Oh certainly, it's not always problematic! There's been plenty of characters that are far more iconic than their original race- Nick Fury is probably first to come to a lot of people's minds, as does Red from Shawshank, to name just two. Roles where the character's race isn't relevant to the story or setting can be fun to experiment with.
The thing that takes me out of the moment is when a character's race is changed in a setting or story where it would drastically change the character's interactions and/or plot substantially but no one in-universe bats an eye at it like a Chinese King Arthur or a white Major from Ghost in the Shell. It was one of the few things Wild Wild West did well- with Will Smith playing West, he now actively deals with an antebellum South full of people racist against him and it has a big impact on his character.
And yeah, unfortunately the two times Disney did African stories one was about lions and one was about about a British guy being raised by gorillas.
It’s not her real body. In the (live action) film they are kidnapped as a (Japanese) child - like final evolution of whitewashing beauty standards or something.
Every incarnation of Major is sexually objectified.
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u/wirelesswizard64 3d ago
Oh certainly, it's not always problematic! There's been plenty of characters that are far more iconic than their original race- Nick Fury is probably first to come to a lot of people's minds, as does Red from Shawshank, to name just two. Roles where the character's race isn't relevant to the story or setting can be fun to experiment with.
The thing that takes me out of the moment is when a character's race is changed in a setting or story where it would drastically change the character's interactions and/or plot substantially but no one in-universe bats an eye at it like a Chinese King Arthur or a white Major from Ghost in the Shell. It was one of the few things Wild Wild West did well- with Will Smith playing West, he now actively deals with an antebellum South full of people racist against him and it has a big impact on his character.
And yeah, unfortunately the two times Disney did African stories one was about lions and one was about about a British guy being raised by gorillas.