I saw it yesterday and I felt like I’d been lied to. The author (Tomi) said she was doing open cast and call, she even said the casting were going to go to Nigeria for auditions for the characters. She basically lied! This cast we got are not children, nor do they fit the characters they are depicted as canonically. So many Nigerian actresses and young male Nigerian actors could have been cast. What happened to Nollywood actors too being considered for the king/queen?
2 months ago (edited)
| 144
Yeah it definitely was not as ideal. I wonder if you can talk about a hidden colorism aspect where people always, even among a dark skin couple, make sure the masculine person if there is one, is always darker than the femme presenting person. It reminds me of Lupita N'yongo talking about a teacher worrying she would never get married because how would she find a man darker than her. This is rarely discussed.
2 months ago
| 156
I hated the 1st book and didn't continue w the series, but the casting had me FLOORED. What happened to the open casting call?? Zelie is supposed to be a very dark skin Yoruba girl. Thuso is very talented but has very obvious SA features and isn't as dark as Zelie should be. Inan is supposed to be light skin, Amari is supposed to be the darkest in her family and a victim to colorism?? Isn't Yoruba supposed to be spoken? Nobody in the cast is a native speaker?? The book was already severely inauthentic to Yoruba/ Nigerian culture so ig the casting shouldn't be that much of a shock but alas lol.
2 months ago | 96
As an African American person, my first thought was, except for a few biracial people, I was happy to see an all black cast. Then, I started reading discourse and noticed a lot of Nigerian people were not happy with this. I feel bad for the Nigerian actors and actresses who could've had the opportunity to represent themselves and tell this story. I can't wait to get your perspective on this!
2 months ago | 67
I hope you get into Amanda bc yes it is the casting director and producer fault for this but she always at the scene of the crime when it come to this
2 months ago
| 68
Amandla always talks about blackness and its erasure. If she was truly about that, she would leave the role and recommend casting and find an actress that fits the role better.
2 months ago | 86
Everyone Ive seen hates it BAD, the darkskin erasure, no deep darkskin actors, all big names instead of new talent, 30 year olds playing kids only half the cast nigerian and not even continental nigerians. AND APPARENTLY the book was never good at representing Nigeria in THE FIRST PLACE! All that advertising she did saying it was an open casting call just for us to only see big names in the cast😒
2 months ago | 12
As a brown-skinned woman raised by a fair-skinned mother, I want to weigh in on this issue. My mother grew up in a black segregated, community that predominantly demonized her light skin. She was called countless names and struggled with depression her entire life. I believe one of the reasons she married my very dark skin father was her desire to ensure her children had browner skin and I know the reason father buried her was because she had fair skin- it was not a Love match— but in her eyes, she Brown skin was a way to protect us. My mother often commented on the beautiful color of my skin, but I believe she did so out of love, wanting to make sure I felt accepted. I’ve worked in the school system for 27 years and have witnessed firsthand the negative impact of colorism, especially toward darker-hued students. I don’t mean to dismiss the pain those who face this struggle endure, but I also want to make it clear that we must not forget the complexities in these conversations. Fair-skinned people are still Black. My mother was still Black, even though the world saw her as white. She showed up every day as a Black woman, navigating a world that often refused to see her that way. When we have these conversations, I ask that we approach them with more nuance and understanding. I do not want to see one more case when the oppressed become the oppressor. From an ethnicity perspective I do wish that they would have identified more Nigerian actresses and actors.
2 months ago (edited) | 4
My interpretation when I read the books was that they were all darker skinned, with Amari also being thick/plus sized
2 months ago (edited) | 37
I haven't read the books, but my friend has so she gave me the rundown, and I remember watching a video that covered book one, but as a Nigerian living in Nigeria all her life, when I saw the casting, I won't lie I was very underwhelmed, from it being filmed in South Africa again, when there a lot of places in Nigeria they could use. I mean Kunle Afolayan has a whole village he uses for his films, Funke Akindele is another titan in the industry, but people will throw security and all that so I am not even going to bother, and it's under disney again, so no surprise, is it not Disney that used Africa to promote black is king album, made that iwaju series but Disney plus wasn't even made available in the region to access this project, my professor had to pirate it for his kids to watch. Wo let me stop ranting, it's a new year let me walk in peace small. TLDR, I am not surprised, the cast is underwhelming, and I just hope the non Nigerians don't give that annoying "African" accent they like to do in film. Also, I wish them all the best.
2 months ago (edited) | 15
Ngl I’ve been avoiding any news about the movie for this purpose. It’s so disappointing to see this happen over and over again
2 months ago | 21
This is the third time Amandla has done this. The first I will give her because she was a small child so it’s on her parents and casting really, but Rue in The Hunger Games is described as having dark brown skin and yet they cast her as Rue. The initial book cover of The Hate U Give featured a dark skinned Black girl and yet she took the role. And now here where there’s a character who specifically deals with colorism in the novel (which good luck with the sequel and third movie being good because the author dropped the ball and those books are genuinely awful especially the third, but I digress) and yet again here she is taking roles from Black actresses and dark skinned Black actresses. (And honorable mention for the film The Darkest Minds where they likely cast her first but then proceeded to cast a dark skinned little girl to play the younger version of her instead of just having the character be darker throughout. This one is probably on casting completely tho). Colorism is a main staple of Amandla Stenberg’s career.
2 months ago (edited) | 45
I’m disappointed in Amandla for even taking the role, but not surprised tbh
2 months ago | 7
Darkskin erasure means it’s a skip for me. When that happens the movie always ends up corny.
2 months ago | 18
Weellll Weelll Weeelll, no surprise to see Amandla here. I looked up the cast…. Interesting. Idk how else to describe it chile
2 months ago | 9
I won’t be watching. The erasure of DSBW in the media is genuinely so triggering for me. I’m of SA/Zim heritage and I’m upset on the lack of Nigerian representation too. Just such a disappointment.
2 months ago | 27
Why couldn't Genevieve Nnaji be Queen Nehenda? Would have been a great opportunity for a Nigerian screen legend to get mainstream recognition in a world set in an alternate version of her homeland! But in terms of the dark skinned erasure , who is supposed to be dark skinned that isn't? The Zelie actress is darkskinned, Inan and Amari are described as copper skinned with Amber eyes so the casting isn't too far off?
2 months ago | 19
so disappointed. as a fan of the books and a young darker skinned Nigerian woman who saw myself in amari and zelie; i don’t know wth tomi was thinking. at first thoughts it seemed like it could only be capitalistic greed. however i’ve since heard that when asked previously tomi had only ever fancasted stock biracials™️ such as zendaya and tessa thompson to play a character she literally wrote as monoracial & darker skinned. so maybe it’s madness, or both. i don’t think i can stomach giving this movie my money. already seeing bs takes such as ‘well just be happy we’re getting SOMETHING and support so we may get more in future’. that’s what they’ve been telling us for the past however long and ALL it has ever done is signal that we’ll settle for crumbs instead of true opportunity and representation. sick of it.
2 months ago | 7
It's not just you. It's pretty sad that there's only one Nigerian actor in the main cast. Yeah, they hosted a casting call for Nigerians in Nigeria but it was probably for extras and minor characters. We have great actors here that can do the work. What separates Idris Elba from Richard Mofe-Damijo? Or Viola Davis from Joke Silva or Shaffy Bello. I think we need to give more Nigerians spots on the global stage. I'm already pretty mad that Elba will be portraying Okonkwo in the TV adaptation of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Very sad stuff, tbh. I'm happy for Tomi Adeyemi, don't get me wrong. But I think the erasure is too much.
2 months ago
| 21
Mayowa's World
I saw the casting for Children of Blood and Bones and I’m so SAD! Am I the only one who feels so disappointed at this casting? I’m going to make a video about this because the dark skin erasure is really upsetting
2 months ago | [YT] | 931