There have been countless times where characters of colour in a book have been played by white actors/actresses when the piece of literature is adapted for screen.
Some of the examples that come to the top of my head is Dina in "I Am Not Okay With This". Despite the fact that in the comic book, written by Charles Forsman, Dina is a dark skinned woman, but when the comic was adapted for a TV show by Netflix in the year 2020, the light skinned, (I'm guessing biracial) Sofia Bryant was casted for the role.
Another example I can think of is the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman. Charlie, Victoria and Oliver Spring are described as having a tanned skin tone, and even though Oliver didn't appear in the Netflix adaptation, Charlie and Tori were casted by actors with white skin.
Even some famous actors have called this out. Zendaya noted that she was "Hollywood's acceptable version of a black girl", referring to how she is always chosen to play black female characters. (sources: the bbc article, essence.com and HuffPost).
Another example is when "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas was adapted for the big screen in 2018, a light skinned black woman was casted to fill in the role. On the original cover of the book, a dark skinned girl is depicted.
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Removing The Melanin
Non-FictionFor countless years, characters of colour in literature have been played by light skinned actors when the book is adapted for the big screen. This has had a pertinent effect on the lives of people of colour. Read my essay for why I think this needs...
