Angelina Jolie’s Blackface

[Shuriken]

Blackface is back, baby.

Angelina Jolie plays Daniel Pearl’s wife, who is of partial African ancestry, in the movie A Mighty Heart.

I’ve seen stills of Jolie with her skin darkened and in a nappy wig. Why didn’t they cast someone like Halle Berry or Thandie Newton?

I’m sure that some defender of the film will reply with the usual bromides of “being someone you’re not” and “the best actor for the part, regardless of race,” blah blah blah. The fact remains that there need to be more opportunities for actors of color — especially in meaty dramatic roles like this.

Not to encourage anyone else to do the same, but I’m not going to see this movie because I’m sure I’d be distracted by the racial politics of its casting.

Also, the next time that a Caucasian actor is cast to play a positive historical figure who is actually Asian, expect the project’s apologists to point to A Mighty Heart as precedent and justification.

[grimfan]

According to wikipedia, Marianne Pearl has European, African, and even Asian ancestry. So why should only Black actresses be considered? That'd just be adhering to the racist One-Drop Rule.

[kimpossible]

Because Jolie doesn't have any African ancestry, visible and/or acknowledged in public record. It's blackface pure and simple even if it's a lighter shade. It's typical of the limousine liberal and since Jolie is dying to have a family of mixed race but won't touch a guy less white than flour, never mind mate with one, some of her comments on playing Pearl have been inadvertantly comical.

[j&j2]

Well, it's not as simple as that.

Marianne Pearl is actually more white than black and Angelina Jolie does have some native American blood.

And there's the interesting issue of the "one-drop" rule which some have argued is racist in itself.

In addition, it'll be interesting to see what the reaction will be to Halle Berry playing the role of Tierney Cahill, a white schoolteacher whose sixth-grade class persuaded her to run for Congress in 2000 in the upcoming film "Class Act."

Imo, while I can understand the sentiments (in light of the history) - I think this particular case is different than if a white actress played the part of a "BF" (who wasn't multi-racial) and is a bit overblown.

Here's an interesting article on this in the WashPost.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062202029.html

[kimpossible]

Well, it's not as simple as that.

Marianne Pearl is actually more white than black and Angelina Jolie does have some native American blood.

And there's the interesting issue of the "one-drop" rule which some have argued is racist in itself.



None of this negates the blackface Shuriken mentions. Jolie is probably whiter than me but it doesn't mean it's suddenly okay for me to do.

[deez nuts]

angelina jolie is gonna make a hot black chick.

[SunWuKong]

Marianne Pearl is actually more white than black and Angelina Jolie does have some native American blood.

have you seen what Marianne Pearl looks like? i think it would be difficult for most people to think she's "more white than black" just upon looking at her.

but the point is really not so much about the simple fact that Jolie is not black. blackface is a history of black actors and actresses being denied roles for black characters. any anger about this from the African American community didn't come out of a vacuum.

[grimfan]

I don't think this is Blackface because:

1) Marianne Pearl is not pure Black and is of mixed ancestry with an ethnically-ambiguous look (kind of like Jolie herself).

2) Her race is not an important issue in the story, I think.

If they got a pure Black, or at least pure Black-looking (i.e. Halle Berry) actress to play the role, it would've been equally as off-kilter as Angelina Jolie playing Marianne Pearl. The best solution probably would've been to take a semi-Black and ethnically-ambiguous actress like Thandie Newton, but if you limit your choice of actresses based purely on what they look like, you're probably not going to get the best person for the job.

And Angelina Jolie is not your stereotypical White actress (she's not Naomi Watts). She has mixed heritage and an ethnically-ambiguous look that could pass for part-Native American, part-Latino, or even part-African (however faint).

[grimfan]

I'm not dismissing Hollywood's unfair history of promoting White stars and White heroes in lieu of people of colour, and conversely, placing people of colour in roles of subjugation or degradation instead of putting Whites there. But I don't think this is a case of that kind of malicious situation. I think allowing women like Marianne Pearl to be played by a "White" actress will ultimately help in breaking down the current racial barriers. Programs like Grey's Anatomy are famous for having had race-blind casting, so I think it should go both ways when the situation is appropriate. I'm not advocating having Lindsay Lohan play Rosa Parks or anything stupid like that! But at least at the fringes of racial ambiguity, I think there's been enough progress to be a little more tolerant.

[monkeygone2]

I don't think this is Blackface because:

1) Marianne Pearl is not pure Black and is of mixed ancestry with an ethnically-ambiguous look (kind of like Jolie herself).

2) Her race is not an important issue in the story, I think.


1) Marianne Pearl does not look like AJ. AJ is ethnically ambiguous? Even her PR wouldn’t have the nerve to say that. If AJ wants to claim her creole ancestry now, I’m not going to judge.

2)If race wasn’t an issue, then why brown makeup?
If they wanted the lead to be a woman of color, they should’ve hired a woman of color.
If race didn’t matter, then AJ wouldn’t be in brown makeup.

but if you limit your choice of actresses based purely on what they look like, you're probably not going to get the best person for the job.


Sorry, but that was kind of ridiculous. This is fucking Hollywood. It’s all about “what (you) look like”.

And Angelina Jolie is not your stereotypical White actress (she's not Naomi Watts).

So Naomi Watts is whiter than white? Naomi Watts is “stereotypical” white? What’s stereotypical black & asian?

She has mixed heritage and an ethnically-ambiguous look that could pass for part-Native American, part-Latino, or even part-African

Yes, when it suits her. With the help of makeup. I think you're reaching.

I'm not dismissing Hollywood's unfair history of promoting White stars and White heroes in lieu of people of colour, and conversely, placing people of colour in roles of subjugation or degradation instead of putting Whites there. But I don't think this is a case of that kind of malicious situation.

Blackface does not have to have malicious intent.
A good example is the highly regarded play (performed in black face), "The Emperor Jones". The writer & actors had good intentions, but it was still about Caucasians having the power & privilege.

I think allowing women like Marianne Pearl to be played by a "White" actress will ultimately help in breaking down the current racial barriers.

Now I’m getting a little angry. I think you got that backwards.
When Hollywood routinely ALLOWS minority actors to take roles typically reserved for Caucasian actors, we’ll have progress.

I think there's been enough progress to be a little more tolerant.

Was "Crash" progress?

[VV o n g B a]

pic of marianne so u can judge for urself.

http://www.state.gov/m/ds/rls/25163.htm

[SunWuKong]

pic of marianne so u can judge for urself.

http://www.state.gov/m/ds/rls/25163.htm

looks like a lot of black women i see everyday (i live in DC, so-called Chocolate City).

again the point is not so much that Jolie cannot play a black character, but that this is a role that's been denied to black actresses to play.

so supposedly there's nothing wrong with Jolie playing Pearl - but i'd like to ask, is there anything wrong with someone like Halle Berry or Thandie Newton playing Pearl?

[monkeygone2]

^ you know, i read somewhere that brad pitt originally aquired the rights to the script so his then wife, jennifer aniston, could play pearl.

so while most people are thinking thandie newton & halle berry,
the producer was thinking angelina jolie, jennifer aniston... & if they were still together, probably gwyneth paltrow.

[tripostrophe]

A post from racialicious on the subject

A Mighty Heart: Revealed

by Racialicious special correspondent Latoya Peterson

A Mighty Heart has gotten a lot of play on this blog (see here and here).

We’ve debated everything from the motives in selecting the lead actress to Marianne Pearl’s experiences to neo-blackface.

Personally, I’ve been keeping an eye out for an answer. In last month’s Glamour (or it could have been the month before - I only read Glamour every so often), Marianne Pearl discussed her experience and indicated that she sought out Angelina Jolie. She initially sought her out in friendship, and later asked for her to take on the role.

This month, I’m paging through Esquire and start reading Tom Junod’s extremely thorough and researched interview on Angelina Jolie. On page 85, Junod shone some light on the making of the film:

A year later, Mariane Pearl published a memoir of her marriage to Danny and the terrible circumstances of his death. Called A Mighty Heart, it was not a bitter book nor a book of broken faith. It was, indeed, a book that put forth the notion that Danny and Mariane Pearl did not lose to unimaginable evil but rather triumphed over it by living as citizens of the world to the very end. Brad Pitt bought it while it was still in manuscript and started to develop it as a vehicle for his wife, Jennifer Aniston; and when Brad left Jennifer for Angelina after the filming of Mr. and Mrs. Smith,it was Mariane Pearl who suggested Angelina Jolie for the role of Mariane Pearl, for, as it turned out, Angelina Jolie and Mariane Pearl were not just kindred spirits. They rather startlingly drew the same meaning from their different experiences after 9/11. They rather startlingly both believed that the story of Daniel Pearl’s death was about good people coming together to fight evil rather than evil guys coming together to destroy good. They rather inevitably became close. “I read the book,” Angelina says, “and Mariane and I got on really well as women, and we’ve since become really great friends, and our kids have become friends.” And in A Mighty Heart, they joined forces on a movie that, far from bemoaning the fact that some people are worse than others, celebrates the fact that some people are just better.

A couple notes:

1. That was copied straight from the magazine, long sentences and one block paragraph intact.

2. In the Glamour article, Mariane Pearl indicates that she initiated the friendship with Angelina. They became friends first, and then things moved forward on the movie.

So, after reading this account, what do you think?

Personally, I’m kind of shocked that the movie was going to be a Jennifer Aniston vehicle. I think that blows my mind. What were they going to do with her to transform her into Mariane Pearl?

On a gossipy note, that kind of blows for Jennifer Aniston - Angelina got her man AND her film!

I also wonder how Mariane Pearl self-identifies. I find it interesting that no one of color was tapped to play her - even though this would have been a no-brainer choice based on looks for Halle Berry or Thandie Newton or maybe a new undiscovered actress. I am not sure how much control Pearl had over the process initially, but she did recommend Angelina for the role. Did she just want someone she knew and trusted to portray her correctly? Or is there something more behind this?

What do you think? Regular readers, does this change your opinions expressed in the comments on the previous threads?

Check the comments section as well:

http://www.racialicious.com/2007/06/18/a-mighty-heart-revealed/#comments

[VV o n g B a]

if i were mariane, i'd want to have a large role in choosing the person who played me in a movie. i do wonder why angelina didn't just get a tan tho. why in this day and age, w/ blackface being such a political no-no, would she put that shit on? or is it really a tan and not blackface? do we know for sure that her darker skin is from blackface?

[lethal]

I was going to mention that Marianne Pearl herself endorsed Jolie for this role to play her. I don't know if that makes a difference to Shuriken.

[Golden Monkey]

You know what would be "blackface"? Casting Whoopi Goldberg or some dark black female as Marianne Pearl.

Who looks more like Marianne Pearl - Angelina Jolie in make up or Whoopi Goldberg, Queen Latifah, Angela Bassett or Jennifer Hudson?

Plus, the bigger issue here is who the f cares about Marianne Pearl? The movie should be about DANIEL Pearl.

His story as an American Jew of Iraqi Jewish ancestry murdered due to his religion and nationality during a time of great Jewish/Muslim/Western conflict is what is compelling.

Who cares about his wife. It's just a vanity production for Angelina Jolie and Marianne Pearl.

[VV o n g B a]

u're throwing up straw men golden. no one has mentioned the women u name b/c they don't look like mariane. thandie newton's name has come up a lot b/c she's pretty close. halle berry has been mentioned b/c she's half white and relatively light skinned. while i don't think halle fits b/c she's too dark, at least it's within the ballpark.

the women u mention aren't even close.

and while u're right to some degree that daniel should be the focus b/c he's the one that died, if u care so much about it, then why don't u go and make a movie about it?

[Arex]

I was going to mention that Marianne Pearl herself endorsed Jolie for this role to play her. I don't know if that makes a difference to Shuriken.I would think that should make all the difference in the world, at least if the complaint is that the industry is depriving minorities of casting opportunities. Then it's pretty much all on the individuals.

Then again, even if she "endorsed" Angelina, we don't know if she was given any real choice in the matter. "Would you rather be portrayed by Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt dressed in drag?"

[Golden Monkey]

u're throwing up straw men golden. no one has mentioned the women u name b/c they don't look like mariane.

You mean straw women, Oh strike that. I guess you were referring to Queen Latifah, my bad. Well, some idiot in the Washington post link mentioned QL in relation to a movie about Princess Diana.

thandie newton's name has come up a lot b/c she's pretty close.

No box office appeal at all. If the movie was about Daniel Pearl with a box office draw in the lead then yeah TN could play the wife.

halle berry has been mentioned b/c she's half white and relatively light skinned. while i don't think halle fits b/c she's too dark, at least it's within the ballpark.

But it's acting, it's fake anyway.

the women u mention aren't even close.

Obviously. That's why I said it would be black face. It was a joke, i.e. they had blacker faces than M. Pearl.

and while u're right to some degree that daniel should be the focus b/c he's the one that died, if u care so much about it, then why don't u go and make a movie about it?

Well, if you love it so much then why don't you marry it? Duh....

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MMPH/243671~Pee-Wee-Herman-Posters.jpg

Great come back.