I'm trying to think of a precedent

[womzilla]

Oh, of course: In the fine tradition of
Peter Lorre
Warner Oland
Yul Brenner
Lawrence Olivier.

Avatar, the Last Whitewasher.

Before.


After.




What century is this, again?

Comments

[sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com]

Let us not forget:
Katharine Hepburn and Walter Huston in Dragon Seed
Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy in The Mask of Fu Manchu
Anthony Quinn in Back to Bataan
Gale Sondergaard in The Letter
Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's
Mary Astor, Esther Williams and Akim Tamiroff in Fiesta
Jennifer Jones in Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Jennifer Jones and John Garfield in We Were Strangers
Spencer Tracy, Frank Morgan, John Garfield and Hedy Lamarr in Tortilla Flat
Hedy Lamarr and Joseph Schildkraut in Lady of the Tropics

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

"The Last Airbender: Worse than Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi!"

[sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com]

how could I have overlooked Ava Gardner in Show Boat.

[men-in-full.livejournal.com]

Or Ricardo Montalban as the Japanese Kabuki performer Nakamura (http://media.photobucket.com/image/sayonara%20%252522ricardo%20montalban%252522/vejiita4eva/montalban.jpg) in Sayonara (1957.) IIRC, while it was acceptable for an Asian actress (Miiko Taka) to play a Japanese woman in love with an American (Marlon Brando), it was unacceptable for a white female character (Nakamura's love interest) to be paired with an Asian actor.

[washa-way.livejournal.com]

How about the original PB cover for Octavia Butler's "Dawn," on which Lilith Iyapo was depicted as a white woman?

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I alluded to that in an earlier post (http://womzilla.livejournal.com/257501.html)--a lot of Butler's early books ended up with coves black heroines depicted as white, or green. I hadn't realized that had happened as late as 1987's Dawn.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Oh, well, you know, Mexican, Japanese--all those Actors of Color are just one big group of sameful Thems.

John Wayne

[(Anonymous)]

Genghis Khan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049092/).

-- non-anonymous Gary Farber
gary_farber@yahoo.com
http://amygdalagf.blogspot.com

Teahouse of the August Moon

[(Anonymous)]

Also, Marlon Brando as Sakini (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049830/)

-- non-anonymous Gary F., etc.