Why the whitewashing? Stonewall was started by drag queens, not by your typical white movie protagonist. By changing their race and who they were, you're spitting in the faces of everyone who was in Stonewall. Needless to say I won't be watching this, if they can't represent the people correctly, they shouldn't even have a movie
I love seeing more lgbt representation, and I will probably watch this but I wish they would of included more than mostly just the "g" in their portrayal.
I'm deeply upset by the ciswashing and whitewashing they're trying to get away with. It would be like remaking Selma and have an entirely white cast. Why? I agree with so many others when they say if you aren't going to be true to historical events (and have the nerve to say this is based on actual events), don't make the damn movie. The sad part is the main character is fictional and the director has done advocacy work for the LGBTQ for years. This is...just awful.
This trailer frustrated me to the point that I choose not to make a thread because there was simply too much rage. These filmmakers sat down and invented a white cis-male character for this role. They invented him. They invented him. They did not even attempt to say that they went with an actor of another race or gender identity. His role was not in existences. And they invented him from thin air to be the main character. To be the face of this movement. This level of sheer disrespect is unfathomable.
A lot of white washing in this. I'd still go see the movie, but I can't say I'd enjoy it as much since they didn't care about the race/gender identity enough to depict it in the movie. Trans people of color pretty much started the LGBT rights movement in Stone Wall, so it's sad that the movie can't depict that.
Wtf? Stonewall isn't some little fictional story you can twist to your white cisgender devices. It was a actual event. With actual people. Heroes. I did a report on the riots, and it was drag queens that started the whole thing! What, were they afraid that it would be too risky to portray history accurately? This is so offensive in so many ways. I can't even believe they set out to portray the Stonewall Riots and had the nerve to do this.
I saw it yesterday and was not impressed. Where my drag queens at? There is still yet to be made a movie that actually tells us exactly how it was. I'll watch this one, too, but I was looking forward for a biography/docu/drama.
Instead of seeing this, go support Happy Birthday, Marsha. It's a film project based on Marsha P. Johnson's life up until the start of the Stonewall riots and it's being put together by the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and the cast is made up of transwomen of color. Happy Birthday, Marsha!
Yeah, everyone pretty much voiced what I was thinking but I thought "Maybe it's just me...?" This also hits a nerve for me about movies that do a terrible job of relating history (I can think of "Pearl Harbor" and "U-571" off the top of my head). I'm going to make another thread about the lack of diversity in movies (there was a big article in the NY Times about it) but the whole making up of a character to fit the usual expected movie lead is just... ugh. Looking at the cast list on IMDb, the actor Jonny Beauchamp is Puerto Rican! But other than that only a few people aren't white... and have character names like "Fat Tony" and "Big Daddy". Great opportunity to read some books and watch some documentaries about Stonewall, to be that person who points out to other "This is what they got wrong!" EmOfSuburbia, or anyone else, any recommendations for for learning more about what actually happened?
In a bizarre way, this is progress. Not that long ago... and in some cases, not even today... it wouldn't be appropriate for the white man to be associated with such things. The fact they even did that, is room for a little bit of celebration. A little bit. I'm still waiting for the day we get Brad Pitt as Frederick Douglas, an international spy with a fresh ebonic lingo, as he battles the injustices of the world... one werewolf at a time. Naturally, the film's soundtrack will feature Techno music as this is more appropriate for the times, as we need to make them hip and marketable. I truly could be an evil prick in Hollywood... What intrigues me most about all of this is, how many individuals will support and see it, just because it is on/about Stonewall? That's one thing I'm really noticing about the LGBT community, they will cling to anything if it even has a shred of queerness in it.
Here's a link from a tumblr called Every Single Word. The guy who runs it is Dylan Marron, a queer Venezuelan born actor. He explicitly points out the whitewashing, history changing message of the trailer that everyone has been talking about. Let's see how fast a new trailer is made... or not.
I'm going to wait to see the movie before I make any definitive statements on the "whitewashing." Because as of now, I am not sure whether the fictional gay white guy is replacing real historical people or whether he will serve as the audience stand in to interact with the real historical people (the latter is actually pretty common in a lot of historical movies).
People who intend to aid the success of this movie are welcome to go see it, but the claims of erasing gender minorities and people of color is undebatable considering the IMDB is available to the public. Stonewall IMDB
the whole thing's bullshit. they should start over again if they want more mula. if the people who were involved in the stonewall riot didn't stay quiet during that time, i'm pretty sure they won't stay quiet about this one because it's an integral part of history and to publish it with such inaccuracy, i'm sensing a BIG sitdown with the new generations that think this would be accurate. at all.
Supposedly, there are going to be transgender characters, though they will be played by non transgender actors. Whether or not that is problematic, I do not know. I don't mind gay characters being played by straight men, but I can't speak for the transgender community.
