Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Film, "The Other Dumas" In My Opinion...

You know, when I first heard about this movie, then saw The Hollywood Reporter review, I was upset. Not only did they not mention that Dumas was a man of color, they totally negated the fact that a person of color would not be cast in the role of a white person, let alone a historical figure. It's not to say that I don't believe that black can't play white or white can't play black. I believe we can. Talent should take precedence. But with the history we've had; with slavery, and people of color being over looked for their contributions. I feel accurarcy is very important in the telling of stories about people who really lived, and biographies (this film is not a biography), etc. There's so many more things I could say.

Then I said to myself, everyone has a right to tell their story their own way. But we need, as people of color, to keep telling our own stories from our own perspectives, and cast the way we want to. Maybe by doing that we can balance things out, and help each other, black and white, to see things from difference perspectives. Then oneday it will not matter what color an actor is, but can they play the role, cause that's really what this is all about. It sounds idealistic. But that's what I strive for, peace and balance.