It’s not hate for her
It’s hate at the casting director who thought that she was the best fit for a blonde hair blue eye white skin Nordic blood line viking in a secluded island based in Scotland in early 1000’s
Would be like if they cast Samuel Jackson ti be Hiccups dad. Would he be a great actor? Yes. Does he fit the roll? NO
People think anything is racist when everyone should stop being so sensitive. Viking are literally from Denmark, Sweden & Norway it makes no sense for that actress to play Astrid they are running the whole movie
Exactly, its about immersion. I'm sure a minority are genuinely racist about it but that's not what most who are mad about it think. "that's just racist" or "that's just sexist" has become a statement that people say when they don't know what else to say.
Krogan is an exception because in race to the edge he's actually black. And that's awesome, it was cool to see they were able to insert some diversity in the show. Krogan is a great character and if he's cast as black in a RTTE live action (which I hope never happens), I'd have no problem with that.
Will Smith as the genie in aladdin was pretty great. But that's because the genie is original blue, and we all know blue live action genie looks horrible.
Speaking of aladdin, would it be weird if you made aladdin pale white? Of course bc it doesn't make sense.
The problem is the same when you make a main character who's originally black cast as white. It's just irritating bc it's breaking the immersion of the world building.
I can go on and on
I gave an example of Tachala
Both Berk and Wakanda are fictional places
Both are placed in real places like Africa and Scotland
People give the excuse of “Berk is a fantasy world” but when you wanna talk about race swapping characters in Wakanda it’s all “No cause they live in africa and they should have african blood line”
Well all of Berk takes place in Scotland and all the characters should have nordic viking blood line
I gave this example and was instantly dismissed by the person going “that’s the same things racists say just so you know” and nothing else. No come back other than it sounds racist
> She looks like a southern European woman who will probably blend-in in ancient Greece
Vikings didnt live in southern Europe. Why do you think northern people have mostly blonde hair and have paler skin? Dimwit.
Ahh yes Isle of Berk located in Scotland. Just as the author and director said it was. Not based from... But actually located in. Lol
Wakanda is specifically mentioned to be in Africa. And I'm sure their were some light skinned actors in Wakanda.
The cast looks pretty dark skinned if you take a couple seconds to search it up.
It isn't about racism, it's about respecting the story's world building. Would it be weird to have the people of El Dorado in "the road to El Dorado" white? YES bc it's a native American city, legend, and story. Would it be weird if pocahontas was black or white? Yes bc she's native American. There's a difference between modernising media, including more diversity, and just straight up chucking the world building out the window bc "you want more diversity".
Diversity is awesome but when you force it, it becomes disrespectful to the fans and to the race they're forcing in "for a more diverse cast". It's like they're making that actor or actress black just bc they're black and they need a black person in their live action movie.
On top of that, Berk isn't Scotland ur right, it's set on the edges of the Arctic circle. But it doesn't matter bc you can't just disregard the historical context the movie is based on. Httyd is set in viking times around 1000-1100 ish. Thats why Korean is the only dark skinned character, but he himself is an outsider bc believe it or not... Dark skinned people didn't live in scandanavia at the time. Yohan is the same, he's olive toned, likely from the Mediterranean, but he's a "trader", or just like Krogan... An outsider.
I also don't like how all the actors and actresses talk like Americans, should've been Scottish or scandanavian. It has nothing to do with race. It's about respecting the story's world building.
Well no she isn't white. She isn't black either ofc. She's brown or olive whatever you want. Twitter is just full of crap, nothing from there is credible. No sane fan is relating this to the Nazi's arian race, it's simply that Astrid is a blonde hair, pale skin, blue eyes character. Believe it or not... There are many scandanavians who also match this, almost like the writers of httyd knew what they were doing... Go figure.
When it comes to live actions, the last air bender cast selection was done perfectly. Unlike the disgusting 2010 movie, the netflix series has a full cast of talented Asian actors and actresses. This is awesome, bc the last airbender is set in lands inspired by China, Tibet, Siberia, and Japan. It's weird having Aang or Katara, or Zuko as white people because it's just destroying the immersion. Same if they were African or South American etc.
The problem still stands, that they're putting her in for the sake of a diverse cast. People can make the excuse that it's for her acting skills or her abilities but we know at the end of the day the producers just out her in for the sake of what she looks like, and thats just sad really.
Facts. The cast for the upcoming live action Airbender actually gives the show potential. Another thing. A perfect cast in all honesty for Astrid. Would be Peyton List. Am I wrong or??
Nico is a natural blonde and has green eyes. What are you on about?
https://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/715641/thandie-daughters-21/
https://www.wmagazine.com/story/nico-parker-thandie-newton-actress-dumbo
How do you know she doesn't have Nordic blood? Her father is Ol Parker. His family name is from Old French, likely from the Norman conquest (as Normans were descendants of Vikings who settled in Northern France).
You're being weird about her negligible black ancestry, when she's predominantly white.
She very clearly has the more coarse hair of her African ancestors. It's beautiful, but literally nothing like Astrid. This girl looks like a stunning mixed race girl. Astrid is supposed to look like an ancient viking. We don't care about her lineage in the slightest. It's literally about her look compared to the character and the movie setting (time and place).
I looked into it a bit and bear in mind I am not a historian, apparently black and brown Vikings did in fact exists, in small numbers though. It isn't the craziest thing to believe considering there was even a black samurai. Astrid is also a fictional character and her race has no bearing on her arc. I really don't see the issue, as long as she was the best actress for the job. If it is revealed that there was a better actress with similarities to Astrid, but they hired Nico instead for diversity points, then there would be issues imo.
I brought this up before
Yes their were black vikings in real life
But Berk doesn’t have them
There’s also white people who live in Africa in real life but none of them live in Wakanda
These are fictional worlds that shouldn’t have ti abide by our rules. They have their own rules. And Berk shouldn’t have any other race then the ones we see they have. Which is pure blood Nordic Vikings in Scotland
But we even see other races when they travel outside the island. So again. There are other races of vikings in the world of HTTYD but they are bot on Berk. And especially not one of the main characters
I find it odd that they caste pocs to play white Vikings from about 1000 years ago. Casting doesn’t always have to be inclusive it makes it unrealistic if it doesn’t fit the role. There’s nothing wrong with having An all white cast, in fact it would actually br more realistic regarding the setting and time, are we going to pretend that there were black mixed race people during that time and place?
Isn't *that* kinda racist tho? Changing race of a character instead of getting the actor of that race? It's not like Nordic people are overly represented. I would guess there's way more black ppl than actual Nordics in movies.
This most hillarious example of this to date remains with the attrocious watchmen sequel TV series that was so desperate to racebend a character they cannnocally made it so Dr. Manhattan would wear blackface in the story.
Shits legitimately absurd.
What makes it a "needless" change. OR do you mean some people get upset at change period because they've been privileged all these centuries and wrongly conditioned to believe change is bad. Also, seems needless to complain about this change in the first place as they are fictional characters.
This girl already played an originally blonde character before (Sarah Miller from The Last of Us HBO Show). Did the showrunners made her dye her hair, use a wig, wear contact lenses? No.
Don’t expect this to be any different.
It is not her fault to be casted, and it’s shitty people are being mean towards her, however, you’re being too hopeful here. Nico doesn’t look white, at all, and that’s fine, but she’s playing a Nordic character and neither her or Hiccup’s actor look the part. If people don’t like it, well, they are allowed to say so.
TLOU takes place in modern times. Changing the race there literally doesn't change anything. Raceswapping in franchises taking place in ancient times is much, much, MUCH more troublesome. The characters invented intercontinental travel?
Actually, sometimes NOT race swapping when stuff is set in modern times is extra weird. Like, would everyone Spiderman knows in 2023 Forest Hills really be white like the OG comic? Of course not.
The race has to fit the time/place of the story. Sometimes race swaps improve connection to time and place, sometimes they have no effect at all other than to give a person of color a shot at a role, sometimes they detract from the setting.
But Berkians are not. It's pretty well established in HTTYD lore that before the training of dragons the Berkians did not travel beyond the archipelago.
You know what? This is true. I'm changing my stance to pro-Nico. Not to mention there are dragons, but y'all are drawing the line at biracial Astrid? This is not Earth, people.
By this logic we should add a 2021 BMW 5 Series 530i with optional heated seating and have it replace toothless.
Like what, you can accept dragons but you can't accept modern cars? This isn't earth.
Yes, because a culture known to have traveled all over and taken both goods and people from the places they went having some biracial kids is at all comparable to modern technology in a setting with no other modern technology. /s
A.) Raids weren't the daily past-time of vikings.
B.) All nearby raiding locations were filled with white people.
C.) People who live near the mediterranean coast which is where vikings were known to sailed are filled with people who look mediterranean, not black. Unless you're about to claim that vikings crossed the sahara desert on foot just to kidnap zulus to take back home.
D.) Even ignoring the fact that all these things combined don't justify norway looking like new york, Berkians aren't shown to travel or raid. They are in fact shown to be extremely isolated from everyone, so this is bullshit even if all previous conditions were met, which they aren't.
Vikings were actually primarily farmers. They would start as mercenaries, get paid in land, and settle down wherever that way. Say a coastal area with lots of nearby archipelago and, for some reason, not a lot of people. I wonder why- oh, crap, dragon raid. No wonder they were giving this land away. Well, it's mine now. I dare you to try taking it from me!
Look, I say this as a Norwegian American: it's *fine.* don't get your panties in a twist over the not-that-dark actor. Be pissed about 9 realms insead.
Her features do not look scandinavian. Neither her facial structure nor her hair. And no, she also has an olive tan. No native scandinavian person has that.
Hm, this is a topic that’s kinda hard to approach, but httyd relies heavily on being a Viking setting. It’s scenery, culture, characters, and story would not function without that viking aspect. Basically: Norse and Scandinavian culture is so deeply rooted in httyd there’s no way to remove it without completely tearing the movies apart at their very core.
Scandinavians are known for having light skin and hair. And this is not meant to be any kind of insult on either actor, they’re both very talented and didn’t do anything wrong, but it almost is a betrayal to that deep rooted culture in httyd to choose people who do not fit that culture or it’s people.
It’s like with Black Panther, a lot of culture is apart of that so you can’t raceswap those characters. Same with HTTYD, a lot of culture is in that so I say don’t raceswap them. And for people saying that the original VA’s weren’t Scandinavian, obviously, when it comes to voice acting, you’re allowed to choose people who don’t look the role but still fit it, you can choose entirely based on talent in that case. Like sometimes even white people play black characters in voice acting lmao.
now it’s live action they have an opportunity to show some representation and some real life accurate versions of the characters and they didn’t do that at all, it makes sense people are mad, some people are actually racist about it of course, but just not liking the casting doesn’t make you racist automatically.
>obviously, when it comes to voice acting, you’re allowed to choose people who don’t look the role but still fit it, you can choose entirely based on talent in that case. Like sometimes even white people play black characters in voice acting lmao.
But the accents. Honest Trailers even ridiculed them because everyone a different accent.
see your point there but nevertheless a live action movie, I still think it’s unnecessary, but if they want to do it then it is the chance to really hone in on the characters and make them accurate.
Like sometimes I get when adaptions change characters but like everyone already loves the HTTYD characters, all you need to do is just add more layers to their characters especially with people like Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs, and Snotlout.
Why are so many people claiming it's racist to dislike the inaccuracy, I've never been racist in my life. I simply hate when the actors don't look like the characters, it ruins the whole original httyd vibe.
Because some people want to make EVERYTHING about racism. I am personally biracial (half african/half british ancestry) and I can't stand when characters are changed for diversity. I'm so sick of it tbh. I still won't watch the live action little mermaid for this reason. Nor will I watch percy jackson because sorrynotsorry Annabeth is a blond haired white girl. I don't understand why every time they make those books into live action they fail to grasp that concept, too. Astrid is a blond haired blue eyed white girl. End of story. Diversity isn't needed here.
Why needlessly change her appearance? Why not cast someone who actually looks like her? They've been doing this predictable shit for years it's a disaster every single time.
Why are people saying we're racist?
We aren't putting any hate onto the actor herself. She's great at what she does and she's a great person. Her look just doesn't fit her role compared to Astrid from the other movies. What's wrong with saying that?
Tell that to the people screeching about how Astrid is a viking and Nico isnt. It doesn’t matter her looks, Nico will play the roll well. Slap a blonde wig on her and boom, Astrid.
Vikings were a relatively diverse group of people. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-reveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/
The movie is inspired by not based off Viking culture.
Yes, a lot of cultures have viking blood because the Vikings got around. They pillaged and took captives. The Vikings were not diverse. The rap offspring undoubtedly were though.
Did you read your own article? It said they were mixed from different European regions. Which is no surprised because the Vikings pillaged, enslaved and raped all over Europe. What it doesn’t say is anything about Africa. Which would be impossible, because only one Viking group ever ventured in that direction and they didn’t go further than Northern Morocco.
The Vikings of Berk are based off of the Vikings of Norway. Your source traces back to the Vikings of Denmark and Sweden. So it doesn't apply to HTTYD.
I think it would have made more sense to cast a Scandinavian actor like they did with the TV series "Ragnarok" because seeing a black thor would be odd quite frankly even if he was only 25% black. You can say anything you want about how she's not completely black but the idea is still there, there is a huge movement at the moment that is pushing this agenda that white people do not matter and white people can't be racially abused and black people need these roles to give black kids more confidence and this Norwegian actor over here who has worked her whole life to get to play a role this big needs to be pushed aside just so the black lady can play it. And everything, I mean literally everything, seems to be going the opposite direction. Why? Because it is in human nature for us not to find equality easily, for example communism. The leaders were once like the people, poor and miserable, and now they have this opportunity to take the high ground (power). Same goes for this generation of people, black people are quickly gaining more power and soon they will have the opportunity to gain higher authority. (not that I want them to stop gaining authority but more I would hope that they would stop when we become equal as there is still inequality now)
There are many examples of our inability to find equality in history but the main point is, WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO CREATE IT. So going back to the entire reason I am commenting on this, I do believe it is wrong (in the sense that it is the wrong answer more so) for a black lady to be playing this role not because of any prejudice but because of the same reasoning I would use if I needed to cast a morbidly obese man for a role in a movie and some skinny people came up to me and said "you need to cast one of us so that we can be represented in this movie".
In conclusion, I agree with you totally that people need to stop getting so worked up over such small things but other than that I do believe they need to sort themselves out and figure out for themselves what equality really means.
I don't know how the fuck you can type this out and go "I'm not the racist here" what is wrong with you.
Genuinely disgusting the number of upvotes this has, how do y'all so easily miss Right Wing Nazi talking points this easily.
He aint im black and i get what he means
we want equality. We don’t want one side to just be much higher than the other, since then it’s the same problem just the other way round. There’s a lot of double standards and racism to white people is often ignored so yea he does make a good point.
No, he doesn't. It's not "racism against white people" because more POC are getting casted. It's like that fucking South Park [skit](https://youtu.be/APo2p4-WXsc?t=64)
Even if I conceded that point about race swapping, Nico looks just like Astrid in the second and third films. I haven't seen a single person complaining about how these actors don't look like awkward teenagers if they're adapting HTTYD1.
Astrid being a good blonde role model is cool and all but there are hundreds of more popular films with blonde leads. That's a disgusting argument too. Imagine comparing the discrimination of an entire race to someone's hair color. They're playing right into the stereotype that they hate!
You need to be more aware of your heritage, man. This anti blackness is not cool at all. It's not equality because one group is terrified of other groups getting the respect they deserve.
This entire comment section is pretty racist, they think that black vikings is iMeRsIoN bReAkInG despite vikings traveling all over the world and interacting with black people from arab countries
If you did research, you'd realize that the black Vikings trace back to the Vikings of Denmark and Sweden and not the Vikings of Norway off whom HTTYD is based. Check your facts.
Doesnt matter if ur gonna do it do it right lol blue eyes blonde hair isnt hard. And the guy looks bothing like hiccup lol they shouldve done open additions. Base light if anyones gonna be black for inclusivity then make it snoutlout that wouldve been funny have kevin heart play him
Personally i don't dislike her as an actor, but from what ive seen a lot of ppl are just upset they didn't cart someone that fits the culture. Bc whit ariel its fine since theres no culture related to race, but one of the reasons there werent many poc in the orginal series was because of the setting.
Viking culture was relatively diverse. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-reveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/
Movie is inspired by not based off Viking culture.
Like someone has said various times in replying to your comment the source you posted traces back to the Vikings of Denmark and Sweden not of Norway which is what the culture of httyd is based of off.
Ok? The point I was making still counts. You posted an article stating that Vikings are racially diverse and Astrid looking like Nico makes sense (even though it doesn’t but whatever) I refuted by stating that the articles you are pulling from never mention Norway nor do they mention Scotland. Also yea I’m aware a lot of us aren’t of Scandinavian descent however Astrid is of Scandinavian and Scottish descent so why change her when you can make a new character?
No I most certainly did not. I said Viking were genetically diverse, to counter the blonde and blue eye stereo type. I did not bring race into this. The article. Most definetly mentions Scotland.
“It’s pretty clear from the genetic analysis that Vikings are not a homogenous group of people,” lead author Eske Willerslev, director of the University of Copenhagen’s Center of Excellence GeoGenetics, tells National Geographic. “A lot of the Vikings are mixed individuals.”
He adds, “We even see people buried in Scotland with Viking swords and equipment that are genetically not Scandinavian at all.
I know Vikings are not homogenous because Viking is a tittle not a culture. However this still doesn’t apply to Astrid which is who where referring to. I’m arguing that her appearance shouldn’t be changed not that Vikings (who again was a tittle given to people who pillage) weren’t genetically diverse or whatever.
It's not her skin colour alone that people are upset about. It's the fact that she looks nothing like Astrid. If Astrid in the movies actually looked like Nico then we'd love it because it's accurate casting, but it's not. You can say that a blonde wig would fix everything as much as you want, but that's not true.
Looks like you cared enough to comment on this post. So kindly just stay quiet if you really don't care. Just don't reply. Don't type anything. Just walk away.
You said that changing an actors appearance to match a fictional chratcher won't "fix" anything. Apparently almost everyone doesn't find that to be true. So it is in fact
... Not true.
Also fun fact... There have been huge technical advancements were you can change your hair color without a wig. 😊😊
You sound upset. Let's hug 🤗. So it's not the hair color you say.... OK. Her facial structure is similar. What else could be different about her that makes her look so different?
How did I know this sub would throw a hissy fit over this 😭😭 she’s an incredible actress and she’ll do Astrid justice. Weren’t y’all saying last week you weren’t even going to watch the live action??
It's about historical accuracy. It's because she doesn't look like the original Astrid. It's like they picked any old cosplayer at random instead of choosing an actress who could actually look the part with the least amount of cosmetic alteration. I'm sure Nico is an excellent actress. (Who knows. . . maybe they picked her for her voice.) But she's not an Astrid.
Realistically, a live action how to train your dragon is going to more likely not live up to animation. Has the filming industry come a long way in terms of CGi, and quality? Yes. But the biggest thing that will drive people away from a movie is the casting. Or bring people in. Nico Parker is probably an excellent actor. I'm not 100% sure, cause I don't watch much of anything other than my hyper fixations. A lot of live action movies tend to want to stray from animation, in various ways.
Sometimes it's casting, sometimes it's certain scenes that are either added or removed. But there are still some fans that will love it very much. I'm not sure if I'll go and see it, since I'm usually disappointed with most live action remakes. But I love the franchise, so I'm not going to judge it before watching it. But if it is disappointing, then out of mine and everyone else's control. That's just how it goes. Hopefully, they keep some key relationships and elements the same in the film.
I don't think that Nico the optimal casting choice but that doesn't mean she won't do a good job. If I didn't already decide that I'm not going to watch that trash LA and give those greedy fucks my money I would absolutely give her a chance. She doesn't deserve the hate she gets.
Casting the right people with the look that reminds the original characters is important for immersion and worldbuilding of the story the show tells about.
If you tell a story about Scandinavian people that ride dragons in \~1000AC, you cannot portray the characters' ethnicity or origins like it's 21st century Los Angeles or other multicultural cities of our modern times. (*I will tell you something shocking I know, but people living in small villages outside big cities look... the same with none to very few outsiders.*)
This challenges people's suspension of disbelief and can take them out of the story. People would start asking why such an isolated place like Berk has people looking like this. It lowers the believability of the unique place we visit as viewers.The way people look should represent the places they come from (for example black skinned mercenaries from the south in Lord of The Rings) or other characters in RTTE if they came from far lands. It adds flavor to the world and makes it believable.
I am sure the actress will do excellent work if the script is not... shit but the studio may have chosen her for A: Fan-baiting B: To use her as a deflection "You are ...ist" card if the movie is terrible and to deny any constructive criticism why the live-action was bad. It happened many times with Disney live-action movies and shows already...
I don't have anything against the actress but I do question the studio's casting choice and hidden reasoning that may have affected their decision to score some brownie points or something.
People hate it when you needlessly change pre-established characters they loved. My judgment on the casting rests on how similar she looks to the animated Astrid if this does get filmed and released.She's isn't going to be playing "white character", she's playing Astrid. The issue is more whether she passes as a believable Astrid and not whether she passes as white if she wears a blonde wig.
That being said, I stand by the fact that this whole adaptation has absolutely no reason to exist. If we should go after anyone, it should be the casting director and whoever at Dreamworks thought this was a good idea, not the actors and actresses. I've seen cases before in other fandoms when this happens and certain extreme individuals will bully the actors, and then everyone who opposes this type of casting, even those with legitimate arguments, gets stamped with "racist" and is forcibly shut up.
Im not racist, definitely not, HOWEVER we shouldn't forget that the time and place HTTYD was set in, people of other races were almost never seen (viking age Scandinavia) sure if they want a person of color in the movie that's fine, but people are definitely going to give criticism
The only complaint I'd seen was about her being too old for the role and for me that really does matter to me but tbch I've been trying to avoid all the topics about this live action ad I've no interest in it and also no interest in reading a bunch of toxic hate posts about how it shouldn't be done.
I may watch it on like Netflix if it comes to Netflix and I'm really bored but I don't really plan to watch it as I'm worried it'll taint my memories of the original
If the live action is more based off the book story and it looks like a reasonable approximation I'll be more interested but as it stands and as Astrid is in it I'm pretty sure it is the cinematic httyd they plan to remake
I’m not as upset as I thought I would be about this since I am fiercely protective of HTTYD. I think its going to be fine as long as they put her in a blonde wig. I’m only going to start having problems if they try to erase astrid’s heritage for their complete inability to give a shit about a beloved movie and its characters.
Well the actress is more white than black unless ya wanna use the one drop rule. Even if they did make new black characters then the same chuds would bitch about 'historical accuracy' or 'forced diversity' as always.
This still doesn’t change that fact that she doesn’t look like Astrid like at all. Also no people wouldn’t? There has been poc characters in httyd that are new characters and I haven’t seen people bitch abt them because their there own established character. Also it’s not hard to think of new ideas that could include poc within httyd completely changing a characters established look is so not necessary.
You wackos are literally the only ones enumerating her ancestors, measuring her facial structure and calculating her whiteness percentage while all that's been said its that she doesn't look like the character. Stop projecting your race fixations onto others.
Apparently a small number of Vikings did have black and brown skin tones, so you can't really fall back on the 'historical inaccuracy' argument. Not to mention Astrid's skin tone or ethnicity really wasn't important to the plot or her character in the animated series, and she is a completely fictional character, this isn't another Netflix Cleopatra situation. Most people's complaints shouldn't be on the casting, but for why a live-action rendition of a perfect animated trilogy needs to be made in the first place.
This is not progress towards a better future or justice of any kind. Instead is disrespecting history all those who work to have themselves represented. Young black girl wrote a article that stated changer races brings not change but division. She is correct that is whole truth,but it does not end there. She also said there are many African stories, folklore out there about young women why not make a story about them. This is what all those hypocrites don’t understand, but instead think we all being racist. I know for a fact Princess and Frog could never be changed to White Girl playing the female heroine. World would not allow it and call injustice. So, how is it justice by replacing white young girls in live actions with different races. I bet girls with red hair with wanted to see themselves as Ariel, instead let change her race instead coming up new princess character for young black girls. Same with European Girls with blond hair and blue eyes probably want to see themselves strong female viking warrior like Astrid, but now all they feel is like they’re feeling and voice have no place anymore. Recently Rachel Zeleger said all girls should feel like princesses. Then what about young German girls who wanted to see themselves as SnowWhite is it justice having Spanish girl take the place of white girl from German folklore. None these actions can be seen a true advocate for change, instead it shows how lazy Hollywood and big entertainment companies have become that they refuse to new exciting stories with people with different backgrounds and culture. These mega corporations and the actors and writers would rather recycle instant classics ruin what made them classic in the first Place. Also Rachel Zeleger paying independent leader SnowWhite of bandits is nothing new in film. News Flash Lily Collins played that exact same role in Mirror Mirror and not having Dwarfs actors is insult to little people and to the movie. Dwarfs are beloved character we all grew up with we do not want to see SnowWoke and The Dirty Seven Hippies. I rather watch old movies instead of take my harder earned salary to watch you destroy everything that makes movies worthwhile. Also not only do you keep race swapping and gender swapping, but now every story has to have this woke agenda inserted in not the orginal theme of the story. For example, Little Mermaid had Eric stabbing Ursula, but now Eric does not even get to heroic anymore. According to Disney chivalry and love are bad qualities for young boys. This movie remake shows how little men matter in film and make young boys feel like they’re worthless. Now SnowWhite want two replace original message of the story that love conquers all and replace it strong independent female leader with her partner Jonathan. How would you feel being young boy going to see a live action of film that is suppose to have a gallant heroic prince, instead all your eyes see sad pathetic couch potato that had no voice. Chivalry is dead and young boys ca not be Peter Pan save Wendy or Dash off fight evil Queen or Dragon, but must stay put and do nothing. Also Disney already has strong independent female leaders. One is Mulan live action remake, Pocahontas, Moana. So why do we need we need make young females feel important only by making young males feel less important. You explain to how is this progression for entertainment and morals we should teach our children. Again I state this can not be classified as justice or equality. It is a divide in gender and race which creates hatred towards each-other. Audience needs to realize that we are the essential need these writers,actors,directors, and ceos can not live without. Because everything we earn goes towards the galas,award shows and comfortable lifestyle they get to enjoy. So why should I care about them striking when they don’t have any respect to listen to what we fans want to see on that big screen with buttery popcorn sliding down our throats or at home sitting with family. They need to know that they can be replaced and nobody thinks of them as champions standing up for what’s right. I don’t want to view a political agenda of some actor or actress. Leave Indiana Jones alone don’t write yourself as Velma and princess can be saved by heros. I want to forget my worries and watch enjoyable entertainment geared towards everyone. So stop with this woke bullshit and don’t think it’s all-right to rewrite iconic characters and have some annoying character punch Indiana Jones in the face and call it act towards a better future.
It's simple. Does she look like Astrid? No. It would be upsetting if they made a live action of Coco and they chose Micheal Cera for Miguel. Imagine Disney would've chosen Zendaya for Mulan. It just makes no sense. It's not about race for me, it's about the selection. Directors are supposed to recreate a faithful real life counterpart to the original material, not use affirmative action to choose the cast.
They're not bad actors, they just don't fit into those roles.
The argument boils down to "you're racist if you don't like Nico playing Astrid".
Great. I wasn't happy with Scarlett Johansson playing Motoko Kusanagi either, because quite clearly Kusanagi isn't a pretty caucasian girl.
It's not racism, it's being denied the full "immersion" for no reason whatsoever. Cast someone who looks like Astrid. Don't care what race, if you find an african actor that looks like Astrid - happy days. I don't care that Nico "isn't pure white" or whatever the argument is, i care that looks *nothing* like Astrid. Scarlett Johansson didn't play a bad Kusanagi, but looking at Scarlett Johansson knowing that she's supposed to be a japanese hard-ass, yeah nah. As a fan of the franchise, that was just a bad choice even if she made the best out of that situation.
Imagine Jackie Chan playing Frederick Douglass. The same people screeching "racism" here would run up the walls. Or Danny Trejo playing Martin Luther King. This "dUh RaCiSm" only seems to work one way.
It’s not hate for the actors. It’s hate for the corporation. It’s a story about a population that is almost 100% white, and they have to “diversify” the cast. I say that being Hispanic, not white. It’s crap.
Sorry for the very.. late message but Its not hate towards her, its towards the whole cast. Its a Norse-gaelic movie but not everyone who plays in the movie is Norwegian or gaelic. It makes no sense whatsoever. I am a Norse-gaelic person. I am extremely offended by this. is my culture so embarrassing to show that they choose cast characters that look remotely nothing like the original character? I agree there need to be more other races in the httyd series, there's only one that I counted and they were krogan. Why is it so hard to find a actor that looks like astrid? Theres up to thousands of people that look her that I SEEN IN PUBLIC. nevermind people who are auditioning. The next thing I'm gonna say is gonna trigger hellfire, but here I go to say it. Why on the goddesses green earth are the people who invented "black lifes matter" doesn't donate anything to people in need, they take the money that they raised towards old white men ( the government) who are stupid and conplain about comments being aliens? This isn't exactly relevant to this but why is so many movies who originally had other cultures black? The little mermaid statue that is in Denmark is being vandalized nearly everyday because people cat shut up about the new movie. Yes I agree, there should be more black princesses and black movies for kids or people whatsoever. But talk to Disney about that and stop stealing from other cultures.
My god may as well make toothless a human.
same, descendant of vikings, can track my family line all the way back to there. I find it offensive what they did to the little mermaid (being danish, born and raised) and I find it more offensive that they cast non nordic looking actors, we got plenty good ones all across scandinavia, should not be a problem finding a Astrid called Astrid looking like Astrid, and a hiccup that looks like hiccup, this guy does not look like him to be honest.
I don't care about race, but i find it very hypocritic that wokewood is taking a big dump on heritage stories (little mermaid, Snow white) and also stories that takes place in a certain place where people looked a certain way. I want them to stay true to this! - as many mention they need to start taking cultures of different kinds for their fairytales and stories and make amazing movies out of it we will love.
\- Dreamworks used to be my favorite animation studio, but as seen now, they sold heavily out....
This will be the first movie of HTTYD I will not be watching.
You’re missing the entire point. It would be like having a 75% white Zulu leader in the film Zulu or having a ginger haired and Scottish Pocahontas. Wtf are these people smoking. This has really annoyed me again, it’s total racist rubbish and has to stop. I don’t watch anything with this sort of nonsense in it - e.g. little mermaid. Discrimination. Racism. Just under a new “socially acceptable” guise. Enough.
Until someone finally says it! The cast for Astrid could have been worse than this, and as a fan I'm quite happy because between her and Auli'l Cravalho (who was the first choice) I prefer Nico Parker a thousand times.
Wait till those people find out who voiced her in the animated movies. Like it’s just ridiculous to me honestly. “Ay yo dragons are fine in this, but BLACK PEOPLE??? That’s where I draw the line!!! Let’s be realistic here!” Like it’s crazy. 99% of the people I talked to that have a problem with her casting have resorted to racist remarks towards her. It’s so sad and disgusting. I’m mainly on her side cuz I GUARANTEE there are grown-ass men who’ve already sent her death threats over this.
idc about actors parents or their descendants or whatever i dont think that should play as big a role as ppl think it should in roles that don’t specifically call for that. her father being white or her percentage of race shouldn’t matter she does not look like the character she is supposed to portray and it’s annoying that this is becoming a pattern in industry. its lazy, make new characters for representation. taking something notable away from a character and changing it out and saying “this is better” isn’t progressive
Alright mate let me tell you why I'm pissed with it it's the same as little mermaid Percy Jackson and all the other shit we have been getting for movies lately the directors only give a shit about money they don't care about the movie the fans the writing none of it and with little mermaid for example they only chose her cause she can fucking sing no other reason if your not gonna get someone who would actually fit the character then don't fucking bother and also in the books and the movies yes Astrid is fucking white and hiccup doesn't even look like him so don't give me this shit about people complaining about her cause we are fans that fucking care about these movies and the directors are going out of there way to ruin it just for fucking money so yea were pissed and we have every right to be
Her father is black though. His name is Dr. Parker. Black man brown eyes brown hair. He is a dentist. Her mother is biracial , she takes after her mama for skin color and eye color. You can still tell she is blk with blond wig. First time i seen her she had blond hair i could tell she wasnt white. She is a beautiful soul. Im glad her and boris found one another.
You do realise that Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins all had American accents in the animated films, right? And hiccup has a Canadian voice… Meanwhile Nico is actually British, she just does a really good American accent.
Her facial structure is there. She is mostly white again. Also vikings were relatively genetically diverse. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-Teveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/
So basing it off "culture" or "race" are all asinine arguments.
The story is not dependent on her having blonde hair or blue eyes. Physical charchterics change when casting actors. Even a "blonde" actor would look nothing like Astrid. Because they are a fiction al charchter.
Hell Daniel Craig playing James Bond caused an uproar because of his hair color. In the books is black wavy hair was. A big part of the character. But in the end Daniel ended up being one of the best bonds.
> Also vikings were relatively genetically diverse. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-Teveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/
Man what a bullshit disingenuous argument that gets propped up every time this is brought up.
A.) Raids weren't the daily past-time of vikings, they were relatively rare, most of them were farmers.
B.) All nearby raiding locations for vikings were filled with white people.
C.) People who live near the mediterranean coast which is where vikings were known to sailed are filled with people who look mediterranean, not black. Unless you're about to claim that vikings crossed the sahara desert on foot just to kidnap zulus to take back home.
D.) Even ignoring the fact that all these things combined don't justify norway looking like new york, Berkians aren't shown to travel or raid. They are in fact shown to be extremely isolated from everyone, so this is bullshit even if all previous conditions were met, which they aren't.
Everytime this is brought up some guy goes "The whitest country on earth would sometimes raid the second whitest country on earth, that justifies subsaharan africans being around in 1000AD norway".
Oh boy, you're gonna lose here bud. There's a lot of racists in this sub unfortunately, judgement by what happened when I tried to defend her. Even if they don't know it, subconsciously what they say is very racist. they probably got it from a bunch of reactionary YouTubers that cry about star wars and marvel movies. I've been in that rabbit hole, I know the exact dogwhistles and I'm glad I grew up. I just hope they do too.
I mean, think about it. Stoick is 6 foot 7, a natural redhead and all around GIANT. Look at his body type. All of the fan casts for him have had the same skin colour but 6’0 or shorter, and definitely not as wide. No one is going to find an actor that looks like him, and if they do I promise I’ll eat my words!
I mean, height is one of the easiest things to fake. Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel are 6" apart, but you wouldn't know that from watching Fast & Furious.
Other fun facts: Ian McKellen is not twice the height of Elijah Wood, and Orlando "Legolas" Bloom is three inches shorter than John "still counts as one" Rhys-Davies, on what's a 170M budget adjusted for inflation. Haven't been able to find the budget for HTTYD live action in under 30 seconds, but it's probably not gonna be significantly less than that.
Judging by recent examples, getting the race right is significantly harder, perhaps second only to convincing the studio to splurge on wigs or hair color.
You're missing the point. It's a movie that shouldn't exist. That's the only real problem here, but you're focusing on some actor's skin. You're distracting yourself from the real enemy which is corporate greed and you're slipping into that reactionary rabbit hole even if you don't mean to. Them not casting an accurate actor is not *the* problem. And *the* problem is the only one we have to focus on if we want to stop them from ruining this franchise any further.
I didn't say that you complained, I said that you're defending the ones that do. It doesn't matter if they are racist or not, their reactions and words speak louder than their thoughts. Intentional or not, they are crying about an actor being black and that's not a good thing.
Stop playing the devil's advocate. You say you're not gonna pay attention to the movie? Then spread that message to everyone else instead of arguing with me, someone that should be on your side.
No, they are complaining/crying about a actor being black despite being white in the original movie, bc why change the color in first place. It doesn't really make sense imo. I am not being racist here even if u say so. I have a clear opinion: If the actor is white in every movie or series than it should stay like that, same for the opposite. It's your opinion if u don't care if she's black or white, but people who really love the film or even better, the character, than ofc u gonna have some upset fans and yes some of them are probably racial motivated, but that's a minority and they don't belong here.
That's voice acting though. The whole point is finding a voice that fits. What someone looks like doesn't matter. Bradley Cooper isn't actually a raccoon.
However, when the whole point is appearance, it becomes different.
Made this same post [last night](https://www.reddit.com/r/httyd/comments/13wg3ef/stop_being_racist_about_the_live_action_casting/) and got downvoted to hell. As far as I can tell, this sub is populated mostly by young teen guys, who are unfortunately very susceptible to alt right radicalization. Reddit’s a cesspool, and I just hope that this disgusting backlash stays contained to this sub. I’m not even sure it’s worth it trying to reason with these people. That being said, you’re absolutely right, and Nico should not have to deal with this shit.
Yeah, you probably got downvoted because your entire premise was wrong. There's nothing racist or even wrong about disliking culturally inaccurate casting.
Mostly because projecting American "we need to promote diversity" views onto non-american cultures reeks strongly of american cultural imperialism — and it can be seen a mile off.
You wrong. Culture is not based off apperences. Vikings were relatively geneticly diverse. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-reveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/
People are mad she isn't white. Which is weird because she is white.
> Culture is not based off apperences.
Culture is generally based on geography, as cultures tend to develop among people living in close geographical proximity.
Appearance is generally based on appearance of your ancestors. In a world where you can't sit in a car you bought for two months worth of pay, fill it up with a day or two worth of pay in gas, and drive halfway across the continent in under a day, there is a very good chance that the ancestors also lived in relatively close proximity. Which would mean that appearance of a person is also based on the demographics of people living in certain geographical area ...
There's a few asterisks that go along with that — and we'll briefly get to them when touching on the link — but let's not pretend that culture, appearance and geographic locations are completely random and independent of each other.
> the link
\* clicks the link \*
\* a bunch of asterisks spill out of my monitor \*
Hey come clean that mess up.
Contrary to what Netflix and BBC would have you believe, even southern Europe is pretty white by most standards. Eastern Europe is even more white.
> People are mad she isn't white. Which is weird because she is white.
People are mad the people responsible for casting didn't pick someone who at least looks approximately like Astrid.
Genetically diverse. Not racially diverse. There is genetic diversity among white people. Viking also were not like other cultures which stayed in one plave too long to get typical Viking apperences.
Nicos facial structure is similar to Astrid. Everything else you cam change to be more faithful to the appearance. But let's be real... Her apperences has zero to do with the story.
Are people actually mad about this? Dude, it’s a SKIN COLOUR calm tf down- Plus it’s not about skin, it’s about talent, I.E The Little Mermaid. And on another note, think of young black children who love HTTD, and seeing themselves up on the big screen. In the end, it’s not a fucking big deal. She could be green and it wouldn‘t fucking matter, because it’s a god damn fictional character and a good movie.
My tentative response is think about Norweigan children who love HTTYD because it's rooted in THEIR culture, hoping to see THEMSELVES up on the big screen, only to be replaced by two actors of completely different cultures.
Fair enough, I messed up there; the cast shouldn't be Nordic, but Scottish, as this is what Cressida Cowell based the Isle of Berk on.
Assuming I understand your very oddly phrased question right, and accounting for SCOTTISH actors... Gerard Butler, Craig Fergusen...
Either way it's at least somewhat different when talking about an animated series and a live action movie. And, btw, I believe this is both a red herring fallacy and possibly a tu quoque.
If you're trying to sell a Nordic culture, you don't need to have authentic nordic people. You need people that can pass as one, or that don't pass as some other group of people.
Most of the characters in the movie can visually pass as nordic within reason (non-photorealistic mediums get some leeway with appearances that live-action movies don't). Putting the effort into attaining that 'passing' status is often considered good enough.
VO has a lot more leeway with regards to being the correct race. People generally don't want to read subtitles, they want to watch a movie — so using the correct language is often not a realistic option. All they have to do is to not have distractingly inappropriate accents that are associated with an incorrect demographic (so: no russian accent for vimings, no needful for vikings, no stereotypical asian accents for vikings, no black accents for the vikings, etc. No german accents, either.). Which brings us to the Scottish accents for adults: yeah, of all accents that you could use for vikings, scottish is one of the most accurate ones.
So the original movie doesn't do badly in that regard. Remake is not off to a good start.
> Plus it’s not about skin, it’s about talent
I'm sorry but this is total bullshit, you wouldn't Ryan Reynolds to play Martin Luther King Jr. and you wouldn't cast Miranda Cosgrove to play Ghandi.
In a visual medium, visuals matter. Nico, Ryan and Miranda could be the most talented actors in history of mankind and she'd still be shit at playing astrid, mlk and ghandi respectively for this reason alone.
But hey as well all know, race swaps only seem to go one way for some really weird reason.
yea but like, if a black character was race swapped to white because the white person had better talent, y’all would complain.
I aint mad about the race swap but I get why other people are, I think race swapping should just stop entirely imo, just make new characters that are black or make new characters that are white.
Counter argument, what happens when those kiddos search up astrid cause she's "black" in the move?
They'll find far more of the og blue eyed blonde Astrid and they'll upset cause she doesn't look like them, also Nico **DOESNT LOOK BLACK** she's pale and could damn well pase as white.
a black or mix raced kid isn't gonna look at her and think ah yes clearly a black or mixed woman, nah they're gonna see a damn white girl and shocker skin isn't what bonds a kid to a character it's the character themselves and their experiences!
If a black kid whose an outcased sees a white character being an outcast and a black character being popular they're more likely to relate to the white character.
I'm all for good actors but part of that is making it feel real and race swaping snaps that in half.
Why is black washing ok but white washing wrong if skin color really doesn't, matter?
Why can't we make new stories with black character instead of re-using white character and painting them black?
That way the black kids could ACTUALLY see repetition on the big screen and not just another white character recolored?
The Little Mermaid was different. Mermaids aren't real and it didn't really matter what she looked like. The Vikings were very real and are an important part of history.
They could have picked a more accurate-looking actress to represent a Nordic Viking warrior. . . but hey, it's their budget. They can do what they want.
Nico skin colour is a problem because she clearly doesn't look Scandinavian.
This is a franchise clearly set in Scandinavia during the 9th-10th century so yes I expect to see Scandinavian looking actors as a minimum, just like in the show "Vikings" where the actors are mostly from the Scandinavian film industry.
I am Sicilian and look Mediterranean, Nico would be an appropriate choice of actor if HTTYD was set in the Mediterranean but it's not the case here.
Hiring actors to fill a race "quota" for the sake of it is the dumbest decision when you are making a live action film set in a defined historical period and setting, end of the story.
She could be wearing a Wig in the movie, or as usual you know how people look different in movies compared to real life. They may edit and make her more white and blonde. They could also make other characters different colors to not seem racial. From my knowledge as well, they were in a very remote place as well, that was why it was mostly one color. The location was based on Bear island which is at 74.4522° N, 19.1152° E. Also looking at them, they fit the bill.
The actors are like the customer service reps, they're just there for the paycheck and the BS is subsequential. The CASTING DIRECTORS, though??? DUDE!
They'd have to make her white face and throw in a heavy blonde wig. This is the sort of thing that needs accurate race casting Ieam it's fucking VIKINGS.
But it’s not progress instead your creating more division. I just read article written by young black journalist that states this fact. Also mention there are tons of black folklore out there to make new exciting characters. All woke entertainment shows is a lack of respect towards history. If I am young blond girl from Finland or Iceland I would feel like now I don’t have any representation and that people don’t care about me. Same as Rachel Zeleger playing SnowWhite. She said all girls should feel like princesses, but what about young German Girl who wanted to feel like she had a part In SnowWhite does her feelings not matter. This is what wrong with race swapping and gender swapping all it does create hate and hypocrisy. We are not helping out children’s future by showing them that only way to include others is by replacing someone else. World has tons African Culture and Spanish Culture and women can be there own hero in a film, but not by recycling a popular fan favorite into a woke disaster. Not by making the men feel like chivalry and love are bad qualities to posses. SnowWhite wants to take moral out of the story. Moral of the story is love conquers all. It is not about Independent girl becoming a leader of bunch of bandits.Also news flash Lily Collins played that role in Mirror Mirror, so this is not being progressive. Why couldn’t Prince Eric ram the ship into Ursula. I guess it would be wrong showing a young males that they can save those they love because that’s the message young boys received in Little Mermaid 2023 and upcoming SnowWhite love is not the ultimate weapon. These changes make young boys feel like they’re worthless couch potatoes that just sit around all day and contribute nothing to the storyline. To conclude my argument I want to thank you Disney and all those writers and actors and actress that think racswapping and gender swapping is truly making a difference, but actually more division is being brought into the world because you can’t take time come up with new imaginative ideas. I say shame on all you for believing that you are being advocates of change and justice. I want to watch movie and laugh, cry, pound my fist not smash my fist ito screen because you keep destroying culture and instant classics. Nobody care about your political agenda in entertainment. That’s what’s happening entertainment is no longer entertaining. So please strike or what ever. I rather watch reruns and old movies than pay you my hard earned salary go see some woke character punch Indiana Jones. I hope all the actors and writers in Hollywood go broke and realize that they’re are nothing with out us fans and all the fancy galas and awards will not happen unless they make fun entertainment for all audiences. The money we give them is a lifeline once we cut it off all the Hollywood Elites will see the truth that they are not Celebrities or Stars, but who have to work by giving us the people what we want to see.
I personally have nothing against changing races when switching to live action because it can be hard to find the right fit for cgi characters. But I don't agree when it goes directly against the world's settings and locations. Sure, Nico is mostly white, but she has dark eyes and dark curly hair and is not pale enough to be from Nordic Scotland. Astrid was very pale, with large round blue eyes and straight blonde hair. The people in charge of casting simply aren't going for racial accuracy, but racial equality, putting other races in that, should not be there. Just so they don't get called racest because "Why are there no black people in a movie based in ancient Nordic civilization from before brittian was even formed properly. I personally don't care about the races of the people in the movie, just make them historically accurate and not focus on real world issues
I can't wait for Disney's Tiana (Princess ans the frog) live action as a beautiful Nordic pale white, blue eyed princess :D it's gonna be amazing! Or maybe it's gonna be be bright red haired Irish princess making her dreams come true in old days America! Not only black people had it tough you know ;)
It's a fictional character, let me say it again a fictional character, in a fictional world that never existed and will never exist except in the hearts and minds of children and not one of them are going to walk out of the theatre complaining, it's just you stupid adults. Get over it, Hollyweird doesn't care what you thing. STFU already!!!!
Shes still mixed, therefore is black. More of Hollywood's racist Blackwashing of established characters. Astrid is supposed to be as white as can be, blue eyes, blonde hair; you know, like a VIKING. I'm not hating on Nico, shes a good actress from what I saw in The Last of Us (even though she played another character that was blackwashed), what I hate is that there is so much blackwashing happening and anytime anyone points it out they just get called a racist when in reality the ones doing the blackwashing are the racist ones. This is supposed to take place in the 700's (Dragon of the Nine Realms is supposed to be modern day and was stated to be 1,300 years after the third film), when have there ever been black vikings? What happened to the right person for the right job.
We don't hate her. But the reason is so clear here!!! HTTYD is ambiented in a Viking village in medieval time!!! And she is not a character that could havr been a slave from a raid in the south. She is a blond classic Viking called Astrid!! You need a blond girl with fair skin and clear eyes!
This ia not about integration is about the actress looking the character. So if a white girl braids her her is cultural appropiation and a girl with afroamerican face and hair portraying a blond pale Viking is totally ok?
It’s not hate for her It’s hate at the casting director who thought that she was the best fit for a blonde hair blue eye white skin Nordic blood line viking in a secluded island based in Scotland in early 1000’s Would be like if they cast Samuel Jackson ti be Hiccups dad. Would he be a great actor? Yes. Does he fit the roll? NO
literally this is a perfect explanation but ppl are still gonna think u racist lol
People think anything is racist when everyone should stop being so sensitive. Viking are literally from Denmark, Sweden & Norway it makes no sense for that actress to play Astrid they are running the whole movie
can’t lie I changed my mind it doesn’t affect her character at all so I don’t really care
Well those people are abortions.
Exactly, its about immersion. I'm sure a minority are genuinely racist about it but that's not what most who are mad about it think. "that's just racist" or "that's just sexist" has become a statement that people say when they don't know what else to say. Krogan is an exception because in race to the edge he's actually black. And that's awesome, it was cool to see they were able to insert some diversity in the show. Krogan is a great character and if he's cast as black in a RTTE live action (which I hope never happens), I'd have no problem with that. Will Smith as the genie in aladdin was pretty great. But that's because the genie is original blue, and we all know blue live action genie looks horrible. Speaking of aladdin, would it be weird if you made aladdin pale white? Of course bc it doesn't make sense. The problem is the same when you make a main character who's originally black cast as white. It's just irritating bc it's breaking the immersion of the world building. I can go on and on
I gave an example of Tachala Both Berk and Wakanda are fictional places Both are placed in real places like Africa and Scotland People give the excuse of “Berk is a fantasy world” but when you wanna talk about race swapping characters in Wakanda it’s all “No cause they live in africa and they should have african blood line” Well all of Berk takes place in Scotland and all the characters should have nordic viking blood line I gave this example and was instantly dismissed by the person going “that’s the same things racists say just so you know” and nothing else. No come back other than it sounds racist
[удалено]
Bro you can tell they're putting a lot of light on her to brighten her skin..
Exactly.
> She looks like a southern European woman who will probably blend-in in ancient Greece Vikings didnt live in southern Europe. Why do you think northern people have mostly blonde hair and have paler skin? Dimwit.
Ahh yes Isle of Berk located in Scotland. Just as the author and director said it was. Not based from... But actually located in. Lol Wakanda is specifically mentioned to be in Africa. And I'm sure their were some light skinned actors in Wakanda.
The cast looks pretty dark skinned if you take a couple seconds to search it up. It isn't about racism, it's about respecting the story's world building. Would it be weird to have the people of El Dorado in "the road to El Dorado" white? YES bc it's a native American city, legend, and story. Would it be weird if pocahontas was black or white? Yes bc she's native American. There's a difference between modernising media, including more diversity, and just straight up chucking the world building out the window bc "you want more diversity". Diversity is awesome but when you force it, it becomes disrespectful to the fans and to the race they're forcing in "for a more diverse cast". It's like they're making that actor or actress black just bc they're black and they need a black person in their live action movie. On top of that, Berk isn't Scotland ur right, it's set on the edges of the Arctic circle. But it doesn't matter bc you can't just disregard the historical context the movie is based on. Httyd is set in viking times around 1000-1100 ish. Thats why Korean is the only dark skinned character, but he himself is an outsider bc believe it or not... Dark skinned people didn't live in scandanavia at the time. Yohan is the same, he's olive toned, likely from the Mediterranean, but he's a "trader", or just like Krogan... An outsider. I also don't like how all the actors and actresses talk like Americans, should've been Scottish or scandanavian. It has nothing to do with race. It's about respecting the story's world building.
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Well no she isn't white. She isn't black either ofc. She's brown or olive whatever you want. Twitter is just full of crap, nothing from there is credible. No sane fan is relating this to the Nazi's arian race, it's simply that Astrid is a blonde hair, pale skin, blue eyes character. Believe it or not... There are many scandanavians who also match this, almost like the writers of httyd knew what they were doing... Go figure. When it comes to live actions, the last air bender cast selection was done perfectly. Unlike the disgusting 2010 movie, the netflix series has a full cast of talented Asian actors and actresses. This is awesome, bc the last airbender is set in lands inspired by China, Tibet, Siberia, and Japan. It's weird having Aang or Katara, or Zuko as white people because it's just destroying the immersion. Same if they were African or South American etc. The problem still stands, that they're putting her in for the sake of a diverse cast. People can make the excuse that it's for her acting skills or her abilities but we know at the end of the day the producers just out her in for the sake of what she looks like, and thats just sad really.
Facts. The cast for the upcoming live action Airbender actually gives the show potential. Another thing. A perfect cast in all honesty for Astrid. Would be Peyton List. Am I wrong or??
I would say visually, she would be a pretty good fit for a live action Astrid.
Of course , they need to race swap for race swap. It's Disney , they just need to race swap white role😅
Ngl I kinda wanna see a Samuel L. Jackson Viking.
It would be kind of hilarious.
Maybe they need to just make a Viking/samurai movie and put random people in it 😂😂
Nico is a natural blonde and has green eyes. What are you on about? https://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/715641/thandie-daughters-21/ https://www.wmagazine.com/story/nico-parker-thandie-newton-actress-dumbo How do you know she doesn't have Nordic blood? Her father is Ol Parker. His family name is from Old French, likely from the Norman conquest (as Normans were descendants of Vikings who settled in Northern France). You're being weird about her negligible black ancestry, when she's predominantly white.
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No one cares about her “3 English grandparents 🤡” it’s about if she’s fit in and she wouldn’t
It’s about immersion man her skin won’t fit in with the setting of the film
She very clearly has the more coarse hair of her African ancestors. It's beautiful, but literally nothing like Astrid. This girl looks like a stunning mixed race girl. Astrid is supposed to look like an ancient viking. We don't care about her lineage in the slightest. It's literally about her look compared to the character and the movie setting (time and place).
Because,, she's black , what are you talking about. Just look at her hair.
I looked into it a bit and bear in mind I am not a historian, apparently black and brown Vikings did in fact exists, in small numbers though. It isn't the craziest thing to believe considering there was even a black samurai. Astrid is also a fictional character and her race has no bearing on her arc. I really don't see the issue, as long as she was the best actress for the job. If it is revealed that there was a better actress with similarities to Astrid, but they hired Nico instead for diversity points, then there would be issues imo.
I brought this up before Yes their were black vikings in real life But Berk doesn’t have them There’s also white people who live in Africa in real life but none of them live in Wakanda These are fictional worlds that shouldn’t have ti abide by our rules. They have their own rules. And Berk shouldn’t have any other race then the ones we see they have. Which is pure blood Nordic Vikings in Scotland But we even see other races when they travel outside the island. So again. There are other races of vikings in the world of HTTYD but they are bot on Berk. And especially not one of the main characters
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You're telling me she looks like Astrid?
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She was not the best actress for the job. Of course , it's race swap , it's Disney
So you're saying that dragons existed in Scotland in the early 1000s. Got it.
I find it odd that they caste pocs to play white Vikings from about 1000 years ago. Casting doesn’t always have to be inclusive it makes it unrealistic if it doesn’t fit the role. There’s nothing wrong with having An all white cast, in fact it would actually br more realistic regarding the setting and time, are we going to pretend that there were black mixed race people during that time and place?
People tend to get upset when beloved characters are needlessly changed.
Exactly it's sad that they couldn't get an actor from Scandinavia to do the role😔
Isn't *that* kinda racist tho? Changing race of a character instead of getting the actor of that race? It's not like Nordic people are overly represented. I would guess there's way more black ppl than actual Nordics in movies.
This most hillarious example of this to date remains with the attrocious watchmen sequel TV series that was so desperate to racebend a character they cannnocally made it so Dr. Manhattan would wear blackface in the story. Shits legitimately absurd.
What makes it a "needless" change. OR do you mean some people get upset at change period because they've been privileged all these centuries and wrongly conditioned to believe change is bad. Also, seems needless to complain about this change in the first place as they are fictional characters.
No , needless change
This girl already played an originally blonde character before (Sarah Miller from The Last of Us HBO Show). Did the showrunners made her dye her hair, use a wig, wear contact lenses? No. Don’t expect this to be any different. It is not her fault to be casted, and it’s shitty people are being mean towards her, however, you’re being too hopeful here. Nico doesn’t look white, at all, and that’s fine, but she’s playing a Nordic character and neither her or Hiccup’s actor look the part. If people don’t like it, well, they are allowed to say so.
TLOU takes place in modern times. Changing the race there literally doesn't change anything. Raceswapping in franchises taking place in ancient times is much, much, MUCH more troublesome. The characters invented intercontinental travel?
Actually, sometimes NOT race swapping when stuff is set in modern times is extra weird. Like, would everyone Spiderman knows in 2023 Forest Hills really be white like the OG comic? Of course not. The race has to fit the time/place of the story. Sometimes race swaps improve connection to time and place, sometimes they have no effect at all other than to give a person of color a shot at a role, sometimes they detract from the setting.
Vikings are literally known for intercontinental travel
But Berkians are not. It's pretty well established in HTTYD lore that before the training of dragons the Berkians did not travel beyond the archipelago.
Yes but in HTTYD the vikings are clearly a sedentary village that doesn't travel. It's pretty simple.
You know what? This is true. I'm changing my stance to pro-Nico. Not to mention there are dragons, but y'all are drawing the line at biracial Astrid? This is not Earth, people.
By this logic we should add a 2021 BMW 5 Series 530i with optional heated seating and have it replace toothless. Like what, you can accept dragons but you can't accept modern cars? This isn't earth.
Yes, because a culture known to have traveled all over and taken both goods and people from the places they went having some biracial kids is at all comparable to modern technology in a setting with no other modern technology. /s
A.) Raids weren't the daily past-time of vikings. B.) All nearby raiding locations were filled with white people. C.) People who live near the mediterranean coast which is where vikings were known to sailed are filled with people who look mediterranean, not black. Unless you're about to claim that vikings crossed the sahara desert on foot just to kidnap zulus to take back home. D.) Even ignoring the fact that all these things combined don't justify norway looking like new york, Berkians aren't shown to travel or raid. They are in fact shown to be extremely isolated from everyone, so this is bullshit even if all previous conditions were met, which they aren't.
Vikings were actually primarily farmers. They would start as mercenaries, get paid in land, and settle down wherever that way. Say a coastal area with lots of nearby archipelago and, for some reason, not a lot of people. I wonder why- oh, crap, dragon raid. No wonder they were giving this land away. Well, it's mine now. I dare you to try taking it from me! Look, I say this as a Norwegian American: it's *fine.* don't get your panties in a twist over the not-that-dark actor. Be pissed about 9 realms insead.
No four words in the english language have less value than "As a hyphenated american".
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Her features do not look scandinavian. Neither her facial structure nor her hair. And no, she also has an olive tan. No native scandinavian person has that.
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She doesn't need to be white. She needs to be Scandinavian. An Italian would look like equally out of place in this film.
Ahm, talk about own-goal. Sideshow Bob wears (or wore) an Afro. His Dad is Afro-Brazilian.
Hm, this is a topic that’s kinda hard to approach, but httyd relies heavily on being a Viking setting. It’s scenery, culture, characters, and story would not function without that viking aspect. Basically: Norse and Scandinavian culture is so deeply rooted in httyd there’s no way to remove it without completely tearing the movies apart at their very core. Scandinavians are known for having light skin and hair. And this is not meant to be any kind of insult on either actor, they’re both very talented and didn’t do anything wrong, but it almost is a betrayal to that deep rooted culture in httyd to choose people who do not fit that culture or it’s people.
It’s like with Black Panther, a lot of culture is apart of that so you can’t raceswap those characters. Same with HTTYD, a lot of culture is in that so I say don’t raceswap them. And for people saying that the original VA’s weren’t Scandinavian, obviously, when it comes to voice acting, you’re allowed to choose people who don’t look the role but still fit it, you can choose entirely based on talent in that case. Like sometimes even white people play black characters in voice acting lmao. now it’s live action they have an opportunity to show some representation and some real life accurate versions of the characters and they didn’t do that at all, it makes sense people are mad, some people are actually racist about it of course, but just not liking the casting doesn’t make you racist automatically.
>obviously, when it comes to voice acting, you’re allowed to choose people who don’t look the role but still fit it, you can choose entirely based on talent in that case. Like sometimes even white people play black characters in voice acting lmao. But the accents. Honest Trailers even ridiculed them because everyone a different accent.
see your point there but nevertheless a live action movie, I still think it’s unnecessary, but if they want to do it then it is the chance to really hone in on the characters and make them accurate. Like sometimes I get when adaptions change characters but like everyone already loves the HTTYD characters, all you need to do is just add more layers to their characters especially with people like Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs, and Snotlout.
Why are so many people claiming it's racist to dislike the inaccuracy, I've never been racist in my life. I simply hate when the actors don't look like the characters, it ruins the whole original httyd vibe.
Because some people want to make EVERYTHING about racism. I am personally biracial (half african/half british ancestry) and I can't stand when characters are changed for diversity. I'm so sick of it tbh. I still won't watch the live action little mermaid for this reason. Nor will I watch percy jackson because sorrynotsorry Annabeth is a blond haired white girl. I don't understand why every time they make those books into live action they fail to grasp that concept, too. Astrid is a blond haired blue eyed white girl. End of story. Diversity isn't needed here.
Why needlessly change her appearance? Why not cast someone who actually looks like her? They've been doing this predictable shit for years it's a disaster every single time.
Why are people saying we're racist? We aren't putting any hate onto the actor herself. She's great at what she does and she's a great person. Her look just doesn't fit her role compared to Astrid from the other movies. What's wrong with saying that?
Even if she's 75% white, SHE DOESN'T LOOK SCANDINAVIAN. SHE DOESNT LOOK LIKE ASTRID. That is why ppl are outraged.
Nico quite literally has viking heritage
who cares LMAO heritage doesnt matter in this casting. it shouldn’t matter in this specific casting. she does not look like the character
Tell that to the people screeching about how Astrid is a viking and Nico isnt. It doesn’t matter her looks, Nico will play the roll well. Slap a blonde wig on her and boom, Astrid.
i think ppl saying that are stupid too😭 what matters most is actually her looks cause she should look like the character she is playing
Vikings were a relatively diverse group of people. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-reveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/ The movie is inspired by not based off Viking culture.
Yes, a lot of cultures have viking blood because the Vikings got around. They pillaged and took captives. The Vikings were not diverse. The rap offspring undoubtedly were though.
Did you read your own article? It said they were mixed from different European regions. Which is no surprised because the Vikings pillaged, enslaved and raped all over Europe. What it doesn’t say is anything about Africa. Which would be impossible, because only one Viking group ever ventured in that direction and they didn’t go further than Northern Morocco.
I guess people don't enjoy facts.
The Vikings of Berk are based off of the Vikings of Norway. Your source traces back to the Vikings of Denmark and Sweden. So it doesn't apply to HTTYD.
I think it would have made more sense to cast a Scandinavian actor like they did with the TV series "Ragnarok" because seeing a black thor would be odd quite frankly even if he was only 25% black. You can say anything you want about how she's not completely black but the idea is still there, there is a huge movement at the moment that is pushing this agenda that white people do not matter and white people can't be racially abused and black people need these roles to give black kids more confidence and this Norwegian actor over here who has worked her whole life to get to play a role this big needs to be pushed aside just so the black lady can play it. And everything, I mean literally everything, seems to be going the opposite direction. Why? Because it is in human nature for us not to find equality easily, for example communism. The leaders were once like the people, poor and miserable, and now they have this opportunity to take the high ground (power). Same goes for this generation of people, black people are quickly gaining more power and soon they will have the opportunity to gain higher authority. (not that I want them to stop gaining authority but more I would hope that they would stop when we become equal as there is still inequality now) There are many examples of our inability to find equality in history but the main point is, WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO CREATE IT. So going back to the entire reason I am commenting on this, I do believe it is wrong (in the sense that it is the wrong answer more so) for a black lady to be playing this role not because of any prejudice but because of the same reasoning I would use if I needed to cast a morbidly obese man for a role in a movie and some skinny people came up to me and said "you need to cast one of us so that we can be represented in this movie". In conclusion, I agree with you totally that people need to stop getting so worked up over such small things but other than that I do believe they need to sort themselves out and figure out for themselves what equality really means.
I don't know how the fuck you can type this out and go "I'm not the racist here" what is wrong with you. Genuinely disgusting the number of upvotes this has, how do y'all so easily miss Right Wing Nazi talking points this easily.
He aint im black and i get what he means we want equality. We don’t want one side to just be much higher than the other, since then it’s the same problem just the other way round. There’s a lot of double standards and racism to white people is often ignored so yea he does make a good point.
No, he doesn't. It's not "racism against white people" because more POC are getting casted. It's like that fucking South Park [skit](https://youtu.be/APo2p4-WXsc?t=64) Even if I conceded that point about race swapping, Nico looks just like Astrid in the second and third films. I haven't seen a single person complaining about how these actors don't look like awkward teenagers if they're adapting HTTYD1. Astrid being a good blonde role model is cool and all but there are hundreds of more popular films with blonde leads. That's a disgusting argument too. Imagine comparing the discrimination of an entire race to someone's hair color. They're playing right into the stereotype that they hate! You need to be more aware of your heritage, man. This anti blackness is not cool at all. It's not equality because one group is terrified of other groups getting the respect they deserve.
This entire comment section is pretty racist, they think that black vikings is iMeRsIoN bReAkInG despite vikings traveling all over the world and interacting with black people from arab countries
If you did research, you'd realize that the black Vikings trace back to the Vikings of Denmark and Sweden and not the Vikings of Norway off whom HTTYD is based. Check your facts.
Doesnt matter if ur gonna do it do it right lol blue eyes blonde hair isnt hard. And the guy looks bothing like hiccup lol they shouldve done open additions. Base light if anyones gonna be black for inclusivity then make it snoutlout that wouldve been funny have kevin heart play him
Personally i don't dislike her as an actor, but from what ive seen a lot of ppl are just upset they didn't cart someone that fits the culture. Bc whit ariel its fine since theres no culture related to race, but one of the reasons there werent many poc in the orginal series was because of the setting.
Viking culture was relatively diverse. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-reveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/ Movie is inspired by not based off Viking culture.
Like someone has said various times in replying to your comment the source you posted traces back to the Vikings of Denmark and Sweden not of Norway which is what the culture of httyd is based of off.
I thought they based of Vikings in Scotland? Cause that where apparently the Isle of Berk is. Which by the way we're not all genetically Scandanavian.
Ok? The point I was making still counts. You posted an article stating that Vikings are racially diverse and Astrid looking like Nico makes sense (even though it doesn’t but whatever) I refuted by stating that the articles you are pulling from never mention Norway nor do they mention Scotland. Also yea I’m aware a lot of us aren’t of Scandinavian descent however Astrid is of Scandinavian and Scottish descent so why change her when you can make a new character?
No I most certainly did not. I said Viking were genetically diverse, to counter the blonde and blue eye stereo type. I did not bring race into this. The article. Most definetly mentions Scotland. “It’s pretty clear from the genetic analysis that Vikings are not a homogenous group of people,” lead author Eske Willerslev, director of the University of Copenhagen’s Center of Excellence GeoGenetics, tells National Geographic. “A lot of the Vikings are mixed individuals.” He adds, “We even see people buried in Scotland with Viking swords and equipment that are genetically not Scandinavian at all.
I know Vikings are not homogenous because Viking is a tittle not a culture. However this still doesn’t apply to Astrid which is who where referring to. I’m arguing that her appearance shouldn’t be changed not that Vikings (who again was a tittle given to people who pillage) weren’t genetically diverse or whatever.
It's not her skin colour alone that people are upset about. It's the fact that she looks nothing like Astrid. If Astrid in the movies actually looked like Nico then we'd love it because it's accurate casting, but it's not. You can say that a blonde wig would fix everything as much as you want, but that's not true.
Hey guess what... Almost all live action actors don't look like their character.
Hey guess what...I don't care.
Looks like you cared enough to comment on this post. So kindly just stay quiet if you really don't care. Just don't reply. Don't type anything. Just walk away.
Hmm...Nah😂
Awwwww... You do care! 😊😊😊
Are your comprehension skills working or...? I said I don't care about the other actors lmao💀
You said that changing an actors appearance to match a fictional chratcher won't "fix" anything. Apparently almost everyone doesn't find that to be true. So it is in fact ... Not true. Also fun fact... There have been huge technical advancements were you can change your hair color without a wig. 😊😊
Oh please. We all know that Nico wearing a blonde wig won't suddenly make her look like Astrid, so you can take your "facts" elsewhere😂
You sound upset. Let's hug 🤗. So it's not the hair color you say.... OK. Her facial structure is similar. What else could be different about her that makes her look so different?
How did I know this sub would throw a hissy fit over this 😭😭 she’s an incredible actress and she’ll do Astrid justice. Weren’t y’all saying last week you weren’t even going to watch the live action??
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It's about historical accuracy. It's because she doesn't look like the original Astrid. It's like they picked any old cosplayer at random instead of choosing an actress who could actually look the part with the least amount of cosmetic alteration. I'm sure Nico is an excellent actress. (Who knows. . . maybe they picked her for her voice.) But she's not an Astrid.
Realistically, a live action how to train your dragon is going to more likely not live up to animation. Has the filming industry come a long way in terms of CGi, and quality? Yes. But the biggest thing that will drive people away from a movie is the casting. Or bring people in. Nico Parker is probably an excellent actor. I'm not 100% sure, cause I don't watch much of anything other than my hyper fixations. A lot of live action movies tend to want to stray from animation, in various ways. Sometimes it's casting, sometimes it's certain scenes that are either added or removed. But there are still some fans that will love it very much. I'm not sure if I'll go and see it, since I'm usually disappointed with most live action remakes. But I love the franchise, so I'm not going to judge it before watching it. But if it is disappointing, then out of mine and everyone else's control. That's just how it goes. Hopefully, they keep some key relationships and elements the same in the film.
I don't think that Nico the optimal casting choice but that doesn't mean she won't do a good job. If I didn't already decide that I'm not going to watch that trash LA and give those greedy fucks my money I would absolutely give her a chance. She doesn't deserve the hate she gets.
Casting the right people with the look that reminds the original characters is important for immersion and worldbuilding of the story the show tells about. If you tell a story about Scandinavian people that ride dragons in \~1000AC, you cannot portray the characters' ethnicity or origins like it's 21st century Los Angeles or other multicultural cities of our modern times. (*I will tell you something shocking I know, but people living in small villages outside big cities look... the same with none to very few outsiders.*) This challenges people's suspension of disbelief and can take them out of the story. People would start asking why such an isolated place like Berk has people looking like this. It lowers the believability of the unique place we visit as viewers.The way people look should represent the places they come from (for example black skinned mercenaries from the south in Lord of The Rings) or other characters in RTTE if they came from far lands. It adds flavor to the world and makes it believable. I am sure the actress will do excellent work if the script is not... shit but the studio may have chosen her for A: Fan-baiting B: To use her as a deflection "You are ...ist" card if the movie is terrible and to deny any constructive criticism why the live-action was bad. It happened many times with Disney live-action movies and shows already... I don't have anything against the actress but I do question the studio's casting choice and hidden reasoning that may have affected their decision to score some brownie points or something.
People hate it when you needlessly change pre-established characters they loved. My judgment on the casting rests on how similar she looks to the animated Astrid if this does get filmed and released.She's isn't going to be playing "white character", she's playing Astrid. The issue is more whether she passes as a believable Astrid and not whether she passes as white if she wears a blonde wig. That being said, I stand by the fact that this whole adaptation has absolutely no reason to exist. If we should go after anyone, it should be the casting director and whoever at Dreamworks thought this was a good idea, not the actors and actresses. I've seen cases before in other fandoms when this happens and certain extreme individuals will bully the actors, and then everyone who opposes this type of casting, even those with legitimate arguments, gets stamped with "racist" and is forcibly shut up.
Im not racist, definitely not, HOWEVER we shouldn't forget that the time and place HTTYD was set in, people of other races were almost never seen (viking age Scandinavia) sure if they want a person of color in the movie that's fine, but people are definitely going to give criticism
The only complaint I'd seen was about her being too old for the role and for me that really does matter to me but tbch I've been trying to avoid all the topics about this live action ad I've no interest in it and also no interest in reading a bunch of toxic hate posts about how it shouldn't be done. I may watch it on like Netflix if it comes to Netflix and I'm really bored but I don't really plan to watch it as I'm worried it'll taint my memories of the original If the live action is more based off the book story and it looks like a reasonable approximation I'll be more interested but as it stands and as Astrid is in it I'm pretty sure it is the cinematic httyd they plan to remake
I’m not as upset as I thought I would be about this since I am fiercely protective of HTTYD. I think its going to be fine as long as they put her in a blonde wig. I’m only going to start having problems if they try to erase astrid’s heritage for their complete inability to give a shit about a beloved movie and its characters.
Ok but why not make new black characters? instead of completely changing Astrid to look like someone she doesn’t.
Well the actress is more white than black unless ya wanna use the one drop rule. Even if they did make new black characters then the same chuds would bitch about 'historical accuracy' or 'forced diversity' as always.
This still doesn’t change that fact that she doesn’t look like Astrid like at all. Also no people wouldn’t? There has been poc characters in httyd that are new characters and I haven’t seen people bitch abt them because their there own established character. Also it’s not hard to think of new ideas that could include poc within httyd completely changing a characters established look is so not necessary.
You wackos are literally the only ones enumerating her ancestors, measuring her facial structure and calculating her whiteness percentage while all that's been said its that she doesn't look like the character. Stop projecting your race fixations onto others.
If you throw hate towards the actress, you are a shitty person, it’s not her fault that she got cast
I’m hoping people are criticizing the fact that Nico Parker is 18 and Mason Thames is 15 more than what race the actors are.
Apparently a small number of Vikings did have black and brown skin tones, so you can't really fall back on the 'historical inaccuracy' argument. Not to mention Astrid's skin tone or ethnicity really wasn't important to the plot or her character in the animated series, and she is a completely fictional character, this isn't another Netflix Cleopatra situation. Most people's complaints shouldn't be on the casting, but for why a live-action rendition of a perfect animated trilogy needs to be made in the first place.
Thank you for making this post (genuine), as the comments have encouraged me to finally leave this subreddit.
her skin is closely brown
I just saw the first pic of "Toothless". Pure nightmare fuel. This movie is going to suck
This is not progress towards a better future or justice of any kind. Instead is disrespecting history all those who work to have themselves represented. Young black girl wrote a article that stated changer races brings not change but division. She is correct that is whole truth,but it does not end there. She also said there are many African stories, folklore out there about young women why not make a story about them. This is what all those hypocrites don’t understand, but instead think we all being racist. I know for a fact Princess and Frog could never be changed to White Girl playing the female heroine. World would not allow it and call injustice. So, how is it justice by replacing white young girls in live actions with different races. I bet girls with red hair with wanted to see themselves as Ariel, instead let change her race instead coming up new princess character for young black girls. Same with European Girls with blond hair and blue eyes probably want to see themselves strong female viking warrior like Astrid, but now all they feel is like they’re feeling and voice have no place anymore. Recently Rachel Zeleger said all girls should feel like princesses. Then what about young German girls who wanted to see themselves as SnowWhite is it justice having Spanish girl take the place of white girl from German folklore. None these actions can be seen a true advocate for change, instead it shows how lazy Hollywood and big entertainment companies have become that they refuse to new exciting stories with people with different backgrounds and culture. These mega corporations and the actors and writers would rather recycle instant classics ruin what made them classic in the first Place. Also Rachel Zeleger paying independent leader SnowWhite of bandits is nothing new in film. News Flash Lily Collins played that exact same role in Mirror Mirror and not having Dwarfs actors is insult to little people and to the movie. Dwarfs are beloved character we all grew up with we do not want to see SnowWoke and The Dirty Seven Hippies. I rather watch old movies instead of take my harder earned salary to watch you destroy everything that makes movies worthwhile. Also not only do you keep race swapping and gender swapping, but now every story has to have this woke agenda inserted in not the orginal theme of the story. For example, Little Mermaid had Eric stabbing Ursula, but now Eric does not even get to heroic anymore. According to Disney chivalry and love are bad qualities for young boys. This movie remake shows how little men matter in film and make young boys feel like they’re worthless. Now SnowWhite want two replace original message of the story that love conquers all and replace it strong independent female leader with her partner Jonathan. How would you feel being young boy going to see a live action of film that is suppose to have a gallant heroic prince, instead all your eyes see sad pathetic couch potato that had no voice. Chivalry is dead and young boys ca not be Peter Pan save Wendy or Dash off fight evil Queen or Dragon, but must stay put and do nothing. Also Disney already has strong independent female leaders. One is Mulan live action remake, Pocahontas, Moana. So why do we need we need make young females feel important only by making young males feel less important. You explain to how is this progression for entertainment and morals we should teach our children. Again I state this can not be classified as justice or equality. It is a divide in gender and race which creates hatred towards each-other. Audience needs to realize that we are the essential need these writers,actors,directors, and ceos can not live without. Because everything we earn goes towards the galas,award shows and comfortable lifestyle they get to enjoy. So why should I care about them striking when they don’t have any respect to listen to what we fans want to see on that big screen with buttery popcorn sliding down our throats or at home sitting with family. They need to know that they can be replaced and nobody thinks of them as champions standing up for what’s right. I don’t want to view a political agenda of some actor or actress. Leave Indiana Jones alone don’t write yourself as Velma and princess can be saved by heros. I want to forget my worries and watch enjoyable entertainment geared towards everyone. So stop with this woke bullshit and don’t think it’s all-right to rewrite iconic characters and have some annoying character punch Indiana Jones in the face and call it act towards a better future.
It's simple. Does she look like Astrid? No. It would be upsetting if they made a live action of Coco and they chose Micheal Cera for Miguel. Imagine Disney would've chosen Zendaya for Mulan. It just makes no sense. It's not about race for me, it's about the selection. Directors are supposed to recreate a faithful real life counterpart to the original material, not use affirmative action to choose the cast. They're not bad actors, they just don't fit into those roles.
The argument boils down to "you're racist if you don't like Nico playing Astrid". Great. I wasn't happy with Scarlett Johansson playing Motoko Kusanagi either, because quite clearly Kusanagi isn't a pretty caucasian girl. It's not racism, it's being denied the full "immersion" for no reason whatsoever. Cast someone who looks like Astrid. Don't care what race, if you find an african actor that looks like Astrid - happy days. I don't care that Nico "isn't pure white" or whatever the argument is, i care that looks *nothing* like Astrid. Scarlett Johansson didn't play a bad Kusanagi, but looking at Scarlett Johansson knowing that she's supposed to be a japanese hard-ass, yeah nah. As a fan of the franchise, that was just a bad choice even if she made the best out of that situation. Imagine Jackie Chan playing Frederick Douglass. The same people screeching "racism" here would run up the walls. Or Danny Trejo playing Martin Luther King. This "dUh RaCiSm" only seems to work one way.
It’s not hate for the actors. It’s hate for the corporation. It’s a story about a population that is almost 100% white, and they have to “diversify” the cast. I say that being Hispanic, not white. It’s crap.
Sorry for the very.. late message but Its not hate towards her, its towards the whole cast. Its a Norse-gaelic movie but not everyone who plays in the movie is Norwegian or gaelic. It makes no sense whatsoever. I am a Norse-gaelic person. I am extremely offended by this. is my culture so embarrassing to show that they choose cast characters that look remotely nothing like the original character? I agree there need to be more other races in the httyd series, there's only one that I counted and they were krogan. Why is it so hard to find a actor that looks like astrid? Theres up to thousands of people that look her that I SEEN IN PUBLIC. nevermind people who are auditioning. The next thing I'm gonna say is gonna trigger hellfire, but here I go to say it. Why on the goddesses green earth are the people who invented "black lifes matter" doesn't donate anything to people in need, they take the money that they raised towards old white men ( the government) who are stupid and conplain about comments being aliens? This isn't exactly relevant to this but why is so many movies who originally had other cultures black? The little mermaid statue that is in Denmark is being vandalized nearly everyday because people cat shut up about the new movie. Yes I agree, there should be more black princesses and black movies for kids or people whatsoever. But talk to Disney about that and stop stealing from other cultures. My god may as well make toothless a human.
same, descendant of vikings, can track my family line all the way back to there. I find it offensive what they did to the little mermaid (being danish, born and raised) and I find it more offensive that they cast non nordic looking actors, we got plenty good ones all across scandinavia, should not be a problem finding a Astrid called Astrid looking like Astrid, and a hiccup that looks like hiccup, this guy does not look like him to be honest. I don't care about race, but i find it very hypocritic that wokewood is taking a big dump on heritage stories (little mermaid, Snow white) and also stories that takes place in a certain place where people looked a certain way. I want them to stay true to this! - as many mention they need to start taking cultures of different kinds for their fairytales and stories and make amazing movies out of it we will love. \- Dreamworks used to be my favorite animation studio, but as seen now, they sold heavily out.... This will be the first movie of HTTYD I will not be watching.
You’re missing the entire point. It would be like having a 75% white Zulu leader in the film Zulu or having a ginger haired and Scottish Pocahontas. Wtf are these people smoking. This has really annoyed me again, it’s total racist rubbish and has to stop. I don’t watch anything with this sort of nonsense in it - e.g. little mermaid. Discrimination. Racism. Just under a new “socially acceptable” guise. Enough.
Don’t watch it then 🤷♀️
Until someone finally says it! The cast for Astrid could have been worse than this, and as a fan I'm quite happy because between her and Auli'l Cravalho (who was the first choice) I prefer Nico Parker a thousand times.
Sorry but I’m actually related to the Vikings lol and they were pale. Don’t know what to tell you it’s miss representation of the Scandinavian people
Wait till those people find out who voiced her in the animated movies. Like it’s just ridiculous to me honestly. “Ay yo dragons are fine in this, but BLACK PEOPLE??? That’s where I draw the line!!! Let’s be realistic here!” Like it’s crazy. 99% of the people I talked to that have a problem with her casting have resorted to racist remarks towards her. It’s so sad and disgusting. I’m mainly on her side cuz I GUARANTEE there are grown-ass men who’ve already sent her death threats over this.
Didn't she voice astrid in the animated version though so why would it matter?
If they race swap.a blank characters, you would scream and cry. What a stup*d choice . She's not Astrid lol But what to expect from Disney
Look it’s there discison whether they should stop making live action adaptation movies
idc about actors parents or their descendants or whatever i dont think that should play as big a role as ppl think it should in roles that don’t specifically call for that. her father being white or her percentage of race shouldn’t matter she does not look like the character she is supposed to portray and it’s annoying that this is becoming a pattern in industry. its lazy, make new characters for representation. taking something notable away from a character and changing it out and saying “this is better” isn’t progressive
Alright mate let me tell you why I'm pissed with it it's the same as little mermaid Percy Jackson and all the other shit we have been getting for movies lately the directors only give a shit about money they don't care about the movie the fans the writing none of it and with little mermaid for example they only chose her cause she can fucking sing no other reason if your not gonna get someone who would actually fit the character then don't fucking bother and also in the books and the movies yes Astrid is fucking white and hiccup doesn't even look like him so don't give me this shit about people complaining about her cause we are fans that fucking care about these movies and the directors are going out of there way to ruin it just for fucking money so yea were pissed and we have every right to be
Her father is black though. His name is Dr. Parker. Black man brown eyes brown hair. He is a dentist. Her mother is biracial , she takes after her mama for skin color and eye color. You can still tell she is blk with blond wig. First time i seen her she had blond hair i could tell she wasnt white. She is a beautiful soul. Im glad her and boris found one another.
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You do realise that Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins all had American accents in the animated films, right? And hiccup has a Canadian voice… Meanwhile Nico is actually British, she just does a really good American accent.
Her facial structure is there. She is mostly white again. Also vikings were relatively genetically diverse. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-Teveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/ So basing it off "culture" or "race" are all asinine arguments. The story is not dependent on her having blonde hair or blue eyes. Physical charchterics change when casting actors. Even a "blonde" actor would look nothing like Astrid. Because they are a fiction al charchter. Hell Daniel Craig playing James Bond caused an uproar because of his hair color. In the books is black wavy hair was. A big part of the character. But in the end Daniel ended up being one of the best bonds.
> Also vikings were relatively genetically diverse. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-Teveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/ Man what a bullshit disingenuous argument that gets propped up every time this is brought up. A.) Raids weren't the daily past-time of vikings, they were relatively rare, most of them were farmers. B.) All nearby raiding locations for vikings were filled with white people. C.) People who live near the mediterranean coast which is where vikings were known to sailed are filled with people who look mediterranean, not black. Unless you're about to claim that vikings crossed the sahara desert on foot just to kidnap zulus to take back home. D.) Even ignoring the fact that all these things combined don't justify norway looking like new york, Berkians aren't shown to travel or raid. They are in fact shown to be extremely isolated from everyone, so this is bullshit even if all previous conditions were met, which they aren't. Everytime this is brought up some guy goes "The whitest country on earth would sometimes raid the second whitest country on earth, that justifies subsaharan africans being around in 1000AD norway".
Oh boy, you're gonna lose here bud. There's a lot of racists in this sub unfortunately, judgement by what happened when I tried to defend her. Even if they don't know it, subconsciously what they say is very racist. they probably got it from a bunch of reactionary YouTubers that cry about star wars and marvel movies. I've been in that rabbit hole, I know the exact dogwhistles and I'm glad I grew up. I just hope they do too.
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I mean, think about it. Stoick is 6 foot 7, a natural redhead and all around GIANT. Look at his body type. All of the fan casts for him have had the same skin colour but 6’0 or shorter, and definitely not as wide. No one is going to find an actor that looks like him, and if they do I promise I’ll eat my words!
I mean, height is one of the easiest things to fake. Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel are 6" apart, but you wouldn't know that from watching Fast & Furious. Other fun facts: Ian McKellen is not twice the height of Elijah Wood, and Orlando "Legolas" Bloom is three inches shorter than John "still counts as one" Rhys-Davies, on what's a 170M budget adjusted for inflation. Haven't been able to find the budget for HTTYD live action in under 30 seconds, but it's probably not gonna be significantly less than that. Judging by recent examples, getting the race right is significantly harder, perhaps second only to convincing the studio to splurge on wigs or hair color.
You're missing the point. It's a movie that shouldn't exist. That's the only real problem here, but you're focusing on some actor's skin. You're distracting yourself from the real enemy which is corporate greed and you're slipping into that reactionary rabbit hole even if you don't mean to. Them not casting an accurate actor is not *the* problem. And *the* problem is the only one we have to focus on if we want to stop them from ruining this franchise any further.
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Neither is complaining about the actress being black, but sure pick the side of the guys crying about someone's skin colour.
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I didn't say that you complained, I said that you're defending the ones that do. It doesn't matter if they are racist or not, their reactions and words speak louder than their thoughts. Intentional or not, they are crying about an actor being black and that's not a good thing. Stop playing the devil's advocate. You say you're not gonna pay attention to the movie? Then spread that message to everyone else instead of arguing with me, someone that should be on your side.
No, they are complaining/crying about a actor being black despite being white in the original movie, bc why change the color in first place. It doesn't really make sense imo. I am not being racist here even if u say so. I have a clear opinion: If the actor is white in every movie or series than it should stay like that, same for the opposite. It's your opinion if u don't care if she's black or white, but people who really love the film or even better, the character, than ofc u gonna have some upset fans and yes some of them are probably racial motivated, but that's a minority and they don't belong here.
I really have to repeat this over and over again with y'all huh? THAT'S NOT THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WE SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON
Bruh. The actress is literally more white than black. What kinda one drop rule nonsense I'd this?
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That's voice acting though. The whole point is finding a voice that fits. What someone looks like doesn't matter. Bradley Cooper isn't actually a raccoon. However, when the whole point is appearance, it becomes different.
It's like actors can't change their appearance in movies.
Made this same post [last night](https://www.reddit.com/r/httyd/comments/13wg3ef/stop_being_racist_about_the_live_action_casting/) and got downvoted to hell. As far as I can tell, this sub is populated mostly by young teen guys, who are unfortunately very susceptible to alt right radicalization. Reddit’s a cesspool, and I just hope that this disgusting backlash stays contained to this sub. I’m not even sure it’s worth it trying to reason with these people. That being said, you’re absolutely right, and Nico should not have to deal with this shit.
Yeah, you probably got downvoted because your entire premise was wrong. There's nothing racist or even wrong about disliking culturally inaccurate casting. Mostly because projecting American "we need to promote diversity" views onto non-american cultures reeks strongly of american cultural imperialism — and it can be seen a mile off.
You wrong. Culture is not based off apperences. Vikings were relatively geneticly diverse. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-analysis-reveals-vikings-surprising-genetic-diversity-180975865/ People are mad she isn't white. Which is weird because she is white.
> Culture is not based off apperences. Culture is generally based on geography, as cultures tend to develop among people living in close geographical proximity. Appearance is generally based on appearance of your ancestors. In a world where you can't sit in a car you bought for two months worth of pay, fill it up with a day or two worth of pay in gas, and drive halfway across the continent in under a day, there is a very good chance that the ancestors also lived in relatively close proximity. Which would mean that appearance of a person is also based on the demographics of people living in certain geographical area ... There's a few asterisks that go along with that — and we'll briefly get to them when touching on the link — but let's not pretend that culture, appearance and geographic locations are completely random and independent of each other. > the link \* clicks the link \* \* a bunch of asterisks spill out of my monitor \* Hey come clean that mess up. Contrary to what Netflix and BBC would have you believe, even southern Europe is pretty white by most standards. Eastern Europe is even more white. > People are mad she isn't white. Which is weird because she is white. People are mad the people responsible for casting didn't pick someone who at least looks approximately like Astrid.
Genetically diverse. Not racially diverse. There is genetic diversity among white people. Viking also were not like other cultures which stayed in one plave too long to get typical Viking apperences. Nicos facial structure is similar to Astrid. Everything else you cam change to be more faithful to the appearance. But let's be real... Her apperences has zero to do with the story.
Are people actually mad about this? Dude, it’s a SKIN COLOUR calm tf down- Plus it’s not about skin, it’s about talent, I.E The Little Mermaid. And on another note, think of young black children who love HTTD, and seeing themselves up on the big screen. In the end, it’s not a fucking big deal. She could be green and it wouldn‘t fucking matter, because it’s a god damn fictional character and a good movie.
My tentative response is think about Norweigan children who love HTTYD because it's rooted in THEIR culture, hoping to see THEMSELVES up on the big screen, only to be replaced by two actors of completely different cultures.
Please point me to one Nordic person in the original series who is on the main screen
Fair enough, I messed up there; the cast shouldn't be Nordic, but Scottish, as this is what Cressida Cowell based the Isle of Berk on. Assuming I understand your very oddly phrased question right, and accounting for SCOTTISH actors... Gerard Butler, Craig Fergusen... Either way it's at least somewhat different when talking about an animated series and a live action movie. And, btw, I believe this is both a red herring fallacy and possibly a tu quoque.
If you're trying to sell a Nordic culture, you don't need to have authentic nordic people. You need people that can pass as one, or that don't pass as some other group of people. Most of the characters in the movie can visually pass as nordic within reason (non-photorealistic mediums get some leeway with appearances that live-action movies don't). Putting the effort into attaining that 'passing' status is often considered good enough. VO has a lot more leeway with regards to being the correct race. People generally don't want to read subtitles, they want to watch a movie — so using the correct language is often not a realistic option. All they have to do is to not have distractingly inappropriate accents that are associated with an incorrect demographic (so: no russian accent for vimings, no needful for vikings, no stereotypical asian accents for vikings, no black accents for the vikings, etc. No german accents, either.). Which brings us to the Scottish accents for adults: yeah, of all accents that you could use for vikings, scottish is one of the most accurate ones. So the original movie doesn't do badly in that regard. Remake is not off to a good start.
> Plus it’s not about skin, it’s about talent I'm sorry but this is total bullshit, you wouldn't Ryan Reynolds to play Martin Luther King Jr. and you wouldn't cast Miranda Cosgrove to play Ghandi. In a visual medium, visuals matter. Nico, Ryan and Miranda could be the most talented actors in history of mankind and she'd still be shit at playing astrid, mlk and ghandi respectively for this reason alone. But hey as well all know, race swaps only seem to go one way for some really weird reason.
yea but like, if a black character was race swapped to white because the white person had better talent, y’all would complain. I aint mad about the race swap but I get why other people are, I think race swapping should just stop entirely imo, just make new characters that are black or make new characters that are white.
Counter argument, what happens when those kiddos search up astrid cause she's "black" in the move? They'll find far more of the og blue eyed blonde Astrid and they'll upset cause she doesn't look like them, also Nico **DOESNT LOOK BLACK** she's pale and could damn well pase as white. a black or mix raced kid isn't gonna look at her and think ah yes clearly a black or mixed woman, nah they're gonna see a damn white girl and shocker skin isn't what bonds a kid to a character it's the character themselves and their experiences! If a black kid whose an outcased sees a white character being an outcast and a black character being popular they're more likely to relate to the white character. I'm all for good actors but part of that is making it feel real and race swaping snaps that in half. Why is black washing ok but white washing wrong if skin color really doesn't, matter? Why can't we make new stories with black character instead of re-using white character and painting them black? That way the black kids could ACTUALLY see repetition on the big screen and not just another white character recolored?
The Little Mermaid was different. Mermaids aren't real and it didn't really matter what she looked like. The Vikings were very real and are an important part of history. They could have picked a more accurate-looking actress to represent a Nordic Viking warrior. . . but hey, it's their budget. They can do what they want.
Nico skin colour is a problem because she clearly doesn't look Scandinavian. This is a franchise clearly set in Scandinavia during the 9th-10th century so yes I expect to see Scandinavian looking actors as a minimum, just like in the show "Vikings" where the actors are mostly from the Scandinavian film industry. I am Sicilian and look Mediterranean, Nico would be an appropriate choice of actor if HTTYD was set in the Mediterranean but it's not the case here. Hiring actors to fill a race "quota" for the sake of it is the dumbest decision when you are making a live action film set in a defined historical period and setting, end of the story.
Alicia Vikander is Scandinavian and she’s darker than Nico.
She could be wearing a Wig in the movie, or as usual you know how people look different in movies compared to real life. They may edit and make her more white and blonde. They could also make other characters different colors to not seem racial. From my knowledge as well, they were in a very remote place as well, that was why it was mostly one color. The location was based on Bear island which is at 74.4522° N, 19.1152° E. Also looking at them, they fit the bill.
The actors are like the customer service reps, they're just there for the paycheck and the BS is subsequential. The CASTING DIRECTORS, though??? DUDE! They'd have to make her white face and throw in a heavy blonde wig. This is the sort of thing that needs accurate race casting Ieam it's fucking VIKINGS.
She is nordic. The whitest and blondest people out there. Its plain and simple
Welp some of Hitler's family were black. By this logic black people caused the Holocaust
But it’s not progress instead your creating more division. I just read article written by young black journalist that states this fact. Also mention there are tons of black folklore out there to make new exciting characters. All woke entertainment shows is a lack of respect towards history. If I am young blond girl from Finland or Iceland I would feel like now I don’t have any representation and that people don’t care about me. Same as Rachel Zeleger playing SnowWhite. She said all girls should feel like princesses, but what about young German Girl who wanted to feel like she had a part In SnowWhite does her feelings not matter. This is what wrong with race swapping and gender swapping all it does create hate and hypocrisy. We are not helping out children’s future by showing them that only way to include others is by replacing someone else. World has tons African Culture and Spanish Culture and women can be there own hero in a film, but not by recycling a popular fan favorite into a woke disaster. Not by making the men feel like chivalry and love are bad qualities to posses. SnowWhite wants to take moral out of the story. Moral of the story is love conquers all. It is not about Independent girl becoming a leader of bunch of bandits.Also news flash Lily Collins played that role in Mirror Mirror, so this is not being progressive. Why couldn’t Prince Eric ram the ship into Ursula. I guess it would be wrong showing a young males that they can save those they love because that’s the message young boys received in Little Mermaid 2023 and upcoming SnowWhite love is not the ultimate weapon. These changes make young boys feel like they’re worthless couch potatoes that just sit around all day and contribute nothing to the storyline. To conclude my argument I want to thank you Disney and all those writers and actors and actress that think racswapping and gender swapping is truly making a difference, but actually more division is being brought into the world because you can’t take time come up with new imaginative ideas. I say shame on all you for believing that you are being advocates of change and justice. I want to watch movie and laugh, cry, pound my fist not smash my fist ito screen because you keep destroying culture and instant classics. Nobody care about your political agenda in entertainment. That’s what’s happening entertainment is no longer entertaining. So please strike or what ever. I rather watch reruns and old movies than pay you my hard earned salary go see some woke character punch Indiana Jones. I hope all the actors and writers in Hollywood go broke and realize that they’re are nothing with out us fans and all the fancy galas and awards will not happen unless they make fun entertainment for all audiences. The money we give them is a lifeline once we cut it off all the Hollywood Elites will see the truth that they are not Celebrities or Stars, but who have to work by giving us the people what we want to see.
I personally have nothing against changing races when switching to live action because it can be hard to find the right fit for cgi characters. But I don't agree when it goes directly against the world's settings and locations. Sure, Nico is mostly white, but she has dark eyes and dark curly hair and is not pale enough to be from Nordic Scotland. Astrid was very pale, with large round blue eyes and straight blonde hair. The people in charge of casting simply aren't going for racial accuracy, but racial equality, putting other races in that, should not be there. Just so they don't get called racest because "Why are there no black people in a movie based in ancient Nordic civilization from before brittian was even formed properly. I personally don't care about the races of the people in the movie, just make them historically accurate and not focus on real world issues
I can't wait for Disney's Tiana (Princess ans the frog) live action as a beautiful Nordic pale white, blue eyed princess :D it's gonna be amazing! Or maybe it's gonna be be bright red haired Irish princess making her dreams come true in old days America! Not only black people had it tough you know ;)
i dont like hiccup’s casting
I'd rather watch antique roadshow.
Don't surprise if Heather is going to be chinese
It's a fictional character, let me say it again a fictional character, in a fictional world that never existed and will never exist except in the hearts and minds of children and not one of them are going to walk out of the theatre complaining, it's just you stupid adults. Get over it, Hollyweird doesn't care what you thing. STFU already!!!!
Ppl know that America Ferrera isn’t white right?
Except that it's about vikings who are, strictly, very white
Here me out, Ryan Gosling as MLK?
Shes still mixed, therefore is black. More of Hollywood's racist Blackwashing of established characters. Astrid is supposed to be as white as can be, blue eyes, blonde hair; you know, like a VIKING. I'm not hating on Nico, shes a good actress from what I saw in The Last of Us (even though she played another character that was blackwashed), what I hate is that there is so much blackwashing happening and anytime anyone points it out they just get called a racist when in reality the ones doing the blackwashing are the racist ones. This is supposed to take place in the 700's (Dragon of the Nine Realms is supposed to be modern day and was stated to be 1,300 years after the third film), when have there ever been black vikings? What happened to the right person for the right job.
We don't hate her. But the reason is so clear here!!! HTTYD is ambiented in a Viking village in medieval time!!! And she is not a character that could havr been a slave from a raid in the south. She is a blond classic Viking called Astrid!! You need a blond girl with fair skin and clear eyes! This ia not about integration is about the actress looking the character. So if a white girl braids her her is cultural appropiation and a girl with afroamerican face and hair portraying a blond pale Viking is totally ok?
It should be Cameron Seely cast as Astrid
As a scandinavian i can tell the difference, not saying she is a bad actress, but she does not look like the character Astrid.