Surprising 'Hunger Games' backlash: Fans disappointed by character's race • Hypable

Smartonehailee

no. they are not fans. if you cant even pay attention to what was written in the book then you shouldnt have even seen the movie.

Tara

If you read the books you would know that she was black. If you didn’t read the books you wouldn’t know about their relationship beforehand and you would learn that she was black before they bonded. These people are not fans, they are ignorant bigots.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

Really Tara so every Dark skinned person is black? So taylor Luanter is black?
- http://twitter.com/CatKoski Cat Koski
  
  Your missing the point of this article, it’s that people are being RACIST, and it’s disgusting. It doesn’t matter that “dark skin” doesn’t necessarily mean “black”. These tweets are really negative based on the fact that Rue is played by some who is.
- http://twitter.com/TSSD TSSD
  
  My god, would you shut up about friggen Taylor Lautner? Do you think he should have played Rue? No? Then shut. up.

rob v

its funny how the readers that are complaining about this seem to have missed that small fact while reading the books!!! lol

i1tabighug

firstly although it may not specifically say ‘black’ anyway, I can’t remember off the top of my head, I have read the books and knew that see had dark skin, however even if the books had specifically stated that Rue was white her race does not impact on the character or the acting ability of the actress cast. I thought she did a wonderful job and I’m shocked that in this day and age people would judge a film based on race, especially when the characters skin colour is stated as dark in the original book.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

bighug how does it not? the Kingpin of Crime is white not black even Micheal Clarke Duncan said that.

http://twitter.com/lindseytinsey Lindsey Lisl

They are not fans. This is disgusting.

Alison

Agreed. The racism is astounding.

http://twitter.com/trinity929 Mae Rell

I cant even put into words how that made me feel. I am so disappointed and heartbroken by learning this and reading and after reading the full post at Jezebel.com I almost wanted to toss my monitor. The sad part is, we do still live in a society that sees color as a negative…we still live in a society where racism is smacking us in the face even if your not a victim of it. What the hell…one step forward ten steps back.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

the author needed to be more descriptive on the characters races and its typical of having what in movies and tv WHITE and BLACK. Nothing wrong with that but the world is a place of different races not just WHITE and BLACK

http://twitter.com/Michaelnono Mike Nolan

If she hadn’t been black in the books I would disagree that their being racist and that its just fanboy back lash but seeing as she was its these comments are totally uncalled for :/

GPorter

I find it hard to see the comment “black bitch” as being anything but racist, regardless of the content of the book.
heather157

It doesn’t matter what color she was in the books this backlash is ridiculous either way. Lavender Brown was cast as a black girl in the early Harry Potter movies and recast as white for the sixth movie and no one said anything. Either way these tweets are pure racism.
- stargazer
  
  It may be because no one remembers Lavender Brown in the early Harry Potter movies. I know I went “Huh? She was in the early movies?” when I read your comment.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung
  
  well Rowling never made her race clear and the same thing with Bliase Zabini Some Italians are darker then black people
  - Commenter
    
    Dude, give it a rest. We get it, there are no Chinese or Japanese people in the main cast. Could that possibly mean that none of the people of that ethnicity who auditioned were good enough or right for the role?
    
    Think about it, as those two groups of people are ethnic minorities in USA there will probably have been hundreds if not thousands of white/black actors auditioning for every Chinese or Japanese actor. Would you rather they were given a role based solely on the fact they were Chinese, regardless of the ability to play the part? I consider THAT racist, casting someone just because there are no people of their ethnicity in the movie. So you not agree that would be racist towards the excellent white/black actor that would have got the part otherwise?
    - http://www.eigakanthemovietheater.blogspot.com Jenny Leigh
      
      Wow, Jung is not a Japanese name. And as far as I see, he did not complain about there being no Asians in the main cast. He’s just stating a fact, and he’s right. None of these books clearly defines race, which is something I find interesting. The cool thing is how people all still imagined essentially the same characters.
      
      Here’s the thing with Rue where some people may have gotten confused — right after her first description, in the exact same sentence, Katniss says she looks like Prim (in every way but the dark brown hair/skin). If you are skimming (shame on you if you are!), there’s a slight chance you could have only caught “looks like Prim.” Prim was described for a whole chapter as being “blonde, blue eyes, not Katniss at all,” in a nutshell.
      
      Racist comments are not cool. Some of these posters are just dumb. But for some people who made confused comments, I understand why they were lost. How would you feel if Ron Weasley did not have red hair? A whole world of hurt. There was backlash against Jennifer Lawrence for having blonde hair, mind you. Honestly, I thought Rue was perfect except for her hair (I imagined more Beyonce hair), but in the end what it comes down to is if the person can act. And Rue was good.
- http://www.eigakanthemovietheater.blogspot.com Jenny Leigh
  
  I don’t think that Lavender Brown comment is right. On IMDB, on the Lavender Brown page, they only have her cast as Jennifer Smith in PoA, with no picture (I’m not counting the current LB).
  
  Honestly though, I don’t remember Lavender in PoA at all, so you could be right. Get a screen capture — I wanna know who the original Lavender was!!!

Tom

A few racist tweets =/= fan backlash

rdh014

I agree, but it’s actually a surprising amount of people. *Shrug* I though it was a surprising article.
Kels

Racism shouldn’t be tolerated at all. I think this article is relevant because even a few racist tweets over a fictional character shouldn’t be acceptable at all.

Emily Brett

I think a lot of people just associated her with Prim and assumed she was white. But the fact that they…a.) did not know about the casting until they saw the movie. b.) didn’t reread the books and figure it out the second time c.) were mean and racist enough to be hateful about it
That doesn’t make them true fans.

Jacob

I didn’t catch it the first time, but the second time I saw it and immediately pictured the actress in my head.
- Emily Brett
  
  I know! Same here. The first time I just pictured her as my ten year old sister.

Shannon

a – this is ridiculous
b – if these ‘fans’ are only noticing that Rue has dark skin now, then they are not fans.

TheOneAndOnlyCliche

I read an article that included tweets from various ‘fans’, in which one called the actress a ‘black bitch’, another used the n word, another said it detracted from the sadness of Rue’s death…how the f*** can people be so heartless? IT CHANGES NOTHING. I’m sorry, but they are simpled minded, trivial fools for reacting in that way to the RACE of a CHARACTER, and people who can say stuff like that about someone so young – and considering how well she played the character? Humanity is screwed up. That’s all I can say about it. Humanity needs a giant kick up it’s rear end and all the racists, homophobes, and anyone with prejudice against people for their beliefs or race or religion should just disappear. It’s horrible.
She’s a child. She played the character well. The character was ALWAYS black, Cinna was unspecified and Thresh was always black. Rue’s death was still horrific and nothing can detract from that – ESPECIALLY not skin colour!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

but dark skin comes in many forms my father is Dark skinned does that make him black?
- jmc
  
  shut the fuck up. Saying someone is black nowadays is more crude than saying dark skin, have you thought of that? Suzanne Collins was very involved in this film and obviously she authorized this.
- http://twitter.com/SarahKHansen S.K.Hansen
  
  Except in the books it describes Rue as having Dark BROWN skin and Satiny BROWN skin, so it is safe to assume she is “Black”. Why does everyone skip over the part that describes her skin as brown? Not “tan”, not “dark skin”, it says brown.

HungerPotterFan

This is stupid!!! She was perfect in every way

Gary65

Can we just uninhabit a small section of the Earth and excommunicate all he racist moronic douchebags there so they can rip each other to shreds and the rest of us can live in peace? We could start with half the US Republican party and work our way down to the f***wits who beat that Iraqi woman’s head in with a tyre iron and left a note telling her to go back to her own country.

tidefan1987

Gary65, to claim that half of the US Republican party is racist is just absurd. I would love to know what evidence you can show me of this that is not just crap made up by people that disagree with their politics. These people making these comments about race are just stupid people plan and simple.
- Gary65
  
  Have you seen Santorum’s new campaign ad, titled Obamaville LOL? Notice how, in the TV scene, they montage pics of Ahdeminijad and Obama, trying to make them look the same? That, my friend, is racism pure and simple. A significant proportion of the party support Santorum. I can’t give you exact figures but if it bothers you that much, we’ll round it down from a half to a quarter. They should still be excommunicated.
  - Sigh
    
    The ad has nothing to do with race and everything to do with policies and politics. The fact that you are reading “racism” into it tells me that you are the type of person to read racism into everything. Claiming that half the Republican party is racist is ridiculous. Put down the Kool Aid.
    - Gary65
      
      Nothing to do with race? How so? They were basically depicting armageddon by 2014 if Obama was re-elected(LOL) and making visual comparisons between Ahdeminijad(can’t spell his name) and Obama. When Ahdeminijad’s face appears on the TV screen, slow it down and watch really closely. You’ll see the image flash to Obama in a similar pose and the flash back to Ahdeminijad really quickly. How is that not a racist jibe?
    - Gary65
      
      And what policies were being displayed by Obamaville, might I ask?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1086630463 Cassandra Em

Yes please!
Zack

Gary, just shut up. Your comment about the Republican party was not only rude, but uncalled for. Racists are everywhere, and sadly always will be.
- Gary65
  
  Your calling my comment rude? LOL hypocrisy at work. This is the 2nd/3rd comment of mine you’ve replied to in a rude manner. If you don’t like my opinion, that’s fine. But practice what you preach.
  
  Go to a Tea Party(who make a sizable proportion of the Repub party) rally. You see all those signs telling Obama to go back to the jungle? That’s racist. I’m not saying everyone in the Tea Party is racist. there are plenty of people not in the Tea Party who are racist. But there are a lot of racists in or around the Republican party and cause. And if they were extradited to some uninhabited part of the planet and left to rip each other to shreds instead of attacking minorities and people who can’t defend themselves properly, I wouldn’t miss them.
  - Zack
    
    I think its the 2nd reply to you, only because both times you were being really rude, and I’m not the only one to find such comments offensive. I truly apologize for coming off like that, though.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=17127641 Laura Jurgensmeyer

First, those comments were totally uncalled for. It shouldn’t matter at all what anyone’s race is. Geez, this is the 21st century. C’mon, people.

Second, for some of the comments here… it’s ridiculous to say that just because someone missed that in the book means they aren’t “true” fans or shouldn’t have even seen the movie. It’s mentioned like once for each character (because it doesn’t matter what race anyone is!) and if you’re a fast reader it’s something that can easily be passed over.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

Okay what race is Cato? Because to me that sounds Japanese not white
- stargazer
  
  All the names were a little weird and couldn’t really be placed with a certain race.
- Guest
  
  Cato was a roman senator who lived before Christ, I believe the character was named after him
- rdh014
  
  Considering it takes place in the distant future, let’s assume names have nothing to do with race.

Tucker

I think you’ll find that there were little fans who found the movie racist. – Tucker Conley.

http://www.facebook.com/iDomi Domi Ed

I saw some stuff on Tumblr
I was watching Philip DeFranco on YouTube last night and thats when I realized how big this had gotten.

Racist people need to all be shipped to Saturn. Stop breathing my air.

http://twitter.com/Andrew_ww Andrew W

Not Saturn. Thats a nice planet. Make it Mercury.
- belac889
  
  How about, Venus where the air is poisoned.
  - http://twitter.com/Andrew_ww Andrew W
    
    Thats a good one. They would also be crushed from the pressure on the surface.
    - Greg
      
      How about we just send them to the Sun?
  - http://twitter.com/CatKoski Cat Koski
    
    Yes, Venus!
    Where it’s hotter then Hell, and rains Acid!
    :]
- http://www.facebook.com/iDomi Domi Ed
  
  Sure. I was going to say Mars but that planet is too mainstream…
  And I though of Pluto…then I got depressed because that’s not a planet :(
  
  I like the idea of poisoned air. Lets make it happen.
- Tara
  
  Or we could send them to Uranus :)
Spellingbee10

They have a right to express their opinion, even if some people don’t agree.
- http://www.facebook.com/iDomi Domi Ed
  
  They may have the right to say and feel however but being a racist piece of shit is unacceptable by my standards.
  And I feel these hateful people need to be shipped off my planet.

Morsmordre79

It’s one thing to be like “Hmm, not how I pictured that character.” That’s no big deal. For example, in my mind, Hugh Dancy was Cinna for the longest time. It took me a while to get used to Lenny Kravitz, but I wasn’t *mad* about the casting. I wasn’t like “OMGCinna’snotsupposedtobeblackWAHHH!”

However, what some people have been saying about the casting of Rue, Thresh, and Cinna is appalling. Someone even had the nerve to say *SPOILER ALERT* that Rue’s death was “less sad” because she was black. What. the. eff. Not to mention, Rue and Thresh are both described as having dark skin in the book. It’s a detail that’s easy to pass over, of course (as it’s only mentioned once, I think,) so I can understand why some people were thrown off by it. It’s the people who are completely outraged by it is what disgusts me. What century are we in again?? Good grief…

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

But Mors why do we have onlyii black and white characters in movies tv and books? but who has dark skin Taylor Luanter and Boo Boo Stewart have Dark skin are they black?
- http://twitter.com/Tripleness Tripleness
  
  Rue’s skin was not just dark. It was described as “dark brown.” That DEFINITELY means she is black. Neither of the people you mentioned has dark skin anyway, they’re just tanned a bit.
- I_Want_Cake
  
  (i posted this somewhere else but i’ll post it here as well)
  
  i have read some of your comments on this post and i can’t help but to conclude that you are missing the point COMPLETELY!!
  
  you are angry that there were no other races represented in the movie….that is NOT what this post/issue is about.
  
  instead of you condemning overt racism, it seems you were defending it! what this tells me is that YOU ARE ONE OF THE RACIST ASSHOLES OUT THERE!!!!
  you may not be saying it, but you sure are showing your ‘true colours’!!
  - Mad
    
    Completely agree!
  - Liderc
    
    Calling people assholes isn’t exactly much better than being indirectly racist. Don’t fight fire with fire, these types of people are just ignorant. Ignore them and hopefully they’ll go away.
    
    Having dark brown skin could imply Native American, Middle Eastern ect… so asking why they went with African American could be a valid question.
    
    These people obviously went insanely overboard though and have exposed themselves with their blatant racism.
    - rdh014
      
      It’s not so much that he’s questioning the casting choice…it’s the fact that he is all over the comments talking about something irrelevant to this article. It’s kind of annoying…
    - Liderc
      
      I agree, but he will go away once we stop responding to him. These kinds of people get off on seeing us react to their behavior, so in a way those responding to him are just perpetuating his negativity.
    - NarniaPotterGoneHungerGames
      
      We have to remember that Suzanne Collins was directly involved with this film-producing, script, etc. She may have said that she was describing black people for district 11. We can’t really argue with her, as she created it.
- Morsmordre79
  
  …because that’s how the author of this particular series intended them to be?
  
  You’re completely missing the point of this article. The point is that ignorant, pathetic excuses for human beings are calling two talented actors and one talented actress foul names because their own perceptions of certain characters turned out to be incorrect. We’re not here to debate whether races are equally represented in films. Even if we were, what you’re asking isn’t very valid. Suzanne Collins, the author and creator of THG, was very involved in the casting for the film. Clearly she intended for Rue, Thresh, and Cinna to be black, and the rest of the characters to be predominately white. If you’re wondering why she didn’t include characters of other races, you should ask her. Although, don’t speak too soon. There’s still two books to be adapted, and with those books come a plethora of new characters. Who knows what races those characters are?
  
  As for Taylor Lautner and “Boo Boo Stewart” (who I can only assume is Kristen Stewart,) I don’t know what movies you’re watching, but they are NOT dark skinned. Taylor Lautner is tan skinned at the most, and Kristen is very light skinned. (She has to be – she’s playing Snow White!)
  - rdh014
    
    (Boo Boo is one of the wolves)
    :D
    - Morsmordre79
      
      Haha, whoops. Is that the actor’s name or the character’s name? Honestly have never heard of him. :p
    - rdh014
      
      It’s his stage name. I assume no one would name their child Boo Boo. But you never know.
- rdh014
  
  MISSING.THE.
  POINT.
- rdh014
  
  MISSING.THE.POINT.
- EmmaBeanerzz7
  
  wait. what about Asians and Hispanics? and my sister has dark skin but both my parents are white. some people think she’s Mexican so i agree that dark skinned characters don’t have to be black but as Tripleness said it was described as dark brown. which is black (or possibly a dark skinned Hispanic). but does it matter? no one should be racist about it.
Cora

Totally agree! I totally missed Rue and Thresh were described as dark-skinned, similarily I missed the fact that Blaise Zabini in HP is black, or that Magnus in TMI is Asian. But it doesn’t mean you get mad over it. That’s just dumb.
- Trel
  
  Magnus is Asian??? let me Re-Read The Mortal Instruments lol
  - http://www.facebook.com/heather.smith07 Heather Smith
    
    i know! (they say he has like cat-like, slanted eyes or something to that effect). I missed it too. And Missed that Jem is DA is also Asian! I always miss these queues :P
    - anonymous
      
      queues (hee hee)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-Rex/100003224841100 Anthony Rex

The only way people should be judging these castings is by the acting done by them. And to Dayo’s, Amandla’s, and Lenny’s credit, they were exceptional.

stargazer

Really? I was listening to an audiobook and only got about half of the information, and I still knew Rue was black. It’s not like when I was reading Maximum Ride and it took me a book and a half to realize that Nudge was black because it seemed like James Patterson was adverse to mentioning her skin color.

Come on, people. Get with the program.

stargazer

Edit: Reading the other comments here, I’m shocked by some of the things people said. It’s more than missing a fact in a book and complaining about the actress’s race not matching what’s in the book, it’s ugly racism what these people are saying.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

My family on my dad side is very racially mixed so what race am I? Well how can you get with the program when Dark skin can mean many things?
- stargazer
  
  I didn’t mean “Duh, she’s black.” (Well, maybe just a little) I meant, “Stop overreacting to the fact that Rue’s black instead of white in the movie and read books a little more carefully. You’ll see she’s definitely not white if you just read.” That’s what I meant by “get with the program.”

chelsea

This is stupid…what a bunch of racist $%$##@%$^$#

Rocky41

honestly Rue is extactly as I pictured her and the actors who played Thresh and Cinna did an amazing job as did Amandla Stenberg did with Rue. I cannot imagine anyone else playing their parts after seeing the movie… and Rue’s death was just as emotional as in the books. These people are rascist and closed minded and their opinions are immature and ignorant to the what is truly important in this story of fighting for human rights

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

But Cinna race was not described he could have chinese? where are the chinese leading men?
- http://twitter.com/Andrew_ww Andrew W
  
  Not in the area where the USA was…maybe?
- Lucia
  
  Not every film needs to contain every race. I agree that there is an extremely small presence of Asian and other races in the US film industry, but they would have cast the best people for the job irrespective of their race. Given that Cinna’s appearence wasn’t specified, they would have just gone with the best actor that was premitted to audition. You can’t blame the filmmakers for choosing talented actors and actresses, especially when Suzanne Collins was overseeing the entire process. If she viewed Cinna or another character as Asian or Hispanic or Indian she would have made that clear to the casting directors early on. If you have a problem with anyone, have a problem with Suzanne for the book, not the filmmakers for following her direction.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1086630463 Cassandra Em

They are not fans, plain and simple. They are racists.

Silvia

I think they should reread the books. And I wonder how they like it in District 11? It has a little bit of a colonial feel to it.

christinachristina

first off, like many people have pointed out, the fact that rue and thresh were “dark skinned” in the book – it’s only mentioned once, and i didn’t catch it until my second read through. because some people may have missed this fact doesn’t mean they aren’t fans. i’m sure there were many people who missed this, but were happy with the castings. there is, however, a difference between those people and the people who are making these racist comments, which is so not cool.

but that brings me to my next point: “Racist people need to all be shipped to Saturn. Stop breathing my air.” and “Can we just uninhabit a small section of the Earth and excommunicate all he racist moronic douchebags there so they can rip each other to shreds and the rest of us can live in peace?” sounds like the hunger games! my point is, while it’s obvious that racism is messed up and terrible and horrible and we all disagree with it; stooping down to their level isn’t helping anything at all. i don’t at all agree with racism or homophobia or sexism or anyone who treats a fellow human being as lesser than equal; i think it’s totally fucked up; but i’m mature enough not to want to ship them to saturn and make them all rip each other apart in hunger games fashion. our problems with racism, homophobia, sexism and the like don’t just lie in the hands of the people who identify as such, but also with the people who disagree with those schools of thought and stoop to the same immature level in their retaliation. why can’t we all just get along!?

katie

No one has to be tolerant of intolerance.
Also, people talking about Saturn and such are using extreme exaggeration: a trait of modern everyday speech. “I’m so hungry I could eat an elephant” doesn’t mean I think it’s okay to kill elephants. It’s 2012–exaggeration is commonplace.
- Mad
  
  Agree. Some people just don’t see this and are completely missing the point of this article.
Astraea

First off, since I’ve spent a lot of time trying to talk to racist people who’ve said this kind of stuff, Rue’s skin color is mentioned at least twice; Thresh has separate references for his appearance, and there are references to Rue’s family in either THG or Catching Fire. So it’s not just missing one reference, it’s missing a slew of them. If you missed this, it means you’ve probably also missed points Collins wanted to make in-book (for example, District Eleven is a pretty on-the-nose analogy for slavery in the antebellum American South.)

Racist people need to be educated (and a lot of them are quite young – Twitter accounts belonging to 14-year-olds) but blaming the people objecting to the comments (saying “our problems [lie] also with the people who disagree with those schools of thought”) is essentially victim-blaming. Should a black fan have to remain silent in the face of someone saying that they can’t sympathize with a dead black child as much as a dead white one?

No one has to be tolerant of intolerance, and people have the right to call them out on their speech and to be angry about what they’ve said. As katie points out below, people are exaggerating because they’re angry.
- Jacob
  
  Er…I have a Twitter and I’m 14…But I don’t take offence. :) But yeah, you’re right ^.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

but what is Dark Skin to you? Does Taylor Luanter have Dark skin?
- http://twitter.com/WhatTheGrace Grace Nzita
  
  He has tan skin that is how i would describe him if i was trying to describe him in a book or to another person.
  
  What does Taylor Lautner have to do with this post anyways?
- Kels
  
  ^You are just playing Devil’s advocate now sir. It’s specified in the book that Rue and Thresh are both black. More than just “dark skin”. And even though it doesn’t flat out say “Rue was black” it is wayyyyy implied. Apparently “dark skin” can mean many things. That isn’t the point. The point is, it shouldn’t matter if the casting directors decided to cast an african american girl over a native american one. Racism isn’t okay, she’s a little girl, and she played the part fantastically.
- rdh014
  
  Dude you are seriously missing the point of this article.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Erika-Johnson/619556596 Erika Johnson

You are being pretty condescending. People of color shouldn’t have to take the high rode in the face of racism. Their anger is justified and they should be able to deal with it how they wish. When people say those types of things you should be smart enough to know that they are speaking in exaggerations.
TheOneAndOnlyCliche

We can’t all get alonh because racists and people with prejudice refuse TO get along.
NO ONE should have to accept being treated as less than equal just to make it easier, it doesn’t mean racist people will stop being racist.

Ida

I’m one of those who are guilty of overlooking that both Rue and Thresh were black, and I read the books TWICE before I saw who they cast. Going back to read the descriptions I really don’t know how I managed to miss that, because it’s freaking obvious! *is ashamed*

That said, the people who are saying they feel less sad about the characters’ deaths because of the colour of their skin, just fills me with rage. It shows how far we still have to go.

Angelofrock09

You may have overlooked that they were both black but at least you aren’t saying mean things about these characters.
- Ida
  
  Yeah well… I’ve learned to pay more attention now.
rdh014

There is a difference between missing the information and being honestly upset over a character’s race. I can understand missing that little tidbit, but some of those people were just flat out angry!:[
- Ida
  
  Yeah, it’s just ridiculous. I just don’t understand how the colour of their skin can make people automatically care less about the character. Rue’s death move me to tears every time, I can’t even listen to ‘Rue’s farewell’ on the soundtrack without weeping.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

what race is everyone? BLACK and WHITE! as such dark skin can mean many things. Taylor Luanter is DARK SKINNED what race is he?
- Alaina
  
  I think you’re totally missing the point of this article. To answer you’re ‘question’ Taylor Lautner is tan. In the book Rue is described as having “dark brown skin” imagine the colour ‘dark brown’ this colour correlates with that of a black person. It’s that simple, i don’t know why you’re making such great emphasis on race Taylor Launter is. I agree that dark-skinned might mean different tones of skin to different people around the world but those who were mainly making these racist comments live in a society where ‘dark brown skin’ obviously to most people means a black person. Tan is more of a colour i would use to describe someone who was perhaps native american or hispanic. Does that answer your question?
  - don’t know why i just yped you in essay lol

itsme

WTF?

Angelofrock09

These people who are writing these mean comments will never truly get the Hunger games book. They have closed views. I noticed that in the book that there is no racism going on in the book because it’s a book about all sorts of humans suffering. These people are truly not Hunger games fans if they are judging a character by the color of their skin. And is especially cruel that they don’t feel any sadness for Rue death. She was a child who unforgettably had to be in these games

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

but angelo why didnt we get a combination of everything? from the films the leads are BLACK and WHITE. where are the other races?
- guest
  
  You were watching a different movie, there were definitely a bunch of different races represented in The Hunger Games

http://www.facebook.com/people/Maria-Wang/542480760 Maria Wang

One tweet called Rue a n—-r! I’m like WHY WHY WHY??? Why is this even an issue? Although…this made me think. Agriculture and the condition of living in District 11 – such as public whippings and being not allowed to eat the food they grow – made them look like slaves. More so than than even District 12. There’s a bit of history for ya. It was just a thought, I highly doubt that was intentional.

This made me think of the Avatar, Last Air Bender movie. Where nearly all the cast was suppose to be Chinese or at least east Asian, but the majority were white. That I get. But this I do not!

Laura

“Where nearly all the cast was suppose to be Chinese or at least east Asian, but the majority were white. That I get.”

I’m confused by what you mean. Are you saying you agree with the white-washing of The Last Airbender? M. Night denies it, but how could casting white actors to play characters with Asian names, Asian clothes, Asian customs, and Asian appearances be anything but racism?

Btw, District 12 also had public whippings and heavy restrictions on food.
- Laura
  
  Or are you saying that you “get” the backlash over that particular case of racial casting, but not this one? In that case, I agree with you.
  
  Sorry, your wording is just very ambiguous.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung
  
  whitewashing happens when its clearly stated what race they are its not clearly stated in Avatar the Last Airbender which race he is! chinese people dont have round eyes and wavy hair
  - Laura
    
    You don’t need to tell me that; I am Chinese.
    
    You probably won’t reply to this, but Chinese culture wasn’t the only culture that inspired ATLA. There were also Inuit, Japanese, Tibetan, and others.
    
    When characters have names like Toph Bei Fong, Sokka, Zuko, and Aang, dress in Asian clothes, read Asian writing, have Asian music, use Asian fighting styles, and have Asian architecture, it’s safe to assume they’re not of European descent. There’s also not a redhead or blonde in sight – another indication that they’re not white.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

dont dare get airbender in this discussion Aang was whiter then white!

Carrskid

The actors for Rue and Thresh were pretty much exactly how I imagined. To me it would be more unsettling if the film HADN’T included other races. You have to remember that Panem is the whole of the N.American continent, so naturally there will be different ethnicities! Makes sense for P.Snow to have henned them all into district 11 too, just for their difference in race. So for me, it made the film more real. I didn’t picture Cinna to be black, but I concentrated on Lenny’s acting, not his skin colour and loved his portrayal of one of my favourite characters all the same!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

Oh where was the other races meaning chinese Japanese Korean Indian South American Hispinaic Jewish christain Muslim hindu wiccan etc etc? When we saw District 12 what did we see WHITE on WHITE and when we saw the other tributes it was WHITE and BLACK. Those were the main leads! do you see where I am getting at?
- Luke
  
  There were plenty of blacks in District 11…
  - Guest
    
    I think Micah’s point was that the movie was missing races OTHER than caucasian or african-american…
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Risa-Lee/643637902 Risa Lee
      
      Although that’s a fair point, it seems sadly misguided. Did you ever notice that Disney featured Mulan (south-east asian) as a leading lady over a decade ago? And that we had The Emperors New Groove (south american) a few years after that? And that we had Jasmine from Aladdin (middle Eastern) even before that. We even had Pocahontas and Ariel before a black Hero/Heroine, and Ariel btw isn’t even human.
      
      C’mon… The Civil Rights Movement was supposedly “succesfully completed” nearly a half century ago.
      
      And yet it took until The Princess and the Frog for a black princess to emerge.
      
      I agree that the existance of other races in the Hunger Games (set in what is supposedly North America -the “melting pot”) is somewhat odd. But at least there were individuals of all ethnicities in the Hunger Games, even if they weren’t cast as lead characters.
- Mad
  
  You are completely missing the point of this article. Go complain somewhere else.
- Janielovespeeta
  
  Um, last time I checked, Wicca, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian weren’t ethnicities. It is ridiculous for a franchise to freak out if they have ‘excluded’ a particular race. It is effed up for people to complain because of a characters race. If it is N. America, there are probably more white people. However there were a LOT of Asians cast as tributes.
- starbronze175
  
  you went from races to religion, religion is never in the book, so its unfair to say they forgot to add jewish, christian, muslim ect. there was whites and blacks in district 12, but honestly the book only described whites and blacks in the books, so this is a complaint in the book. considering history and that panem seems to have made the US regress, it makes since black and whites would basically be all that was left. it wasnt till the 50s the US got rid of the chinese exclusions act, If you consider North America as a whole blacks and whites make up huge majority of the population, its seems sensible to say everyone is so mixed raced by this point, their either black or white. (once again only talking about the North American continent)
- drag0n
  
  LMAO!!! The Christian, Wiccan, Muslim RACE!!! Hahahahahahaha…….hahahahahaha oh ignorance is bliss. Go to school then make a post.
- Hehedied
  
  Their was an Asian, he got killed on one of the videos cat is was watching. You can easily spot a few Hispanics in the film. And Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian arent races dude.

FaeKindaGirl1990

…this is disgusting. I’d very much like to punch nearly every one of these tweeters in the mouth.

#1 – STOP judging people by the color of their skin, you racist, narrow-minded fools. NOTHING justifies that. We’re all human. Period. Suck it up and deal.
#2 – PAY ATTENTION next time your reading something and get your facts straight before you fly off the handle and make yourself look like a jackass.

Sorry. But this kind of shite winds me up. I mean, some people just…argh! So stupid. Racism ticks me off royal.

I thought that she made a lovely Rue. All of those people can go jump in a hole.

Mad

I feel the same way!

shar

These so called “fans” failed to properly read the books because Rue is described as having very dark skin and eyes. The only reason she is compared to Prim is because of her size and age. She was exactly how I pictured her to look like. And I know that Cinna doesn’t look exactly like how he was described but color doesn’t matter at all. It’s the performance that counts, and I think it was very well done. I understand some of the casting wasn’t exactly how people pictured the characters to look like, but that gives them no reason to be racist. Ignorant people are so stupid.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

but why cant the authors be more race speific? So we wouldnt have flame wars on this subject?
- http://twitter.com/WhatTheGrace Grace Nzita
  
  Because some authors don’t see the specification of race as important if they’re writing a story, they want to focus on the story itself, yes the characters are important but if it’s a story about racism and things of that sort then attention will be made to describe a character more vividly upon their race. If not i think they don’t have to, if it’s not important to them then it should’t be to us. You have to remember when authors write books they’re not thinking about whether it’s going to be made into a movie.
  - Lucia
    
    Exactly! It’s like saying ‘why didn’t Jo Rowling tell us Dumbledore was gay?’ – because it doesn’t matter! It doesn’t change who they are as characters within that storyline, and it clearly isn’t something she felt needed to be absolutely specified in the book.

upper_westsider

I used to think all Harry Potter fans were sensible people with great taste in books. Then Jo Rowling said she always thought of Dumbledore as a gay man. Some of the comments I saw were unbelievable. It was just crazy. Knowing the same thing is happening with Rue makes me angry, but it’s not surprising. Bigots never leave the scene. Having a Black president has proven that.

I doubt that many of the haters have ever read a Hunger Games book. I’d be surprised if some of them ever read anything longer than a tweet.

Allison L.

i read the article with tweet and it just made me sick :/

http://twitter.com/Andrew_ww Andrew W

GET OVER IT

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

Well how so your tell me the only dominate race in PANEM is white and black?
- http://twitter.com/Andrew_ww Andrew W
  
  Yes. It is where the USA is today.

bludgershield72

It is unfortunate if people can’t picture black characters in their head when reading the book, particularly if they’re supposed to be likable characters. You can bet that if the “evil” careers were described as having dark skin, then a lot of people wouldn’t have had a hard time picturing them as black.

Also, when reading the books, didn’t anyone else make a mental map of Panem/USA in his or her head? They describe orchards, agriculture and cotton and it’s SOUTH of Appalachia (District 11). This sounds an awful lot like the Carolinas, Georgia, etc. where, believe it or not, lots of black people live.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

Well I dont know Blu because in the SOUTH there is racial mixing so who is black and white? Looking at my icon what am I? as for the characters I wish the author would make the races more clear.
- http://twitter.com/hessolifelike Marie
  
  What is she supposed to do – reiterate every character’s race every four lines? She described Rue as dark skinned when she was introduced, that’s enough.

http://twitter.com/vonchambers Devon Chambers

This headline is horrible. There wasn’t a fan backlash, it was some idiots who didn’t properly read the book – plain and simple.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Erika-Johnson/619556596 Erika Johnson

I get your point but we can’t deny racism exists in the fandom because it embarrasses us.

Primrose Everdeen

so #1 america needs to work on its reading comprehension
and #2 nobody can deny me anymore when i claim racism still exists in america. (not that i should need anymore examples… some people just choose to be ignorant).

Effie Trinket

I thought the actress of Rue was awesome as Rue! No complains PLEASE.

Primrose Everdeen

this is obviously atrocious behavior, and people are hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. makes me sick.

just as an aside, i thought it was an interesting choice by suzanne collins to paint a direct connection between the people of District 11 and American slavery… or maybe it’s just ME who’s making the connection… either way, an interesting choice.

http://twitter.com/MaryElenaMz Mary Poppins

I’m shocked this is even happening. For one Rue and Thresh (and the residents of District 11) are clearly defined as dark-skinned individual… I mean for pete’s sake her description is as followed:

”and see the little girl from District 11 standing back a bit, watching us. She’s the twelve-year-old, the one who reminded me so of Prim in stature. Up close she looks about ten. She has bright, dark, eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with her arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound. Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games (Kindle Locations 1103-1105). ”

How do you image a little white girl when Rue clearly has “satiny brown skin”.

and thresh:
boy tribute from District 11, Thresh, has the same dark skin as Rue, but the resemblance stops there.

Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games (Kindle Locations 1414-1415).

And about Lenny Kravitz as Cinna… I didn’t really have a thought of who Cinna could be but I thought Kravitz was perfect for the role. I mean Cinna is someone who’s cool, collected gets his point across above a whisper and is stylish When they announced Kravitz as Cinna I was impressed by it.

All those racial slurs over the casting (and the actors themselves) are just people who either failed reading comprehension and lack the ability to convert oxygen into something more productive.

Vajackster

Yet again, this would be a great time to have Aaron McGruder around..

http://www.facebook.com/mufflednoise Abby Reyes

Pretty sure the fandom disowns them.

Jason

This is pretty stupid in multiple ways. It’s been buzzing on twitter for like a week, and some of the comments are really stupid. “Rue was NOT black in the book. Get your facts straight, Hollywood.” In the book, it clearly states she and Thresh have dark skin. Not only that, but WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Danielle

It’s one thing to miss while reading that they are Black. It’s an ENTIRELY other thing to be dissapointed and even disgusted that they are.

People are assholes. End of story.

Luna

who cares, what do people expect in the future, there won’t be any blacks? sorry it won’t go your way so deal with it

http://alifetimeofenchantment.webs.com/ Guest

What the hell? Has anyone read the full post on Jezebel.com? That’s just heartbreaking. Those people are not fans. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but how does Rue being black make her death any less sad? She looks like an angel! She’s adorable!

notanutta

I followed all of the coverage on Jez, and both the reports and stuff I heard from my friends sort of startled me. Some of the tweeters are obviously bigots (Rue’s death wasn’t sad? Seriously?) but most of my friends aren’t usually so completely racist. Their comments were more subtle, more along the lines of, “I really don’t like the casting of Rue/Cinna. I never thought she/he could be black!”
Well, okay. That’s obviously not *horrible*, but I notice how race is stressed so much more than other factors. For example, one might’ve pictured one character with blonde hair while the movie chose brown or something along those lines. Sure, it doesn’t match, but the outcries of most people (people like my friends) aren’t so pronounced. :/
I also noticed that the reverse of casting people with different ethnicities- whitewashing -doesn’t generate as much anger or even just annoyance. Katniss and Gale were both described as having olive skin, and while I don’t mind the changes that much, I wonder how these people on twitter would react to that…?
I dunno. It just bugs me. D:

eiVega

When someone says something racist but it isn’t “horrible” that is called a microagression. It’s the subtle things that show that racism has been internalized and normal. It’s quite frustrating that “white” is considered the default. Here’s a blog collecting the little ways prejudice still haunts us: http://www.microaggressions.com/

Kelly Barker

Hahahahaha “I heard Donald Trump is trying to prove Rue wasn’t even BORN in Panem!” I literally laughed my butt off! Like, my butt’s gone!

Ncnapper92

I pictured Rue as black and Cinna as white, but I’m not upset over Cinna’s race in the film.

stargazer

For some reason I imagined Cinna as white with violently red hair. But he’s still cool in the movie.

Ferrin

It makes me sad to hear about racist slurs coming from anyone. I thought the actress did an amazing job for the short amount of time she was given to have us attach to her like we did to Rue in the book. Both The Hunger Games and Harry Potter were meant to show people putting aside prejudices. Racism, sexism and homophobia are unacceptable and should not be tolerated. These series exemplify that, and you miss the true meaning if you are a fan and did not walk away getting that. This country has worked too hard to move forward to carry all the baggage of the past. Hatred is just ignorance combined with fear and I feel sorry for those who do not see that. Lets keep the true meaning of these stories and do a better job of teaching tolerance to the next generation.

Delena

It says in the freaking book that Rue is black- same with Thresh! I pictured them exactly as they were in the movie and I actually pictured Cinna similar to Lenny Kravitz as well. Now, I’m not saying that my image of them is the right one that everyone should agree with, it’s fine if you have your own picture in your head, but it’s not something to be extremely disappointed about! And seriously, it’s especially dumb that they’re complaining about elements of the characters that were SPECIFIED in the series! And people are totally going way too far with it and coming off as racist, even if that wasn’t their intent. Did you cry when Rue died? I know I sure did. Would you cry any more or less if they made her white? I sure hope not!! She’s a great character no matter what her race is and people need to get over it. I thought she was brilliant.

Emily Van Horn

Before I start going on about the ridiculousness of the fact that this issue would ever even come up, I want to say something in the defense of the people who did not picture Rue as black (but don’t make a big deal about it). Dark skin doesn’t always appear as black in everyone’s mind. I personally pictured her as a cute little tan maybe Hawaiian? kid. That aside, the reactions of some movie goers to this casting decision is completely uncalled for. This in no way takes away from the sadness of her death. I am extremely disappointed in the people of the world right now.

http://twitter.com/SarahKHansen S.K.Hansen

For some, like you describe, this seems like a reading comprehension issue. Rue was described as having dark brown skin, not “tan” skin, not “dark skin”, which means many people skipped over the description of brown or completely ignored it. This is a problem. The author shouldn’t have to tell the reader the race of a character, the reader to should figure it out from character descriptions.

belac889

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3z5egP4GU&feature=g-all-u&context=G226514fFAAAAAAAAFAA

Allie Rose Mellark

Legit I read the tiwter posts and was APPALED! People are so rude. I know we are all entitled to our opinions but this is just plain wrong.

eiVega

This actually isn’t a new controversy but it probably resurfaced because of the movie release. Race and casting has been a serious issue surrounding the Hunger Games for awhile. It’s interesting to have this main-stream movie reveal the internalized racism of our society. It’s so sad and frustrating but I am a bit relieved that it’s getting enough attention for others realize how prevalent racism truly still is. The books and direct interviews with the author clearly state that Rue and Thresh were black. No one should be complaining about them being accurate. It’s also an unfair double-standard that the same people didn’t get upset with the casting of Katniss or Gale. The books describe their dark hair and olive skin. They could have been Latino, native american or something else. Collins even said that there had been “a lot of ethnic mixing.” However they casted a white-blonde girl. People got a bit angry with the hair but the crew defended themselves by saying they could dye it. Limiting the issue to hair color completely misses the point. The larger problem is actually that the casting description issued for Katniss flat out blatantly said “Caucasian, between ages 15 and 20.” Caucasian? Why were they limiting themselves? They weren’t even considering any woman of color for a chance at the role. That being said, I LOVED Jennifer Lawrence. She did a great job as did Amandla Stenberg. Acting ability is not limited to race. However, it is still unfair that we accept white as the default for these big opportunities without question and then start complaining about the intrusion of other races. Hopefully with how successful the Hunger Games is, this “backlash” can shed some light on society’s pre-conceptions of race, its continued discrimination and stereotypes, to then be a vehicle for dialogue and change.Racebending has been following these issues for a while and launched a campaign around The Hunger Games. You can check out their website for more articles to read further with relevant references and sources.http://www.racebending.com/v4/campaigns/the-hunger-games/

Maggie

I love this comment. You’re completely right. Some people don’t even know they are racist.

Effie laova

No they should it be Suzzane Collins even said that those from District 12 are desendents from blacks.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=523240646 Jasmine Dixon

the fact that this is an issue is disgusting, people in today’s society are idiotic to state such rude and hateful things about people

http://www.facebook.com/people/Micah-李-文-Jung/100000482007095 Micah 李文 Jung

Dark Skin could mean many many many things when my sister gets a tan her skin is DARK does that mean she is black? Like wise Taylor Luanter is dark skinned is he black Adam Lavorgna is dark skinned is he black? As such I wish the author would make the characters races more clear

Katherine

Does the race really matter? Does it matter if the people just had darker skin or were black?
No, it doesn’t. The point of the article is to show the racism that some ‘fans’ are saying because the tweets and comments are wrong. It’s not right to be racist purely because someone doesn’t imagine a character that way.
And onto your “dark skin vs. black” comment – Katniss & Gale are described as having “olive skin” which leads to the assumption that the “dark skin” of Rue and Thresh would have been darker than olive. And likely that implies black.
rdh014

I think you’re missing the point.
I_Want_Cake

i have read some of your comments on this post and i can’t help but to conclude that you are missing the point COMPLETELY!!

you are angry that there were no other races represented in the movie…. that is NOT what this post/issue is about.

instead of you condemning overt racism, it seems you were defending it! what that tells me is that YOU ARE ONE OF THE RASIST ASHOLES OUT THERE!!!!
you may not be saying it, but you sure are showing your ‘true colours’!!

Nancy

People are dumb and unfortunately always will be. I thought she was perfect. She’s such a cutie! I loved her hair too. Everything about the way she portrayed Rue and the way she was styled was perfect and that’s what we should remember. She did an awesome job, as well as the rest of the cast.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Seth-Wells/1130513697 Seth Wells

i bet more then half of those people are trolls

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VCJSDSEDKYOBEKWGIXCDB2QPYA Henry

I cant believe race is still an issue in America.

http://twitter.com/hessolifelike Marie

Race is an issue especially in America. Read some headlines.

Guest

I may be very ignorant.. naive.. whatever you want to call me, but I honestly had no idea that this sort of racism even existed still today! It’s appalling and just plain stupid. I think that sums it up perfectly.

Josuemc 93

LOL they are bitching about a minority actor when most things in Hollywood these days are whitewashed… these people need to take a nap!

Jacob

This is heartbreaking. These people need to be ashamed of themselves. EVEN THE BOOK SAYS SHE’S BLACK, and it’s not really that big of a deal. The little girl who played Rue did a fantastic job with the little screentime she got, which is all anyone SHOULD care about.

http://twitter.com/emhebert Emily Hebert

People can be so stupid. If they read the books….they would know that Rue was described as having dark skin. Even if that isn’t how the character was described…IT DOESN’T MATTER. Some people are disgusting.

Emmalou

I feel terrible for the little girl who played Rue. She did an amazing job and now she’s getting hate from racist idiots who didn’t bother to read the book properly. What is wrong with people these days?!

Janielovespeeta

I’m not gonna lie, I never pictured Rue as ‘black’ just dark skinned. But these people are messed up. and I always pictured Cinna black

Josiah

I could understand fans not realizing she’s black if it’s only mentioned once, but remember, when Katniss visits District 11, the population has “dark skin like Rue’s.” And for fans to have such reactions, realize they were wrong and say, “Nevermind she is black” is extremely unsettling.

Ninjasaurus15

It must be hard for them to read the book with the two little holes slit out of the white sheet..

bell

Funny. People need to calm down.

The Real HP

Troll Comment: Thresh and Rue… were from the farming district.

Lorena

Rue is supposed to be dark skin, brown eyes…that’s kind of what black is, you dumbos. All you supposed ‘Hunger Games’ fans, you know, READ THE BOOKS! Gosh! They are supposed to be black. If they would have cast a little white girl, I would have been furious.

Dlmarvin05

Hunger games where tributes are severe racists. Anyone? No? sad face…

Ssahrishkhan08

First off, who cares what skin color the actors in the movie have? As long as they portray the chracter well and are talented I have no problem with how they look. Second, Rue was described as having dark skin. No, that does not necessarily mean she is black. White, latino and asian people can have dark skin depeneding on where they are from. You can interpret dark skin in any way you like….that does not mean that every character will be case to look like what you personally envisioned. That’s just how it is.

Ssahrishkhan08

cast*

katie

I don’t care what the book said. I just want my imagined neon-blue-pink-green Cinna hair. That is all I need. But noooo brown hair like the majority of this dang planet.
Slightly off topic. Obviously skin color doesn’t matter to me. But this hair issue. It has got to be fixed.

Brittany

Cinna had brown hair…

Brittany

Well I pictured Haymich as Hugh Laurie, but that doesn’t mean I am up in arms about him being played by Woody Harrlson. The characters could be any color of the rainbow and people would still complain.

It’s sad and appalling what people have posted, it’s a movie, and one thing we book-to-movie adaption lovers know is that they aren’t going to get every detail correct.

omgitzTHG

The author helped make the movie…
The actors were obviously casts the way she wanted them to be.
People are just racist assholes, unfortunately.

Dreamer

I can’t even get my words out, that’s how much I can’t stand racism. It’s ok to say that a character isn’t how you imagined them to be but it is NOT ok to complain that a character is black or even say that you were less impacted by their death because they were black when it is written in the book that the character is dark skinned.

A.P.W.B.Dumbledore

I never compare the characters in a book to how the actor or actress looks physically. If there are things that can be changed like hair color and a specific style that the character had than that should be correct in the movie. In Harry Potter they did a great casting job but even the main actors did not look exactly like their book character counterparts. Emma Watson was absolutely stunning in the Harry potter series while Hermoine in the books was not all that good looking , in fact J.K. Rowling said that she pictured Hermoine as fairly ugly in the books. Lord Voldemort had no ears, red eyes and very long hands, Ralph Finnes did not even after special effects.

In the Hunger Games they did a mediocre casting job when it comes to appearances. They were all great actors and did amazing in their roles which for me is the most important thing when making a movie. I thought that the actor for Rue was a perfect Rue and she far exceeded my expectations. I though when reading the book that she was black. If anyone did not look like their character it was Josh Hutcherson who looked awkward in blond hair. I do understand why people may be upset over appearances because if a character is white and you do put an asian or black person in for them it can really take away from the recognition and adaption. However, in the book Rue could have either been black or probably a darker hispanic person, so it really is not that big of a deal.

Star

Suzanne noted that Rue and Thresh are “dark-skinned” and then went on to describe how they were in a heavily policed district where the industry was agriculture. This is just another example of how awful the Capitol is, because believe in segregation based on race. Maybe you wouldn’t catch that they are supposed to be black characters, but Suzanne clearly wanted us to understand that District 11 (and 12) is slave culture.

rdh014

I totally think District 11 is made of primarily Black/dark-skinned people. I think it was her way of showing how The Capitol ended up reverting to old prejudices and assumptions. Maybe even reflecting the Old South in a way.
- LM
  
  Exactly, it’s one of the things I find to be the strenghts of the Hunger Games, how Collins makes that world so much like ours in the societal structures, and in that critique our present society. She does that by having the Capitol exploit the districts just like the North part of the world exploits the south, and she does it by having race or skin colour play a part in people’s status, like saying the merchants in 12 are blond and blue eyed while the miners are olive skinned, and by having the kids in richer district being fairer skin than those in the poor district. She draws parallells to both the slavery in ancient Greece, to the colonial era and to the poverty and exploting of our present world. I read all of this as serious criticism against our own racist, unfair and unsolidaric society.
  
  This whole discussion just proves how deeply racist our society is. And that’s sad beyond words.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=25309901 Rachel Paxton-Gillilan

I’m so so so glad Hypable posted this. I read about it yesterday. It’s good to see that the fans on this site are as outraged as I am.

But even still, this whole thing that “people shouldn’t have been thrown off because it was in the book that she was dark skinned” is total bullshit. People shouldn’t have been thrown off because they shouldn’t have cared. The color of someone’s skin does not make their death less sad. I don’t care if they were or were not prepared for it. Why would anyone need to prepare themselves? These people are horrid people who are totally out of touch with reality. Not only do they give the books and the fans a bad name, they have no idea what the book actually stands for.

http://twitter.com/chelscantil Chelsea Cantil

first- I admit when I found out amandla was cast awhile back I was thrown off cause I didn’t realize rue was dark skinned which she is described as, but that didn’t make me love her any less in fact it made me come to love and embrace her even more and did these “fans” see the promo posters along time ago? why are they complaining now? second- I can hardly believe i’m even having to defend this nonsense.. of all things for people to complain about it’s their skin type.. what world am I living in? third- amandla absolutely killed it as rue and I wouldn’t want her any other way -the end-

http://twitter.com/altonium Alton de Jesus

Da fuq did I just read?

7Starrchasers

I read this a couple of days ago….and I felt sick to my stomach….Infact I actually *in the heat of the moment* blasted one of the people who tweeted…and all she had to say was, geeez stop tweeting me already…and when I was reading some of her tweets, she was annoyed that over 70 people had tweeted her calling her a racist…the fact that she COUNTED the tweets, itself told me what kind of person she was…Just made me sad that someone could say such mean things.

Mary

That’s odd. While reading the book, I always pictures Rue as black. Either way, what does it matter?

Maggie

LOL technically Rue was supposed to be quite darker than the actress used in the movie.. she was described as having “dark brown skin”.. did Amandla have dark brown skin? No, it was more of a caramel colour.. I’m a black person and do you hear me complaining that she was light-toned? No. There is so much racism going on WITHIN a race (light-skinned vs dark-skinned African Americans). We don’t need white vs. black.

WrittenByArose

who gives a shit???????? skin is just skin, folks.

LotusCalm

I’ve heard that, and it angers me. Like, seriously. I thought Amandla Stenburg was PERFECT, but people ARE being racist.

FlamingC

What a friggin shame. I am from California and it seems that I don’t even know the real America yet. Wow. 2012 and this is still happening. What a shame.

http://www.eigakanthemovietheater.blogspot.com Jenny Leigh

Ok I have read and reread the description for Cinna, and I still think he’s Italian.

That being said though, I could care less who they cast for people, as long as they can act. Lenny Kravitz was OK. However, his race had nothing to do with his acting. I just expected more from the one casting that Gary Ross claimed “perfect.” Sigh. Oh well, Cinna wasn’t my favorite anyway.

Btw, this article is very old news, so why is it resurfacing again?? It kind of annoys me, because CLEARLY these people are idiots, and if you read some of the comments people are just effing around to start something (further, some of them can’t even spell). I read about this months ago when Rue’s casting was announced on a smaller website. I suppose the bigger ones finally found it??

rdh014

Yeah I just noticed it the other day on Jezebel.com. I knew it was something stirring after casting, but after the movie came out, there was much more pure negativity. I figured since Hypable hadn’t said anything about it, I would post something. Obviously a lot of people didn’t know about it. And you’re right, there are a lot of dumb people who don’t know what they are talking about.

potterjay

Before you read what I am about to say, I am in no way racist, or prejudiced or stereotype any minority (or majority), however, what I did notice was the in the film particularly, each districs had a distinct look; in the books, Katniss often mentions the ‘Seam’ look (with specific coloured eyes etc), but they expanded this. Those from 11 had darker skin, Cato and Clove both had very blonde hair and blue eyes; those from Clove’s district had olive coloured skin and dark hair; the boy from 4 had really curly hair… its not racism, it’s just expanding from what was said in the books!

Alohomora

Anyone who cries abuse with racism doesn’t deserve to call themselves a decent human being, let alone a fan.
I mean, that is just sad.

moglet

It makes me feel sick to my stomach to read that there have been so many racist comments. I’ve not seen the film or read the books, something which I do plan to do, but felt such dismay on hearing of these hateful reactions that I wanted to add my voice to the condemnation of these idiotic and hurtful comments.

EmmaBeanerzz7

i always pictured Cinna Asian but Lenny Kravitz did a good job so i don’t care but it’s just different then how you pictured it in your mind.

http://twitter.com/RachelgurlFL Rachel Gay

i think people should be ashamed of themselves for behaving like that who cares if she was black get over it

Caroline

Honestly. So, these supposed ‘fans’ A) didn’t pay attention while reading the books, and B) didn’t know the castings? THIS IS SO STUPID!!!!!!!

Also, Amandla doesn’t deserve this at all! She was a better-than-amazing Rue, and she also seems so sweet in real life. Her response (as posted in another Hypable article) was mature and honest, and I applaud her for that. The two of us are the same age, but she seemed about thirty, and, if I were in her place, I would either sound about three, and hunt down these Twitter-idiots and eloquently express myself with my pointy elbows and weirdly-shaped-and-ultra-hard-and-bony fists.

Geneva Guadalupe

I am sorry, but people are completely ridiculous. If you read the books, you should know the races of the characters.

Hpspnlover1

I think what deeply saddened me is not the fact that fans got the race wrong; its the fact that having been wrong their emotional connection to the character became pointless. As if sympathizing with a character of another race caused them to be tainted or was simply a waste of their time. And that’s a real problem because in times where black kids in a hoodie are suspected and accosted, a country with no sympathy for them, simply because of the color of their skin, is a very dangerous place. It makes me scared to to go outside and experience the world.

Furthermore, to the comments about how “dark-skinned” could be interpreted in a variety of ways. You’re right. There are plenty of dark-skinned, non-Black people. But why does it matter that the casting went with black? I pretty sure a plotline of Hunger Games was not the extermination of the Black race. However, a theme of unequal status was eluded to in the different skin tones and eye color of olive-skinned, grey-eyed working class vs. blonde, fair- skinned, blue-eyed merchant class in District 12. Race was important in the Hunger Games, and I’m sure Suzanne Collins wanted to have a range of races exhibited in the book and movie.

Also, I’m kind of curious. It seems like a lot of people think its ridiculous that these characters were black because they were described in the book as being so. But, what if they hadn’t have been. What if Gale was cast with a Native American, or even Black actor. Would it be such a big deal? Does race really matter that much? I know personally that when minority characters turn up in movies as white (i.e Avatar: The Last Airbender), it angers me because 1.) I enjoy looking at the screen a seeing people of my race and other races, 2.) it validates my existence. But, in the long run, I don’t find that my experience with the character, the emotions and sympathies I develop, aren’t damage. Is that just a side effect of looking at white characters all my life?

Emm

what people are saying is disgusting and completely uncalled for. I thought that as a whole, our society was moving forward and progressing. But the fact that some people are still just as racist as people 100 years ago is sad and a really big let down. Who cares what colour the skin of Rue, Thresh and Cinna are? Their importance was based on their character and personality, not what they looked like.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000008061767 Justine E Woodard

hell no. Its a freaking chemical in your body…. lol, I have olive skin does that make me less of a person then anyone else?

mampdx

I had hoped that this issue was just a teeny, tiny blip on the social media screen perpetuated by a handful of ignorant racists, but it appears to have spread ridiculously, and hurtfully, far. A black colleague of mine brought it up a couple of days ago when he asked me how I’d enjoyed the film at the midnight screening I’d attended. Speaking of this controversy, and the Trayvon Martin case, he shook his head with sad resignation and said “Welcome to my world.” It’s appalling to me that this kind of hate still bubbles up so easily, but it’s worse that there are so few voices in leadership positions – political or media – vigorously condemning it.

Adonis7

Im black. Would you all like to kow how to stop rascism? Do you really? Ok, listen closely…. Stoooopppppppppp TALKING ABOUT IT. Au revoir.

NarniaPotterGoneHungerGames

District 11 citizens are described as black in “Catching Fire”. I think rue and thresh were perfect, as well as Cinna.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=625092335 Lucy Brook

Why should an actresses skin colour be a problem? Especially when it was mentioned to be dark in the actual book?

It’s understandable to picture characters differently, I even pictured Rue different at first. However, not everyone is white. Get over it. If you have a problem that she’s black you have serious problems.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Risa-Lee/643637902 Risa Lee

Agreed 100%.

moomoo101

i think that rue was great and perfect people should suck it the hell up

http://www.facebook.com/people/Risa-Lee/643637902 Risa Lee

As a half black and half white reader, I generally can see both sides of both races views.

I agree with Morsmordre79 100%; it’s okay to feel that the Directors intrepretation of a character is different than your own. But it’s not even remotely appropriate to therefore attack someone according to race.

This is why America (and many other countries) is so broken and fragmented, sections of the younger generations refuse to move forward and instead allow Racism, Biggotry and downright close-mindedness to reign.

C’mon people – if any of you are Harry Potter fans, how many people were upset that CHO CHANG was of South-East Asian descent? Or that the PATIL’S (with an Indian name), were Middle Eastern?!

Let’s stop dragging race, orientation and aesthetics into it to begin with and judge others based on the content of their character…

This is just sad… Sheesh….

Eleanor

WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? RUE WAS PERFECT!