Hello. Pardon my delurk on this topic; I mean no harm...
I do wonder if there would have been a whole load of different issues raised by casting a black actor in Tigh's role considering they reimagined him as a violent drunk. Obviously by this point in the series he's one of the most complex, interesting characters they have, but initially I think that could very well have been problematic.
I quite liked the original Tigh, so actually found the "violent drunk" reimagining to be an insult to him, but this version of him has since become complex and interesting, yes. I imagine that casting him as black would have indeed been a problem, would have resulted in angry responses. However, characters can grow, so he wouldn't necessarily have always been an example of a negative black character, had he been cast as black.
On a slightly similar tack, I do often wonder how the Bill-Lee familial relationship affects people's perceptions of Adama's race? I mean, do more people assume that Lee got a lot of recessive genes or do more people assume that EJO donning blue contacts signifies he's playing a white/more white character? Do people even give it any thought?
I did give it a lot of thought, and tried to discuss it with friends, but couldn't get anywhere with it, so gave up; I figured I was being offensive by mentioning it. However, it's not genetically wrong for the father to look Hispanic/Latino (oops, here I am in California and am not certain which is the proper term to use) and the son to look so white. My ex-brother-in-law is of that stock and my nephew is dark, but my niece is blonde. Also, I remember hearing a white-looking kid comment publicly that his father's black and was a bit scared that he turned out so light.
*now expects to be slapped for discussing race in public* *gulp*
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Re: Part the Second
Date: 2009-01-19 05:21 pm (UTC)I do wonder if there would have been a whole load of different issues raised by casting a black actor in Tigh's role considering they reimagined him as a violent drunk. Obviously by this point in the series he's one of the most complex, interesting characters they have, but initially I think that could very well have been problematic.
I quite liked the original Tigh, so actually found the "violent drunk" reimagining to be an insult to him, but this version of him has since become complex and interesting, yes. I imagine that casting him as black would have indeed been a problem, would have resulted in angry responses. However, characters can grow, so he wouldn't necessarily have always been an example of a negative black character, had he been cast as black.
On a slightly similar tack, I do often wonder how the Bill-Lee familial relationship affects people's perceptions of Adama's race? I mean, do more people assume that Lee got a lot of recessive genes or do more people assume that EJO donning blue contacts signifies he's playing a white/more white character? Do people even give it any thought?
I did give it a lot of thought, and tried to discuss it with friends, but couldn't get anywhere with it, so gave up; I figured I was being offensive by mentioning it. However, it's not genetically wrong for the father to look Hispanic/Latino (oops, here I am in California and am not certain which is the proper term to use) and the son to look so white. My ex-brother-in-law is of that stock and my nephew is dark, but my niece is blonde. Also, I remember hearing a white-looking kid comment publicly that his father's black and was a bit scared that he turned out so light.
*now expects to be slapped for discussing race in public* *gulp*