TV's BATWOMAN Seeking Out Actress, of "ANY" Ethnicity. Maybe not Jewish?
I was interested in the announcement of the new CW show for Batwoman and having that character interact with the other Arrowverse shows, but according to an article on the front page of CBR, Berlanti Productions is seeking an actress of "any ethnicity."
Here's a quote from the article:
[B][I]"Following the news that The CW is looking to launch a new series starring Batwoman, new details have emerged for casting the title role, with the network reportedly seeking actors of any ethnicity.
TVLine also reports the preference would be to find an actor between the ages of 25 and 29 who is lesbian, to accurately depict the Kate Kane from the DC Universe."[/I][/B]
[url]https://www.cbr.com/batwoman-the-cw-any-ethnicity-lgbt-actress/[/url]
So, they want a comics accurate Batwoman in the following sense:
- female actress
- lesbian actress: in other words, Batwoman will be a lesbian character in the show as in the comics, but ideally, the ACTRESS portraying Batwoman would ALSO be lesbian
- between the ages of 25 to 29
all being done "to accurately depict the Kate Kane from the DC Universe."
Well, from what I've read, Kate Kane from the DC Universe is also Jewish, so why is this the one aspect of the character that doesn't matter to the producers?
Here's a quote from Batwoman's wiki entry:
[B][I]"The modern Batwoman is written as being of Jewish descent and as a lesbian in an effort by DC editorial staff to diversify its publications and better connect to modern-day readership."[/I][/B]
I realize that there might not be a ton of Jewish lesbian redheaded actresses that are 25-29 out there, but you can certainly keep the character Jewish even if the actress herself is not.
By casting a wide net for "any ethnicity," you are basically saying that the character being Jewish is not a "must have."
I understand that the producers want to continue their diversity campaign, but keeping Batwoman Jewish IS diversity. Given how few Jewish heroes there are in comics and in television/movies, I think possibly doing away with Batwoman's Jewish ethnicity is really wrong-headed.
Quite frankly, I'm a little surprised Greg Berlanti doesn't see anything wrong with his decision.