Angel ,'Time Bomb'
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Oh. My. Gods. Hellen Mirren as Prospero is possibly the most amazing piece of casting news I think I've ever heard.
That is pretty awesome.
I just... I have serious problems with Caliban being played by the only person of color in the entire damn movie. Even if Taymor treated the Caliban storyline mercifully, it still rankles.
My Shakespeare-professor aunt-in-law is cranky that the character has been renamed Prospera. (Cross-casting in Shakespeare has been around since, well, SHAKESPEARE, just let her play ProsperO.)
Even if Taymor treated the Caliban storyline mercifully, it still rankles.
Fair point. Though I still want to see Honsou as Caliban.
Yeah, Jess. That's kind of silly. But whatevs. I'm hoping/expecting Mirren to make the most badass Prospero ever.
(Cross-casting in Shakespeare has been around since, well, SHAKESPEARE, just let her play ProsperO.)
This, too, but eh.
Fair point. Though I still want to see Honsou as Caliban.
And he'll be amazing. It's just... way to (unintentionally, I hope) reinforce shitty fucking stereotypes. There's other ways of marking Caliban as Other.
I just... I have serious problems with Caliban being played by the only person of color in the entire damn movie.
Taymor's answer to this was pretty weak, too, IMO (DH was at a Q&A) - she kept harping on how, well, his skin color is right there in the text, so what could she do??? But unless I'm mistaken, Prospero's gender is also right there in the text, and, well, see above.
Weak.
I just... I have serious problems with Caliban being played by the only person of color in the entire damn movie.
I raised my eyebrows at that. But following that logic, you get to, "Well, even though Taymor thinks Djimon is the best person to play Caliban we can't have him play the role because he's black."
Which I think is a bad solution.
I raised my eyebrows at that. But following that logic, you get to, "Well, even though Taymor thinks Djimon is the best person to play Caliban we can't have him play the role because he's black."
Which I think is a bad solution.
What about the solution of having more POC in the cast? That's my logic, right there.
But following that logic, you get to, "Well, even though Taymor thinks Djimon is the best person to play Caliban we can't have him play the role because he's black."
But by her own admission, his skin color was part of what made him the best person to play Caliban. Which I find extremely problematic, especially considering that this is Julie "traditional-interpretations-of-Shakespeare-my-ass" Taymor. It's not like we're talking about a Kenneth Branaugh production here.
[eta: And What Juliana Said.]