Missives

Contemporary films may not as often have their white performers create such obvious stereotypes, but they achieve the same result of marginalization for people of color and non-Anglo people; reference recent pop culture properties that have changed the race of their characters from the source material to be Caucasian or Anglo, specifically in the films The Prince of Persia and The Last Airbender. A narrative that redacts the particular ethnicity or nationality from which it was borne goes through a series of deprivations.

First, it deprives performers of color or those of the origin’s national identity job opportunities, which are already greatly limited in film. Second, it makes people of color or non-Anglo identity invisible, saying their stories are not worthy of being told, certainly not of being told by them, Finally, it values the already overvalued and overprivileged class of society and provides a false sense of universalism by showing an Anglo person in the guise of a person from another ethnic group. This redrafting of identities continues to exoticize the world for Anglo eyes–basically, this can be called cultural imperialism. It is seen as worthy for all people to assimilate toward an Anglo worldview.

- Anna Karenina and Anglicizing Other Cultures « In Our Words