When did Nina Simone’s skin color match that of Zoe Saldana? Apparently always. Whitewashing – the practice in which a person (director, producer, a fan, etc.) takes a character who is originally of color, and replaces them with a white actor or a white FC claim. Whitewashing also makes a character look more “white”/European in order to appeal to the white masses.
People of a minority descent (read as: everyone but white people) have always been underrepresented in the media, and whitewashing provides a disservice to them. It strips away the little comfort they thought they had and leaves them with little to no real representation. It is hard enough to get adequate representation in the first place, and whitewashing strips it away. Not only is the public underrepresented, but whitewashing causes actors of other skin colors to never land major roles. White people already get a majority of the roles that are cast, so why can’t black people or other persons of color be cast for the roles that were already geared toward them?
Brown- or blackwashing is not a thing; white people are not underrepresented in the media, therefore they cannot be “washed out.” Giving roles to persons of color does not deprive white people of that opportunity since they have many more than minorities. I find it difficult to believe that directors and casting officials cannot find people of the correct race that are as talented as the white actors they find which is so often an excuse used by the industry. Maybe they aren’t finding the right people, or maybe they are just biased. Either way is wrong.
This does not only happen interracially; it happens intraracially as well. Going back to my opening point about Nina Simone and Zoe Saldana, instead of just picking a darker skinned actress that resembled Simone (such as Adepero Oduye) to portray her in a biopic, the directors and casting crew chose Saldana, which caused them to darken her skin tone by a considerable amount and give her a wider nose and fuller lips. There were definitely other people that could have fulfilled the Nina Simone look without having to alter much.
It is true that people are conditioned to see characters in a book or movie or any other media as white unless explicitly stated due to the nature of society. I understand that. However, when all you see (or all you want to see) is white people as the main, non-evil characters, that is when there is a problem. Other races exist on the planet and should be represented accordingly. Also, if a character or creature is purely fictitious, why must a white person be cast? many people have criticized the Hobbit because the hobbits weren’t brown — not even the background/minor characters.
Whitewashing has been done not only in the media, but in history as well. Beethoven was part Moor, which means that his skin was considerably darker than they paint him. Jesus of the Christian faith was also a person of color. Coming from that area, there is no way that he could appear as many churches view him: white, blue eyes, long flowing hair. Another person that is whitewashed consistently is Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra. A scientist discovered her sister’s body and tested it for sampling, finding that she most likely had dark African ancestry. Also in a movie that is being worked on, Exodus: Gods and Kings, there is an all white cast except for the people of color that are being used as the enemy. However, neither the Egyptian Gods or their people were white or that fair-skinned as to be confused with white. Something is definitely wrong in that situation.
This does not only happen with black people, but Asians, Latinas, and indigenous peoples as well.
When people whitewash history, it can lessen the sense of pride felt by that group of people/eliminate it completely. It can also denigrate a people, which is the point. There is then the idea that they are unable to do something because their skin is not the right shade. People that are already underrepresented should be able to have people to represent them, even if only for a little while.
