{"id":327522,"date":"2026-02-09T00:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T00:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/327522\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T00:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T00:30:11","slug":"lupita-nyongo-odessa-azion-and-the-norman-nobrains-of-racially-controversial-casting-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/327522\/","title":{"rendered":"Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Odessa A\u2019zion and the Norman Nobrains of racially controversial casting \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are, for the foreseeable future, stuck with right and left yelling about racially controversial casting on TV<\/a> and in films<\/a>. The \u201cperfect harmony\u201d promised by that famous Coke commercial from 1971 will not be with us anytime soon. When a person of colour is cast in a role normally allotted to a white person, the same 5,000 wiseacres will continue to make the same stale gag in the comments. \u201cBut ok if Sydney sweeney is cast as martin luther king I suppose hahaha,\u201d Norman Nobrain notes.<\/p>\n

It does, however, seem as if the conversation has got louder over the past few months. Depending on who you believe, this indicates either that \u201cwoke is doomed\u201d (because of all the supposed grassroots objections) or that \u201cdiversity has triumphed\u201d (because there is so much to object about).<\/p>\n

Where to begin? There was the recent report<\/a>, commissioned by the BBC<\/a>, arguing that significant numbers of its audience were wearying of \u201cclunky\u201d efforts to superimpose diversity on subject matter. Mention was made of anticolonial messages being worked into Agatha Christie adaptations. The report acknowledged complaints about a mixed-race actor playing Isaac Newton in Doctor Who. <\/p>\n

Read a little deeper and the objections seem less overwhelming than headlines initially suggested. \u201cA third of those polled said the BBC tries too hard to represent different groups, slightly outweighed by those who think it is doing a good job,\u201d The Times reported<\/a>. So let us just say the audience seems divided on the topic.<\/p>\n

We are also in the middle of an absurdly knotty debate about whether it is appropriate for Jacob Elordi<\/a>, an Australian of Basque descent, to play Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell<\/a>\u2019s upcoming, unavoidable \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d. As recently as 15 years ago this would barely have been an issue, but many now believe that character is implicitly \u2013 or even explicitly \u2013 identified as a person of colour in Emily Bront\u00eb<\/a>\u2019s source novel.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Hugh Linehan: Colour-blind casting is the new normal. But we should still be alert to less palatable realitiesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Then there is the contrary case of Odessa A\u2019zion. The breakthrough star of Marty Supreme<\/a> recently announced she was withdrawing from the role of Zoe Gutierrez, a Mexican, in Sean Durkin\u2019s take on Holly Brickley\u2019s novel Deep Cuts. <\/p>\n

A\u2019zion, the daughter of the Jewish actor Pamela Adlon, responded promptly when Latino activists objected to the news of her casting. \u201cI am with all of you and I am not doing this movie,\u201d she wrote on Instagram. \u201cI hadn\u2019t read the book and should have paid more attention to all aspects of Zoe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, we have endured bizarre fury at the rumour \u2013 just a rumour, mind \u2013 that Lupita Nyong\u2019o<\/a>, the Oscar-winning star of Kenyan descent, is to play Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan<\/a>\u2019s upcoming The Odyssey. <\/p>\n

After a few days of ahistorical online blather, no less a figure than Elon Musk<\/a> put in his oar. \u201cChris Nolan has lost his integrity,\u201d he wrote in reply to an X post saying any such casting would be an \u201cinsult to the author\u201d. <\/p>\n

Once again, at time of writing, it hasn\u2019t even been confirmed that Nyong\u2019o is playing the daughter of the thunder-dispensing god Zeus and the top swan impersonator Leda of Aetolia.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sade Malone: \u2018We had lots of conversations about the characters\u2019 black Irishness. That\u2019s something really relevant now, to be black and Irish\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

I have hailed the recent, dramatic shift towards greater diversity in casting. As a committed Dickensian, I was happy to see Armando Iannucci\u2019s The Personal History of David Copperfield<\/a>, which employed colour-blind casting throughout, anointed The Irish Times\u2019 favourite film of 2020<\/a>. Count me among the woke. <\/p>\n

Too many spurious comparisons miss that the racially flexible approach works differently in different contexts. It is one thing to cast an actor with an Indian father as Isaac Newton in a fantasy such as Doctor Who. It would be altogether another to cast a white person as Martin Luther King in a historical drama where his race is of thematic significance.<\/p>\n

A\u2019zion\u2019s choice acknowledges that, for all the new flexibility, Latino actors too rarely get to play roles specifically defined as such. One can understand how they \u2013 and other performers of colour \u2013 remain protective of characters who share their backgrounds. It is not as if white roles are hard to come by in the western entertainment industry.<\/p>\n

At the same time, acting is about becoming someone and something else. Nobody wants casting directors to be administering DNA tests to establish the genetic suitability of any auditioning actor. The freedom delivered by \u201ccolour conscious\u201d projects (to use the producers\u2019 preferred phrase) such as Bridgerton should ultimately open doors for actors of all races.<\/p>\n

There remains some way to go. The current disputatious fug confirms that, following a cultural shift, we are still waiting for the subsequent emotional turbulence to die down. Orson Welles<\/a> cast Eartha Kitt<\/a> as Helen of Troy more than 75 years ago. The world can stand Nyong\u2019o following in those distinguished footsteps \u2013 if, indeed, that is what is actually happening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are, for the foreseeable future, stuck with right and left yelling about racially controversial casting on TV…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[3412,30852,157256,18,1647,31561,19100,117,19,17,11490,157255,33974],"class_list":{"0":"post-327522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-christopher-nolan","10":"tag-eartha-kitt","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-elon-musk","13":"tag-emerald-fennell","14":"tag-emily-bronte","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-jacob-elordi","19":"tag-lupita-nyong-o","20":"tag-orson-welles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116037853061098234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}