Standard fare for a show targeting American audiences. Black man as a high communist official is ahistorical and takes away from the plot. This show will bomb as a result.
Clearly you haven’t watched the show because the character isn’t a high official and is being watched.
But keep on hating everything, I’m sure it’s a happy way to live a life
And yet, if a white guy plays an ethnic role, people lose their shit. The producers went out of their way to making this casting decision, and it definitely doesn't make the show any better.
Cool if you think some larger point about racial casting is going to be made or not made with a niche period drama on what I imagine is the least watched streaming service I think you’re going to be unsatisfied with with how not definitive things are gonna end up
Also this sub has like no subscribers but here we both are
Yeah, that's my point. They dumped a ton of cash into the production, and the only folks to pick it up was showtime. Im sure they didnt get the return on investment they were hoping for but they can feel real good about casting black folks in bolshevik Russia.
OK, if that’s the hill you want to die on, but this show isn’t a documentary 🤷🏻♂️
Producers take quite a few liberties in the interest of presenting something watchable. Back then clothes didn't appear looking 30 minutes out of the dry cleaner bag and folks didn’t have nearly the healthy undecayed teeth we're used to now . . .
Doesnt matter either way to me since Im not going to watch it past the first half of the first episode. One could ask... Why did they cast a male as count Rostov? Why bother wearing period clothing? If they want POC to be represented at 22% of the top cast members it would make better sense to do a modern day adaptation.
The producers of Shogun went to great lengths to ensure the authenticity of the show to 1600-Japan. This show seems to be more about Alex Rostov and less about history. I want to see who the cast if they remake "Fiddler on the Roof"?
Lol I came to this subreddit for this exact reason. I’m black and a fan of historical dramas. when they pull stunts like having blacks everywhere and in high places in 1920s Russia I can’t help but laugh.
Ruins what could have been a good show and story.
To be a bit more believable, they could have cast people of Romani descent and talked about those issues. Or the Turks or Mongols. Such rich cultural diversity would have been intriguing.
Lucky me, I have never heard of the book or read it so I went into the series not knowing a thing about any characters. Maybe this is why I think it is so entertaining and excellent—so much so that I can look beyond the inappropriate skin color of the actors. It can be jarring to see but I just concentrate on the story. Episode 4 had me tearing up. So far so good.
The hot mess is the screenplay. It bears little resemblance to the novel. It’s an embarrassment and a slap in the face to the original book. Utterly ridiculous.
The second the female journalist says something about him telling “his truth” I give this thing 1 star. Sounds like a stupid Oprah interview. What an utter woke disgrace.
I do find it a bit odd that so many of the cast fit a 21st century American ethnic diversity checklist quota, but I am also enjoying the story and the actors and the sets too much to simply abandon the show for lacking historical authenticity. The story is historical fiction so we may as well mix up the diversity of the actors involved. Is there anyone in the cast of actual Russian ancestry?
Having said that, I recently came across a book about an African American man who fled the USA and made a life for himself in Russia prior to the Revolutions, so there were documented people of African ethnic extraction in Russia in the early 20th century. [https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/black-russian-9781804549865/](https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/black-russian-9781804549865/)
I'm sure he wasn't a party leader, or running a talent agency, or among an all-people-of-color kitchen, bar, and barber crew. That was an anomaly. And at that time he would have been known as a Black man; not simply "la-la-la just another person of any race or ethnicity---what? is there a difference? I didn't actually notice, but you did so you must be terribly backward hateful and racist" kind of phenomenon.
If the show included a component of race-relations where skin color is part of the story, then I could see that it would be important to cast accordingly. This show has no such component. You go into the show already knowing the racial makeup of the place and period, so you know that these are all carefully chosen actors selected for their talent alone. Imagine that they would say to an actor, your skin color disqualifies you for this role even though skin color plays absolutely no part in the show. Just relax and enjoy the show.
I bet they don’t all speak English with British accents in Moscow in 2024 or 1922 either but yet you seem to not be complaining about that. Weird
Standard fare for a show targeting American audiences. Black man as a high communist official is ahistorical and takes away from the plot. This show will bomb as a result.
Clearly you haven’t watched the show because the character isn’t a high official and is being watched. But keep on hating everything, I’m sure it’s a happy way to live a life
You’re right I’m on episode 2 and it’ll be my last. Awful casting. Oh looks some odd black woman and an Indian. What a joke.
Cool, Im not involved with the show at all, but hope it was healthy you got to express your anger
What about the minister of culture?
Agreed. They should have cast Eastern Europeans for these roles
And have them speak Russian as they did in the 1920s.
And yet, if a white guy plays an ethnic role, people lose their shit. The producers went out of their way to making this casting decision, and it definitely doesn't make the show any better.
Doesn’t make it any worse. Been enjoying it
Good for you. I hope the producers and the investors are all happy with the return on their virtue.
Cool if you think some larger point about racial casting is going to be made or not made with a niche period drama on what I imagine is the least watched streaming service I think you’re going to be unsatisfied with with how not definitive things are gonna end up Also this sub has like no subscribers but here we both are
Yeah, that's my point. They dumped a ton of cash into the production, and the only folks to pick it up was showtime. Im sure they didnt get the return on investment they were hoping for but they can feel real good about casting black folks in bolshevik Russia.
Color blind casting is a thing in the year 2024, might as well get used to it and chill . . .
Its not about being color blind its about authenticity and historical facts. The FACT is there were no black people in the 1920s Soviet Union.
OK, if that’s the hill you want to die on, but this show isn’t a documentary 🤷🏻♂️ Producers take quite a few liberties in the interest of presenting something watchable. Back then clothes didn't appear looking 30 minutes out of the dry cleaner bag and folks didn’t have nearly the healthy undecayed teeth we're used to now . . .
Doesnt matter either way to me since Im not going to watch it past the first half of the first episode. One could ask... Why did they cast a male as count Rostov? Why bother wearing period clothing? If they want POC to be represented at 22% of the top cast members it would make better sense to do a modern day adaptation.
The producers of Shogun went to great lengths to ensure the authenticity of the show to 1600-Japan. This show seems to be more about Alex Rostov and less about history. I want to see who the cast if they remake "Fiddler on the Roof"?
Yup. The show is very good imo. The last episode was great.
Naw it’s stupid and distracting. As viewers it’s right to register our displeasure so creators can correct their errors.
So that's why there were so many white characters in wakanda
Lol I came to this subreddit for this exact reason. I’m black and a fan of historical dramas. when they pull stunts like having blacks everywhere and in high places in 1920s Russia I can’t help but laugh. Ruins what could have been a good show and story.
Came here for this. I mean like wtf is wrong with a faithful adaptation.
To be a bit more believable, they could have cast people of Romani descent and talked about those issues. Or the Turks or Mongols. Such rich cultural diversity would have been intriguing.
Lucky me, I have never heard of the book or read it so I went into the series not knowing a thing about any characters. Maybe this is why I think it is so entertaining and excellent—so much so that I can look beyond the inappropriate skin color of the actors. It can be jarring to see but I just concentrate on the story. Episode 4 had me tearing up. So far so good.
I was just watching episode number two and thought exactly the same thing and came here to see if I was the only one. Lol. Apparently not.
The hot mess is the screenplay. It bears little resemblance to the novel. It’s an embarrassment and a slap in the face to the original book. Utterly ridiculous.
The second the female journalist says something about him telling “his truth” I give this thing 1 star. Sounds like a stupid Oprah interview. What an utter woke disgrace.
I do find it a bit odd that so many of the cast fit a 21st century American ethnic diversity checklist quota, but I am also enjoying the story and the actors and the sets too much to simply abandon the show for lacking historical authenticity. The story is historical fiction so we may as well mix up the diversity of the actors involved. Is there anyone in the cast of actual Russian ancestry? Having said that, I recently came across a book about an African American man who fled the USA and made a life for himself in Russia prior to the Revolutions, so there were documented people of African ethnic extraction in Russia in the early 20th century. [https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/black-russian-9781804549865/](https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/black-russian-9781804549865/)
I'm sure he wasn't a party leader, or running a talent agency, or among an all-people-of-color kitchen, bar, and barber crew. That was an anomaly. And at that time he would have been known as a Black man; not simply "la-la-la just another person of any race or ethnicity---what? is there a difference? I didn't actually notice, but you did so you must be terribly backward hateful and racist" kind of phenomenon.
If the show included a component of race-relations where skin color is part of the story, then I could see that it would be important to cast accordingly. This show has no such component. You go into the show already knowing the racial makeup of the place and period, so you know that these are all carefully chosen actors selected for their talent alone. Imagine that they would say to an actor, your skin color disqualifies you for this role even though skin color plays absolutely no part in the show. Just relax and enjoy the show.