(no subject)

[dreamer_easy]

Remark on New Earth and race from Lloyd Rose, posted at her request:

I was relieved to see, when the zombies swarmed the hospital, that at least one black person was still alive 5 billion years from now. Especially as there were no Asians, no Latin or Central Americans, no Pakistanis, no Arabs--groups among whom, for non-speaking, boil-infested roles, actors could probably have been found. I was reminded of Richard Pryor's comment after seeing "Star Wars" : "They [white people] finally got rid of us!"

Interesting point, especially since the show has generally been doing reasonably well on that front. Comments, folks? (Lloyd can read 'em here.)

Comments

[ravenevermore.livejournal.com]

The first 'zombie' that Doc and Rose encountered looked distinctly non-caucasion to me... just in facial structure. I don't know, I could be wrong. Screencap here (http://doctorwho.time-and-space.co.uk/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=2&pos=457). Of course maybe we should look at the population/ethnicity in Cardiff and the surrounding area itself, as chances are this is where all the jobbing actors/extras were sourced from...

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they cast mostly White actors because they wanted a sickly pallor, then rethought this later on (perhaps when they realised that the rest of the supporting cast were also White)? I agree the "zombie" looks Indian or Pakistan - what a Briton would call "Asian" - and her shot could have been filmed and cut in later, as could the shot of the Black man later on.

[ravenevermore.livejournal.com]

The Black man appears in group shots... i forget where exactly, but on the same site as the screengrab I linked to. I'd be really interested in knowing what the BBC's policy is on ethnic balancing, and whether there is any concious effort or whether with a group of made-up non-speaking extras they just cast whomever the heck gets through the door first...

The BBC being the sort of compnay it is, there must be some sort of published policy *somewhere*.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I reckon you're right, he's visible at the back of one screengrab.

Given that the program has been pretty careful about casting a mix of people in supporting roles, this may be just one of those things.

[ravenevermore.livejournal.com]

yeah... found it here's the bugger (http://doctorwho.time-and-space.co.uk/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=2&pos=920).

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

So perishes my cut-in theory!

[ravenevermore.livejournal.com]

It was a good theory, and could still stand true for the asian lady at the beginning. we only ever see the one shot of her face, and the over-shoulder of Doc and Rose... you can't tell jack about it from that. I think it may just be one of those things...

From a purely aesthetic point, the paler the face to begin with, the easer it is to make people look like death. Unless you go for pretty major prosthetics. Yeah that probably sounds racist, but look at it from a makeup POV.

Of course, we could possibly be making far more of this than there actually is. And whats there is whats there because they're the people who passed the shuffling and moaning audition...