The Debate Over Colorblind Casting

The musical Wicked: The Untold Stories of the Witches of Oz was first performed on 10th June 2003 in New York City on Broadway. It was adapted, by Winnie Holzman and Steven Schwartz, from the 1995 book by Gregory Maguire (WICKED: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West), and follows the story of Elphaba a green-skinned girl who eventually becomes better known as the Wicked Witch of the West. The plot runs from before the start of the Wizard of Oz and then proceeds alongside it, finishing with the supposed death of the Wicked Witch. It re-tells Elphaba’s story and shows how her differences rendered her a scapegoat, allowing the government of Oz to turn the population against her when she hadn’t really done anything wrong. Elphaba’s differences and the people’s reaction to her are obvious symbols of racial prejudice. This is again seen through Doctor Dillamond, an Goat and professor of History at the university, who tells that the Animals in Oz are losing their rights and their powers of speech. This essay will explore racial prejudice in the musical WICKED, analysing the songs and scenes where Doctor Dillamond and Elphaba interact with the other characters in the production to show how the theme is conveyed.

When we think of heroes we often think of a masked vigilanty or a cape crusader swooping down from the heavens and saving the day. Although heroes come in many shapes and sizes, they also tend to come from different backgrounds. The people of the United States pride themselves with freedom and equality. However, still to this day there is a struggle with discrimination. Matt Zoller Seitz’s article “The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t Die” definitely sparked some interest and was definitely right when it came to the offensive issue most people do not see. His argument clearly states that African Americans are playing more roles in Hollywood blockbusters as mentors or in this case “god like” for the main characters. However, many of the roles played by African Americans are that of mentors and are not receiving the proper applause they should be receiving. Matt Seitz presents great material in his article that doesn’t sound bias and enough information to make him credible.

Racism is always issues which take a huge part of American history. Until the twenty-first century, although people tried to make the country becomes the freedom and equality nation, these issues are still happening everywhere. According to "In Living Color: Race and American Culture," Stuart Hall argues that racism is still widespread in the society and "it is widely invisible even to those who formulate the world in its terms" (qtd. in Omi 683). Indeed, situations about race quietly exist in the movie industry, which "has led to the perpetuation of racial caricatures" to the majority audiences and even minority audiences (Omi 629). Like the media, Hollywood has a significant impact on viewers to perceive life and to

Many people would consider Tony Award winning composer, lyricist, and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda a genius. With his musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, Miranda has been able to relate to modern audiences. His innovative uses of hip-hop, diverse casts, and commentary about race and immigration in his musicals allow his works to stand out amongst other modern Broadway shows.

Some may argue that Hollywood directors and writers should not be burdened with the responsibility of avoiding the stereotyping of racial characters. However, these stereotypes poorly represent the traditions of ethnic groups, send out harmful messages to children (who are easily influenced by movies), and give very little opportunity to talented actors/actresses who are judged more on their race than their talent. By casting ethnically-accurate actors/actresses for characters, Hollywood directors and writers can help increase the racial diversity of actors/actresses in the movie industry. By casting different races in movies, a cycle can be created where Hollywood directors and writers can discover more talented and ethnically diverse actors/actresses to play future roles and increase the cultural accuracy in

Fences is a play written by the playwright August Wilson, who dedicated himself to writing plays capturing what it was like to be an African American in the United States during every decade of the 20th century. Fences was a play that was specifically written to provide an outlook into the lives of African Americans in America during the 1950s, during the process of demarginalization. Each character of the novel provides a unique perspective to capture different aspects of the “African American Experience” during this time period. In Fences, it was very important to August Wilson to truly capture “The African American Experience” and he was able to do so through the portrayal of the Maxson family, with his representation of African Americans during the 1950s in Fences, and with the multiple perspectives of African Americans captured

When first reading August Wilsons biography it is apparent that he himself had a trying life, but also had first hand experiences with African Americans as his step father was a former football player and an ex con, which gives readers a bit more of an understanding as to why perhaps Wilson was so passionate about the way

I watched Spinning Into Butter at Nerinx Hall’s Heagney Theatre. There are only seven characters who actually appear on stage, and they are Sarah Daniel, Ross Collins, Dean Catherine Kenny, Dean Burton Strauss, Mr. Meyers, Patrick Chibas, and Greg Sullivan. Simon is also a major character in this play, but he never actually comes out on stage. Lastly, the setting of this play is in Belmont, Vermont at a liberal arts college. Spinning Into Butter is not just about the many issues a college campus has to deal with, but it is about racism. There are two main storylines in this play. One main event is about a Nuyorican man named Patrick who is very proud of his ethnicity. However, most people do not care about the specific details, so when he is applying for a $25,000 scholarship his ethnicity has to be categorized. The lack of racial concern Sarah and the scholarship committee express

Diana Adeolsa Mafe addresses the questions the following questions: What made the plays of Lorraine’s play so appealing to the audience? Can these theatrical representations of "ethnic" culture be "authentic “if they are also read as "universal"? The plays of Lorraine and Diana were criticized by content in their plays as either one or the other, rendering the "universal" and the "specific" mutually limited, she

There are people all over the world who have come to America to seek a greater life. With America having the largest immigrant population compared to other countries, there are always people migrating into the country. People all over the world may be coming here to pursue their own dreams or to escape persecution. The immigrant population has increased so much, that about one-third of U.S. population are now people of color. But with the immigrant population at such a high percentage compared to previous years, there is still a lack of recognition. There is a lack of representation in everything from politics to film. From classic Hollywood films to movies being produced now, there is lack of color. If someone of color were to be casted, they would only play as a character that are based off stereotypes. There are a films that try to move away from stereotypes, but in Hollywood films they usually tend not to. In Chan is Missing, the actors

Alvin Ailey was born on January 5, 1931, in Rogers, Texas. As known, Alvin Ailey is one of the leading figures in the 20th century modern dance. He was brought up single handedly by his young mother who was only a teenager then. He was brought up during the period of the Great Depression. A period of time where racial segregation, violence and lynchings against African Americans, prevailed. Ailey gained inspiration from the black church service he attended to as well as the music that was played at the local dance hall. Christianity instilled a strong sense of black pride, which became a strong feature of his works.

One of the most important events was the Civil Rights Movement which responded to a racial discrimination towards African-Americans during the 1950s (Berry, 2009). The growing power of the movement had much influences on American society, including on Hollywood and film industry. It caused a number of the large film productions began to involve more black casts and also shifted the representations and views of African-Americans in films (Siham, 2010). Things slowly changed thanks to actor Sidney Poitier’s arrival on several Hollywood scenes, and his name quickly became synonymous during the 1960s (L. Johnson, 2017). Poitier pushed Hollywood’s boundaries of racial integration in film even further (Siham, 2010). Throughout the film history, blacks have been few displaying on screen and commonly represented in the negative, brutalizing ways, often the lowest level and a secondary character providing a humor or contrasting with white. Poitier was the first black actor who guided the way to other black actors, to give them the opportunity to show their talents and to give a good image for the African Americans (Siham, 2010). These movements had made a major changed and also encouraged another movement within both society and the film industry. Various film productions had a greater push back against the racial status, greater cast integration, and greater encouragement to better understand and provide the meanings of race to

When a regular viewer tunes in the hit show, Saturday Night Live, what do they see on their screen? They see a comedy show with primarily young Caucasian men and some Caucasian women. There is a problem with the level of diversity within Saturday Night Live, otherwise known as SNL. Since its beginning, Saturday Night Live has had a very long history with not displaying actors from a variety of races and backgrounds. I, Hannah Rabitoy, head writer for SNL, am writing to the executive producer, Lorne Michaels, to address this issue of diversity and what must be implemented in the future. In order to improve viewership and creativity within the hit television show, Saturday Night Live, the producers must enforce a plan to diversify the cast members by placing quotas on the Human Resources department to ensure all are represented properly, recruiting from more standup comedian centers rather than typical non-diverse comedy

As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, ideology is “A system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.” In film, the main ideological topics represented are gender, class, race, and sexuality. Although Dude, Where’s my Car? has been reviewed as “Dude, your movie sucks” by The Austin Chronicle and having a “thin, laughless plot”, gender, race, class, and sexuality ideological ideas can be found scattered throughout it.

I chose to do my paper on the television show The Office. The reason why I chose this show is because I believe it provides great examples when it comes to dominant and minority groups, including many different races and ethnicities. I think it somewhat gives viewers an insight of the daily struggles minority groups face in the workplace. Some of the different races included in the show are African American, Indian, White, and Mexican. Not only does the color of their skin set them apart, but their cultural characteristics as well. One example is the different religious views some of the characters acquire. This not only causes conflict between them, but makes them label some of their coworkers as inferior. As I began to dig deeper