So, Actress Ming-Na pretty much says out loud what everyone is silently thinking in the theaters when watching the previews for Iron Man 2: so, uhm, why is a white guy playing the Prince of Persia, and why does he have a British accent? Did Jake Gyllenhaal stay home from CGI Action Hero school when they were giving out Farsi accent lessons? It’s caught the attention of the blog Muslim Reverie, and it sounds all too familiar to The Last Mindbender, a certain other live-action movie of an animated series that are being cast full of white people. Couldn’t they have at least hired that non-Middle Eastern man from Lost to play a Middle Eastern man?
Oh, but if only people were thinking this in the theaters. They’re actually thinking to themselves, “where the fuck is Persia? I’ve never seen Persia in the Olympics.” (Guys, Persia is Iran — well, at least the more sexy, less Islamist “let’s publicly execute homosexual teenagers” version of it.) The other thing they’re thinking to themselves — and guys, let’s face it — is, “I’m completely willing to overlook this because Jake Gyllenhaal has big puppy dog eyes and six-pack abs [if you’re a female] or has had on-screen sex with Heath Ledger [if you’re a gay man] or is more recognizable and movie-profit friendly than the guy who isn’t even Middle Eastern to begin with from Lost [a straight male].” But not us. We’re smarter than that.
Right?
