Topic: Should a black actor play Spider-Man in the next movie?

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-twitter-campaign-w...

Could the movies soon have the first African American Spider-Man?

If thousands of Twitter users get their way, the star of Sony's upcoming reboot of the franchise will be Donald Glover, best known from his role on NBC's "Community." This weekend the Twitter hashtag "donald4spiderman" became the #3 trending topic in the U.S., and the campaign is still gaining steam.

The origins of this latest attempt by social media users to influence casting decisions occurred last week. After surveying the five mostly unknown white actors said to be vying for the role, Marc Bernadin, a writer for the sci-fi site io9.com, called the choices "bland" and asked, "In this day and age, why does Spidey have to be a white guy?" In response, commenters threw out Donald Glover's name as a possible contender, and a Twitter campaign was born.

A unique aspect of this latest fan campaign is its wholehearted support by the subject in question. Glover seems to like the idea (though he makes it clear on his Twitter page that he's interested in auditioning, not just being handed the role without first having to prove his worthiness). While he had nothing to do with its inception, Glover himself has been promoting the campaign, instructing fans to tweet the #donald4spiderman hash tag at strategic times to keep it trending.

In years past, an Internet petition of this kind might not be given much credence, but given the overwhelming success of the recent social-media uprising to get Betty White a hosting gig on "Saturday Night Live," this could be Glover's ticket to director Marc Webb's tryout room. He and his fans will have to act fast, though: The Hollywood Reporter is already forecasting the five most likely contenders for the role, and Glover is not on the list

Glover, a comedian and former writer for "30 Rock," has starred in only one movie so far: "Mystery Team," a comedy he co-created with his sketch comedy team, Derrick Comedy, which came out in 2009.

One hurdle Glover's fans will have is in his presumed bankability as a movie star: "Mystery Team" brought in a meager $89.4 thousand in domestic box-office sales.

I disagree when they change a characters race. Its part of their appearance. Making Peter black is like making spider-man's costume green and yellow. it completely changes their recognition. it doesn't matter if a black person can capture peter's mannerisms perfectly, peter parker has always been white. i also disagree if they were to have a black character someone other than black. i've disagreed with skin color changes in the past when they've happened.

I agree with your disagreement.

ummmm, no. That's like casting Daniel Craig as James Bond......wait.

ah, but James Bond is a code name in the movies for multiple people throughout the years. he's not one individual.

Except Craig isn't black

It wouldn't fit, you're right. Though Halle Berry pulled off Catwoman very well.

Ian Fleming created a character named James Bond, not a codename. James Bond is supposed to be the same person in every movie, they just used different actors, and changed things around to fit the times.

You're right; I guess it's more like casting Vin Diesel as Shaft.

This still works. But I can't see Donald Glover being Peter Parker. Nor does a few black actors playing a known white character make it acceptable for anybody to play anybody.

I'm gonna have to agree with you guys. (No racism intended.....) I'm [25%] black and even I feel that this shouldn't be happening.

I think it would be a stupid move. I hate it when franchises change stuff.

Doesn't bother me, as long as the actor is good and they otherwise stay true to the character.

It's much more complicated than anyone involved in the campaign seems to realize. That's not to say that I necessarily disagree, but I do disagree with the idea that it would be a simple change without taking into account the way it would demand a thoughtful refashioning of the story in order to work.

I'm always amazed by how superhero characters which were created within a very particular historical and political context are blindly assumed to be applicable to the present with no additional work. These characters would necessarily mean something very different in today's world, and you must rethink them carefully in order to produce anything more than a corny anachronism. The recent Batman films achieved this well, but most other superhero films over the past decade did not.

In this case, making him a different race is perfectly fine, but only if you come up with a compelling new take on the character that justifies that decision and gives some contemporary meaning to it. Spider-Man was all about a typical, white, middle-class teenager in an urban setting with a particular set of problems and anxieties. Some of these will translate unaltered to a character of another race, but in general it would be lazy to just switch the race and not incorporate that into the story in some sort of compelling manner.

However, I don't even like the Spider-Man movies one bit, so I don't care that much either way in the end. Actually, that's a good argument in favor of some sort of shake-up, but what would be most disappointing--and quite possible--is just another identical Spider-Man film with an actor that happens to be black. If they do it, I demand something interesting for a change.

No.

I friggin' love Donald Glover, favourite up- and coming African American actor by far. Make it happen.

Bill Cosby is are new Spider-Man

Why are the starters of this acting like he needs to be black to keep up with the times? Is it racist that spider man is white? Its not wrong to consider a black guy for the role but to make it like he should get the role because he's not another "bland white guy" is pretty dumb.

Hey why not make him gay while we're at it to be as PC as possible?

I'd actually rather see a spawn movie done right.

The role doesn't allow it. Simple. Casting look for certain aspects in a film, and when actors don't have those aspects they cannot be cast.

He should also be handicapped. And a woman.

In related news... Tom Cruise will be playing the lead role in Shaft 2.

I thought they already made Shaft 2, with Samuel L. Jackson as the lead?

AS an African American and a huge donald Glover fan this just isn't right. He would make a good static shock though.

Has anyone saw mystery team yet?