Color Blind

Mikaela ponders:
Marjorie and I were discussing the other day the implications of Angelina Jolie playing the lead in The Mighty Heart, a movie dramatizing the events surrounding the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, based on the memoir written by Daniel's wife, Mariane, and produced by Angelina's new husband's production company. (Ahem.)

Mariane is Afro-Cuban and Dutch, a woman of color.

Okay, stage set. Here's Angelina heading to the set, courtesy MSN.


Here's a photo comparison provided by another blog.


The first picture was juxtaposed jarringly in MSN today's photos with the one below.

Here's Michael Jackson, heading somewhere. Is it just me, or has he passed the wanting-to-be-white stage and moved straight toward wanting-to-be-Martian?


I have no answers, but these pictures certainly left me wondering what it means in today's world when people change their own color.

On the other hand, if we don't allow actors to play all roles, are we dooming them to type-casting? Or should there only be freedom in fictional characters?

Opinions, anyone?