| Author |
Message |
    
Edenson
Newbie Poster
Username: Edenson
Post Number: 23
Registered: 06-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 05:51 am: | 
|
Word is that Denzel is going up for the role of Hannibal... The controversy is that some people dont think that Denzel looks the part... Some would rather see someone with lighter skin in the role like Vin Diesel... Here is an article below.... Tell me what yall think of this whole thing........ This is another long aarticle so feel free to skim thru......
Press reports that 20th Century Fox is considering making an epic
movie starring Denzel Washington as Hannibal -- not the cannibal, but
the North African general who led his war elephants over the Alps to
surprise ancient Rome by attacking from the north -- are reviving
controversies over Afrocentrism and just how "ethnically correct"
movies need to be.
Washington is one of Hollywood's most honored and consistently
profit-generating leading men. Washington can "open" a movie big and
with the kind of budget this costume war movie would require, that's
a crucial consideration.
Washington is black. But, what was Hannibal?
After many decades in which white actors played non-white
characters, such as John Wayne's curious portrayal of the Mongolian
Genghis Khan in 1956's "The Conqueror," should non-whites like
Washington now play ancient figures who were probably Caucasian, such
as Hannibal? How important is it for actors to racially match their
characters?
Hollywood will have to come up with some solution to the
complications that Afrocentrism and other forms of identity politics
pose for the casting of ancient epics, because a huge number of these
sword-and-sandal films are being planned. The box-office success of
the Oscar-winner "Gladiator" and the 30 percent increase in revenue
over the last two years have combined to allow Hollywood's more macho
and grandiose moguls, directors, and stars to seriously propose
filming some of their favorite role models -- the conquerors of the
ancient world.
These include at least four potential Alexander the Great
projects and two Julius Caesars. The latter might raise the hugely
controversial issue of the race of Caesar's lover Cleopatra.
One thing to keep in mind about rumored Hollywood productions,
though, is that after all is said and done, a lot more is said than
done. Southern California is full of respected, veteran screenwriters
driving S-class Mercedes who have never had one of the numerous
scripts they've sold actually made into a movie.
Meanwhile, Revolution Studios is trying to beat Washington's
Hannibal with its own biopic of the Carthaginian military genius who
posed the gravest threat to Rome in its first thousand years of
existence. It would feature Vin Diesel, the action star of "The Fast
and the Furious."
Diesel doesn't like to discuss his racial background in detail,
other than to say, "I am truly multiracial. When people view me they
don't necessarily see a black man," he notes.
To some Afrocentrists, Hannibal ranks not far behind Cleopatra
as a black hero. Since 1975, Anhueser-Busch has been promoting its
corporate image in the African-American community by commissioning
and distributing portraits of "The Great Kings and Queens of Africa."
These attractive and forceful paintings include a Hannibal who is
depicted as even blacker than Washington. In the beer company's view,
Hannibal more closely resembled Michael Clarke Duncan, the imposing
6'5" African-American actor who earned an Oscar nomination for "The
Green Mile."
In contrast, non-Afrocentrists interested in the classical
world have generally not reacted enthusiastically to the rumors that
Washington might play Hannibal.
Mary Lefkowitz, a leading classicist from Wellesley, and author
of the anti-Afrocentrist bestseller "Not Out of Africa," told UPI
that Hannibal "came from one of the elite families of Carthage; his
ancestors were settlers from Phoenicia (in modern day Lebanon),
Semites like other peoples in that area of the world. They spoke
Phoenician, a Semitic language."
Carthage was a colony founded by the Phoenicians in what is now
modern Tunisia, which is only about 125 miles southwest of Sicily.
Philippe Gouillou, a French evolutionary psychologist who spent the
last two years in that North African country, laughingly commented
about his former hosts, who aren't always terribly sensitive toward
diversity, "I imagine Tunisians would hate Hannibal being considered
as a black African."
Indeed, in the depictions of Hannibal on Carthaginian coins, he
appears to be a strong, handsome Semitic white man. Of course,
ancient artworks weren't always perfectly realistic.
Salim George Khalaf, a North Carolinian of Lebanese origin who
runs the informative Phoenicia.org Web site, commented, "Although
Washington is a great actor, for him to play Hannibal would be joke."
On the other hand, as Lefkowitz noted, "Of course, the
Phoenician colonists could have intermarried with native African
peoples."
Richard Poe is a white conservative political pundit. He wrote
a sophisticated Afrocentrist book called "Black Spark, White Fire,"
which argued against Lefkowitz's view that the ancient Egyptians had
very little influence on Greek culture. Poe said, "Nobody really
knows to what extent the Phoenicians did or did not intermarry with
Africans during the hundreds of years that followed the colonization
of Carthage." He suggested, "For this reason, it is possible that
Hannibal might have resembled either Diesel or Washington, but it's
perhaps more probable that he resembled Diesel."
Still, the indigenous people of Africa's northern coast west of
the Nile were largely white. (Today, the U.S. Census Bureau
classifies individuals of North African descent as white.) The
largest North African ethnic group of that time was the Berbers, many
of whom would appear to be closer to Europeans than to Africans.
Yet, there are also other Berbers tribes who have some clear
sub-Saharan black admixture. Further, there are some quite black
occupational castes in North Africa, such as the blacksmiths. When
exactly the bulk of these admixtures took place is hard to say.
The Nile provided an easy road from the equator through the
Sahara desert to the Mediterranean, a route that has continued in
modern times.
Yet, crossing the arid central Sahara to Carthage was much
harder, especially before the domestication of the camel.
The racial diversity of North Africans offers the more erudite
Afrocentrists a clever response. If you use the old American "one
drop of blood rule" for defining who is black, then you could argue
that there is a strong probability that Hannibal was "black" in the
Jim Crow sense of having at least one black ancestor somewhere in his
family tree.
The passions these kind of questions arouse make casting
politically delicate.
Many theatre companies these days use colorblind casting. For
example, the prominent Goodman Theatre in Chicago blithely cast a
black actor as a 17th-century Italian cardinal in Bertolt
Brecht's "Galileo."
Film is a rather different medium, however, and moviemakers
obsess over whether actors would look right to audiences during close-
ups. As fans travel more and become more sophisticated about how
different peoples from around the world look, this puts added
pressure on casting.
The more ethnically correct the casting tries to be, the
narrower the talent pool it can draw from. Lebanese-American actors
who would be perfect as Carthaginian aristocrats include the
distinguished F. Murray Abraham, the Oscar winner for "Amadeus," and
the respected Tony Shalhoub ("Monk" on the USA Network). Yet, both
are probably a little too old for the sword-swinging Hannibal, so
they'd be better for supporting roles.
Hollywood has a long tradition of using stars to portray
ancient North Africans who, like Diesel, are hard to pin down
racially. The exotic European and Mongolian Yul Brynner made a
striking Pharaoh in "The Ten Commandments," and wrestler The Rock
(who is Samoan and black) was a likable hero in "The Scorpion King."
Poe argued, "Using racially ambiguous stars in some roles is
not only a reasonable precaution, but also probably gives a
relatively accurate picture of how many people in ancient North
African societies looked."
Several ancient world enthusiasts, who objected to Washington
as Hannibal, approved of Diesel in the role. Khalaf of the Center for
Phoenician Studies enthused over the star of the upcoming "XXX, "Vin
Diesel is the absolute best choice for playing Hannibal. He looks
very Mediterranean."
|
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 311
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 11:01 am: |
|
This is utter bullshit:
Still, the indigenous people of Africa's northern coast west of
the Nile were largely white. (Today, the U.S. Census Bureau
classifies individuals of North African descent as white.) The
largest North African ethnic group of that time was the Berbers, many
of whom would appear to be closer to Europeans than to Africans.
|
Rustang
Veteran Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 51
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 11:30 am: |
|
I think that I could buy into Denzel as Hannibal a lot quicker than the Duke as Genghis Khan.There was a movie from the early 70s called Hombre in which Paul Newman was cast as an Apache.I've known several native americans,including a couple of actual Apaches,but I never did see one of them that had blue eyes. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 3653
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 01:55 pm: |
|
Kola,
Okay then ol' Noble African Mother & History Teacher: What's the truth? |
Kola_boof
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 313
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 02:21 pm: |
|
ABM,
Nicholas Roman Lewis has just become my agent---I'm too THRILLED about that to get wrapped up in all these threads DISTORTING my part of the world and OUR history...all to appease Whites and Mulattos.
The truth is that Nicholas is committed to putting me on TOP....and I will be the living, breathing image representing MY PEOPLE and OUR REALITY.....today.
|
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 3659
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 02:31 pm: |
|
Kola,
Well then, uh, CONGRATULATIONS!? |
The_ethiopian
Newbie Poster
Username: The_ethiopian
Post Number: 16
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 05:42 pm: |
|
hahaha.....ive never laughed so hard in my lige denzel washington a negro playing the role of a white lebanese general bwahahaha......u negros are taking this afro centrist bull shit to a whole new level......let me guess next u guys will probably make a movie where juilius ceaser is played by dave chappele and celopatra is played by whopi goldberg...haha.......damn a people with out any written history (negros)......are one confused bunch.........damn kola is confused to.....so many dumb niggers in here so little time.... |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 2355
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 08:31 pm: |
|
Afro-centrism is not that wide-spread in the America's black community. The average black person views Africa as an exotic place to visit but they wouldn't want to live there. We've carved our own niche in this country and our resiliancy allows even our under-classes to live better than your disease-ridden, fly-swatting countrymen. Nobody is impresssed with what you're saying. Why don't you give it up? You're fighting a losing battle because - you're from a race of losers. ha-ha |
The_ethiopian
Newbie Poster
Username: The_ethiopian
Post Number: 19
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 29, 2005 - 11:44 am: |
|
^^^^ a race of loosers my ass we are the only african country that has never been colonised....the only african country with our own writing system and numerical system with litreature older than any found in europe, the first christian country in the world while europeans were still worshiping animlas etc.
now let us see the sccomplishment of your race.......the only race in the world which never knew how to read or write before his european masters taught him........the only race in the world which could not even invent the wheel until the europeans brought it to him in the 16th century....cannabalism etc etc i think u get my point |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 2367
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 29, 2005 - 12:11 pm: |
|
You spelled "losers" wrong. And your race is particuarly pathetic because it has no excuse to end up in the terrible shape it is now in. That's because it never developed the tools or the mentality to thrive in the modern world. Mussolini made a shambles of your esteemed country and brought your mighty emperor to his knees. Gimme a break |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 2368
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 29, 2005 - 12:32 pm: |
|
This exchange could go on and on, ethiopian, but it accomplishes nothing. I'd be the first to admit that African Americans have problems, but where your criticism is concerend, it's like the pot calling the kettle black. You have no room to talk about any other race because you come from a god-forsaken land, enslaved by its past, left festering in its own waste. You're over here in this country, pointing your fingers at others instead of looking homeward. BTW, what do you do for a living? Drive a cab? |
The_ethiopian
Newbie Poster
Username: The_ethiopian
Post Number: 23
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 29, 2005 - 07:05 pm: |
|
now i dont drive a cab cynique...... but let me ask u one thing isnt driving a cab better than standing in the welfare line? |
|
Email This Page