Will Hollywood Let Leonardo DiCaprio Play An Afghan Scholar? Not If This Petition Can Help It

A proposed film about iconic Muslim scholar Rumi was recently announced.

According to David Franzoni, the writer commissioned to pen a screen-worthy Rumi, and Stephen Joel Brown, one of the producers, this picture aims to challenge Muslim stereotypes.

Sounds worthwhile, right?

Unfortunately, although Rumi was born in what would now be called Afghanistan, Leonardo DiCaprio is being considered to play the role of this Sufi writer and philosopher, while Robert Downey Jr. is being considered to play Shams Tabrizi, who is usually credited as being Rumi’s mentor.

The Twitter outrage is, as always, palpable. A petition to keep DiCaprio from the role has, as of this writing, gathered more than 6,000 signatures. The thing is, Hollywood whitewashing is nothing new and barely surprising.

It's their "dream" casting. Our nightmare. Leo DiCaprio shouldn't play Rumi. #RumiWasntWhite https://t.co/h2RJ7DO0Ec pic.twitter.com/ix0HOI9jdg

— Pia Wilson (@pwilson720) June 12, 2016

This film falls into a long-standing tradition of whitewashing, from the early days of Hollywood in which blackface and yellowface were commonplace, to more recent practices, where white actors are cast to play people of colour.

There was anger when Ridley Scott’s Exodus was released, riddled with white actors depicting Middle Eastern characters. There was a general feeling of discomfort while watching Rachel Weisz play Alexandrian mathematician Hypatia in Agora. And there has been much confusion over the casting of Tilda Swinton as the traditionally Tibetan “Ancient One” in Doctor Strange (out this November).

The casting choices not only deny actors of colour the opportunity for success, but often also distance historical figures from their racial origins.

In Agora, the extremist bishop Cyril, responsible for the condemnation of Hypatia, is played by Sami Samir while the noble, enlightened bishop Synesius, who tries to save her, is played by Rupert Evans. Here, whiteness is associated with heroism, while being non-white is associated with villainy. Only Oscar Isaac’s role as a hero and a person of colour interrupts this pattern.

While having the potential to tell a story from a perspective often unheard and unseen, these casting choices simply reinforce associations of character traits and virtues with race.

In assuming the authority of telling the story of Rumi, Franzoni and Brown’s movie assumes ownership of a history that is linked to the identity of a community; a community that the filmmakers are not a part of.

That may be with the intention of tackling stereotypes and sharing an unfamiliar history, yet telling stories about the race and identity of others from a perspective that is not their own merely perpetuates an alternate set of stereotypes about who these people are, or what they should be. It frames their identity and their history through a Western lens.

Franzoni, who also wrote Gladiator, seems to be trying to understand Rumi’s alien history through established, familiar Western history, describing Rumi as “like a Shakespeare”. This seems to be an attempt to fit the Sufi scholar within existing Western paradigms by drawing on Western ideas and individuals.

The misrepresentation of others’ identity, history and stories is most clearly seen in colonial art.

Have a look Frenchman Jean-Léon Gérôme's The Snake Charmer. It pictures a young, presumably Arab boy performing naked in front of a group of swarthy old men reclining against a wall. Gerome emphasises the poorly maintained, faded glory on the mosque’s wall and contrasts this with the decadent existence of modern Arabs.

This kind of art assumes moral superiority. It suggests that educated Westerners are able to appreciate and understand the significance of this rich history, unlike the uneducated, primitive locals.

We often regard paintings like these as remnants of countries’ colonial past; a part of a regrettable colonial history. In reality, exotified representations of non-white, colonised people are not rooted in a long-gone period but continue to be present in modern cinema and art.

Much like Gerome’s The Snake Charmer, this proposed Rumi biopic presumes to have a greater understanding and appreciation for this history.

However, in representing Rumi’s story on behalf of this community, the feature silences those who should have the platform to tell their own stories.

In our post-OscarsSoWhite climate, the casting ideas for this project seem absurd. Hiring an Afghan actor won’t solve all of its problems, either. It is also necessary for Hollywood to reconsider the way it tells the stories of people of colour. The industry needs to be more inclusive of diverse voices.

Rumi’s story deserves to be told, just properly.

Susan Alfayadh is one of Student Edge’s student contributors. Learn more about the contributors program.

Photo: NBC.