...What the hell are you smoking, dude?
I ask because you've been saying some really weird things about playing Tonto in The Lone Ranger. Now, Tonto is a Native American character, and as such shouldn't be played by a white dude, namely you, in the first place. Now I know you like the character, and that's great! I like the character of Mulan, and I'd never play her in anything, regardless of the fact that my acting skills don't extend beyond playing Grandma Wishy-Washy in a school play when I was in first grade. (I totally killed that role, though.)
We're white people, Deppster. There are plenty of roles for us. Most of the roles that aren't written specifically for a particular race go to us, even! And that sucks all around, because it results in movies and TV shows that are much, much more white than the world actually is. But it's even more of a kick in the nuts when a white actor plays a character of color, specifically when it's a character, like Tonto, for whom their racial background is an essential part of who they are.
Whitewashing is disrespectful and insulting to actors, characters—hell, people—of color. It's like blackface grew up and got a little more sophisticated and a little more socially palatable but is still, not to put too fine a point on it, fucked up.
It's not bad enough that Tonto's a racial stereotype, he has to be played by a white actor, too?
And it's not bad enough that you're playing him, but you have to have a white savior complex about it, too?
Don't remember what you said? Here, let me remind you:
"Ever since I was a kid, watching The Lone Ranger series on TV, I always had a fascination with the series. I loved Jay Silverheels," Depp told David Letterman.
"But I was always sort of perturbed somehow by the fact Tonto was thought of as the sidekick. The errand boy, it just didn't sit well. So it's been something I've felt very passionate about for a long time.
"And the idea that Native Americans have been misrepresented horribly throughout the history of cinema and television, so I thought it was a great opportunity to flip that cliché on its head and bring the respect back to these people… these dignified people.
"I had a very close relationship with the Comanche nation and the Navajo allowed us into their world as well, and learned quite a lot. They were very, very helpful.
"[The film] was approached with only good intentions. And if there's 15 kids... 20 kids on a reservation somewhere who can watch this film and walk away feeling proud of their heritage, proud of their culture, and want to keep their language... their culture alive... if they get that, then I feel my job is done."
Depp.
What the fuck, Depp?
You're going to "bring the respect" back to these "dignified people"? For someone who respects them so much, you sure don't seem they're capable of self-respect without a white dude helping them. You know what's good for kids to see? People who look like them, who share their backgrounds and whom they can see themselves in, up on screen, doing great things. You know. Representation. And you seem to get that representation is good, but somehow the notion that they should see an actual Native American person on the movie screen just... doesn't connect? I don't get it. I genuinely do not get where you are coming from with this, Deppinator.
That's a trend for me when it comes to the whole whitewashing issue, though. Every time it happens people (rightfully) say, hey, that's fucked up. But studios never seem to catch on that this is something a lot of people clearly don't like, so maybe they should... make a statement? Or do something to indicate that they're aware whitewashing is, if not wrong, at least a sensitive issue?
But they don't. M. Night Shyamalan with The Last Airbender aside, as far as I can tell studios and directors don't tend to respond to criticism of whitewashing. Like it's not even an important enough issue that they could patronize us with some bullshit PR statement. And I don't get it.
Well, no, that's not quite true, Depp. I kind of do, even if I don't like it. The people who are vocal about those things tend to be Internet People, and we're a loud bunch, but I think perhaps we're not as influential as we think we are. The casual moviegoer doesn't particularly care about whitewashing, which is their prerogative, and as such the bottom line of the movie in question isn't really affected. No monetary reason to comment = No comment.
But the obliviousness of it still bugs me, and that obliviousness, sir, is given rakishly handsome, Tim Burton-loving form in you.
I'll be honest. It's lowered my respect for you quite a bit. Like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory didn't do that enough.
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