DC Media: TV Shows, Animated Movies and Video Games

[Frontier]

I thought they already cast Constantine? Or was I just imagining a fan casting?

There was an audio drama Constantine for the Sandman audio drama.

I dont think its so much them thinking that a black man is more believable as a drunk bum as I think they see making Constantine black as more progressive than making him Asian.

And if you wanted a comic-accurate Constantine you may as well have just brought Matt Ryan back.

[chief12d]

There was an audio drama Constantine for the Sandman audio drama.

And if you wanted a comic-accurate Constantine you may as well have just brought Matt Ryan back.

I’m convinced that the race swaps are partly performative at this point because they know they generate controversy. Mobilizes the folks on Twitter who blindly support anything with a person of color in it and gets the right wing trolls riled up and let’s them duke it out online for clicks and promotion.

[Johnny]

No not really. White characters are still the majority by a very large margin, majority of white characters are white because of the time they were created in and due to racism in general. Trying to create diversity by racebending isnt anymore "racist" as genderbending a male character to a female character is "sexist". Imo at least.

No I was talking about what they're doing here in the sense of changing a character by looking to racebend him in a specific way. Not by having an open casting where any actor can have a chance to prove they are good enough for the role regardless of what their color happens to be, but where the actor has to look a certain way. You speculated they might have thought it was more progressive to make sure the character is black rather than any other color, that's why I asked if that kind of mindset wouldn't be racist on their part since they make sure to exclude every other race, not that the actual decision to racebend the character in general was somehow racist.

[Rac7d*]

This guy could do it

[SuperX]

I'm pretty sure we all know that the most racist and sexost place in the none world is Hollywood. The more they act like they are progressive, the more they "show" that they are not

[Primal Slayer]

No I was talking about what they're doing here in the sense of changing a character by looking to racebend him in a specific way. Not by having an open casting where any actor can have a chance to prove they are good enough for the role regardless of what their color happens to be, but where the actor has to look a certain way. You speculated they might have thought it was more progressive to make sure the character is black rather than any other color, that's why I asked if that kind of mindset wouldn't be racist on their part since they make sure to exclude every other race, not that the actual decision to racebend the character in general was somehow racist.

I dont see it as racist to racebend a character with a specific ethnicity in mind.

[John Venus]

I could see Chiwetel Ejiofor or David Oyelowo pulling off Constantine but I don't expect this adaptation to be completely accurate to the comics anyway. Plus the aforementioned actors are out of the age range and one of them is already in a Marvel movie.

I don't mind race bending especially since most characters in DC/Marvel were created in a time when it would have revolutionary to have non-white hero and the superheroes have to adapt with the times if they want to keep relevant.

But Constantine (nor Etrigan for that matter) would not be my first picks to be played by a non white actor. They're both characters who could easily lead to more potentially problematic tropes rather than avoid it. Constantine's whole thing is that he gets the loved ones of those closest to him killed and he himself does nasty, underhanded **** in order to win. Etrigan meanwhile, is a literal demon who is just as bad as the monsters he fights with Blood barely clinging to his own humanity.

Though I wouldn't mind if they cast non white actors for Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, Zauriel, Deadman, Phantom Stranger, Spectre, Nightshade but they should also try to build up existing non white characters like Black Orchid, Dr Mist and Bloodwynd (if you want a black hero who fits in to the horror genre, why not try to revamp this guy?).

[Robotman]

I really don’t understand the reasoning behind the race change. Over the past 5 to 10 years Constantine has become a pretty well known character. He’s been pushed a lot in outside media so he’s not a blank slate with pop culture fans. people know what Constantine is “supposed to look like”.

Plus if you’re going to do a comics accurate Constantine he actually needs to be a shitty person who would sacrifice friends to win. There are so few POC characters given prominent roles in pop culture so it’s odd that they would choose John the Con as a character used for representation.

[Sodam Yat]

I dont see it as racist to racebend a character with a specific ethnicity in mind.

You're literally racebending a character with a specific ethnicity in casting. They're disregarding their talent, because they don't have the right skin color for the job. It's not just whites, though. What about the other minorities who aren't black? It's discriminatory against them. Fighting discrimination with discrimination isn't the answer. This doesn't solve diversity issues if you're excluding other minorities with talent that could probably be best fit for the job.

[John Venus]

I don't think the world has progressed to a point where asking for just black actors for a specific role could be discriminatory. Out of possibly hundreds of black actors auditioning for the role, they're still going to choose the one who best fit the take they're going for with Constantine.

I wouldn't be surprised if the production team thinks the character is fair game for being played by a non white actor because Keanu Reeves played and that the character is basically 'Dr Strange in a trenchcoat with some horror flourishes.

[Frontier]

Ejiofor and Oyelowo seem like they'd fit someone more like Jason Blood than Constantine (I think they had concept art for Ejiofor as Jason, but it looked kind of weird). I'd go with David Ajala if only because I think he'd get the voice and demeanor down and it's not his first DC property (he was Manchester Black on Supergirl).

Constantine has a pretty distinctive look for someone who is not a cape type, but that's basically embodied by Matt Ryan so I guess they just decided to go for broke and try to showcase more surface-level diversity because this will be probably the only place Constantine is black in.

[Gaius]

Well in fairness, 90% of Constantine's personality seems to be the trench coat and having a lit cig, so give any actor that and they're already in the ballpark of comic-accurate Constantine.

[Frontier]

Well in fairness, 90% of Constantine's personality seems to be the trench coat and having a lit cig, so give any actor that and they're already in the ballpark of comic-accurate Constantine.

That's basically just for presentation and ambience .

[Primal Slayer]

You're literally racebending a character with a specific ethnicity in casting. They're disregarding their talent, because they don't have the right skin color for the job. It's not just whites, though. What about the other minorities who aren't black? It's discriminatory against them. Fighting discrimination with discrimination isn't the answer. This doesn't solve diversity issues if you're excluding other minorities with talent that could probably be best fit for the job.

Deciding to take a white character and wanting to make them into a specific ethnicity isnt disregarding all other talents. If they decided they wanted an Asian actor for Constantine, no one would be thinking "this is so unfair to black actors!" especially when we dont know how the cast is going to round out. We dont know even know if they want to tell a specific story that they feel they can only tell with the character being Black. Open castings are always great (Little Mermaid, Supergirl) and hopefully the way of the future but saying that when you racebend a white character they have to be open to everyone and you cant decide to be to just cast a black, Asian, Latino, etc..actor seems a little laughable.

We're still dealing with an industry that still attempts to whitewash characters of color (Crazy Rich Asians, Doctor Strange), thats the problem.

[skyvolt2000]

I don't think the world has progressed to a point where asking for just black actors for a specific role could be discriminatory. Out of possibly hundreds of black actors auditioning for the role, they're still going to choose the one who best fit the take they're going for with Constantine.

I wouldn't be surprised if the production team thinks the character is fair game for being played by a non white actor because Keanu Reeves played and that the character is basically 'Dr Strange in a trenchcoat with some horror flourishes.

The issue at times is most do NOT audition for those roles.

Either they don't know about them or they don't bother.

Wesley Jonathan, Arjay Smith & the late Lee Thompson Young-Gary from What I Like About You (Wesley), Allen Strange (Arjay) and Famous Jett Jackson (Lee). All those roles including Alex Mack from the Secret World of Alex Mack where meant to be white males.

In all cases that is what showed up and those 3 were the only POC at those auditions. If the don't specify race casting call-a lot of POC are not going to bother. They think they don't have a shot.

Also how many POC were told to leave and not given get a shot? Maulik Pancholy wrote about that happening before.