Dwayne Johnson is John Henry

[samsnee]

Look it's been a long day. But yes, I clearly have my wires crossed.

 

[daddydivine]

As a light skinned person, the idea that he doesn't look black is one the silliest things I've read on the Hype. It's also wildly offensive. We come in a lot of colors.

I'm sorry your feelings are hurt but if some dude walked up to me looking like Tom Arnold I'm gonna assume he's white.

I have no issue with knowing The Rock is half black, i'm just saying if the cops pulled him over he'd definitely be called a large Samoan male in the write up.

I have a suspicion that his mixed heritage might come into play in the movie anyway.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I have a suspicion that his mixed heritage might come into play in the movie anyway.

And if it does, that will be a damn shame. Hollywood is always bleaching black people and black stories, and a mixed John Henry is not the right message.

 

[Da-Scribe]

I'm sorry your feelings are hurt but if some dude walked up to me looking like Tom Arnold I'm gonna assume he's white.

I have no issue with knowing The Rock is half black, i'm just saying if the cops pulled him over he'd definitely be called a large Samoan male in the write up.

I have a suspicion that his mixed heritage might come into play in the movie anyway.

That’s what you think the cops would say? Good lord...

Also it doesn’t make you seem like some common sense citizen, because you don’t get that black people come in a variety of shades. It’s just willful ignorance.

 

[Schlosser85]

I don’t think Johnson would be taken for black. He’d get pegged as Pacific Islander.

 

[Aximili86]

White Scots-English-Irish people in the south at the time the John Henry story's set wouldn't know what a "Pacific Islander" is. They'd treat him as a "colored guy", and he'd have a really, really tough life.

That's enough to inhabit the character. He's half-black, he would have been treated as a lighter-complexion black guy at the time. With all the trials and tribulations that came with that.

That's grounds enough.

 

[Schlosser85]

I don't think he'd be taken for "black", I think he'd be taken for a native islander.

But it's not like they were treated much if any better, so he still would have had a rough time.

 

[daddydivine]

And if it does, that will be a damn shame. Hollywood is always bleaching black people and black stories, and a mixed John Henry is not the right message.

That’s what you think the cops would say? Good lord...

Also it doesn’t make you seem like some common sense citizen, because you don’t get that black people come in a variety of shades. It’s just willful ignorance.

I'm black. I know black people come in all shades. All I'm saying is Dewayne's shade makes him look anything but black. The Rock does not look light skinned he looks at most like a Pacific islander.

To me he looks as black as Rachel Dolezal. The Rock is free to get all the NAACP awards he wants since it is undeniable he is half black. But don't try to make me feel bad that I don't think a dude that can play Hercules doesn't have any of the black traits I see on a daily basis.

 

[Da-Scribe]

I'm also black and I have a lot of black family and black friends that look just like him. None of us are Pacific Islanders. So we can just chalk this up to different experiences.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I’m black and lightskinned (from two full black parents) and I can speak on it as well. This situation is like Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone years ago, just a total misfire.

 

[Schlosser85]

I'd think Johnson if anything would be even less appropriate than Saldana.

 

[Erzengel]

How?

Saldana is half Dominican and Half Puerto Rican trying to play a black person. The Rock at least is half Black.

 

[RockSP]

I'm black. I know black people come in all shades. All I'm saying is Dewayne's shade makes him look anything but black.

LOL...is this sarcasm, or do you honestly not see the contradiction?

I’m black and lightskinned (from two full black parents) and I can speak on it as well. This situation is like Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone years ago, just a total misfire.

Not the same thing at all. Nina Simone is a real person whose skin tone mattered in her story. Painting a lighter skinned black person dark to play her was just stupid. John Henry is fictional...or at least has crossed over into that realm. Some claim he was a real guy but there is really no way to confirm that.

As a fictional character he doesn't have to be any particular shade of black. Now if The Rock idiotically paints himself darker for the role then your comparison has more merit, just on the basis of stupidity on the part of both productions.

 

[RockSP]

How?

Saldana is half Dominican and Half Puerto Rican trying to play a black person. The Rock at least is half Black.

Nationality and race aren't the same thing. Zoe is (at the very least) half black.

 

[Erzengel]

Nationality and race aren't the same thing. Zoe is (at the very least) half black.

I know there is afro dominican but I think when I looked at Zoe's father he looked more hispanic than black. Which is why I always thought she was hispanic.

 

[daddydivine]

LOL...is this sarcasm, or do you honestly not see the contradiction?



Not the same thing at all. Nina Simone is a real person whose skin tone mattered in her story. Painting a lighter skinned black person dark to play her was just stupid. John Henry is fictional...or at least has crossed over into that realm. Some claim he was a real guy but there is really no way to confirm that.

As a fictional character he doesn't have to be any particular shade of black. Now if The Rock idiotically paints himself darker for the role then your comparison has more merit, just on the basis of stupidity on the part of both productions.

Man, I'm done. If ya'll want to say the Rock looks black more power to you. And when I said SHADE I meant shade. Shade is a mixture of black. I'm saying The Rock is lacking that. Thats why I said he doesn't look black. If you guys somehow can tell The Rock is black without knowing his dad is black you guys are walking ancestor detectors.

Also if you search for images of a fictional John Henry you always see a dark skinned man. Thats like saying Santa Claus can be played by anyone because he's fictional.

In fact I'm gonna say he looks black to me and he should be able to play any and all fictional black characters.

 

[RockSP]

Also if you search for images of a fictional John Henry you always see a dark skinned man.

James "War Machine" Rhodes was never drawn as a light skinned guy in the comics, but Terrence Howard played him in a movie.

Thats like saying Santa Claus can be played by anyone because he's fictional.

Wait...you've never seen a black guy dressed as Santa Claus?

In fact I'm gonna say he looks black to me and he should be able to play any and all fictional black characters.

 

[Erzengel]

He's played the Tooth Fairy. And I always thought that was a white blonde woman.

 

[Aximili86]

To me he looks as black as Rachel Dolezal.

*Headdesk*