Originally Posted by
Superlad93
Fundamentally, for myself, no I wouldn't care. I'd want to see the actor best and most compelling for the role. That's me in my purest state of mind on the subject--unmarred by the actual world I live in. However, this idea can not be exorcised from the inherently gross nature of Hollywood and pop culture when it comes to stuff like this, because the reality is race is used as an fashionable set of clothes in pop culture and waaay more so when it comes to Hollywood. That sort of casting is for getting people brownie points (and the o-so sought after "we're not racist, see" points) is far more important to them than what would potentially a genuine stride forward, and it usually does more to negate said aforementioned stride when it's done really poorly......like say, oh I dunno, when a character has a hard time sticking on screen because they're thought of as boring (or white bread, if you like), inaccessible, or too powerful.
I'm sorry, but I tend to have this gross feeling when I can pretty overly see that my skin tone (I'm black btw) is being commodified to make a struggling or problematic character more sympathetic or less "whitebread" for the general public. I can and have to roll with that sometimes because that's just the reality I live in, and maybe the product is good in spite of the creepy reasons behind this choice. But other times I just can't do it, man. Like, if they did it with Superman right now it would be 100000000000% (I only stopped making zeros because you get my point) to win brownie points because their last attempts with the character have been run out of the room. The idea of an all powerful white dude making decisions for the whole planet is maybe in the worst light humanly possible right now. But in stead of acknowledging the inherent topical nature and actively presenting "no, it doesn't have to be like this, and not all people that look like this are like that idiot and his like over there" alternative, it's much easier for the Hollywood studio to slap on a person of color, slink into the crowd, and chant "yeah, we were with you the whole time. That guy sucks." Y'all not slick.
This whole "what's in fashion" skin color edition can go f#*k itself. It's the literal plot of the movie Get Out. Old white people parading around in the bodies of people of color based on what's "in" or "cool" at the time. A better metaphor for what changing Superman's race right now would mean doesn't exist, I promise you. Get Out was one of the scariest movies I've ever seen in my life. I damn near had an existential crisis on the drive home thinking about this in terms of my life and the media I consume.
I have no right answer for if it's good in the long run or not, but I just know if we're this specific instance and this specific time, it sort of creeps me right the hell out.