Last year’s Exodus: Gods and Kings is considered a critical failure, partially due to how overwhelmingly white the cast was for a film set in Egypt. Well, it appears that Hollywood hasn’t learned yet, because the character posters for the new Gods of Egypt film features an awful lot of white guys. While there are a few people of color (although no actual Egyptians) in the cast, the focus is on Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Brenton Thwaites, three super white European dudes.
Without fail, Twitter has picked up on this problematic material, breaking out their best snark at the film’s expense.
Why does the Egyptian extras from #GodsOfEgypt look like they're from a Seth Rogen movie? pic.twitter.com/y4Rm4eyjYA
— Black Girl Nerds (@BlackGirlNerds) November 12, 2015
https://twitter.com/EvilGalProds/status/664884322990555136
https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/664909985990623232
I cannot understand how they seriously cast Chadwick Boseman as a LITERAL all-knowing magical negro. #GodsOfEgypt pic.twitter.com/r9SmNPVGwI
— Carrie Tupper ✨@mermaidshells@mastodon.art ✨ (@mermaidshells) November 12, 2015
Chadwick Boseman went from Iconic Black Guy to Magical Negro #GodsOfEgypt
— ©️ Mr. Marin (@MrMarinKnows) November 12, 2015
Just because Chadwick Boseman is "African American" doesn't mean he was appropriately cast either (ya'll gotta hear that too) #GodsOfEgypt
— Kasey (@bastylefilegirl) November 12, 2015
https://twitter.com/Payitforward87/status/664918780229918720
https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/664915589341679616
What does #Exodus & #GodsOfEgypt have in common? Another whitewashed movie about heroic white people in AFRICA that I won't be watching.
— Thelonious Legend (@TheLegendBooks) November 13, 2015
STOP MAKING MOVIES ABOUT EGYPT AND ONLY CASTING WHITE PEOPLE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. #GodsofEgypt pic.twitter.com/ZZe8LMrGte
— Deniz S. (@MrFilmkritik) November 12, 2015
Movie, #GodsOfEgypt in which everyone is white? Egyptians, in history and today, have NEVER been white. BRING BACK GEOGRAPHY!! It's Africa!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) November 12, 2015
Yeah, Lionsgate should probably be worried. This negative of a reaction is not likely to go away, nor should it. Whitewashing characters has been a nasty habit of the film industry pretty much as long as they’ve been making movies, but it should definitely have been left in the past by now.
