Tolerating Zoe Saldana as Simone?
With a knowing smile I say, “alas, colorism is definitely here to stay.”
.Loving Nina Simone.
Pierce Brosnan, Renee Russo and Dennis Leary unceremoniously introduced me to Nina Simone. I was watching The Thomas Crown Affair shortly after it came out and I recognized Sting‘s voice, but there was this other voice that stayed with me. It lingered all through the movie, it was haunting and I loved it.
The movie was released in 1999 and I was a recent college graduate pursuing my master’s, but needing a break I visited my family then living in The Gambia for a reprieve. One day during my short stay I was humming the only line I remembered from the movie, “Oh, sinnerman where are you going to run to?” My preteen younger sister who was lounging with me shrieked in that excitable voice of hers, “You listen to NINA SIMONE too?” She ran out of the living room, leaving me with a perplexed look on my face. She reappeared with her laptop and started playing an album of Simone’s — I don’t remember which — and she couldn’t stop raving about her. Not too many people I knew had a clue who Simone was, yet my sister who was barely 13, was schooling me on this powerful vocalist (thanks to Lil’ sis I also appreciate Jimi Hendrix, and a good guitar); I was amazed.
.A question of trying to tolerate Zoe Saldana as Simone.
Once I researched Simone on my own, I was proud that she looked like me. Not just that she was a Black woman, but that she was a dark-skinned Black woman and commanded so much power with her voice. I am one of those who has always loved the richness of my skin tone, and as much as I have negated the chatter of colorism amongst Black women, I have also lived its reality.
Then came pictures of light-skinned, straight-haired, uber-skinny Zoe Saldana portraying Nina Simone in the unauthorized biopic currently titled Nina. She looks like everything that Nina Simone was not, was all I could think. My disdain however is not directed at Saldana, but I am disappointed. I understand and respect the desire for Saldana to further stretch her acting versatility, but is it not insulting that her skin tone has to be darkened for authenticity? Her hair altered, her body type slightly dis-morphed? Were there no authentic image ready actresses or songstresses to fill this role? India.Arie? Viola Davis? Rutina Wesley? — were none of them available?
Akiba Solomon says it best:
“Looking at recent images of actress Zoe Saldana blackened up and wearing a prosthetic nose and a bootleg headwrap to portray Simone in the upcoming, unauthorized biopic Nina, I’ve been thinking about the importance of the singer’s physicality. At a time when “black is beautiful” was a revolutionary concept rather than a marketing campaign, Simone adorned herself with African garb and intricate plaited updos. Sometimes she posed nude. As a songwriter and performer, she created a space for black women to grapple with ideas of beauty, privilege and sexual desirability.
“Given the rich, sharply political source material of Simone’s songs, performances and writings, I think it’s appropriate for journalists, bloggers, academics and commenters to question the casting of Saldana, an extremely thin, light brown skinned woman with relatively narrow facial features, to play Nina Simone.” – read Solomon’s full Colorlines‘ piece.
Will Saldana do a good job portraying Simone? – probably. Will I appreciate her portrayal and allow myself to look past Saldana as a choice that by its very nature further perpetuates colorism as a treatment of Black women? – probably not; in fact it won’t.
image: Nina Simone (right) and Zoe Saldana (left) as featured on UptownMagazine.com.
related:
- Here’s Zoe Saldana As Nina Simone (dlisted.com)
- A Personal Take on the Nina Simone Biopic’s Casting Troubles (colorlines.com)
- See Zoe Saldana As Nina Simone, Prosthetics Included (refinery29.com)
Wow… after reading your entry it immediately made me think of the time when Black people were mimics for White audiences. It was during the era when White actors would make fun of our lips, ears and put shoe polish on their faces and hands and put on shows to portray Blacks. Is this what we are reverting to, only this time an actress of Hispanic roots??? Darkened skin and a prosthetic nose??? I’m sure Saldana wasn’t the last resort but like you said I’m sure there were other options.
Why fake it when there is a plethora of dark skinned Black actresses and songstresses that could have easily worked for this role?
Even Simone’s daughter makes it clear that her choice would have been Viola Davis (please see “unauthorized biopic” hyperlink in article). But of course no one on the project even asked the family’s opinion.
I was introduced to Nina Simone, subconsciously, at a young age, by an eclectic aunt of mine. One of her favorite songs she would sing to me was, “Here Comes the Sun.” It is funny how I didn’t tie into her little inside joke of calling me the sun because of my nickname being Sonny. I was consciously reintroduced to Nina from the soundtrack of the movie, “Point of No Return” with Bridget Fonda. I’ve been a fan ever since.
I can’t see Saldana portraying Simone. There will always be a ‘blockage’ for me. Meaning, I lost all thought of the actor when Jamie Foxx was portraying Ray Charles until Foxx took off the glasses at the end of the movie. It was almost a, “oh snap, that’s Jamie Foxx” reaction. I seen it with Denzel portraying Malcolm X, I’ve seen it with Val Kilmer portraying Jim Morrison, and I’ve seen it with Salma Hayak portraying Frida Kahlo.
There is so much press on this, I can only imagine the pressure. Too bad Tracy Chapman can’t act.. LOL.
“There will always be a ‘blockage’ for me.” – Your description and especially example of Jamie Foxx and Ray Charles, couldn’t be more apt! When you portray someone’s life I want to forget that it’s you. I want you to bring that person to life for me or if they were still living, I want you to give me an insight I don’t already have.
As this project is being done, very simply there is no way Saldana can introduce me to Simone and that is a shame and dare I say a failure on the part of the director(s), producer(s) and writer(s).
As another dark skinned woman, I can honestly share your disappointment. I was actually reading an article that displayed an image of Saldana, dressed as Nina. She certainly doesn’t wear the image well. It makes me go back to the many times that I’ve heard ” You are so pretty, to be a dark-skinned girl.” Although I absolutely LOVE my skin tone, I’ve always taken that complement as an insult that wasn’t intentional. I am very proud to say that majority of the women in my family look like me and we each discuss how often we come across that one single complement. It makes me think about the horrible stereotype that most have on color. Was I supposed to be unattractive because my skin is darker? I feel the exact same way about Saldana playing this role. Granted that she is an awesome actress, is she REALLY the best selection for the job? Zoe Saldana is gorgeous and I often admit that to my friends, but if someone were to play me in a film, I’d want her to look like me. I would want someone that can identify with my image because growing up wasn’t always easy for me, as a dark-skinned girl.
As can be imagined and evidenced in the blogosphere, there is a lot of discussion on this. Someone brought to my attention that some persons think that those of us who take issue with Saldana portraying Simone are in fact effecting notions of reverse-racism against Saldana.
REALLY?!? – I scoff at this accusation.
First – none of my issue is with Saldana – it is with the decision makers who thought SHE was the best choice to portray Simone – SHE IS NOT and it really is, that simple!. Second, you said it best – “if someone were to play me in a film, I’d want her to look like me. I would want someone that can identify with my image…” I think it is important for people to read up on who Simone was and what she represented; not only is Saldana a poor choice to represent the image of Simone, I humbly submit that Saldana cannot identify with the imagery that Simone consciously crafted.
When I wrote this piece one of my suggested choices of person’s to play Nina Simone was India.Arie. Recently, here’s what she had to say about Saldana as Simone: “Singer India.Arie slams Zoe Saldana’s casting as Nina Simone” – MSN Movies News http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=773797.
I believe them casting saldana to play Simone only further goes to show the stigma still associated with dark skinned woman and beauty. Although this doesn’t shock me it sad ends me.
Yeah, I don’t think the stereotypical treatments will ever really go away. It is cute to hear some women say that the stereotypes don’t exist anymore, but what I’ve also noticed is that it’s mostly fair skinned women making those claims — they are not on the receiving end of it.
Great post
Although Zoe Saldana is a beautiful and intriguing actress, I feel that the authenticity of Nina Simone is lost when Zoe portrays her. There are plenty of other African American women that could have depicted the character of Nina. For example Gabrielle Union would have done a phenomenal job. Not trying take anything away from Salanda.