People are Stupid.

[shipperx]

From Huffingtonpost (via Jezebel):

It wasn't all good news for Team "Hunger Games" over the weekend. Despite fawning reviews and record-breaking ticket sales, some fans of the blockbuster young adult trilogy by author Suzanne Collins were upset by the decision to cast an African-American actress as Rue, one of the supporting characters. Never mind that she's described as having "dark brown skin" in the original book.

As Jezebel notes, many "Hunger Games" viewers resorted to sending racist tweets over the fact that Rue (played in the film by young actress Amandla Sternberg) was black.

"Why does Rue have to be black," wrote one ignorant fan, whose Twitter page no longer exists. "Not gonna lie, kinda ruined the movie."

Another girl wanted to know "why they 'made all the good characters black.' "

"Awkward moment when Rue is some black girl and not the innocent blonde girl you picture," wrote another user, whose account has also been deleted.

---

As who pictured? Racists or people who lack basic reading comprehension? 

Rue's description in the book:

…And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that she's very like Prim in size and demeanor…

(elsewhere she's described as having 'dark satiny brown skin'

Thresh's description in the book:

The boy tribute from District 11, Thresh, has the same dark skin as Rue, but the resemblance stops there. He's one of the giants, probably six and half feet tall...

Rue and Thresh were unambiguously characters of color in the book. (As are Rue's and Thresh's families in "Catching Fire.")  What next? These same 'readers' missed the distinct implication that the "adjacent to District 12/Appalachia) District 11 happens to mostly likely be the deep South (and the history that evokes) ... and possibly some of the grain producing mid-West (as 11 was distinctly agrarian).  Did they miss that too?

And even if those characters weren't cast to look exactly the way that they were described in the books (even though they are)  SO WHAT?!  Cinna is played by a bi-racial man in the movie, though I don't recall Cinna's race being discussed in the novels (so he's open to just about any interpretation.)  And, you know what?  It just means that Lenny Kravitz got a job.  It doesn't 'change' Cinna in any way!

Also, why is it upsetting that 'the good characters' are black?  1) Do Peeta, Prim, Haymitch, and Gale not count as 'good"?  2) Does having three 'good' black characters strike them as an 'imbalance'?!!  WTH?

Guh.  People are stupid.

Comments

[elisi]

Tangerially related: Over here, a man has been jailed over racist tweets. Mind you, the target was a critically ill footballer, but still, I like the precedent. (Presuming it then doesn't go haywire.) But yeah - people are stupid.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

OH GROSS. GROSS GROSS GROSS.

Sometimes I really hate people.

[sourisvho.livejournal.com]

A friend just told me about this. I am ... without words. WTF is wrong with people?? On top of the horrid racism, reading comprehension FAIL.

I don't know why, but I always pictured Cinna as black. He looked like tennis player James Blake in my head.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

As who pictured?

OMG, yes! I would never have pictured her otherwise. Apparently not only are these people racists, they're illiterate racists.

I really want to see this movie, I'm just terrified the theater will be fill with noisy, ignorant teenagers.

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

I'm trying to take heart from the sheer number of people posting their outrage with racist fans, but it doesn't actually dispel my fury and disgust.

[shapinglight]

See icon.

[ms-scarletibis.livejournal.com]

I figured you'd see that sooner or later. Did you manage to catch this?

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17hnfwfqrgml4jpg/original.jpg

And some of the posters who didn't delete their profile, believe it or not, didn't think their comments were racist at all.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It serves as another reminder of how incredibly racist we still are. We still judge others by race. Whether we want to admit it or not. It's better when it's out in the open - because at least then you can attack the ignorance. When it is repressed and festering - bad things happen and you can't change minds.

Also how segregated. So many people who live in suburban America have never seen or interacted with someone of another race. My high school was regrettably 99% white. I knew people who weren't, but I tended to gravitate in that direction. While in the city...there were schools that were 89-90% black. The Wire - which I'm not sure you've seen? Underlines this in S4 - where 99% of the kids in the failing public schools in inner city Baltimore are "black". While the kids who get to move on and go to college and go to the better schools are "white".

As one man I know who was heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement states...the movement was largely a failure. We are still a racist country. I don't totally agree - the mere fact that Hollywood cast Rue as a Person of Color and not a white blond is progress!

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Some days I just despair of the human race. But then, I'm just a farm animal and don't deserve sovereignty over my own body, so you probably shouldn't listen to me.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Although this is far worse (and baffling considering the descriptions of the character[s] in the book), it reminds me of the people who were put out that the kids in the Harry Potter films had "those English accents." Apparently these people thought that characters born and raised in the UK should speak with the "understandable" American accents they imagined while reading the books.

Yeah. There's no arguing with stupid.