When the casting for Annabeth Chase on the Disney+ adaptation of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson novels was announced and I saw that the actress was a Black girl, we all knew that racist comments would follow. Thankfully, Riordan himself took his blog and called out this harassment for what it is: racism.
“If you have a problem with this casting, however, take it up with me,” Riordan said in his blog. “You have no one else to blame. Whatever else you take from this post, we should be able to agree that bullying and harassing a child online is inexcusably wrong. As strong as Leah is, as much as we have discussed the potential for this kind of reaction and the intense pressure this role will bring, the negative comments she has received online are out of line. They need to stop. Now.”
He continued, “I was quite clear a year ago, when we announced our first open casting, that we would be following Disney’s company policy on nondiscrimination: We are committed to diverse, inclusive casting. For every role, please submit qualified performers, without regard to disability, gender, race and ethnicity, age, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other basis prohibited by law. We did that. The casting process was long, intense, massive and exhaustive.”
“We took a year to do this process thoroughly and find the best of the best. This trio is the best. Leah Jeffries is Annabeth Chase.
[…]
You have decided that I couldn’t possibly mean what I have always said: That the true nature of the character lies in their personality. You feel I must have been coerced, brainwashed, bribed, threatened, whatever, or I as a white male author never would have chosen a Black actor for the part of this canonically white girl.
[…]
You are judging her appropriateness for this role solely and exclusively on how she looks. She is a Black girl playing someone who was described in the books as white.
Friends, that is racism.”
Leah Jeffries will play Annabeth, who is white in the books, a daughter of the goddess Athena, and a demigod. The character in the books is blonde with grey eyes, a trait that most children of Athena have in the books.
As a fan of the series, one of the criticisms was that it was another example of a largely white character roster. Of the series’ first set of main characters, Percy, Annabeth, Grover Underwood, Clarisse La Rue, Thalia Grace, Luke Castellan, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare were all white. For a children’s book series that takes place in modern day New York and all over America, that never made any sense.
Riordan has, in response to this criticism, worked to make sure that type of whiteness didn’t continue in the future books he wrote. From The Kane Chronicles forward, he brought tons of non-white characters into the canon, as well as putting in explicit queer, disability, and body type representation within his books. He has dedicated the majority of his authorial career trying to give people who feel Othered a voice and a place in a heroic narrative.
If you can’t see that in the casting of his show, then you have already missed the point.
(via CNN, image: Disney Plus)
Published: May 11, 2022 02:53 pm