Emmy Rossum HAS to play Mimi in Rent- Page 2

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 10:32pm

Call_me_jorge said: "GeorgeandDot said: "hork said: "Um ... Latinas can be white.

 

LOL

 

 

"

Those who are from Latin America mostly likely come from Spanish ancestry, who are white. What's so funny about that?

 

It's a hilarious excuse for casting a white actress in a latina role.  Rossum has no Latin heritage.  Meanwhile, I can think of several actresses that come from actual latin heritage that would be better in the role.  It's not about the shade of their skin, but rather where their family originates.

I wasn't laughing at the idea that Latina's can be white.  If they are light-skinned or from Spain and they wish to be considered white, that's a different matter, but Rossum is definitely not of Latin heritage and therefore should not be in consideration to play Mimi.

 

Updated On: 6/29/17 at 10:32 PM

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 10:36pm

Oh yeah I agree with Trpguyy, I'm just arguing against the idea Latinan American can't be white.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 10:47pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Oh yeah I agree with Trpguyy, I'm just arguing against the idea Latinan American can't be white.

 

Yeah I wasn't laughing at that.  I was laughing at the idea that "Latinas can be white" as an excuse to cast a WASP actress as Mimi.  

Yeah Latinas can be white.... when they're latina.

[hork]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 11:04pm

I wasn't suggesting that Emmy Rossum could play Mimi. I was just responding to trpguyy's post, which seemed to suggest that "Latina" and "white" are mutually exclusive.

[hork]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 11:10pm

(and, incidentally, Emmy Rossum is Jewish, not a WASP)

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 11:52pm

My apologies to hork.  I understand what you're saying.

Also, interesting.  I didn't know Emmy was Jewish.

[hork]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 12:24am

GeorgeandDot said: "My apologies to hork.  I understand what you're saying.

Also, interesting.  I didn't know Emmy was Jewish.

 

No worries.

 

[Margo319]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 12:26am

 "Wow, what?"

Oh, they are saying you are an idiot sweetheart for your ridiculous, tone deaf statements about Hispanic people.  

[hork]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 12:48am

Margo319 said: " "Wow, what?"

Oh, they are saying you are an idiot sweetheart for your ridiculous, tone deaf statements about Hispanic people.  

 

What the hell are you talking about? Are you saying that Hispanic people can't be white? Because that's ridiculous.

 

[hork]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 12:53am

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 12:53 AM

[Lilly7]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 1:57am

I love fake "woke" people who don't actually bother researching what they're talking about. 

 

Hispanic is not a race

Latino is not a race. 

 

Btw the terms don't mean the same thing. Latino refers to people with ties to Latin American. Hispanic refers to people or cultures that have ties to Spain. They can be any of any race, white, black, native, Asian, etc.

themoreyouknow.gif 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 2:00am

^thanks for reminding me of this video: https://youtu.be/GBt5rMD2aDc

[hork]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 2:01am

Exactly, Lilly.

(I thought about bringing up the difference between Hispanic and Latino, but deleted it because it seemed beside the point and also a little pedantic, but you explained it well without sounding pedantic.)

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 02:01 AM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 2:05am

Lilly7, I'm not sure if I am one of the fake "woke" people that you're speaking about, but I basically just said what you're saying.  If I'm unclear, I'm saying what Lilly7 is saying if their response makes more sense.

Basically, it doesn't matter what the color of her skin is, it just depends on if she comes from a Spanish-speaking background.  Rossum does not so she is wildly innapropriate for the role.

[LunaEstelle]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 8:52am

Reading through this whole post is making me facepalm so hard. Why is it that blind casting is only okay in SOME cases but is not okay in others?

Some of you are acting like casting Emmy in a Latina role would be blasphemous. Yet, Denee Benton was cast as Natasha in The Great Comet, and she's African-American and clearly not of Russian descent, considering Russian aristocrats in that time period were no doubt white.

So... as I've stated earlier, why is blind casting only okay sometimes but not all the time? 

[Messytheatregirl]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 10:00am

"Of course. So cast a white Latina girl to play a Latina girl, not a white Russian/Jewish/Dutch/English girl to play a Latina."

 

...so I am guessing you also have an issue with Rene Goldsberry's portrayal of Mimi considering she is black with no latino background. 

[Kad]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 10:04am

Natasha is not explicitly written to be of any specific background in Great Comet (no character is specifically defined by race in that show). You really need to look at the *intent* of that show- it is very clear, from its earliest incarnations, that it was never intended to depict an historically accurate vision of aristocracy in 1812 Moscow, and has opted instead for anachronistically diverse casting. This is supported in its anachronistic score and design and its metatheatrical devices.

 

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 10:04 AM

[Messytheatregirl]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 10:11am

Who gives a sh** what someone's heritage or nationality is? They are ACTING for that character. They leave who they are behind in order to play a role. 

Now, if someone started saying that Emmy Rossum should play Celie in The Color Purple, that would clearly be an issue. In Rent, however, Mimi's latino heritage doesn't play a significant role in the story. 

Updated On: 6/30/17 at 10:11 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 10:17am

LizzieCurry said: "She's white.

The end! 

Move on. Dreamcast her as someone else.

 

I love you LizzieCurry.

 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 10:18am

GeorgeandDot said: "Jonathan Pryce HAS to play Mimi in Rent

 

Ok. This just made me spit out my coffee....EL OH EL

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 10:19am

hork said: "Um ... Latinas can be white.

 

Yes, they can and many are...the one thing they can't be is CAUCASIAN

 

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 11:48am

LunaEstelle said: "Reading through this whole post is making me facepalm so hard. Why is it that blind casting is only okay in SOME cases but is not okay in others?

Some of you are acting like casting Emmy in a Latina role would be blasphemous. Yet, Denee Benton was cast as Natasha in The Great Comet, and she's African-American and clearly not of Russian descent, considering Russian aristocrats in that time period were no doubt white.

So... as I've stated earlier, why is blind casting only okay sometimes but not all the time? "

I can understand that this is a confusing topic. It gets into deeper issues of cultural appropriation or rather cultural MISappropriation. I should work on doing a better job of explaining this, so forgive me for the utter lack of nuance, but essentially you could view this as "the majority or ruling class (white people) cannot appropriate from the minorities (non-white people), but the minorities (non-white people) should be able to appropriate from the moronity or ruling class (white people)". 

I feel like I'm going to be SLAUGHTERED (and maybe with good reason) by this board for laying it out in those terms. I'm hoping that someone here could reinterpret this in a much more thoughtful and precise manner as it is a sensitive topic.

Similar issues have recently been discussed in surprisingly interesting articles about the white male gay community appropriating/claiming Beyonce vs. Beyonce appropriating/claiming aspects of the gay community and even segments of choreography from white male choreographers that had created it for other shows, etc.

I get really "judgy" about this topic on this board because I feel that artists and those who assist in the creation of art in today's climate should have a firm grasp of this larger global discussion and yet I do a terrible job of explaining it, so...my bad, but I hope this makes some sense even if you disagree with the argument as a whole.

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 11:50am

P.S. Many of the comments on this thread have been funny as **** and more importantly, many have been very respectful even as they voice their disagreements, so bravo for civil (and fun!) discourse.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 11:58am

Not that I'm in any way particularly interested in Rossum as Mimi (no offense to Emmy but I don't quite see why this is such inspired casting), but while multicultural casting is a RENT mainstay that should be honored (in most cases at least) with respect to the cast as a whole, what would be the compelling reason why Mimi in particular should invariably be played by a woman of color?

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 12:05pm

I think of all the characters, Mimi is the only one whose ethnicity is actually written into in the show. Her name is Mimi Marquez, she sings about "home, when the Spanish babies cry" and in Act 2, her mother leaves a voicemail in Spanish. While the casting should be multicultural, none of the other characters are specific. Mimi is.