Is a white person playing a role

[Kad]

Gaveston, I actually don't think we really disagree. We need to make distinct ignorance v. racism. I don't think not knowing which label a group prefers is racism/bigotry. I think the use of stereotypes and racial slurs is racism/bigotry. I don't think denying a role to a person of color because they were not better than a rival white actor is racism. I think choosing a white actor over an equal colored actor because "it's more commercial" or something is born of racism.

At this point in America, most people know what are slurs and stereotypes. Being ignorant is no longer a aufficient excuse for that. ...I don't know about China.

[GavestonPS]

Absolutely, Kad. I think you, Phyllis, Taryn and I are all discussing this subject from the same side. I hope that is clear to all involved.

And I'm certainly not saying ignorance is "okay": you and Taryn are correct that it is the root from which hate-crime trees grow. I fear sometimes, however, that we may create a world in which we don't get a chance to correct ignorance because everyone is too afraid to speak his or her mind. (This is NOT a reference to anyone in this thread.) But now that I have written the above, I feel foolish: the last two presidential campaigns prove people are all too willing to spew the most obnoxious nonsense.

But as for a hypothetical director who always casts white men to play dentists, I don't think it's helpful to call him a racist (nor would any of us here do so). I think we're better off if somebody is around to say, "Good actor. But wouldn't it be interesting if the dentist were a half-black, half-Korean, wheel-chair-enabled transgendered woman?"

[Kad]

I think that decision (casting white men as dentists) is could be argued as subtly racist, though. It's born from a belief that "No, black men/etc. can't make good doctors." An antiquated belief that has just been passed down and become part of a mindset. I realize this makes things difficult- even hopelessly so- because racism is in part passed along without being aware of it. That's where my tree metaphor fails me. This getting into the real theory stuff, the stuff that drives queer theory and post colonialism. But then, viewing things through those lenses and theories makes things very, very difficult and leads to no solutions and more problems.

[GavestonPS]

True story, Kad: I was referred to a white, male dentist in Marina Del Rey in the early 1990s and was very pleased with him. But then I showed up for an appointment and discovered the practice had switched me to a partner-dentist who was Chinese-American.

Well, I wasn't entirely happy about having no say in the decision, but of course I couldn't complain. You can see why. And so I saw Dr. Chang for a year and was very happy with him and his work.

And then I showed up (I was having a lot of work done) to discover I had been reassigned to a white, female dentist. Again, I couldn't possibly object. And she was great (women's hands tend to be smaller) until she moved to Iowa.

At which time I was transferred to another white male. And then I switched to a one-dentist office where I wouldn't be passed around like a sack of potatoes. (FTR, the dentist I chose was Asian-American and brilliant. If you ever need a referral, let me know.)

Such are the trials of being a liberal, I suppose, but all the dentists involved were highly qualified. LOL.

***

Back on topic: casting a white man as a dentist MIGHT be born of a belief that women and people of color aren't as qualified to be dentists, but I think it's more likely just a product of what the casting director has seen.

In evolutionary terms, I think we had to be conditioned toward stereotyping in order to survive as a species. Antelope=good to eat! Sabre-tooth tiger=more likely to eat you! Of course, this is not an excuse for laziness today, when we ought to know better than to make assumptions about people based on superficial appearances. But the evolutionary impulse remains.

Of course, the assumption is still based on seeing race first and the individual second, which is why I sometimes wish our language were more specific. "Racist" has become one of the worst words in American English, and rightfully so! But I don't want to trivialize it because my grandmother hasn't learned to say "African-American" rather than "Afro-American" (facetious example).

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I think that decision (casting white men as dentists) is could be argued as subtly racist, though. It's born from a belief that "No, black men/etc. can't make good doctors."

For some reason, this comment reminded me of the thread I'm linking below. Sometimes, I truly believe, there are just white people who can't stand seeing people of color in parts that weren't specifically written to be played by people of color.
Deidre Goodwin as Sheila: Why It Doesn't Work

[Kad]

I'm not sure if it's, like, an active "can't stand it", though. It bugs them and they perhaps can't put to words why.

That thread was before I was really active in this forum. Dear god.

[GavestonPS]

I have no idea why anyone would object to an African-American woman playing Sheila*, unless it were that Sheila's demeanor seems too much like a caricature of the "strong, black woman" stereotype of TV sitcoms.

In fact, except for Connie and Richie, I don't see why all the casting shouldn't be color-blind.

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*I know, I know: Phyllis graciously gave us an entire thread on the subject, but I'm not sure I really want to know the objections.

***

ETA: Okay, against my better judgment I started reading that thread. What does the OP think black children were doing in the 1940s? He apparently thinks they were barred from the cinema and tap dancing, when in fact tap dancing arose out of black culture.