When Zendaya was up for the role as Mary Jane Watson in the next Spider-Man film, haters had a lot to say.
The controversy? Over race, of course.
According to the original comic, Mary Jane, the best friend and later wife of Spider-Man, is depicted as white, while Zendaya is of mixed heritage. The backlash and criticism became so real that Guardians of The Galaxy director, James Gunn spoke out for the quickly rising star:
If you’re complaining about the ethnicity of Mary Jane your life is too good. https://t.co/b6XDUpRQ3i
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) August 19, 2016
Zendaya, on the other hand, remained unbothered:
Mood pic.twitter.com/pgpTrAYDqY
— Zendaya (@Zendaya) August 15, 2016
Inspired by this event, we decided to play casting director ourselves. A little something we’d like to call the “blackization” of film, otherwise known as chocolate-dipping. Here are 5 movies and shows that we would recast with black actresses.