Fix Ms Marvel, and Disney Plus: What on Earth is going on?
~
I was just praising Disney for inclusive content making the new Ms Marvel show for Disney Plus...
Then barely twenty-four hours later, news from the Ms Marvel camp blows up about casting issues on the show.
Important note: Most people seem absolutely happy with Iman Vellani's casting of the lead, Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel. All of the casting issues involve supporting cast/supporting characters only.
Let's unpack this.
There are at least four known issues from the casting at Ms Marvel on Disney Plus.
The issues are:
1) Casting an Indian woman to play a Pakistani Muslim woman. Zenobia Shroff was cast as Muneeba Khan, Kamala's mother. This casting is confirmed.
My reaction: Well, I can't find any helpful information that even tells us if Shroff is Muslim or not, so that's my first question and I hope we get an answer soon. But the fact is that Disney cast an Indian woman to play a Pakistani woman and it shows that Disney as a corporation believes all brown people are interchangeable, which is obviously racist and very frustrating to see.
2) Casting a non-Turkish, non-hijabi actress to play a Turkish hijabi character.
Yasmeen Fletcher is rumored to portray Nakia Bahadir, Kamala's best friend.
(Image description: actress Yasmeen Fletcher, and comic panel of character Nakia Bahadir)
My reaction: Well, again, this rumored casting speaks for itself, and not the first time Disney (with Sony) has cast a non-hijabi actress to play a hijabi character.
Why is casting a non-hijabi actor not great? Because it takes opportunity away from hijabi actors, who cannot remove their hijabi (the head covering) so they aren't able to play other roles: their options are more limited, and the terrible irony is they can't get the hijabi roles either! Casting actual hijabi actors to play hijabi roles would go so much further for inclusion, diversity, and representation.
And also, there's the fact that Nakia would be the ONLY Turkish character in the entire MCU, and Disney looks to be casting a non-Turkish (and apparently Christian, so non-Muslim) actor to play that role. Again, this is racist: brown people are not interchangeable.
3) American actor Andrew Brodeur is rumored to be in the supporting cast of Ms Marvel, and has been the subject of multiple sexual assault allegations online in the past few days.
My reaction: I've read the claims and links to Title IX allegations filed online (which I'm choosing not to link to here) and there are multiple people claiming that Brodeur allegedly assaulted numerous young women (I'm choosing not to link to these either, but a quick Google search will show you more). As this does seem, at least to me, genuine and serious on the claimants' parts, I hope that Disney looks into this and does a full background check.
At the very least, Disney should be conducting a full background check on all cast members (but when has that ever stopped abusers from working in Hollywood?)
This is extremely upsetting, honestly, and I hope more news and clarification becomes available soon. At least if this casting is only rumored at this point, Disney could easily remove the actor from the show if need be.
4) American actor Matt Lintz, confirmed to play Bruno Carelli, Kamala's friend, on the show, fell into some hot water on social media when fans speculated from his Twitter feed interactions that he was a Trump supporter. Lintz has so far been the only actor from the Ms Marvel show to make a statement via Twitter yesterday on the accusations, claiming he is in fact not a Trump supporter. Image below is copied from his Twitter statement:
My reaction: Well, he wouldn't be the first white actor in the MCU to screw up on social media, and he's nineteen. But surely even a nineteen year, a legal adult of voting age, old can understand why Muslim fans wouldn't want a vocal Trump supporter on their show, and why fans would be cautious if they saw questionable likes on Twitter that led them to believe an actor supported Trump.
And if he can't understand that because he claims to not know much about politics, then perhaps the newly made political website, A Starting Point, from Captain America star Chris Evans can provide some help.
So, to recap, those are the four key points that fans of Ms Marvel have brought up this week in regards to casting for the new show. And quite rightly, too. Let them be heard.
Regarding issue 3 (Andrew Brodeur's alleged assaults on women), I hope we get clarification from Disney ASAP, because those allegations should be taken seriously and the fans need to know what the outcome is.
And regarding issue 4 (Matt Lintz on social media) I hope he learns to manage his Twitter account better in future if he is indeed not a Trump supporter.
What I'm more concerned about are issues 1 (Zenobia Shroff) and 2 (Yasmeen Fletcher). Both of these issues are a result of corporations casting brown people from one background to interchangeable play brown people from another background, which is blatantly racist and not the authentic representation and diversity that Kevin Feige promised us for phase four.
Honestly, I'm disappointed.
It is an oversight from the Disney casting director? Will it be rectified, or will Disney not care? I want to know, and I want to know soon.
Why does it matter, you ask? Well, say for example you were White, and throughout the entire MCU spanning over a decade you never saw a single White person or actor onscreen (except for a couple of shallowly written baddies in 2008), you'd be understandably frustrated with never seeing yourself as the hero or as a good guy. Then the one time a great character is coming to represent you onscreen, and Disney casts someone that isn't White. So, in actuality, you still don't have the rep you crave to see. It sucks.
Does Disney actually care about its Muslim fans, its MENA (Middle eastern and north African) fans, or was it simply paying lip service about being inclusive? Will Disney Plus hire the appropriate actors or not? (And preferably with a background check, you'd hope.)
Let's hope Disney sorts all these messes out real quick. Your move, Mouse.
Follow me on Twitter.
