The following debate originally took place upon the Facebook wall of family, after they shared graphic art from here…
Genaire:
“Gods of Egypt: Boycott this movie. Don’t allow your children to watch this. This is a disrespect to you and your ancestors. Please share.”
Mike S.: What’s so bad about it?
Genaire: Ancient Egyptians were darker skinned. Not until they started dealing with the Greeks did they start to lighten up.
Zayvier B.: But we (blacks as a culture) took Annie, rewrote her black, and cheered. But if Egyptian Gods are played by inaccurate actors, it becomes an issue? I mean, honestly the Egyptian Gods didn’t have human forms, they were always Animals or Animal heads in human bodies, so why would it matter?
Genaire: The difference being, Zayvier, most children believe that this an accurate portrayal. Every movie detailing that region is portrayed inaccurately by design. If the powers that be could they would paint the whole world white.
Rayn: I actually have never seen a movie about ancient Israel or ancient Egypt that has been portrayed accurately. You look at Israel now and you would swear that the Europeans that are currently occupying that land are native to that region.
Rayn: Zayvier, Little Orphan Annie is a work of pure fiction, based upon an almost century-old American comic strip. Ethnicity is completely irrelevant to the plot of the strip – only Annie’s status as a poor, penniless orphan progresses the story-line, along with her signature mop of curly red hair. Meanwhile, Americans aren’t actually made up of just a single ethnic group, so that further makes ethnicity irrelevant to the story. Finally, there have already been many Annie movies made throughout the decades, with pale-skinned actresses all cast as the lead, so the originally-presented skin tone of Annie is well-established.
On the other hand, Gods of Egypt is a film about ancient Egyptian culture, and more specifically, ancient Egyptian royalty, ancient Egyptian deities, and ancient Egyptian citizens. Meanwhile, the cast is predominantly filled by pale-skinned Europeans, and the mortal hero of the movie, Bek, even had his hair DYED BLONDISH, for the role:
(Original photo located here)
There are many who consider this to be yet ANOTHER round of “Hollywood white-washing” of Ancient Egyptian history:
Gods of Egypt – Racial and Ethnic Cleansing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gods_of_Egypt_(film)#Racial_and_ethnic_casting
Hollywood has consistently treated Ancient Egyptian, and also Ancient Hebrew, culture to this sort of white-washing for at least half a century. (Click Here to Continue Reading This Post) →
