TIL that the characters of Vasquez in Aliens (1986) and the stepmother in Terminator 2 (1991) were played by the same actor, Jenette Goldstein, apparently donning brownface for the earlier role
š³
It might not seem like it now but Vasquez was a groundbreaking character at the time.
Expand on that
Badass female grunt soldier treated by her fellow soldiers as a soldier first and foremost.
Badass strong female character with more depth than what was normally portrayed in Hollywood. Ripley being another.
Aliens didn't exactly break new ground in strong female characters (except perhaps with Ripley as lead), but it was an early very popular movie that had strong female characters who weren't dependent upon men to save them so it was pretty good for representing women as something other than Hollywood's standard of the time. Not great mind you because the only way either of them managed to achieve that is by making both of them (especially Vasquez, Ripley at least had some nuance) act like traditional male characters, but it was a big step.
Have you seen the movie?
(Edit: apparently not.)
I knew I made this for a reason
Most people are assuming that her default skin tone is that of the foster mother. Pretty sure with enough makeup and studio lighting you canake a naturally tanned person look pretty pale.
You .mixed up the movies
Small correction: she was John Connor's foster mother in Terminator 2 not step mother
Correction: his foster parents are dead.
Damn, they really shoulda gone with Arnie if they wanted to live
I see from the comments that apparently it was makeup. I wonder to what extent this is makeup, since after all, ALL actors on set wear make up. I have a similar skin complexion and if I sunbathe for a week I'll look like Vasquez too.
Well, to be fair, blackface is also a type of makeup
If an actor loses weight or works out to be more muscular, that's commitment to their craft.
If they lay out in the sun, that's cheating!
[jk]
The fact that they tanned her is not the issue. The fact that they tanned her to play an ethnicity she is not, is the problem. Especially during an era where people of that ethnicity were lucky to be typecast in something.
I know it's before this time, but Martin Sheen had to change his name to get work in Hollywood because nobody would hire someone with a Hispanic sounding name.
Brown face? That's just a tan
The american obsession with melanin levels is insane. Why cant they be normal and be racist to people who live over the next hill, like us enlightened europeans.
Thatās offensive. Those over the hill have bushier eyebrows. They are totally different and meant to be hated.
Nah you guys just claim the brown ppl are "culturally different" because they're Muslim so they should leave
I think the point is that if it was important for the character to be Hispanic, they could have hired a Hispanic actor for it. Her being Hispanic didnāt have any meaningful impact to the story, so why not just let her character be white? If they did it to make the film more appealing to Hispanic viewers, then surely an actually Hispanic actor would have been a better fit. White actors have historically been given distinctly non-white roles just because Hollywood is afraid of melanin.
The history of it goes all the way back to old black and white films, with movies like Dragon Seed or The Teahouse of August Moon, which both had major asian roles filled by popular white actors. The unfortunate part is that they often arenāt respectful when they do it; It often ends up being a caricature of the race instead. Anyone who has seen Breakfast at Tiffanyās will know what Iām talking about. Or hell, there are even cases of outright blackface, like a white actor playing Othello in the 1965 movie. Many people have criticized Al Pacinoās accent in The Godfather as offensive, bordering on caricature.
If you want more recent examples, we could point at Jake Gyllenhaal playing a middle-eastern prince in Prince of Persia. Or Johnny Depp playing a Comanche caricature in The Lone Ranger. Another good example is Scarlett Johansson being given the role of Matoko Kusanagi, in Ghost in the Shell. The movie is based on a Japanese anime, and is based in Japan. But Hollywood refused to hire a Japanese actor to play the role, and instead gave it to the whitest white woman who has ever whited.
To Be Fair
Johnny Depp's character was considered insane by the other native americans in the film, who were played by actual native americans like Saginaw Grant. It's not much better but the film still doesn't pretend he represents them.
Didn't Gods of Egypt have an all white cast and 1 black guy playing as... the gods of egypt...?
Masamune Shirow himself confirmed that Kusanagi was a mass production model on the outside to blend in and not have her harvested for parts, like a custom body would be.
Also the whole fucking theme of the franchise is āwhat is a soul (ghost)ā. Kusanagi has canonically swapped āshellsā multiple times, is it a ship of Theseus thing or is she still the same person?
But this is an argument I canāt win, so Iāll leave this here and disappear š«
Her being Hispanic didnāt have any meaningful impact to the story, so why not just let her character be white? If they did it to make the film more appealing to Hispanic viewers, then surely an actually Hispanic actor would have been a better fit. White actors have historically been given distinctly non-white roles just because Hollywood is afraid of melanin.
That's the modern version of Lady Acting is Illegal | Upstart Crow | BBC Comedy Greats
SJ in Ghost seemed particularly fucked up given that all the original content was Japanese
Brown nose? Thatās just business.
Brown finger, that's just play time.
Its almost like the people who come up with this batty shit never actually leave the basement, so they don't understand suntans.
I wrote an article about how Jim Carrey used greenface (very offensively too) during the filming of "The Mask", but hardly anyone cared.
He's not even an amphibian!
She was bad ass
That movie is one of the best sources for quotes.
"This little girl survived ... with no weapons and no training. Right?"
"That's great! WHY DON'T WE PUT HER IN CHARGE?!?"
She's also in Titanic, but in a very small role as an Irish mother.
Just curious, is it offense that she dyed her hair reddish and has Hollywood freckles for the Irish role?
SMH my head, so now she's doing irish face? Potato face? No wait, now I'm being racist
And Lethal Weapon
Im pretty sure thats just a tan, but its interesting that her imdb page says "Jenette Goldstein is a true chameleon"
I think shes got a company now that is making extra comfy bras.
Was it makeup? Lighting can do a lot tooā¦
It was, even though apparently one of her parents is of Brazilian and Moroccan descent.
This is mildly racist in two different directions. There was clearly an assumption of what a "private Vasquez" should look like they were shooting for. She was allegedly cast partially because she was in the right shape for the character already. These days they would have gotten an actor in shape that looked like the ethnic stereotype they had in mind, probably.
Which is still kinda more messed up than just having cast her, kept the character and just not spray tan her. Didn't even have to change her name. I don't speak for American latinos, but from where I stand the visual design of the character seems like a much bigger issue than the casting.
Didn't Schwarzenegger wear mudface in Predator?
Didn't she play tough hispanic space marine in another movie too?
nvm: I'm thinking of Michele Rodriguez from Fast and Furious, resident evil, and a fair bit of other movies I thought was same actress.
The ā80s was just like that. Fun while it lasted but I am glad we have moved on and it is somewhat shameful to look back on now. I have so much nostalgia for the Short Circuit movies but I will never show them to my Indian husband, Fischer Stevens.
Lol!
Let your husband be the judge of whether he's missing out or not.
If I recall, she also thought "Aliens" was about illegal aliens or some shit.
I think the groundbreaking part was Dan O'Bannonās note in the Alien script that gave us more amazing characters in Aliens.
āAt the start of Dan O'Bannonās script for Alien, thereās a note that few other screenplays contain: āThe crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women.ā Itās a line that fundamentally altered the nature of the film, affecting everything from the presentation of its characters to the way Ridley Scott and his team approached casting, and it was certainly for the best.ā
source here
Haha I read that originally as "they be robots and have removable arms and legs that fit erybody else."
That's fascinating though. I must say I like Aliens much better. I rarely revisit Alien but I might do in the near future.
Imho, they are different genres altogether.
Alien is a real horror-movie, while Aliens leans more towards the action-movie genre, of course retaining horror elements, but it doesn't quite play on the body-horror and fear of the unknown as much as the first part does.