'Hunger Games' fans react negatively to black characters

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Some of the characters in the newly released The Hunger Games are black — and some fans of the book are not happy about it. According to Jezebel, a few of the film’s characters are described a “dark” and “brown” in the novel on which it’s based. Some readers must have glossed over those parts because a Tumblr account dedicated to documenting fans’ tweets about the film has uncovered an outpouring of hostility toward people involved in casting the film and its black stars — including 13-year-old Amandla Stenberg, who one fan called a “black b*tch.”

Now as you may know, Katniss, the main character in the book and film, was described as having “straight black hair” and “olive skin.” It’s a post-apocalyptic world, so she could be a mix of things, but some pictured a Native American. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jennifer Lawrence won the part and dyed her hair dark.

But when it came to the casting of Rue, Thresh, and Cinna, many audience members did not understand why there were black actors playing those parts. Cinna’s skin is not discussed in the book, so truthfully, though Lenny Kravitz was cast, a white, Asian or Latino actor could have played the part.

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The tumblr Hunger Games Tweets has collected a smattering of Twitter postings, with the goal of exposing “Hunger Games fans on Twitter who dare to call themselves fans yet don’t know a damn thing about the books.” What people are saying is disappointing, sad, stomach-churning, and just plain racist.

The posts go on and on and on. It’s not just a coupe of tweets, it’s not just a coincidence. There’s an underlying rage, coming out as overt prejudice and plain old racism. Sternberg is called a “black b*tch,” a “ni**er” and one person writes that though he pictured Rue with “darker skin,” he “didn’t really take it all the way to black.” It’s as if that is the worst possible thing a person could be.

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