Anyone who has ever seen Idris Elba act, be it in something brilliant like The Wire or even something awful like Takers, knows he’s reason enough to buy a ticket for a movie. His inclusion in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor is one of the film’s most exciting pieces of casting, in my opinion.

However, that opinion is decidedly not shared by the Council of Conservative Citizens who plan to boycott the upcoming Marvel film because Elba plays the Norse god Heimdall who is generally depicted as being white. You can’t make this stuff up. Read more about it below.

In the CofCC’s article called “Marvel Studios declares war on Norse mythology” they write the following:

Norse mythology gets multi-cultural remake in upcoming movie titled “Thor,” Marvel studios. It’s not enough that Marvel attacks conservatives values, now mythological Gods must be re-invented with black skin. It seems that Marvel Studios believes that white people should have nothing that is unique to themselves. An upcoming movie, based on the comic book Thor, will give the Aesir an insulting multi-cultural make-over. One of the Gods will be played by Hip Hop DJ Elba.

The article then links to a site they’ve started to boycott the film.

The character Elba plays, Heimdall, is sometimes referred to as the “White God” and is regularly portrayed as such, even in the Thor comic books. However, the CofCC themselves call the Norse Gods “mythology” in their headline. And, by definition, mythology is allegorical – a story. Not real.

Idris Elba himself pointed out the same thing when asked about the boycott

Thor’s mythical, right? Thor has a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers. That’s OK, but the color of my skin is wrong?

Elba makes a great point. He’s a person and instead of siding with a person, the CofCC chooses to side with a mythical representation of a deity. But that makes sense when they says things like “Marvel Studios believes that white people should have nothing that is unique to themselves.” They are entitled to their opinions and we’re entitled to call them ignorant and overly-sensitive. Even with sites like ours writing about this boycott, the odds of their archaic point of view having any affect on Thor is slim to none.

Still, it’s worth pointing out simply because this isn’t the first time the CofCC has attacked Marvel. They were up in arms when Captain America undermined the Tea Party in a February issue of the comic and also accused them of publishing “extremist Black Power comics” that are “viciously anti-white.” Flipping the tables and calling Marvel racist, instead of at least acknowledging they are politically and culturally diverse, is the wrong way to win an argument. Even if you don’t like their diversity, you have to acknowledge it as that and not racism.

This story really speaks for itself and I’m sure you all are going to have plenty to say about it. Let the discussion begin.

Source: Comic Book Movie, Death and Taxes