Fantasy Netflix's The Witcher - General Discussion Thread

[Delwin]

If Ciri is non-white, it means a number of her biological relatives in the show would be cast similarly. For example, her paternal side is Emhyr of Nilfgaards. They are referred to as the "Black Ones" going by their black armor and their sigil of the Black Sun.

That would be pretty serious decision, unless there is decision to create all Elves to be single human race (e.g. Asians) and then claim Ciri (as descendant) to look similar. Alas, I am afraid that nobody would care about consequences of the change.

On the popularity of books in Poland: yes, they were bestsellers, outselling other fiction books.

 

[TheVileOne]

Yeah, well casting white actors as white characters isn't going to hurt the series either, though, so...whatever.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

I'm counting down the days until October 18.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Yeah, well casting white actors as white characters isn't going to hurt the series either, though, so...whatever.

That was never up for debate.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Gotta say, it's kinda cool for me to read up on the material and think how great it is, and still don't care if they keep it white or change a few characters. Eh, still watching it. lol

 

[Punisher_MAX]

I mean if they cast Ciri as Asian i wouldn't be that mad because Elves almost could pass off as Asian but anything else would seem way off.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Making your cast diverse isn't going to hurt the series. If they make a bunch of changes that hurt the story, yeah be pissed. If they do everything in their power to make Ciri different from what she has been established to be to the point where it might as well have been a new character, yeah be pissed.

First and foremost, changing what people are used to or fell in love with will create (well-deserved) negative reaction. Already did. Even putting aside racial debates, what % of European population were poc, or cultural background of this or that work of art. In the end, properties with established fanbases have specific expectations. Ciri was never described or portrayed as poc. You said you know nothing about the property, but I'm sure there are more popular examples where race, despite not being crucial for character development, is a huge part of the history of the character and changing it will make a lot of people pissed.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Eh, Superman being white is not a key quality imo. I must admit, I'm no die hard supe fan, so it wouldn't bother me. Hell, George Miller did cast DJ Corona in the role, and he is part hispanic.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Eh, Superman being white is not a key quality imo. I must admit, I'm no die hard supe fan, so it wouldn't bother me. Hell, George Miller did cast DJ Corona in the role, and he is part hispanic.

That's what I'm talking about. It's not a key quality, but it's part of iconography and lengthy history. You change his race and it will open gates of Hell. And it's perfectly understandable. I'm not a fan of Superman, but I'd be pissed.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Where do I push open these gates of hell? lol

Please don't say Cleveland, cause it already is hell there without Lebron. They have nothing left, fam.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Where do I push open these gates of hell? lol

Please don't say Cleveland, cause it already is hell there without Lebron. They have nothing left, fam.

 

[Primal Slayer]

First and foremost, changing what people are used to or fell in love with will create (well-deserved) negative reaction. Already did. Even putting aside racial debates, what % of European population were poc, or cultural background of this or that work of art. In the end, properties with established fanbases have specific expectations. Ciri was never described or portrayed as poc. You said you know nothing about the property, but I'm sure there are more popular examples where race, despite not being crucial for character development, is a huge part of the history of the character and changing it will make a lot of people pissed.

Making any white character into a POC gets plenty of fans up in arms, end of the world. Casting a black actress to portray Starfire, an orange Alien got people up in the arms and coming out with "she has white features though!" Hell even changing a characters hair color gets people pissed off. I 100% get wanting your faves adapted like how you envision them, I was wanting Barry Allen to be blonde and was disappointed when he was brunette both times in his modern live action adaptions, etc...but it wasnt a make or break for me and saying "I refuse to watch because 1 major character may be a POC" is a bit much imo.

But we have had a faithful adaption looks wise of Dinah Laurel Lance in Arrow but they did everything to keep her as far away from her comic origin, persona in the show. We are on our 3rd Black Canary who is Dinah Drake.....who has been DLLs mother FOREVER in the comics. That's the things that annoy me and get me pissed off. Not the fact that they brought in Dinah Drake and she is now a POC despite DD being a white brunette/blonde for her entirety of her main run in comics. Our main version of Wally West is now a POC, only thing I wish they did differently was give the actor red hair.

It's ok to be pissed off but the only thing that truly grinds my gears is trying to say that X cant be in X because of this time period even though its a 100% fictional world (zero references to real history) as if it is going to take them out of the story because they see some black or asian people walking around and being part of the cast.

Cleopatra is typically played by white women who have no ties to Greece or Egypt and we are fine with. Xena cast a black actress to play Cleopatra and it changed zero about the character. Her race wasnt brought up, wasnt an issue, she was jsut Cleopatra. Just as if they cast a non-white for Ciri she should just be Ciri.

And as far as % of POC in medieval Europe? Probably something we'll ever to truly put a number one, they existed and we know that for a fact. Here's a cool Tumblr that dedicates itself to showing POC art from those time periods in Europe.
People of Color in European Art History

 

[Black Narcissus]

Even going back many months ago:

 

[Black Narcissus]

 

[TheVileOne]

Hissrich shouldn't rant on Twitter. It's just confusing. She should just keep to herself and not engage with fans on social media.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Isn't that the point of twitter tho? To engage with followers. I find it good that she takes time to even bother at all

 

[Punisher_MAX]

Hissrich shouldn't rant on Twitter. It's just confusing. She should just keep to herself and not engage with fans on social media.

Yeah she's shooting herself in the foot imo.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Making any white character into a POC gets plenty of fans up in arms, end of the world. Casting a black actress to portray Starfire, an orange Alien got people up in the arms and coming out with "she has white features though!" Hell even changing a characters hair color gets people pissed off. I 100% get wanting your faves adapted like how you envision them, I was wanting Barry Allen to be blonde and was disappointed when he was brunette both times in his modern live action adaptions, etc...but it wasnt a make or break for me and saying "I refuse to watch because 1 major character may be a POC" is a bit much imo.

But we have had a faithful adaption looks wise of Dinah Laurel Lance in Arrow but they did everything to keep her as far away from her comic origin, persona in the show. We are on our 3rd Black Canary who is Dinah Drake.....who has been DLLs mother FOREVER in the comics. That's the things that annoy me and get me pissed off. Not the fact that they brought in Dinah Drake and she is now a POC despite DD being a white brunette/blonde for her entirety of her main run in comics. Our main version of Wally West is now a POC, only thing I wish they did differently was give the actor red hair.

In case of animation or comics it's usually tricky because of stylization. We can easily tell princess Jasmine or Aladdin in the Disney animation have middle-eastern features. There's no double telling about it. Same applies to Superman or T'Challa. But in many comics or manga it's more complicated. People interpret images differently. Artists draw differently. For the most part, it comes down to how important for you that this or that character looks in a specific way indeed. But sometimes it's more than that. I can't really imagine a royal dynasty being poc in the Northern Kingdoms. Or forest elves.

It's ok to be pissed off but the only thing that truly grinds my gears is trying to say that X cant be in X because of this time period even though its a 100% fictional world (zero references to real history) as if it is going to take them out of the story because they see some black or asian people walking around and being part of the cast.

It doesn't need to have necessarily references to real history. It's still can be inspired by real historic periods or places.

There's an example when I really liked the change to the usual depiction of elves in fantasy. Elf Quest. All-white forest elves are forced to leave their homeland. After they cross the desert they meet dark-skinned elves. It made total sense. It's authentic. I really enjoyed it and it never bothered me.

Cleopatra is typically played by white women who have no ties to Greece or Egypt and we are fine with. Xena cast a black actress to play Cleopatra and it changed zero about the character. Her race wasnt brought up, wasnt an issue, she was jsut Cleopatra. Just as if they cast a non-white for Ciri she should just be Ciri.

I can't react to every injustice made towards depiction of real or fantasy characters. This is probably inaccurate adaptation of Cleopatra's appearance. But I believe people didn't have a problem with this interpretation because Egyptian people can look like that. It's not out of ordinary.

And as far as % of POC in medieval Europe? Probably something we'll ever to truly put a number one, they existed and we know that for a fact. Here's a cool Tumblr that dedicates itself to showing POC art from those time periods in Europe.
People of Color in European Art History

I never denied their existence in Medieval Europe. It was still very small. Our (Russian) arguably greatest poet of 19th century is partially-black. But it's extreme rarity.

 

[Lilbaz]

And look those characters still got white washed. But people of color are less represented then white people you gonna get people mad if you make a POC character into a white person. But we've been doing that for YEARS for big movies. Hollywood attempted to make the lead in Crazy Rich Asians into a white character just so people would see the film.

Not to mention that when you make the white person the savior of people of color over and over and over and over and over and over again, it gets old. Is Ciri going to be the savior of everyone?

70% of characters in film are White, so you aint losing anything if someone gets gender bent or made into a POC. 20 Marvel films and there are like 5 POC? Zero female lead films.



I can give you over 1000 movies that are culturally relevant to white people. But being mad about 3 characters making your fantasy Europe irrelevant is something else.

70% of charcters in film are not white. The majority of film stars are not white. Hollywood only makes a fraction of films that are made each year. Nigeria makes more films a year than america as does india.

White people make up 70% of americas population, so having 70% of actors in hollywood films is a very fair representation.

 

[Iceman]

70% of charcters in film are not white. The majority of film stars are not white. Hollywood only makes a fraction of films that are made each year. Nigeria makes more films a year than america as does india.

White people make up 70% of americas population, so having 70% of actors in hollywood films is a very fair representation.

Most of the big budget Hollywood films are world films, aimed at the global audience, not like many of the Chinese and Bollywood films which are aimed at the local market and play up to that. If it’s a film about American history then that’s different but Hollywood films are popular all over the globe unlike the Nigerian films of which I bet nearly everyone I know would struggle to name one between them, even though people in Nigeria can likely name many Hollywood films.

 

[Marvolo]

Is it confirmed ciri is black in the show? If so I dont like it. So far this show's casting leaves a bit to be desired, but I wont swear off the show just yet. It could still be a good show even if it's not true to the books or the games. As a Hatry Potter fan I accepted long ago that adaptions can be good in spite of some radical changes

 

[Iceman]

Is it confirmed ciri is black in the show? If so I dont like it. So far this show's casting leaves a bit to be desired, but I wont swear off the show just yet. It could still be a good show even if it's not true to the books or the games. As a Hatry Potter fan I accepted long ago that adaptions can be good in spite of some radical changes

I think the casting call was for “BAME”. I would have preferred Ciri to look as close as possible to her look in the game which I really liked.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Is it confirmed ciri is black in the show? If so I dont like it. So far this show's casting leaves a bit to be desired, but I wont swear off the show just yet. It could still be a good show even if it's not true to the books or the games. As a Hatry Potter fan I accepted long ago that adaptions can be good in spite of some radical changes

It's not confirmed yet.

 

[Lilbaz]

Most of the big budget Hollywood films are world films, aimed at the global audience, not like many of the Chinese and Bollywood films which are aimed at the local market and play up to that. If it’s a film about American history then that’s different but Hollywood films are popular all over the globe unlike the Nigerian films of which I bet nearly everyone I know would struggle to name one between them, even though people in Nigeria can likely name many Hollywood films.

Probably why the south koreans make better films tahn americans these days. They concentrate on telling good stories.

My point was that hollywood is not the film industry. It is just a part.

Tbh i'm not too fussed they changed ciri's colour. Slavs might be pissed though and i can understand that.

 

[Fincher]

Most of the big budget Hollywood films are world films, aimed at the global audience, not like many of the Chinese and Bollywood films which are aimed at the local market and play up to that. If it’s a film about American history then that’s different but Hollywood films are popular all over the globe unlike the Nigerian films of which I bet nearly everyone I know would struggle to name one between them, even though people in Nigeria can likely name many Hollywood films.

I don't think filmmakers are required to make anything for anyone, but it's especially ridiculous to suggest that because people in other countries watch Hollywood movies, Hollywood's obligated to represent them. First, Hollywood has the actors it has to work with. Just because there's a billion people in India doesn't mean that Indians make up a large proportion of people, or actors, in Los Angeles. Second, if these countries don't feel represented by Hollywood movies, they can invest their own money and make their own f****** movies.