Grey, Green or Blue – Yes Aliens Count, Too

When an actor of colour is cast in a blockbuster franchise, the announcement is usually met with excitement followed by trepidation.

“Yes, get money! Get recognition!”
“Will they be fridged?”
“Are they just there to boost the white hero? Will they have any character development at all?”

“Will we get to see their face?”

For too long the norm has been white human/face characters alongside brown or black alien characters. This trend contributes to the notion that there’s an otherness about non-white people, thereby reinforcing the white default. And of course, if there were plenty of actors of colour in easily visible roles it wouldn’t matter. No one blinks an eye when Andy Serkis or Doug Jones play an alien or a creature because you can’t escape the sea of “slightly different if you squint” white actors starring in these franchises.

But there’s a difference between demanding more and varied representation and saying the actors in these roles “don’t count.” Not seeing their face, their skin, is a blow. However, it doesn’t mean that the actor’s ethnicity is suddenly erased. When people are excited because there are three Asians in prominent roles in Avengers: Infinity War it’s because no amount of “well actually”-ing about how “technically, it’s 1.5 because Dave Bautista is straight up unrecognizable and Pom Klementieff is an alien” changes who they are. Zoe Saldana and Tessa Thompson are both Latina actors in major Marvel films and the fact that Zoe’s skin is green in the movie doesn’t change that, nor does that make her presence any less important than Tessa’s.

We may have a love-hate-frustration relationship with these roles, but they still matter. They matter when we see that name in the opening credits. They matter when these actors do the press tour and go on late night shows and have features in magazines. And they especially matter when it comes to opening doors for both themselves and actors like them. Saldana went on to play Lt. Uhura in Star Trek and Nyong’o to play Nakia in Black Panther. Both have spoken about the importance of more representation both in front of and behind the screen. They have platforms, connections, and opportunities to boost others they likely would not have had otherwise.

It sucks that this is the path to getting the foot in the door for people of colour and hopefully there will be a day when news like Thandie Newton’s role in a Star Wars film doesn’t come with months of stressing over her visibility (and whether or not she’ll live to the end). Luckily, we can see from the trailers that her character Val is definitely a Black woman who Newton says is quite prominent.

I’m ready for the day when the relative merits of Asian actors aren’t debated to decide how many characters count as “real” rep. I can’t wait to no longer have to celebrate so many “first actors or characters of color because it’ll be common place.

But we aren’t there yet. And we aren’t going to get there any faster by erasing the ethnicity of the actor just because you can’t see their skin colour on screen. We all know the unfairness of the world we live in and how much harder non-white people have to work to get similar opportunities. They’ll happily cast white unknowns for major films while brown and black actors have to be established to get seen. Sadly, one path to establishment lies in being othered more than we already are.

Resent the paint. Dread the CGI. Hope for more. Yell for better. Just don’t erase actors in the process.

About the Author

Maia Rose is a queer FilAm SFF, hockey, food and beer loving geeky Chicago denizen who spends too much time on the internets. you can find her on twitter as @semirose spouting nonsense 20/7 and writing for @ButWhyThoPC.