Throughout history, racial conflicts have pervaded every aspect of life, including the media. There is no doubt that racial prejudice is still common, especially in the production of Hollywood films. In the most recent scandal, actress Zoe Saldana is facing criticism for her role as Nina Simone in the upcoming biopic, Nina.

Nina Simone was a prominent musician and civil rights activist who left her mark on many genres, including jazz, classical, folk, blues, pop, R&B and gospel.
She was widely respected for both her vast musical talent and her adherence to her civil rights values.

In order to accurately play the role of Simone, the actress was portrayed in a movie poster with a darkened skin tone and a wider nose. Because Saldana herself is a lighter-skinned actress resulting from her Latino and African mixed heritage, makeup was used to create a darker face and a prosthetic nose was made in order for her to visually represent the late musician.

This instance is not so bad as other recent cases of whitewashing in Hollywood films, but still it would be more suitable for a different actress to play Simone. Saldana was clearly chosen for her popularity, but the public is fairly divided on this issue, some arguing that Saldana should have never been cast while others state that she should not have to change her appearance at all and instead should be viewed for her talent in acting, rather than criticized for her appearance.

The argument against her assumption of the role include the nature of the film, and the act of darkening one’s skin itself.
Since the movie is about a civil rights activist who fought to be accepted despite her features, opponents feel that casting a lighter-skinned actress is insulting to Simone’s memory. Others oppose the darkening of one’s skin and its implications in any production, especially in light of historical uses of blackface or other racial impersonations in a derogatory manner. In the 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans, the Native Americans were played by predominantly white actors.

Despite some good examples like the casting of Angela Basset as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It, Hollywood still fails to cast authentic characters.
In this case, it is difficult to say whether the casting of Saldana is “wrong.”
Considering how she is of African descent, and the change of appearance was done out of respect for Simone’s image, this instance is very different from some other examples of white actors playing people of color, which is often done disrespectfully.
Still, considering how Simone was a civil rights activist, and overcame derision regarding her features and skin tone, it does appear that an actress more like her would better suit the role.

There are recent cases even worse than Nina because the casts tend to be entirely white where they really shouldn’t be.
The recent film, Gods of Egypt was a blatantly whitewashed production, with a cast filled with white actors like Brenton Thwaites and Gerard Butler. Seeing as how the movie is called Gods of Egypt, shouldn’t the actors also portray that ethnicity?
Of course it would be difficult to cast an entire cast of Egyptian actors and actresses, but there seems to be no apparent effort in accurately depicting the country and its people.

Another incident of prejudice casting is exemplified in the 2015 film Aloha. The character of Allison Ng was to be a native Hawaiian of Asian descent.
However Emma Stone, a white female, was casted to play the role of Ng.

Compared to these recent instances of prejudice in casting, Nina is not the worst case. However, the nature of the film as a biopic of an influential civil rights figure begs a more fitting actress to play the lead role.