| re: I think Hugh should have done The Will Rogers Follies | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 09:26 pm EDT 06/14/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 09:11 pm EDT 06/14/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I think Hugh should have done The Will Rogers Follies - BroadwayTonyJ 08:52 pm EDT 06/14/22 | |
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| This is a very complicated topic because... yes, for all visual intents and purposes, Will Rogers was a white skinned person. He looked white, he was received as white by white people (presumably unless said white people knew he was Cherokee and had an issue with that due to racism/anti-Native sentiment). I don't know if I can fully agree that no white person can play a white-skinned person who is half-native. I'm not going to argue that a Native American shouldn't be the choice for Will Rogers, because why not? Let's have that! Especially now, and for awhile to come. Native Americans are some of, if not the least represented racial minority in this country. There are also so few roles on Broadway or musical theater that are specifically Native American. He was Cherokee and that needs to be honored. But I mean... he's also white, isn't he? White being a descriptor. Trixie Mattel is part Native (I think his white-skinned father's grandma was native? I forget) and his mom his Asian (Philapino), but he is one of the whitest skinned people you could see, and he doesn't identify actually as Asian or Native because it would not be accurate to the purpose of it, identifying skin color and how that may impact how they're received and responded to in society. They aren't denying their heritage and family, but they identify as white because it would seem disingenuous not to (at least that's my understanding). I have no idea about how Will would feel about this in 2022 ... or how the Cherokee community of today feels ... and I'm not an expert on him and what he said in his life, and I think yes, a Native American should play this role. But I also think it's worth acknowledging that a white-skinned person who is nonetheless native American does not experience the world, nor does the world experience him, the same as if he had brown(er) skin like most of his fellow Cherokee, especially in the years he lived (1879-1935). It might be progressive and powerful for audiences, especially poc audiences, to see a non-white-skinned Native person as Will in the story of his celebrated life (or many many poc audiences would hate it, or be completely indifferent to it either way -- I suspect, given the show that it is, that outside of media coverage and press showing a Native American man starring in a Broadway musical, and as Will Rogers, the real impact of the casting and the revival would be on white audiences, which is not a bad thing - white audiences need to see that too, but for different reasons) ... but it would also, I suspect, be a generous and aspirational re-writing of history to present this real man's life story as if the same life would have been led, the same opportunities found/given and seized, the entertainment career and the political career etc, if he were the same man with brown skin. I'm happy to have and would love to buy a ticket to that production, and I have no need to white wash or just tell stories of the past that hinge on their experience being in a racist world... but of course as he was a real person, in a real America, and there's plenty of footage and photos of him, there is a reality to recon with about who he was and how/why he was able to have the life he had at the time in this country that he had it. |
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