White supremacists Versus Thor and Idris Elba

White supremacists urge Thor boycott over casting of black actor as Norse godCouncil of Conservative Citizens attacks Marvel for giving role of deity Heimdall to Idris Elba, star of The Wire

Locked horns... white supremacists object to Idris Elba playing a Norse god in Thor. Photograph: Brian J Ritchie/Rex Features

A US white supremacist group has called for a boycott of the Kenneth Branagh-directed superhero movie Thor on the grounds that a black actor has been cast in the role of a Norse god.

The Council of Conservative Citizens is upset that London-born Idris Elba, star of The Wire and BBC detective series Luther as well as a number of Hollywood films, is to play deity Heimdall in the Marvel Studios feature. The group, which opposes inter-racial marriage and gay rights, has set up a website, boycott-thor.com to set out its opposition to what it sees as an example of leftwing social engineering.



"It [is] well known that Marvel is a company that advocates for leftwing ideologies and causes," the site reads. "Marvel frontman Stan 'Lee' Lieber boasts of being a major financier of leftwing political candidates. Marvel has viciously attacked the Tea Party movement, conservatives and European heritage.


"Now they have taken it one further, casting a black man as a Norse deity in their new movie Thor. Marvel has now inserted social engineering into European mythology."


The site chooses to ignore its target's thespian talents, referring to "hip-hop DJ Elba" in apparent reference to the actor's career in East End nightclubs more than a decade ago. Elba himself addressed the casting issue earlier this year, pointing out that "Thor has a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers". He continued: "That's OK, but the colour of my skin is wrong?"



Branagh's decision to cast non-white actors as citizens of Asgard stands in apparent opposition to a one-time policy on Peter Jackson's forthcoming Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit. A British woman of Pakistani origin complained last month that she had been turned away from a casting session for being "too brown". The offending crew member, an independent contractor, was later sacked.



Thor, starring the Anglo-Saxon-looking Chris Hemsworth in the title role, and Jewish actor Natalie Portman as his love interest is due to arrive in cinemas next May.

 

The casting choice does make me wonder about the movies faithfulness to the lore. If they are willing to cast non nordic looking individuals, what other things will they fudge? I would think the same thing if they casted a white actor in his person for an identifiably depicted character with Black skin in African lore. If elba was drawn over like beowulf or in deracialised makeup like Star Trek that would be different, but there's nothing to indicate this character was ever depicted as looking like a black man. It does make me take the film less seriously and if I was directing this movie I would cast as many scandanavian/nordic looking actors as possible.

 

Everytime they cast Jesus Christ he never looks Middle Eastern even though the lore points to there as his place origin. I think he said it best when he said people can suspend belief for Thor snapping his fingers and hammer coming to him but making one of the Gods black is a big deal? There's nothing in the lore to indicate his character was Arian, its only assumed because of where it takes place. Its make believe I seriously don't know why people can't just shut the fuck up and be entertained. We have far more important problems in this world.

 

Thor is a Nordic god, of-course he looked "arian".
Your comparison to Jesus doesn't work for me for many reasons, one that the look of Jesus was a long time ago hijacked by white people...
This is not a similar scenario. Besides, one wrong doesn't justify another wrong. Any movie should stick to the books/scrips/lore when it comes to the basics at the very least - that is how I look at it - its not believable otherwise.

 

FG I was talking about Idrisa's character. I looked it up and there's no mention how he looks so its assumed he looks nordic.
My Jesus scenario holds true because no is calling for boycotts everytime Jesus is made white. The bible specifically says Jesus had skin of bronze and hair of wool. Sounds more middle eastern to me.
And more importantly we all can agree this is mythology mean it never happened its not real so who cares. Besides this isn't a remake of the lore but a remake of Stan Lee's vision from the comics.

Check and mate my friend lol

 

That the whole Thormythology is Nordic is something you can not dispute, anything else is plain silly. The Jesus argument is a whole other can of worms and a huge point of discussion but bringing it up in this scenario is not working. Like I said - one wrong doesn't justify another wrong.
I would be equally upset for the same reason if someone wanted to cast Brad Pitt as Shaft.
That its myth is neither here nor there..the story should hold true to the setting and background. Period.

 

Read what I'm writing carefully I never Thor was disputable I was talking about the character played by Idrisa the black guy. His character is another God in the court of Asgard who wasn't described as Arian in the lore just a soldier of Asgard. This is all make believe nonsense anyway. Its like when people were tight about Nick Fury being played by a black guy in Iron Man. Little ever gets said when they recast a fictional character as white person but let it be a black guy playing the role of what was suppose to be a white person and evrperyone is all of the sudden worried about authenticity lol.

Chris Rock said it best in Dogma a black man can steal your stereo but God forbid he's your savior or God in this case lol.

 

I meant the whole Nordic mythology, anyone in Nordic mythology is clearly Nordic looking, period. and I stand by my view. No matter what the scenario.. and it goes both ways.. I don't want a white person to play a character that is easily assumed to be black based on location and origin, even though the character is not clearly defined... logic defines it.

 

You're gonna claim logic in a debate about mythological creatures?
You see how this is hilarious right? Lol
Fair enough baby girl.

 

Come on, you know exactly what I mean.

 

i have to pick the number 1 !

if the movie is about nordic mythology, bring some nordic looking people for us.

not a big deal at all.

 

I hear what your saying but I don't agree. I just take shit like this for what it is just another good vs evil action flick. The trivial details of appearance mean little to me as long as there's a good story line and good action. Also keep in mind the main character isn't actually nordic he's from Austraila.

 

Tea tree oil is good for removing the musty smell from your balls.

 

It's a fucking movie for fucks sake...seriously:smt099

 

you're better off teaching a dog how to shit laying down. you can break that shit down to As and Bs, and a joint still won't agree with you just because she read this month's edition of Feminist Weekly.

:smt069

I feel you with the Jesus thing...every movie that depicts Christ, has him whiter than a new pair of Air Force Ones. Let that mothafucka be black or Arab, and all kinds of shit will be blowing up.

As for fudging up Thor lore...the only thing 'fudged' over is Heimdall. Every good movie needs a strong black actor, and they weren't going to cast a mothafucka as a Janitor (this aint Rudy, son and Charles Dutton aint in it). They needed someone to fill a meaningful role and they want the movie to give love to us in a way the comics didn't.

:smt039

 

man wash your ball sag first before u splash that shit on ? If you don't it's no different than shitting, splashing water up your crack without wiping.

 

Oh I most definitely shower first. If there is a Trader Joe's in your town, drop in and pick up a bottle of tea tree oil. After you grab a shower and have dried off a bit, get a cotton swab and just dab a little on it and give your balls "the treatment." Leaves a tingly feeling on them and gets rid of the musty smell or at least makes it less pungent. Some women like the musty ball smell, but there are limits to that I'm sure.

 

That exchange with FG only further proves brilliance in one area doesn't mean brilliance in all areas. She got me good when were discussing Obamacare in this thread I might as well had been arguing in Chinese because she definitely didn't get it lol.

And what kills me most is people are bitching over a minor character its not even like its Loki or Odin or eve Thor himself. Now look at movies like Dragonball Evolution which was bullshit or even more recently the last Airbender. The majority of the cast was everything except Chinese and there are a lot of talented chinese actors who could play these roles.

 

I hate when they try to change the racial background of a charcater to try and be modern. Keep the story all white... I will say that I find it hypocritical as fuck how whites bitch when you try to add color in their all white movies, but they find it ok to chnag ethe racial background of other "races" characters. I remember for the Airbender movie they made the bad guy Asian and the good guy white and the good girl white. When in the original story, the good guy and girl were asian and the bad guy was white. Look at this link http://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/the-casting-of-the-last-airbender/

 

Fam what are you talking about everyone in Airbender was Asian. It took place in China. What I find funniest of all is that we're on a site that promotes racial equality yet some of you can't get past race in a FICTIONAL story. Its not like they're trying to make Kennedy black smdh lol.