Hilarious Racists Vs Thor kerfuffle - Page 2

Jesus and Heimdall really aren't comparable figures.

The timelines are a bit off, there are inconsistencies in the genealogies, some of the events depicted--at least currently--aren't depicted in records outside of Jewish/Christian/Muslim canon, and on and on, but very few people completely write off the parts of the Bible that take place during recorded human history. No serious Biblical scholar or historian is putting forth the idea that Jesus of Nazareth did not exist. (It would be weird for the Jewish commentaries of the post-Second Temple period to take shots at Jesus if he were just some idealized mythological figure the early church constructed from whole cloth.)

If you applied the level of skepticism to Jesus that enemies of the Church do to most other figures in the ancient world who are generally believed to be genuine historical figures--many of the figures from the Classics, for example--our understanding of the entire ancient world would be in shambles.

Let me explain the joke. Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jew. White (as in European) men are often cast as Jesus in films. No racists seem to complain about that.

Also Jesus was sold as Thor to the Scandies on their Christian conversion.

This film better fucking have Thor in a bridal dress trying to get his hammer back.

You better keep bailing us out, damn ingrates. It's the least you owe us after the favor we did by letting you use our civilization.

I got that, but the joke obviously had two targets. The first is what you put up, the second is at the expense of Christians, hence the "fake historical accuracy."

I doubt that it will - but it would make for an awesome action/adventure/comedy. Peter Madsen's Valhalla comics are - to me, and most Danes - the ultimate modern reinterpretation of the old myths.

Thor and Trym, the night before the wedding.

Loke busting Trym's balls for stealing the hammer.

In fact, if you like the original ginger Thor, you could do worse than to search for 'peter madsen valhalla thor' images...

Idris Elba is an excellent choice ... for anything where there's any plausible reason to cast him. Yes, that includes Heimdall in Thor.

I can't recommend highly enough the UK TV Series Luther where he and especially his co-star Ruth Wilson (who plays a psychopath) have what could be described as a very unusual relationship. It's fascinating to watch.

Now who's delusional?


Says the celt jackal.

Wow. People get upset over the stupidest things. When my friend told me Idris Elba was going to be a Norse god in Thor my response went like this: "cool". I can't imagine getting your panties in a wad over this.

I also was one of those that wanted to see Donald Glover play Spider-Man though.

I don't want to derail, but I should apologize for my clumsy language and I'd rather do it publicly than in a PM.

I was referring to the first interpretation, i.e., the portrayal of Christ as a northern European in film specifically. No dig at any living faith was intended.

What's the problem? At least they had the common sense to borrow our gods and half our mythology.

Exotic??? WTF?

Alba is the farthest thing from exotic. Nor do I consider Latinos to be exotic. Notice that I put the word in quotes before you get all riled. It was just a description of how racists probably perceived Alba's casting.

White people act like this, and black people act like this.

There's your racism.

Uh, Jake, you forgot yellow, brown, and jugaloos.

I got rid of all them already.

What I love-- and if this has been said, apologies, I haven't read the whole thread-- is how Rogers claims to be proud of his heritage, hence explaining why he's so outraged about Thor and dispelling any notion that he's just a huge racist. Yet he's clearly not outraged about Thor disrespecting his heritage because there isn't an article on there that doesn't either,

a) bitch about the hypocrisy of "the left", or
b) bitch about those damn lowly black folk being cast as proud white people

The guy's argument shits itself with the lights on. What a retard.

As others have said, there wasn't a whole lot of racism in the complaints towards Alba, just that she was and is a terrible actress and too young when matched up against Evans.

However, I do distinctly recall the early and briefly lived casting news that Story was pursuing Christina Milian and some dude whose name I can't remember as Johnny Storm, neither of them white. There was a lot of ire behind that (before I'm sure someone at 20th Century Fox told Story to start looking elsewhere) and I can only imagine the vitriol had that gone through.

There was also that thing about McG wanting to cast Beyonce Knowles as Lois Lane when he was working on Superman. Stuff like that and the Christiana Milian thing are not about race for me, just about casting decisions dictated by the questionable motives of filmmakers of questionable talent.

That said, this stuff with Heimdall and whatnot is all a lot of bullshit. Yeah, I guess if you're familiar with Norse mythology, it's going to be something that will catch your attention, but it's still mythology, the comic book version of mythology, where the Norse gods are fucking aliens. Fealty to source material need not apply. Besides, Norse mythology was handed down orally, so it is by nature, highly interpretive.

And your women!
I kid, I kid.

At first this made me sad, for all I could think about was how Idris Elba must feel reading things like this.

Then I remembered he was Idris Elba, and nothing can hurt him. Ever!

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Byrne

"Personal prejudice: Hispanic and Latino [sic] women with blond hair look like hookers to me, no matter how clean or “cute” they are. Somehow those skin tones that look so good with dark, dark hair just don’t work for me with lighter shades."

I said that wasn't the main issue that people took. Besides, that's one guy, and John Fucking Byrne to boot. He's always been a weird asshole.

Perhaps some of you might remember that I took issue with the non Nordic casting for Thor, when it was first announced. I will make no apologies about the fact that I think a movie about the actual gods of Norse mythology living in outer space and wreaking havoc on earth is crazier and alot more interesting than generic pan racial Aliens who happen to share names and some similarities with Norse Gods. I was disappointed to see what makes those stories unique, to my mind, watered down by the inclusion of cast members who belonged to ethnic groups that no Viking would have ever encountered in his entire life. I think it's far cooler and weirder to have a bunch of blond haired blue eyed Nordic space gods visit earth than a motly crew that includes a ninja doing the same. I've always been of the opinion that if ancient pagan gods were real, they probably only had power in the regions where they were worshiped. It's why Vorenus scolds Pullo for mocking the gods of the Egyptian Pantheon when they are in Alexandria. He reminds him that those gods were powerful long before the gods of Rome



It therefore does not make sense to me that a Norse god would be Japanese if no vikings ever met anyone from Japan

At the time this started to bother me, I was already a little annoyed with Thor for not casting Kevin McKidd in the title role, and the bastardized viking mythology just added to the stuff that irked me

With time though, my vitriol dried up, and certain facts became hard to ignore... Idris Elba is a cool cat. The movie is directed by Kenneth Branagh and features an appearance by Ray Stevenson. It quickly grew apparent to me that there were other reasons to be excited about the film beyond my weird mythology fetish. I moved on from my initial complaint, and focused my energies on taking pleasure in what is unique and worthwhile about the THOR we're getting, rather than let the fact that it wasn't the Thor I'd ideally have wanted sour my enjoyment of the movie

I think that fidelity to historical accuracy when it comes to ancient religions and cultures is important. My initial complaints about Thor would apply to any movie that took a mix and match approach to ethnic casting when depicting a very specific world whose genesis lay with one particular culture or people (hence my complaints about Gyllenhaal in POPTSOT or Keanu in the upcoming 47R3D). However, at this stage in the game, if Mr Elba's participation alone is enough to get you to boycott Thor? Your problems with the movie are not about accuracy or fidelity to myths. They're about his race. These people are racists, and their cause almost equally as silly as the 'CRAIG IS NOT BOND' idiocy

Like them, I was initially skeptical about a Blond Bond too.. then I saw LAYERCAKE and since I am an open minded adult person I was able to recalibrate my expectations for the franchise. I'm proud of my viking heritage, but I've also seen the WIRE. I know that Elba deserves a shot at the big time and I'm not going to begrudge him his chance

Last but not least..

This "boycott Thor" thing seems like an extension of Tea Party mania, and it should be totally ignored, even on movie sites. I know the web loves a good debate, but to debate these fiends only makes it seem like they have an opinion worth discussing. It's giving voice to dangerous radicals. I am very much of the opinion that this all ties into the atmosphere of overt racial hatred that has bubbled up since the election of our first African American President, and I think that the movie world should do it's best to deny these people their chance to make a scene

EDIT: Here is a question though... why not make Thor black? If you've already made the leap that they are not Norse Gods, why does he have to be blond at all? It seems kind of questionable to make the film more "inclusive" by giving the bit parts to people of color. Why not really turn the mythology on it's head and go all the way by casting a non white person as the lead?

It was just a matter of time.

., ., ., ., ., ., .

Tzu you clearly did not read my well thought out post. My problems are not about race at all, and I think Elba is cool. It will be exciting to see him on the big screen. In case you missed it, I am excited for Thor

I am not jumping on you, but if you think a viking would have never encountered an African you should actually look up the Varangians.

Some asshole broke their bones. Just useless after that, you know?

<runs away>

You'll note that I didn't say that a viking never would have encountered an African. I said they'd never have met Japanese people

You said "cast members" and "ethnic groups." Plural. Implying more than one certain ethnic group. But at any rate with the Varangians being in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire would you not think it it plausible that they may have encountered a multitude of Asians especially with the proliferation of Silk Road and all?

I do have some issues with a black Viking god, but it bothers me less than a Japanese one given the fact Japan is on the other side of the globe

It's also true most vikings would never have met an African, though the only ethnic group I said that they'd NEVER have met under any circumstances were the Japanese

Anyway, as stated, I am excited for the film. We're on the same side

EDIT: Re your edit about the Silk Road... not the Japanese, no. And at any rate, even if they did meet one, he'd not be one of their gods IMHO

BUT THEY'RE NOT BASED ON REAL NORSE MYTHOLOGY, THEY'RE COMICBOOK SPACEPEOPLE YOU DIPSHIT

Vikings were in western Asia at the same time Oriental Asians were. The would have encountered one another. At any rate Hogun the Grim (the Asian looking guy) is not a Norse god and is completely a creation of Marvel Comics.

Sigh, I think one of the significant things is that Kate yet again believes that because there's an Asian in an action movie, he has to be playing a ninja.

Who was it that wanted a racist in this conversation? Happy now?

My point exactly.

Also, this:

So, Vikings never fought Samurai? History is boring.

They found both Mongolian and Japanese armour at the archaeological dig on the site of the battle of Wisby. Care to try again?

She's so. fucking. retarded.

yesssss

I apologize if I inadvertendly unleashed the Destroyer, I mean called Princess Kate upon this thread.

Dipshit? Did you call moi a dipshit? I can't believe you guys. I stated that I know they are aliens and not mythological gods. I was talking about the fact that I had initially been upset they were going with pan racial space beings instead of an accurate version of Norse gods, but that I was now on board with the film. Save your anger for someone who actually disagrees with you. Read my posts before you call me names

Fascinating! Does not mean that there were Japanese or mongolians wearing that armor, but no doubt cool.

PS Tzu, try as you might, you are dishonest for saying that I am somehow racist for suggesting that if an Asian turns up as a sidekick in a big blockbuster, he will most likely have attributes of a ninja (fighting style etc)

That is like saying I am racist for suggesting that next time Michael Bay casts a black person, that character will at some point in the film exclaim "dayum!"

I will be extremely surprised if this Japanese Viking fights with a broad sword instead of some form of martial arts. That's not because I am racist, it's because I know how Hollywood treats Asian actors

Never have I seen somebody hide so many racist attitudes under the veil of "its not because I'm racist, but because everyone else is racist and this is how it will look to them, so I might as well just say it that way".

Kate, Kate, Kate. You know what I want for Christmas, a holiday celebrated by people the world over, even those who don't endorse its origins in a Bronze Age Barbarian Belief or, as you'd call it, a BABB?

I want you to....

Shut the fuck up
Shut the fuck up
Shut the fuck up

Look, I even did it without periods so you'll understand, you brain-dead bigoted little ninny.

(This also goes for Cuch and yt, but that's not the thread for that.)

This film better have a scene of Heimdall entering Valhalla and asking, "Where the white women at?"

And then he better rip his Asgardian costume off and be dressed like Keith David in Pitch Black, proclaiming that he is Namibia, the African God of White Poon.

I don't think you're racist, Kate. I think you're a bigot. But you're the closest thing this thread has.

It's highly likely that they were Mongolian or Japanese but even if not whomever was wearing the armour had clearly met someone who was Japanese or Mongolian so the point still stands.

I agree that it is certainly possible! Don't know enough about the find to say more but it is very cool thanks for bringing it to my attention

So say you were wrong.

I thought that went without saying. But if you need some sort of public admission: apparently I was wrong that a Viking would never have met a Japanese person in all of recorded history. Doesn't change the fact that I don't think the gods of Norse mythology were Japanese (I assume ancient pagan gods looked like the people who believed in them), but whatever, the armor that was mentioned is a cool find