i also don't understand people attributing Peeta with being pudgy.

I think it's because he works at a bakery. They made a point, though, of saying that his family rarely got to eat what they baked. I read him as being not as chronically malnourished as most of the seam kids, and well-fed enough to develop a decent amount of strength, but not much more than that.

I also never saw Katniss as biracial, necessarily, or Peeta as pudgy. He's often described as large, comparable with the professionals from Districts 1 and 2, but that doesn't read pudgy to me. Bulky and strong, yes. Well-fed, obviously, as opposed to the typically malnourished Katniss, but not pudgy.

Frankly, I think the idea of "biracial" doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense in the context of the Hunger Games - even the fact that Collins described Rue and Thresh as African-American is weird to me. In the book, they are described as having dark skin, which obviously makes African-American actors the best choice, but I sort of got the impression that modern race distinctions didn't exist in the same way in that world. Meaning that at some point in the history of the book there had been enough racial mixing to make nearly everybody "multi-racial."

I guess the conclusion is that I can't get outraged. If they only looked at caucasians then that's a sad reflection of continued racism in Hollywood casting (though potentially also a sad reflection of continued racism in audience dollars) but if they looked at a broad range and decided Jennifer Lawrence was their best choice, then so be it.

I liked Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone, and I think she'll probably make a good Katniss. But the fact that they only considered Caucasian actresses for that role (as smonster mentioned above, from here: [link] ) is really shitty.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the casting call was for only Caucasians.

On a wide computer monitor is a website run by Breakdown Services, where Ms. Zane's staff has posted the single paragraph laying out the filmmakers' broad criteria for Katniss. She should be Caucasian, between ages 15 and 20, who could portray someone "underfed but strong," and "naturally pretty underneath her tomboyishness."

I think I have to get outraged, every time, because there's always going to be a reason why it's okay this time. Hollywood is going to continue to be racist in its casting. There are already perishingly few roles for actors of any ethnicity at all other than Caucasian, and if the few that are available are going to be restricted to Caucasian in their casting calls, I think I have to continue to be outraged.

examples of great title design (short video)

Oh, neat! They even threw in TV shows like Six Feet Under, Carnivale, and Dexter.

I'm outraged with you, Liese.

Hollywood will argue that they can't open a blockbuster action movie with a non-white lead actress, and yet The Hunger Games has an automatic built-in audience going in. If they can't justify it for this project, they'll never justify it.

It's bullshit.

It's bullshit.

Exactly. And projects that do succeed are dismissed as flukes. It's confirmation bias, wrapped up in business.

If they can't justify it for this project, they'll never justify it.

If they couldn't justify it with Avatar, they'll never justify it. That movie had to have non-white leads to stay true to a text that was visual and full of cues. This one merely may.

I think it would be great if they cast non white for Katniss, but I don't think it's a cultural and ethnic erasure the likes of what has gone before.

I also notice no one seemed to be bitching (not pointing at people here, just noting) until the actress in question was blonde. The other actresses weren't less white. They were just less blonde. I don't know if Jennifer is a natural blonde, and I really don't care.

I watched Trainspotting when I was a kid, but I didn't really get it. I rewatched it this morning and dug it. It's briskly paced and kinetically directed, and the actors make their characters sympathetic even when there's no real reason for them to be. Plus, Kelly Macdonald! In her film debut! Naked!

Also. shit humor!

OK, maybe that didn't need an exclamation point.

Also, I need to rewatch that.