The new adaptation of Disney’s Aladdin has made headlines in recent weeks after a crew member revealed that a handful of “very fair-skinned” actors were “made to blend in” with the help of darker make-up. A Disney spokesman has defended the decision claiming it was necessary “in a handful of instances when it was a matter of specialty skills, safety and control,” such as the need for stunt artists or animal handlers.
Unsurprisingly, the revelation has caused a lot of disgust amongst the public with BAFTA-nominated director Riaz Meer calling the practice an “insult to whole industry” and arguing that “the talent exists and is accessible and there’s no way that Asian extras could not have been hired to meet the needs of the film. Failing to hire on-screen talent of the right ethnic identity to meet the clear needs of this production is just plain wrong”.
It is behaviour like this that highlights the ignorance that continues to remain around ethnicity and the failure to be accurate when it comes to producing certain projects, both in the entertainment industry and society as a whole. Every city in every country all over the world includes a variety of races, religions, nationalities, shapes and sizes and if we can’t even succeed in representing an ethnicity in a tale that provides the perfect opportunity to cast accurately, then when will we ever see improvement? Change? Total respect for everyone?
Disney’s excuse was exactly that, an excuse. They had an amazing opportunity to show diversity and celebrate the talent of those that is so often ignored, and instead they showed disrespect.
To an extent, society has come so far in the journey to equality, such as the legalisation of same sex marriage in the USA, Australia and more than twenty other countries as well as an increasing respect for women in the workplace and actions being taken and discussed to reduce the pay gap. However, the injustice, so prominent towards different races and the inequality that occurs in all areas of society, needs to be shamed and tackled until they no longer become a topic of debate. It’s time we start accepting without exceptions.
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By Lindsay Cain
Opmerkingen