Katniss Evergreen, the heroine of The Hunger Games Trilogy, is sixteen with long black hair, olive skin and grey eyes. Well, Jennifer Lawrence has long hair. Frankly, I’m disappointed. Given the author’s description of the character, this was a great opportunity for a break out actress who doesn’t look quite so white. Even though I can think of good reasons why I shouldn’t be annoyed, I still am.
Reason #1: It goes without saying that the most important attribute for the actress who plays Katniss is the ability to perform the role well. Jennifer Lawrence did a fine job in Winter’s Bone.
Reason #2: While Katniss’ physical appearance in the story was important, it is about how she was styled, not as much about her physical attributes. I had to stop and think about how I imagined her when the rumors of whitewashing the character first started flying a few months ago. What I recalled had more to do with her clothes and decorations and less to do with her skin color.
So why should it matter? Because whitewashing erases people of color. It is a form of racism that, intentional or not, is subtly effective and needs to be called out. There is a missed opportunity here, the chance to have a strong female character who is a teenage girl of color. That saddens me.
I won’t be boycotting the movie, in fact I’m sure I’ll see it multiple times with my daughter. But as I’m watching it, I hope I’ll remember Katniss had dark hair and olive skin.
Tags: Katniss cast, whitewashing characters, whitewashing Hunger Games, whitewashing Katniss
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This is very interesting and for the most part I agree. However, I am not sure I feel Katniss is being whitewashed. Katniss’ race did not seem to be a major factor in the books (at least not to me, but I feel like I need to reread it). I read this on Hungergames.net:
“In the books, Katniss is described as being olive-skinned, dark-haired, possibly biracial. Did you discuss with Suzanne the implications of casting a blonde, caucasian girl?
Suzanne and I talked about that as well. There are certain things that are very clear in the book. Rue is African-American. Thresh is African-American. Suzanne had no issues with Jen playing the role. And she thought there was a tremendous amount of flexibility. It wasn’t doctrine to her. Jen will have dark hair in the role, but that’s something movies can easily achieve. [Laughs] I promise all the avid fans of The Hunger Games that we can easily deal with Jennifer’s hair color.”I am more concerned with the directors ability to capture the world and the intensity/absurdity of the games and the Capitol. I am really hoping this movie will be good but it sure has a lot to live up to.
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I’m a bit conflicted here because her ethnicity isn’t a major factor in the book, I’m not sure how many people could tell you accurately what she looked like. But after the movie, Katniss’ image will be one of a pale blond, her ethnicity will have disappeared and therein lies the problem.
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I suppose that is the problem with book adaptations in general, even book covers! Whenever someone depicts a character it is always going to have some backlash because each reader has created their own image of that character. I really wanted Hit Girl from Kick Ass to be Katniss. The book cover that completely depicts a character incorrectly is Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea. It is totally a misleading cover! http://www.hugobookstores.com/book/9780393308808. This cover makes Antoinette look as though she has some ethnicity other than white, but the book makes a point to describe her as white which contributes to her inability to be accepted by the slave community (at the same time she is also excluded from white, English culture because she was born and raised in the Caribbean). This cover confused me for some time. I do not like it at all.
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Jessica, you’re absolutely right. Her ethnicity isn’t a factor. Nor should it be. Why on earth are we focusing on such an irrelevant detail? The most important facet is to find the best actress for the part.
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The problem with this is that people can’t get past once again the hero is always white. There are few people that could have played this character and they went with white, because they think the same way that Hollywood has thought for over a hundred years. Hollywood has created a false since of history. Every movie about history is that everything good that happened in the world was because of white people. Has anyone seen the show Spartacus, they would have you believe that everyone was either white or slaves. The real fact is that the roman senate was 1/3 Africans, as well as generals and even emperors of Rome. The father of Russian Literature was Alexander Pushkin who was black and Russian. But was played by a white man. The same can be said for Writer of the book The Three Musketeers was also black and now being played by a white actor. All the stories about the king and queen of England, go to college and read a history book. There has been more than one queen of england, they were so loved that Queens college is for one and Charlotte, North Carolina was named after the other.
If you don’t do anything else, Google phases like Africans of Ancient Rome, Africans of ancient Europe and Afro-Latino and you will see that history is view in Hollywood from behind blue eyes and blonde hair.
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Just saw another perfect actress for the part. Zoe Kravitz would be perfect for the part, she looks just like the example of the way that Katniss is described to look like. Hell is they do a flash back scene of her with her father, they could use Lenny Kravitz .
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Hank Basket IV is the son of Kendra and Hank Basket. He is one of many examples of mixed race children who look more white than black, but that it is clear that they are part black. I hate to bring this person name up but Jessica Szohr is another example of black mixed parents.
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Perhaps it is not that big of a deal if an actress perfectly fits a role – but in this specific case, it matters immensely. The Hunger Games has been rumoured to be the next Harry Potter or Twilight. All of the main characters in these other movies are Caucasian. The fact that this was an opportunity (as stated above in the article) for a colored girl to have such a significant role in a movie so many fans are looking forward to is why it is such a disgrace the character was whitewashed. In any other situation, it wouldn’t matter if the actress didn’t exactly like the portrayed character. In Twilight, fans were disappointed when Robert Pattinson was cast until he proved the fans wrong and showed that he was perfect for the role. Jennifer will do a fine role, but, I strongly believe the whitewashing of Katniss will have a huge impact of any fans of the book who are of color who will feel associate this with negative connotations of their beautiful ethnicity.
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