That's interesting, but not at all unexpected to me. Think of how people of Jewish ancestry (ethnicity, not religion) have "moved" around; and there's also (perhaps counter-intuitively from a social standpoint rather than racial) a lot of movement by Jewish and Arab actors between the two. Many of the people I knew growing up who were proud of their Lebanese or Syrian or whatever roots--some of them quite recent--were indistinguishable from the largely white makeup of my rural New England schools. Think also about the historical attitude of Northern Europeans in America vs. Southern/Mediterranean Europeans. Like the Irish or Italians back in the day, there's a backlash against whatever group of people is currently immigrating. They get to be "non white" until a new group comes along.
I know what you mean about not complaining about Andrews. He's good-looking, and I like him, and I want him to work. I especially want him to work as something other than a) a terrorist or b) a goofy-accented Indian peon of some kind. I'm sure he (and Malik and Fadil and anyone else in that position) is happy to be cast as a PERSON rather than a type, even if it's a person from someplace he's not. (I've also read actors expressing gratitude that "at least this terrorist I play has dimensions.") As I said to seraphcelene below, I've looked at old Hollywood films where actors attempted to move along the race spectrum to find a better job; if a black man (or someone of mixed race) could pass as a Native American, it meant he got to play a "savage" rather than a servant.
So maybe the part Andrews plays is fine because it's nuanced and layered, and maybe casting him is fine because he does a good job and we like him, but it's part of a larger view that's a little bit scary.
And then, getting into divisions we're not even aware of complicates things. People over here have a hard enough time telling Iraqi from Indian--debating the ancestry of Andrews in Indian terms is yet another wrinkle. I'd be curious about casting in Bollywood as relates to race and ancestry, actually.
no subject
That's interesting, but not at all unexpected to me. Think of how people of Jewish ancestry (ethnicity, not religion) have "moved" around; and there's also (perhaps counter-intuitively from a social standpoint rather than racial) a lot of movement by Jewish and Arab actors between the two. Many of the people I knew growing up who were proud of their Lebanese or Syrian or whatever roots--some of them quite recent--were indistinguishable from the largely white makeup of my rural New England schools. Think also about the historical attitude of Northern Europeans in America vs. Southern/Mediterranean Europeans. Like the Irish or Italians back in the day, there's a backlash against whatever group of people is currently immigrating. They get to be "non white" until a new group comes along.
I know what you mean about not complaining about Andrews. He's good-looking, and I like him, and I want him to work. I especially want him to work as something other than a) a terrorist or b) a goofy-accented Indian peon of some kind. I'm sure he (and Malik and Fadil and anyone else in that position) is happy to be cast as a PERSON rather than a type, even if it's a person from someplace he's not. (I've also read actors expressing gratitude that "at least this terrorist I play has dimensions.") As I said to
So maybe the part Andrews plays is fine because it's nuanced and layered, and maybe casting him is fine because he does a good job and we like him, but it's part of a larger view that's a little bit scary.
And then, getting into divisions we're not even aware of complicates things. People over here have a hard enough time telling Iraqi from Indian--debating the ancestry of Andrews in Indian terms is yet another wrinkle. I'd be curious about casting in Bollywood as relates to race and ancestry, actually.