It would be terrific if we were at a racially neutral place in our evolution. We're not.

The question is what we do during this lengthy transition.

There will always be artists (like Lin-Manuel Miranda) who will have a vision for how they want their characters portrayed. What do we do about that? Do we tell them, if the vision of a particular character is a minority, cool, but if the vision is white, sorry, that's not OK, unless there's a very special reason why that character absolutely must be white?

I'm afraid that might have to be the answer for now. It's a deeply unsatisfying answer, but I dislike the alternative even more.

The whole situation is frustrating, but I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for the actors of color who are foreclosed from so many opportunities. For the moment, at least, I think the equities tilt in their favor.

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Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
What's "for the sake of the artwork," though?

Just that, really. I see mixed race, mixed ethnicities in movies all the time. I enjoy seeing this. I evaluate the work of art. Personally, I couldn't watch or listen to anything if this weren't my starting point. I'd be bored out of my mind.

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The problem is that, for many people in this country, "white" is the default.

Yes, I know.

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I don't know the numbers, but I would guess that the overwhelming majority of roles on TV/Movies/Theater could be played by a person of any color. Even a family sitcom could have people of color as mom, dad, kids, in-laws.

I disagree with your suggestion that roles could be played by people of any color.

A family sitcom is one TV genre. There have been some (if not enough) with black families. I guess the Cosby show would be the most famous. I don't know but I guess cable TV today is very diverse.

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So why do we exclude actors of color from so many of these roles? We should stop doing that.

I agree.

It takes a concerted effort, and network execs aren't known for their risk-taking. Even the Black actors working now are typically on the lighter end of the scale. Unless they're cast as a really, really bad villain or a slave. Then they get to be dark.

We are still in a place where a minority cast in a TV show or movie is still worth commenting on. I'm sure folks will correct me, but off the top of my head I can't think of a minority-dominated movie cast except when the entire plot of the movie required it (Crazy Rich Asians, Hidden Figures, etc.). That's a step ahead, I guess, in that the actors were actual minorities. But to Cindy's point, the default on almost everything else is an all White cast, or the single minority member being the sassy or ridiculously inept Best Friend.

As an aside, there is a woman who does play-by-play on the Pac-12 network. She started in women's sports, but last year started announcing men's basketball and football. I seem to recall hearing her on a major network broadcast, but I may be wrong about that. The times are changing, but changing slowly.

"Actors should not act like someone else, since this is appropriating the culture, thoughts, acts, and attitudes of a different person," said Alyssa Milano in an Instagram video. "I would also like to apologize for the times I have acted like I am someone that I am not, from the time I was pretending to be a witch even though I am not really a witch, to the time... wait, that's the only role I can remember. I'm sure I had a few more. I'm sorry for those too."