Reply to Color blind casting or color quota casting

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just saw the new Mary Poppins movie.  The issue of casting diversity is hardly new and I thought the color blind casting of Lin-Manuel Miranda in a "white" role was very effective because he was very believable in the role (not to mention he's incredibly talented).  Yes, his accent was a little weird but I had no problem believing that he could have been a lamplighter in that era of London.  Good casting.

Then there was the casting of black actors as one of the lawyers and the executive secretary to the man at the bank.  Let's be real: in 1930s-1940s London (the implied era), there wouldn't have been black people in those jobs.  By pretending that they would have, it glosses over the racism and discrimination of that era.  Yes, this is a fantasy Disney movie, but it's highly unrealistic casting for a historical setting.

[b]Which leads me to wonder if this was color "blind" casting or color "quota" casting?  It felt like Disney was worried this period piece would feel too white so they decided to plop some black faces into roles that were historically inaccurate so they could take some credit for diversity on film.  Isn't that tokenism?[/b]

Don't get me wrong, I totally support color blind casting when it makes sense, but there are certain times when this casting push gets distracting and frankly feels like pandering when placed into a historical setting.[/quote]

This exactly.  [/quote]

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