| re: Gene Nelson -- Yes "White Privilege" Benefit | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 04:58 pm EST 03/08/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Gene Nelson -- Yes "White Privilege" Benefit - Singapore/Fling 01:27 pm EST 03/08/21 | |
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| I appreciate your detailed and respectful response. All that I can say is that "whiteness" or "white privilege" is more complicated than the way those terms are used on ATC. My skin tone is pretty white, although that is not true of some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Everyone from the Irish and Polish part of the family are very white. However, some of my family from the German and Czech part are much less white-looking and even a little dark. As kids we used to joke about it, even laughing that one of my cousins was the black sheep or the dark one of the family. There were stories from my German grandfather's siblings that generations earlier, we must have gotten some Hebrew blood mixed in with the German. Also, from 1948 through 1992 my family lived in Chicago suburbs that were regarded as less desirable. My dad was an electrical worker, my mom was a factory secretary, neither was well educated. Even after graduating from college and getting a master's degree, I was regarded as an "other", most likely because of my background. This never bothered me and never hindered my advancement -- I always had a lot of drive and self-assurance. However, my brothers and other members of my family all suffer from low self-esteem. As I've mentioned a few times before, my current extended family is now about one third white, one third Hispanic, and one third Asian. The Hispanic part is about half Mexican and half Cuban. The Asian part is about half Korean and half Lebanese. When we all get together, I get to hear a lot of opinions and points of view. Regarding Patrick Adiarte, you and I sparred a few weeks ago about the casting of Adiarte as Chulalongkorn in the film of The King and I. I had argued that the opportunity given to him and Yuriko Kikuchi in the film was a good reason for Brynner getting the role of Mongkut because without Brynner, the film would not have been made. In yesterday's post I said that I had seen some similarities between Adiarte's career and that of Gene Nelson. Another bone of contention on ATC is the litmus test some here have for who is considered Asian or Asian enough to play Asian roles. My opinion has been that (at least in the 50's) the casting of actors like Brynner (who is East Russian and Buryat on his mother side) and also Martin Benson, who is of Russian and Hebrew ancestry, was appropriate. |
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