I forgot again...

This. I saw Hunger Games a while ago and I have to say... I'm not the kind of woobie who cries at movies (that's my mother's job), but damn I came close

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