Freddie Prinze Jr is not passing. What, exactly, would he be passing FOR? We’re not exactly talking Halle Berry here. He’s a quarter Puerto Rican. He looks white. Not exotic white either. He fits in the same category with Chris Klein as bland all American guy.
When I heard the complaint that FPJ’s film roles were too “white bred” and that he was “passing” himself as white I was a little stunned. It’s not like he’s played the poster boy for the Aryan race recently. The only way you even know the race of his characters in films is by the way he looks–and he looks white. What else can he do? Use an accent he doesn’t actually have? Insist that every time he plays a character the last name needs to be changed?
He’s just trying to get work, and the fact of the matter is that there aren’t very many movies in which the lead is Hispanic. And since he does romantic comedies there is an even bigger shortage. That’s the fault of the film industry, not him.
There are so many better things to complain about when it comes to FPJ than how white he is. For instance, his acting. And the incredibly bad movies he picks (believe it or not, Freddie my boy, all romantic comedies aren’t created equal). And the fact that he says he loves a woman who eats, and yet is engaged to a stick figure. But, he’s too white? Yeesh. He was raised by his mom, an Italian model, in a place very, very far away from Puerto Rico. He isn’t denying who his father is, he’s just making his own identity. I don’t hear anybody complaining about his absence of Jewish or Italian roles.
I, for one, am happy he isn’t desperately trying to grasp some Hispanic street cred. It’d just be embarrassing–moreso than the rest of his career.
You are wasting too much time thinking about this. You do realize that don’t you? He is an actor, and an average one at that. His personal issues rate right below wondering what I’ll be having for dinner on June 23.
Mac and cheese is the current thinking, but with the way trends change so quickly these days, I could change to a salad by the time I finish this post.
Note to Marc: the group “women who eat” includes obese women, to be sure. But it also includes plenty of women who just aren’t skinny, which is a far cry from being a fat pig.
[sub]Here’s hoping we can get beyond the initial “Please show me where I said” “I didn’t say you said” “it was implied” “if you want to read that into it, then fine” “it was blatantly obvious, unless you have the intelligence of a shrew” “let’s not talk about your relatives right now, mmkay?” “losing the debate, so you’re going to insult me, eh?” “Please show me where I was losing” “read the thread” onslaught…[/sub]
Hey, watch it!
As to the OP, uh, FPJ isn’t white? News to me. Oh wait. I don’t give a shit. He’s a mediocre actor marrying someone far more talented than himself. Go FPJ.
I thought it referred to his being dead, too, and I was freaking out for a moment. Not because I give two nickels, but because if he was dead, it would certainly postpone shooting on * Buffy, * and THAT would be a disaster!
He seems to be quite a decent actor if he’s in a good rôle. For example, I thought he did a great job in Vig (and he was certainly not the romantic lead), but I think I was the only person who actually saw it, so he gets remembered for movies that suck. I suppose if I were him, it’d be hard to turn down the I Know What You Did Last Summer type movies if they kept offering them. Easy money, fame, women, etc. versus respect from those of us who care about good acting.
I don’t think the problem is with him personally, but with the forces behind it. There is something a little bothersome about the fact that the people that get rich and famous, regardless of their race, are the people that fit the white mold. And it is bothersome that the roles that get people rich and famous, regardles off their race, are the roles that show people as white. People don’t get rich and famous playing Latino men. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find any leading roles that are for Latino men. I think that is a problem.
Look at Jennifer Lopez. Her hair gets blonder, her skin gets lighter and her butt gets smaller every passing second.
-Evensven, who hath taken too many film theory classes.
I’m Mexican-American and look white - and probably not ‘exotic’ either, which really isn’t that rare - I can think of many people where I live who are Mexican (or from some other Hispanic country) and have light eyes, blond or red hair, and pale skin. I am not “passing” - I just turned out this way. Am I white? Hispanic? Both? I have no idea.
I just don’t understand American attitudes on race sometimes. Hispanic is NOT a race. It is a cultural category (and a rather vague one at that), used to describe people who are native Spanish speakers and who’s ancestors or families come from a territory that was once part of the Spanish Empire. It’s much like the word “Francophone”, which describes people from the French speaking world or former French Empire - whether they are Quebecois, French, Waloon, Suisse Romand, Haitian, Algerian, Senegalese, or from Mauritius.
Imagine the logic of saying all English speakers, whether British, Irish, Canadian, American, Australian, New Zealander, South African, or from the English speaking populations of India or Nigeria as not white, black, Asian, or so on but part of the “Anglic Race”. This is basically the same logic used to define a “Hispanic race”.
Eh…ever since it went to UPN (which has no local channel, or even cable channel, in my area…but does broadcast the most recent episodes on the Fox affliliate whenever they think they have time for it (usually 2 AM Sunday nights)…the same as the rest of the UPN series they somehow got the rights to broadcast) I couldn’t give a flying fuck for Buffy.