Black Thor Actor Talks About Racist Comic Book Fans

[Puzzlenaut]

Think of it this way:

Although you might think "yeah, I'm fine with that. Doesn't really affect anything all that much" (my view), imagine if instead a character who was always black (the Black Panther or Luke Cage for example) was cast as a white person. There would be absolute uproar!

Firstly, it would of course depend ENTIRELY on the story and the backdrop. If the character being a certain race was tied directly to the character, then yeah, shouldn't be messed with. But, in this case, Heimdall being white has nothing to do with anything, so yeah.

Secondly, people that make this kind of statement rarely realise how racist it really is. "WE'RE fine with it, we're the mature and level headed bunch, but if the tables were turned those ethnics would be going batshit!".

Says who?

It wouldn't necessarily be black people going batshit over said hypothetical scenario -- it would be anybody who loves political correctness. I had however meant to put in my post words pretty much to the effect of your first point, which would pretty much counter-act your second.

Heimdall's ethnicity doesn't affect his character at all, whereas with those characters I mentioned it has a massive amount to do with their backstory and how their character as a person works -- both, especially the Black Cat, have been at the end of racism in the stories they are in.
On the other hand, having a character like Blade, who could just as easily be white without his story being affected all, I honestly still think there would be something of an uproar from the politic-correctness-types, whilst I'm not even sure the black community would care.

 

[Mj0ln1r]

Food for thought: If you think all racist are morons(insert random swear word) what better are you??

Morons? No
Ignorant and in need of enlightenment? Yes

Am I better than them? In that aspect, certainly.

The guy is a great actor I'm sure he did the role justice. Its not like they turned the character into a gang banger pimp.

You are absolutely right. I was just implying the irony (you think something of somebody who thinks something of somebody)

 

[Beryl77]

It's a fictional movie, whether it's based off of a comic doesn't matter because the comic movies never tell the story exactly like in the comics. They always change some things. If someone in the movie said that all the gods are white and then he's black, then I would also think it's a bit stupid but only because of inconsistency.
But in the universe of this movie, there is a black norse God and fans of the comics should learn to deal with these things.

 

[0986875533423]

What happened to you, comic-book nerds? We used to be cool. You were, like, second only to Star Wars Nerds in your almost superpowered capacity to explain away semi-convincingly the utter bullshit in your respective source material, and you can't handle this?

Okay, I'll be the first to say I know almost nothing about Marvel Thor Canon, and I haven't seen the film yet (though I plan to) but, seriously?

The guy is a God. In this case the definition of "God" is admittedly "Superpowered Alien" but really, he doesn't have it within his capability to transform himself into Idris Elba in order to be badass if he wants to? (And really, who wouldn't?)

 

[Hive Mind]

Show me a photo of a white Norse god.

I'm not going to debate with you if this is your idea of an argument. If you want to intelligently make a claim, please do so. If you want to continue with questions like that, we are done.

 

[Jodah]

I find it more racist that they had to put him in it than I do people complaining. He is the token black guy of the film to silence activists. He may be a very fine actor but you can't tell me a white actor couldn't have done just as good. I have no problem with racial equality in films, I have a problem with movies putting minorities in just to be "fair".

 

[Soviet Steve]

Fixed that for you.

Actually I did read the post, I appreciate the sentiment though.

EDIT: Huh. Vikings actually did have a term for black people: bluemen. So I guess they DID know they existed. The things I learn on this board.

Was going to add this - We did run trading operations in Russia, we did raid as far as Sicily (Which was raided by Muslims for a while) and plenty of Norse went to Byzantium and worked as Varangean Guards, and with the trade, exploration and turmoil of the days there were likely people of all races who encountered the vikings at one point or another (Except the divine Heavenly Great Father and Dear Great Leader Kim Il Sung, obviously)

Religions tend towards favoring the familiar and demonizing the unfamiliar however, and seeing how no-one thus far has mentioned that Thor was a blåmand, it seems like a legitimate point that a black person would look miscast in that role.

Also worth noting in the opening post is that the movie is based on the comics rather than the actual norse Gods, and in the comics he does have a specified canonic appearance, which is a white person. From there we can at the very least conclude that the lad on the big screen does not match the lad he is supposed to depict.

 

[Gene O]

I am cautious about the casting of a black actor as Heimdall for the same reason I disliked turning the water tribe into Europeans for The Last Airbender movie. The Avatar tv show was about an Asian world (albeit fictionalized) and Thor is about Northern European gods (also fictionalized). The first was about people who weren't white, the second is about nothing but white people. Changing the race of one group or person in each case is completely inappropriate to the setting.

That said, this is the same director that cast Denzel Washington as Keannu Reeves brother in Much Ado About Nothing without any explanation to the audience and it worked because Denzel is an outstanding actor who executed his role perfectly. By the accounts I've seen in this thread, Idris Elba kicks ass as Heimdall and that's what really matters in a summer blockbuster.

I'm seeing Thor this weekend and from the comments I've read so far I can expect to more of the triumph of the second paragraph than the nagging fears of the first.

 

[RileyFaux]

I went to see this movie and I'm not going to deny that it's a good movie but I couldn't get over that Heimdall was black, mostly because the movie Thor is about my religion(Germanic Neopaganism) and there were a lot of other details that bothered me. I know the comic is based on Germanic Neopaganism(feels weird to say in english) but it left out so many important things, like how Óðinn lost his eye(that's not how I lost it)and the frost giants weren't really giants, but yeah, the Heimdall thing really bothered me, it's like casting a black guy or caucasian to play Jesus since he was neither!

 

[Lucifron]

I think it was a weird decision to cast Heimdall as black, because he decidedly was not as imagined by his creators. It's a bit like casting 7 feet hobbits with shoes in the Lord of the Rings.

Not that I really care, but still.

 

[lead sharp]

I would just like to add though that the weirdness never once bothered me. It's just something you go 'Yeah but he was fucking cool!' and move on with a great film.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Stringer Bell as a norse god?! What fool would oppose such badassery?

Exactly. And he was easily the most badass character in the film too.

 

[Hatchet90]

If he was white in the source material, then of course there's going to be backlash by fans. One shouldn't treat everyone as the same, one should take notice of the color of someone's skin, for they are different from me. That said, I did enjoy the character in Thor immensely.

 

[Alphavillain]

The left wing uses the media for propaganda, blah blah blah. I don't think the western (especiallly U.S.) media is very left-wing in many ways, if by "left-wing" you mean (as I do) questioning the nature of of world and what really goes on behind the scenes, and who really controls the levers of power. Sure, it's liberal in showing a black guy as a Norse god (and why not?), but in the great scheme of things it's not that important.

 

[Elijin]

When I saw the title for this topic, I actually became puzzled as I couldnt remember who was black in the movie. Like really, with all thats going on in that pretty movie, some people are paying attention to the actors skin colour? Wat.

I gotta say though, having been bluntly reminded he was black....who cares? Easily my favourite character in the movie, hands down. And like the good people have pointed out, wouldnt you be more bothered by the suggestion your gods werent even gods, then the notion one of them may have been of dark skin?

Side note, anyone at all who whinges about breaking canon in a marvel comic -> to movie transition (And Im guilty of this too), I present to you this question....Which canon? I mean like, they're so many different universes containing the exact same characters, that completely redesign entire aspects and origins of the characters...no one is going to be happy, so sit back and enjoy what you get really.

 

[o_d]

We never seem to have a problem with the evidently Middle-Eastern derived Jesus of Nazareth being portrayed by a white man.

 

[Grospoliner]

Dear racists and bigots. Grow up.

 

[Frotality]

to me this particular instance is more like ultimate nick fury; he was originally white, but he is just as awesome in his black incarnation, so it doesnt bother me.

there are plenty of instances of arbitrary casting racial diversity in hollywood though, so i certainly understand where the complaints are coming from; this isnt the first black viking. given that he is both a god and that this is marvel and not a direct retelling of norse mythology, him being black is a bit weird maybe, but the popular opinion seems to be that he acts the role well, which is whats important.

as a matter of fact, he is a welcome foil to surfer-boy thor.

 

[Enosh_]

I don't think the western (especiallly U.S.) media is very left-wing

ahahaha

good one
the casting is just another example in the long line of PC casting, he wasn't cast beacose he was the best actor, he was cast beacose he needed a black guy somewhere otherwise all the hollywood liberals would whine

but I do find it funny to see all the people who complained and started internet campaigns about avatar casting now totaly supporting this
good old hypocrisy