Racism and Hunger Games

The older I get, the more I realize how sheltered I was in West County from sexism, racism, etc. I had such a strict image in my mind of what a 'racist' or a 'sexist' was - and they were always over-the-top, exaggerated, idiots who were either out-in-the-sticks ignorant or old-as-dirt.

An example - a lot of people are tweeting about The Hunger Games, explaining their disillusionment with the decision to cast some of the characters as black. This isn't the simple, "Rue being black threw me off a bit since for some reason I expected her to look more like Prim," or something - which you can tell probably has some sort of borderline racism underneath, but maybe not - it would have thrown me off if Rue had had bright red hair, for example. But just that - it would have struck me as a bit strange in the first scene, but it wouldn't have affected the emotions.

But there are two things about this situation that make it far worse than that -

1.) They shouldn't be so surprised. The author described Rue as having 'dark skin'. And I believe Rue's district was described as being 'black' (not as sure about this, it's been awhile since I read the book.) The country of Panem is based on America, which has black people in it. So it's not like there's suddenly a gratuitous black character in The Last Samurai or Robin Hood. It both fits the world, and it fits what the author wrote about the character.

Actually, if you want to get technical, Rue is just as good of a fit, physically, for what the author wrote as Katniss. I had the idea that Katniss had all sorts of genetic mixing (as was implied in the books), and that she would be quite dark, sort of Mediterranean looking (black hair and olive skin, the book says). Instead they cast the girl from Winter's Bone, who was very pale and blonde in that movie. But guess what? They darkened her hair and skin a bit, and though I still thought she looked a few shades lighter than I expected, it wasn't a problem in the world or the role - also because, in the book, it's a bit strange that Katniss is so dark while her mother and sister are blonde and blue eyed.

2.) The comments are far, far worse than "that's not what I expected."

Examples:

"Kk call me racist but when I found out rue was black her death wasn't as sad. #ihatemyself."
"Awkward moment when Rue is some black girl and not the little blonde innocent girl you picture."
"why does rue have to be black gonna lie kinda ruined the movie."


What is wrong with the world, seriously??