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timeasmymeasureIdris Elba is playing Nelson Mandela.
The African in me doesn't know how to feel about this yet.
On one hand, IDRIS ELBA (and his face) PLAYING MANDELA.
On the other hand, Idris Elba is playing Mandela, a role they could have given to a South African actor.
Yes, he's of African descent (parents from Ghana and Sierra Leone, I believe), but that is so... FAR from South Africa.
But yeah. Idris Elba is playing Nelson Mandela.
Guess I should just be glad that Mandela was too black to be white washed.
Heh. Sorry, my cynicism about showbiz's race politics is showing.
The African in me doesn't know how to feel about this yet.
On one hand, IDRIS ELBA (and his face) PLAYING MANDELA.
On the other hand, Idris Elba is playing Mandela, a role they could have given to a South African actor.
Yes, he's of African descent (parents from Ghana and Sierra Leone, I believe), but that is so... FAR from South Africa.
But yeah. Idris Elba is playing Nelson Mandela.
Guess I should just be glad that Mandela was too black to be white washed.
Heh. Sorry, my cynicism about showbiz's race politics is showing.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 10:29 pm (UTC)I don't know...I guess they are moving closer to the truth now? I mean previously they've had African American actors play Nelson Mandela, now an actor of West African descent, maybe in the future he'll be from Southern Africa?
no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 04:52 am (UTC)That statement sums up my general ennui with this news.
Sidebar on Idris Elba:
It's funny (in the usual ways it really isn't), because an actual historical figure and Idris Elba can play him because they're both black; he plays Hemdall a mythological character and his blackness is in question. I guess 'accuracy' is only applicable to white figures.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 04:45 pm (UTC)This is true.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-05 08:54 am (UTC)