• pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    In fairness to Tilda Swinton, they decided to entirely rewrite the character to be a Celtic woman instead of a Tibetan man. This was probably to avoid being censored in China, but getting away from the racist 1930s, “oriental mysticism,” trope was probably a good idea. It’s certainly a lot better than letting Jonny Depp pretend to be a Native American because he’s one-eighth Cherokee.

    • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I remember reading he was one third German and sometimes I cannot sleep at night because I am trying to figure out the math. This has been like 15 years ago and it still bugs me.

      • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Sprinkle in a little incest and we are good to go.

        I also have no idea, I thought it was all halves of halves.

        • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          You can get some odd fractions by two parents having similar lineages. Like, if your mother is Irish, and your great-grandmother on your father’s side is Irish, you would be five-eighths Irish. I’m having trouble finding a combination that gives you thirds, though.

            • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Gotcha. Three-eighths is roughly one-third, so I guess that? One-quarter German on one side, one-eighth on the other?

        • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          It is a rounding and reduction of genetic markers.

          21/64 Germanic markers equals 1/3 German in speech because everybody hates the twenty-one sixty-fourths German guy.

      • Bgugi@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        If it makes you feel better, “one third” is realistically a reduced precision approximation of something like 23/64 (from a genealogical perspective) or near 33% of certain markers on a genetic panel.

        • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          I mean I guess that’s what they referred to, some approximation, but it still breaks my brain every time I think about it

          Just like I once watched a video titled something like “this boy did the unthinkable” and then he did something very thinkable (he just ate someone’s face) and I am still mad about that

    • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      Liam Neeson is also like Samual L Jackson.

      I don’t give a shit was race the character was originally, the character is about to be transformed into a next level badass.

      • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I have mixed feelings about Liam Neeson in that role. His performance is great, and given that they got rid of the whole, “immortal genius from the Islamic Golden Age,” backstory, I guess the character’s race is less important. It feels very strange that an Irish guy is somehow the leader of a group of Asian ninjas, though.

        The Sam Jackson/Nick Fury story is pretty hilarious. When Marvel created the Ultimate Universe in the comics, they changed a lot of characters’ backstories. One of those changes was making Nick Fury black, and one of their artists started drawing him looking a lot like Sam Jackson. Jackson talked to his agents, and Marvel was basically like, “Well, instead of suing us, would Mr. Jackson like to play the character in any future projects?”

        • This is fine🔥🐶☕🔥@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          It feels very strange that an Irish guy is somehow the leader of a group of Asian ninjas, though.

          I don’t think League of Shadows are Asian only. It’s an organization founded by an Arab, is headquartered in Himalayas, and uses techniques from Far East Asia. It’s clear it’s a diverse cult of terrorists.

          • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            That’s definitely the impression I got in the third movie. In the first one, we only see the Himalayan headquarters, and it seems like there’s a white guy inexplicably in charge of an all Asian team of ninja assassins (although I think I remember one black guy being there when they burned Wayne manor).

    • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Well, the Ariel thing is basically the same kind of ‘rewrite’.

      Also Ariel isn’t even “white”… she’s a mermaid

      • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Well, I think it’s a bit different. The Little Mermaid takes place in an unidentified kingdom on the surface (it seems vaguely Italian or Mediterranean, I guess?) and an underwater Atlantian kingdom, so race doesn’t matter. The original Dr. Strange comics have all sorts of uncomfortable racial and religious tropes; it’s about a white guy who finds magical order Tibetan monks, not only learns their magic, but becomes even better than them at it, and moves to New York with an Asian man-servant named Wong who serves him tea. Changing up the races and backstory on that one isn’t just acceptable, it’s advisable.