The Larkins.

[BaggieSingh]

As others have said, the point is in making a distinction between drama (not real) and documentary (factual). Surely any actor/actress can play any role? Or can they? Think about the Shakespeare era when the women's parts had to be played by young lads as women were not allowed to act or all those cowboy and Indian films where white actors played the Indians or Jean Simmons playing the part of a Himmalayan girl in "Black Narcissus". Maybe it was a lack of ethnic actors or maybe it was the dreaded "race appropriation". Personally, I quite enjoyed the recent David Copperfield production as I did the Bridgerton series and have no issue with seeing Brown or back faces in roles that would normally be given to white actors in these circumstances. We are all aware that these stories are set in periods of time where this would not be historically accurate but as the stories themselves are not about race, does it then really matter?. If you are proclaiming to make an historically accurate piece however or one dealing with real historical people then maybe it does. Would a white portrayal of Martin Luther King be acceptable ? (They had enough problems with some Afro-Americans as it was for casting a British Black actor) What about Ben Kingsley as Ghandi? Could a white or Brown actor play Muhammid Ali? Or Black or Brown one play George Best? I would argue that an actor of any ethnic background should be able to play any role in a work of fiction as it is an interpretation of that work, but that it remains important to be as historically accurate as possible when it comes to producing factual documentaries and this includes race. To not do so would be-as others have pointed out-to risk giving the wrong (unfactual) impression to the audience.

Good points, Ben Kingsley is only half Indian and could some one non black play a black part I’d have to say yes, but if there was to be some likeness of n actual person I’d expect some sort of prosthetics and a reason for this, same as if a black person was playing a white person (there have been many artistic reasons in the past for much worse)

I totally actually agree facts should be fact when reporting such, so do you agree that Jesus should be shown to be more likely a darker skinned darker haired man, that we should report that even 70 years ago humans beings were treated as animals or a sub species because if the colour of their skin

Everyone getting picky about historical accuracy needs to think of all of the inaccuracies in what you may be aware of and what is taught and accepted as fact

I’m sure there are things that most ethnic people aren’t aware of due to reporting inaccuracies or unwillingness which if they are out in the open more will cause much more animosity and issues and there isn’t generally a lot of understanding towards their bitterness