Dear Americans
Dear Americans,
The makers of Shooter were having you on. Ethiopeans look like this:
Not like this:
(It just really annoys me when filmakers don't even bother to get someone from the right part of Africa to play a part: "Hey, they all look the same down there, right?")
The makers of Shooter were having you on. Ethiopeans look like this:
Not like this:
(It just really annoys me when filmakers don't even bother to get someone from the right part of Africa to play a part: "Hey, they all look the same down there, right?")
Amazing! $61 million budget and they couldn't find an Ethiopian looking person to play that part? That's just laziness here. Other than this mistake, is this movie worth watching? I haven't seen it.
ReplyDeleteThey had a whole village full of Ethiopians who looked west or central African. It's like shooting something supposed to be set in Greece and using all Swedes for your actors!
DeleteThe movie is OK: a fairly routine lone hero with super military capabilities against the world kind of thing.
Well so is this. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/sports&id=8952273
ReplyDeleteWell, Ken, the marathon winner looks a lot like the first guy, and not at all like the second. So what the heck is your point?
DeleteWhy bother Gene when you nixed the other comment I left, about Irish actors? I could explain, but why bother when you just delete counter arguments?
DeleteIt was idiotic Ken. I was saving you a lot of embarrassment.
DeleteRasta! That is Haile Selasie, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteJah, Rastafari! Ever-living Selassie I!
DeleteI don't know who that is in the second picture, but he sure isn't the guy that played the Archbishop in the movie. He looks mainly West African (possibly even South African) to me, certainly not North East African, especially those of the Horn. Most people from the Horn area, dare I say, share more white or Arabic features, with less-flat noses, longer heads (not roundish), and smaller lips. Their complexion varies.
DeleteOf course, I am speaking generally here, and I could be wrong. This is mostly based upon my own experience and my study of anthropology (especially racial migrations).
BTW, when I said "south africa", I meant down along the western coast.
Delete"I don't know who that is in the second picture, but he sure isn't the guy that played the Archbishop in the movie. He looks mainly West African (possibly even South African) to me, certainly not North East African..."
ReplyDeleteRight. He was the president of Ghana. BUt he looks more like the archbishop than Selassie does!
But it wasn't the archbishop who really bugged me: it was the "Ethiopian" village filled with west or central Africans.
Hmm, I'll have to watch the movie again to see what you're talking about regarding the villagers. However, when I first viewed that film I did notice that the Archbishop didn't look very Ethiopian at all. Then again, as a former sonar technician, I also noticed that the film 'The Hunt for Red October' was entirely full of crap. Eh, Hollywood.
DeleteMy fault, I completely forgot about the upper sub-saharan region. Doh! Either way, the Horn is essentially Africa's mixing pot. But, because Ethiopia is in Africa, films tend to give you the stereotypical "African" character, which usually involves some caricature of the guy from 'The Gods Must Be Crazy'. That's the way that it seems to me, anyhow.
Yes, the thing is, I don't think they show a "Greek village" with a bunch of blue-eyed blondes running around!
DeleteWell, there are many things in films that are standard. They don't much change these things because they are tradition. I am not saying that it is right, I am just saying that that is the way it is. To the average movie-goer, this is just an aid to the suspension of disbelief. However, to the more intelligent movie-goer, this is just another disappointment.
DeleteThe fact is that most of the people who go to the movies don't recognize these things, so it isn't a problem for them, therefor the studios make money. To be honest, I don't think that this is limited to the medium of Hollywood films.