Christopher Nolan’s trilogy received a cult following after its release and has been named as one of the most well-accepted superhero endeavours of all time, at least until recently. The Dark Knight Trilogy was praised tremendously by fans of the franchise for various elements (especially the villains) for many years, until a major flaw in the trilogy was pointed out on Twitter recently: whitewashing.
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Whitewashing
Whitewashing a film is to “alter (something) in a way that favours, features, or caters to white people.” Fans are accusing Christopher Nolan of whitewashing some of the key villains in The Dark Knight trilogy, and honestly, the proof is there. In this case, the alteration that was made is casting white actors into the roles of the villains that are canonically not based on white characters.
Particular attention was drawn to the characters Ra’s al Ghul and Bane.
Ra’s al Ghul was played by Liam Neeson in the trilogy, but his character has generally been depicted as having an East Asian ethnic background, but later comics emphasized an Eastern Roman origin. What with the identity of Ra’s al Ghul being explainable through the passing down of title from member to member in the League of Assassins, fans weren’t too upset about this one, rather just disappointed.
Bane was a case that particularly upset fans, as he was played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight trilogy, despite the fact that Bane in the comics is a mixed-race villain, having been born from a British father and a Latina mother.
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Was Christopher Nolan Wrong?
Whitewashing characters is 100% wrong. No debates there. Representation in movies and media are extremely important, no matter the case. If a character is a certain race in comics, there is really no good reason to recast them as a white character when having them appear as their canonical identity would better serve the character.
But did Christopher Nolan do this on purpose? This was during a time when production studios would famously whitewash their cast with the argument that they were making the decision based on the merit of the actor, and while Liam Neeson and Tom Hardy are fantastic actors, it shouldn’t have happened that way. But is casting always the director’s choice?
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Director Christopher Nolan spearheaded The Dark Knight trilogy and was praised worldwide for his filmmaking techniques that felt grounded, grand, and expansive. The result of his work was a well-loved Batman adaptation that fared well in comparison to attempts by huge superhero development groups like DC and even Marvel.
Now, ten years later, some DC fans have started labelling the Oscar-winning director as racist and ignorant, as he has also been criticized for his lack of representation in his past films.
It’s important to note that this is a problem of the past, as the director has made many moves to make his movies far more inclusive in more recent years.
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We would love to hear your take on this.
Who even care..now if they were using vulgure language or disrespecting different nationality..then that’s an issue….but casting who u want is just plain minor….STOP IT…
Im a black American and Tom Hardy IS Bane. Period.
Filmmakers can’t win: when a villain in a movie is non-white, the complaint is that minorities are stereotyped as criminals.
“If a character is a certain race in comics, there is really no good reason to recast them as a white character when having them appear as their canonical identity would better serve the character.”
Does this argument apply when the original character was white and is recast to a different race, as is the fashion these days? (FWIW, I don’t care either way.)
I didn’t know that bane was part Latino as I’m half mexican myself. Now that I know and see that he was cast as a white dude, I still don’t give a sh**. Who are these crybabies?
People forgot that there was an production of the
Wizard of Oz called the wiz where it had an all
African American cast and replaced Kansas for
Harlem Brooklyn in which is predominately African American and the production was written by Joel Schumacher yep the famous director of Batman and Robin to say the Wiz came in the blaxploitation era of The 70’s and Beverly Hills cop was originally written for Sylvester Stallone before it went to Eddie Murphy so diversity and representation is always been an thing in the entertainment industry not just in Hollywood.
Centrevez entertainment Uk
If all the people who get upset about such utter nonsense would dive into an active volcano, this world would be a much, much better place.
What is the article supposed to mean or demand or bring to attention?
Does it want reservation for people of color in movies?
Are we so out of work and jobs to have time to point out at issues that don’t really exist ?
Can we not watch movies for the sake of movies and appreciate everyone involved in it with regards to how well the performed and did their jobs?
Its funny people dont like a black mermaid cause its not true to the formula is racist.
People dont like white characters because its not true to the formula its white washing.
How bout we just watch or dont watch and stop nit picking
I’ll take great actors who can play the role/vision to perfection before race/color/ethnicity. Contrary to what’s been happening today.
He’s definitely racist by casting a black lead in his latest film. Especially since this film is the most expensive film ever made with a black solo lead.
They are so right white washing is wrong and changing the race of comic book characters is stupid they should not have turned Ra’s al ghul and Bane white just like they should not have made Catwomen and Gordon black in the BATMAN
So what is it when they change the little mermaid from a white redhead? Or ghost busters from men to women? Or when the completely change Annie?
There is a very definite double standard here.
There should be no issue if its a talanted actor playing the role well. But to cry and whinge about it is daft. There has to be a level of creative license and it very much works both ways.
At the end of the day you can’t lock down a roll due to criteria when there are better options (I’m not saying that this was the case in these instances) but if we narrowly approach a role and say only certain people in terms of age, sex, ethnicity or orientation can play a role then it’s closer to an attempted documentary – these guys are actors! A straight male can play the role of a gay male and vice versa – to say it it needs to go to someone the exact match of the character is daft and you will miss out on some excellent actors who are big names and thus attract the big crowds as a result. And at the end of the day its all about money
It’s interesting that this is a focus on debate when over recent years, and recent production of DC comics films, series have done the same but in reverse. I often go in favor of great acting, story, and character development. If the actor does well, the plot goes smoothly, and the characters mesh well, I don’t mind really who is being played by whom. Don’t get me wrong, I love a developed, diverse cast, as well as a character that compliments their origin, whether it be race, looks, or otherwise. But it just finds me perplexed that, after the fact, when the Nolan trilogy was loved by most DC fans that now it is brought to attention, when in fact in recent years, as I said before, the same things, not under Nolan mind you, has been done to characters, origins, and race/gender in the opposite of what the is being said above. And why those are not in focus also. Yes, not in a famous sense as Nolan, but still the same attributes being on display in DC developed movies/series. Series/Movies like Gotham, Teen Titans, Batwoman, Catwoman, Suicide Squad, and likely more. And with each comes the gender swapping, changing of race/ethnicity, and origin. Some good, some not, depending on actor or actress skill and plot/script level. And with each, I minded the change, and various I didn’t. Taken into consideration, as read in the article, the Nolan trilogy was in an age where this was normal, but it happens now as well. And with some examples I stated, we’re in the same Era. And these do not just happen in DC, same with Marvel, as in Samuel L. Jacksons portrayal of Fury. Which I enjoyed deeply, as well as Neeson as Raas, and Hardy as Bane. In these cases, we can’t see into the mind of the visionary, so how could we really know the intention. And maybe the intention doesn’t matter, but with each diversity was still instilled in the story. Liam played raas, but still there was the decoy Raas which played a crucial part in the story. As to the subject of Hardy as Bane, it is true that there was no ethnic background that was similar to Banes, but in the point, the Bane we saw in the film, was not the one from the comic, it was a Bane of as origin different from the lore of the comics, as was most of the other characters in Nolans trilogy. Which begs the question, how can we say something to a person who recreated the Origins and characters to their own visions and tell them they were wrong in the choices of casting. Or really, what was in their thoughts as they envisioned the characters at their inception into his arc for the trilogy and film. We can have our opinions, which may or may not be valid with the info given. But who am I to say what you can really do, when creating a universe off of your own vision, and using the origins, and manipulating them to fit the film and Noland created universe. Hard to really say, when these characters/origins are not the Bane, and Raas we see in the comics we have read, as well as the other series and films I stated. If I’m creating a story, and placing faces and origins to the characters I created, likely I wouldn’t want to deviate from my universe I create. I agree, the movies likely should have had some more diversity, but I’m the same, I still want the creator to have freedom, and make what they envioned, which true might show what they really think, but also may show they are being misrepresented and didn’t think to include or stay true to the perfect origin. We make mistakes, Nolan in his process pay not have focused on perfections, rather his vision for the character and his created universe. Maybe in light of this, he may choose to add more diversity, having been shown or reminded during the process that diversity is important. But as humans we forget and get engulfed in the work/story, as we did when we watched. And in this, my point comes to an end, I’m just an fan of well made cinema and series and comics, and yes I do believe diversity is important and should be more looked upon. So I say this, we are just human, and are not mind readers, and shouldn’t be labeled without first asking, and just maybe saying, in the future, could you be more aware of the wants of the people, and the diversity that could in turn still make the story what it is/was intended to be. – Thanks
His job and the casting directors is to chose the person who will best play the part.
End of story.
If Idris Elba got the next James Bond film how many of these people would call it blackwashing? Not many I bet.
Idiots.
U right this is stupid like obviously we would’ve appreciated the same race as the comics but these actors are literally legends tom hardy and Liam Neeson played their roles to perfection they made the rolls great and in the movie their is an Asian ras Al ghul but he’s a decoy which would make sense that it would be a puppet leader and bane is half British halt south American does it matter in his case tom hardy literally was perfect for the role