Why did people complain about Khan's white-washing in STID...
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Sixties television and film weren't super-concerned with ethnic authenticity. This was still an era when white guys were being painted up to play Indians and John Wayne was playing Genghis Khan. For the era Montalban was at least serviceably exotic, which was about as good as you were going to get.
It pisses people off now because this isn't the Sixties, nor even the Eighties, and we're supposed to have learned lessons and moved forward from that time, yet often it seems that hasn't happened. Cumberbatch as Khan is a step in precisely the other direction, but he's not even the most egregious recent example, which crown I think goes to Johnny Depp:
... and of course most of the cast of Shyamalan's Avatar, which bequeathed us the term "racebending."
Hell, casting Depp as Tonto was even a step backwards. It smacked of a minstrel show character.
I can see what you're saying about casting Cumberbatch as the Asian Khan is no better than casting Montalban as the guy in 1967. It's even worse, in the context of the conversation. Also in that context, casting Del Toro would've been no better, either. The only thing I can say is it seems with Khan, the STID folks were stuck dealing with the "sins of the fathers."
I'm beginning to think that it may not have been entirely necessary to call Harrison, "Khan" after Cumberbatch nailed the audition. Interestingly enough, a post in the XI+ forum by M'Sharak (the "My Gripes..." thread) says that Montalban was cast for the villain in "Space Seed" because was best for the part, so the character was changed to fit him. The original villain was to be Nordic, and go by the name, John Erickson, until he reveals later he is really Ragnar Thorwald, and is genetically enhanced. So maybe Cumberbatch could've brought Thorwald to life.
Link to M'Sharak's post:
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=264580&page=39
Agreed.
Yeah, it's even quite possible they were looking at Del Toro precisely as a way to echo Montalban. I've wondered about that from time to time.
That's a very informative post, and for sure I think it would've been interesting see the role shaped to fit Cumberbatch in a similar way.
In nuBSG the character of Boomer went from Black to East Asian, but not Black to White.
In Darkness, Khan went from a Indian (played by a Brown person) to yet another White actor.
It like if they had cast a White actress to play Uhura and a White actor to play Sulu, but all the previous white characters were still cast with White actors.
Khan has never been played be a brown actor
In WOK, he was white
I can sympathatize with the Mexican casting of the 1960s, but by the early 1980s, what was the excuse for keeping Montalbn white? The film Gandhi was released the same year as Wrath of Khan, and Ben Kingsley was turned from white to full out brown skinned Indian with makeup, why wasn't Montalban?
Hell, why did Montalban wear more makeup in Space Seed than he did WOK?
@BigJake
As I said in another post, I can sympathize with the 1960s casting. But what is the excuse for the 1982 Wrath of Khan? By the 1980s, the actor can be kept the same, but with a bigger budget and more creative freedom, I can't see why Montabaln wasn't given more makeup.
Gandhi was released that year, and Ben Kngsley was given good makeup; by contrast, Montalban was not given any.
In fact, he looked darker in Space Speed.
As I said in another post, I can sympathize with the 1960s casting. But what is the excuse for the 1982 Wrath of Khan? By the 1980s, the actor can be kept the same, but with a bigger budget and more creative freedom, I can't see why Montabaln wasn't given more makeup.
Gandhi was released that year, and Ben Kngsley was given good makeup; by contrast, Montalban was not given any.
In fact, he looked darker in Space Speed.
In nuBSG the character of Boomer went from Black to East Asian, but not Black to White.
In Darkness, Khan went from a Indian (played by a Brown person) to yet another White actor.
It like if they had cast a White actress to play Uhura and a White actor to play Sulu, but all the previous white characters were still cast with White actors.
Khan has never been played be a brown actor
In WOK, he was white
I can sympathatize with the Mexican casting of the 1960s, but by the early 1980s, what was the excuse for keeping Montalbn white? The film Gandhi was released the same year as Wrath of Khan, and Ben Kingsley was turned from white to full out brown skinned Indian with makeup, why wasn't Montalban?
Hell, why did Montalban wear more makeup in Space Seed than he did WOK?
For Kingsley, it was part of the makeup to be authentic in the role. His color was about the only thing about him that didn't look like Gandhi after he lost all the weight he did for the role. (He's half-Indian on his father's side, too -- I think from same area as Gandhi).
Putting Montalban, definitely not Indian in any way, in dark face just to try to make his fictional character "look Asian" is something else, entirely. At least in the 1980s.
To be blunt, I never noticed the difference in skin color between Montalban in "Space Seed" and in TWOK until at least twenty years after TWOK came out, and then not until someone pointed it out to me.
I thought being stuck in a ship container for 20 years made him lighter. :S
My younger sister is like that. We have extremely mixed ancestry (including Greek/Polish on one side and Maori/Irish on the other), so her blonde Caucasian self turns very brown when exposed to very little sunlight (for eg. Swimming in the pool for half an hour, with sun cream on).
Exactly. Maybe Khan was tanning hard on Earth before sealing himself in that DY-100 ship. Then once on Ceti Alpha V that tan went away.
Luckily I don't give a crap about what some dime-a-dozen asshole blogger thinks.
Do you have some examples in mind of the people who would allegedly say this?
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Sometime last year, someone on Star Trek's facebook page accused me of advocating Racism and Violence for liking Abram's films over Nemesis and Generations. Yeah. Star Trek's facebook page would make a fine case study for psychologists.
Until the Suns' remnants have grown cold in space.
It's possible that Montalban had a really nice tan in 1967. I found a pic of him from the Fantasy Island days where his skin tone is very close to Space Seed.
Not saying that's the way it happened, just that it's possible.
Not saying that's the way it happened, just that it's possible.
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