[spoiler], Harrison, or Tonto [spoilers]

[Crazy Eddie]

Which was the most controversial portrayal of an Indian?
Ricardo Montalban portraying Khan Noonian Singh;
Benedict Cumberbatch portraying John Harrison, an alias of Khan Noonian Singh, albeit perhaps plastic surguried into a british/white fascimile;
or Johnny Depp portraying Tonto, in Indian makeup?

The Khantroversy is overblown in my opinion, considering a) how little we actually know about Khan's ethnic makeup and b) How little we actually know about Johnny Depp's home planet.

Seriously. Apart from the fact that Depp could easily pass for Indian even without the ghost dance makeup, he could easily BE part Indian somewhere down in his family tree. But even in that case, it would be about as khantroversial as a Korean actor playing a Chinese character (or vice versa) on the mostly correct assumption that mot white people khan't tell the difference anyway.

 

[F. King Daniel]

What is Khan Noonien Singh? He's NOT a Sikh, since Sikhs are forbidden from removing or trimming any hair from any part of their body. Khan was clean shaven and waxed his chest.

What was Khan's skin colour? He has makeup darkening his skin in "Space Seed" which he doesn't in Wrath of Khan, where he looks white.

His followers completely changed to all white/blond in WoK and were suddenly much younger.

Like it or not, Khan's backstory and racial identity was a jumbled broken mess long before Into Darkness.

 

[JarodRussell]

Easy, Khan was either genetically engineered to have no facial and body hair (because hairless bodies are considered perfect), or it was an accidental side effect.

Sikhism is also a religion that, as always, preaches love and peace. If he ignores one thing, why can't ignore other things?
Like the fairy tale that Muslims aren't allowed to drink alcohol. I know Muslims that pray 5 times a day and still give a shit about that prohibition.
Had they said he was a Catholic, imagine how many different arguments you could make about what he was supposed to do and be and what not.

 

[CorporalClegg]

What is Khan Noonien Singh? He's NOT a Sikh, since Sikhs are forbidden from removing or trimming any hair from any part of their body. Khan was clean shaven and waxed his chest.

What was Khan's skin colour? He has makeup darkening his skin in "Space Seed" which he doesn't in Wrath of Khan, where he looks white.

His followers completely changed to all white/blond in WoK and were suddenly much younger.

Like it or not, Khan's backstory and racial identity was a jumbled broken mess long before Into Darkness.

What happens when you spend years on a lifeless, hot, aired planet? Your skin becomes lighter.

Tanning is for sissies.

 

[Nerys Myk]

What is Khan Noonien Singh? He's NOT a Sikh, since Sikhs are forbidden from removing or trimming any hair from any part of their body. Khan was clean shaven and waxed his chest.

What was Khan's skin colour? He has makeup darkening his skin in "Space Seed" which he doesn't in Wrath of Khan, where he looks white.

His followers completely changed to all white/blond in WoK and were suddenly much younger.

Like it or not, Khan's backstory and racial identity was a jumbled broken mess long before Into Darkness.

What happens when you spend years on a lifeless, hot, aired planet? Your skin becomes lighter.

Tanning is for sissies.

Hot desert planet gives you pale skin?

 

[CorporalClegg]

Hot desert planet gives you pale skin?

Apparently.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Damn you Christopher Columbus!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

There hasn't been real controversy about any of them, just a little whinging on Internet boards about Cumberbatch.

 

[Therin of Andor]

What happens when you spend years on a lifeless, hot, aired planet? Your skin becomes lighter.

A year living in London will do it too.

Hot desert planet gives you pale skin?

You don't recall the full robes, gloves and masks? (ST II)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ And I doubt they spent any time outside other than what was absolutely necessary.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

^ And I doubt they spent any time outside other than what was absolutely necessary.

Yeah - right.

This recalls Richard Pryor's old joke - the one with the punchline "Okay, God, what am I doing in Cleveland?"


No, living in an environment sheltered from light for fifteen years is not going to bleach someone's natural skin color in any way that would account for the changes in Khan's appearance. What a ridiculous suggestion.

 

[Nerys Myk]

200 years in suspended animation didn't seem too, either.

 

[Therin of Andor]

No, living in an environment sheltered from light for fifteen years is not going to bleach someone's natural skin color in any way that would account for the changes in Khan's appearance. What a ridiculous suggestion.

I have very fair complexion, and stayed under shelter, but the rest of my family used to turn very dark from just two weeks of tanning at the beach.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

200 years in suspended animation didn't seem too, either.

He wasn't actually tanned, that was just freezer burn. It eventually peeled off after they got to Ceti Alpha V.

 

[Nerys Myk]

No, living in an environment sheltered from light for fifteen years is not going to bleach someone's natural skin color in any way that would account for the changes in Khan's appearance. What a ridiculous suggestion.

I have very fair complexion, and stayed under shelter, but the rest of my family used to turn very dark from just two weeks of tanning at the beach.

Khan's naturally tan in Space Seed. Being sheltered from light wouldn't change that.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Yep, it was an attempt to make him look Indian, not tanned.

 

[TheSubCommander]

To be fair, though, Montalban himself was screwed out of the role of Mike Vargas by Charlton Heston in Touch of Evil; a Mexican born actor was denied the chance to play the role of a Mexican man, and it was played by some white guy.

Seriously, though, that is why they call them actors. Actors are people whose job it is to play a role of something they are not to entertain other people. Where does it say that an actor can only be the same ethnicity of the role they play?

 

[Nerys Myk]

To be fair, though, Montalban himself was screwed out of the role of Mike Vargas by Charlton Heston in Touch of Evil; a Mexican born actor was denied the chance to play the role of a Mexican man, and it was played by some white guy.

Seriously, though, that is why they call them actors. Actors are people whose job it is to play a role of something they are not to entertain other people. Where does it say that an actor can only be the same ethnicity of the role they play?

We'd lose a few classic performances if that was a rule. I don't think Brando was Italian. Pacino isn't Cuban. On the other hand we would han'tve to suffer through John Wayne as Genghis Khan.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Peter Sellers playing Inspector Clouseau disguised as Mr. Lo Kee.

Also Peter Sellers playing Hurundi V. Baskhi in the movie The Party.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpKj89GmdbM[/yt]

 

[Therin of Andor]

Khan's naturally tan in Space Seed.

Is he? Did you see his butt?

Being sheltered from light wouldn't change that.

But something prevented his melanin from being as dark in ST II.