BreAnn Cook

@steelsheik

I'm not perfect, but I'm doing my best to evolve into a better me, evolve into a better world. I believe there are two ways of casting; I like to call them "mirror casting" and "progressive casting". Both are great, one is not better than the other, and I love and do both styles of casting. But there are some do's and don'ts about casting that hopefully listing them will help clear up some confusion. [Note: We will primarily use Disney's Ariel as an example.] "Mirror casting" means; "well the book/story/movie, etc. describes her (being Ariel) as having __blank__ (wavy, red hair)" so that's what a "mirror cast-er" looks for, their castings must meet that criteria- castings are determined on who is the best fit of those physical attributes, someone who has the "acting chops," but who may or may not sing well. [See Abigail Cowen as Disney's Ariel] - The artist created them to have certain physical features, and the cast-er wants to reflect that (i.e. if a character has a scar in the book, give the actor a make-up replica of said scar). "Progressive casting" means; "this character __blank__ (sings very well) and __blank__ (has Ariel's rebellious attitude)" so that's what a "progressive cast-er" looks for, their castings will best fit those non-physical attributes, and must meet that criteria- someone who has the "acting chops," but who may or may not have the exact physical details as in the original design, but can sing well. [See Halle Bailey as Disney's Ariel] - This is simply an equal but different expression of an art medium/form of the same topic, having artistic freedom, and without limitations. "Mirror casting" is the outward portrayal of the character, who may or may not have the personality of the character. "Progressive casting" is the inward portrayal of the character, who may or may not have the physical characteristics of the same character. Do: do accept and/or have casts that both do and do not fit the description of a character to the letter, do add colored lenses and dye hair of the cast, do color a cast members' body multi-colors; pinks, blues, greens, purples, etc. (unless aliens arrive on our planet, then cast them instead), do cast members based on ability to perform, do cast members to have an equal opportunity and promote celebration, change, and normalization in society, do create new stories celebrating more diversity and culture, do note that until more diverse stories come out and make it big- it's only fair to give more races an equal but different opportunity at playing traditionally white roles, do note that only 1/26 Disney princesses are African-American, do recognize one Asian country from the next- and either choose accordingly or change their origin story, do know it isn't racist to cast a white actor for a white role, do realize that we all envision someone else when we read a book but that doesn't make it wrong but rather different, do know that art mediums being translated into movies and television are allowed to have creative differences- that's what art is, do love and celebrate different casting choices (i.e. do love and celebrate both Halle Bailey and Abigail Cowen castings for Disney's Ariel). Do not: do not shade the color of a cast's skin to change their ethnicity, do not assume Asian actors are the same / are from the same country, do not hatefully create castings with the intent to "whitewash" or "racial-bend," do not hate on different castings (i.e. do not hate either Halle Bailey and/or Abigail Cowen castings for Disney's Ariel), do not get offended if someone prefers *what I like to call* "mirror castings" or "progressive castings" one over the other, do not promote any negativity, hate, discrimination, or racism of any kind.