Douche Of The Week nomination: Tina Fey

Oh Tina. Liz Lemon would not be happy with you right now.

Come on, Tina. You know better than this. Source: NBC Universal

We all loved Tina Fey. She brought us one of the most hilarious and ridiculous characters of modern comedy. She is one half of the most adorable BFFship in popular culture. She brought the phrase, "I can see Russia from my house!" into the lexicon. 

But sometimes our heroes disappoint us. The signs that Tina might not quite be worthy of the Progressive Crown we collectively placed upon her have been popping up with ever increasingly frequency: there were jokes in 30 Rock that were decidedly on the nose in terms of their racial politics, passages of her book which showed a lack of sensitivity to the body images specific to women of colour, and scatterings of slut-shaming in Sisters.

Now, there's this. Fey stars in the upcoming comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, in which her Kim Barker plays a war correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan during Operation Enduring Freedom (the official military name of the War On Terror/ the Iraqi-Afghanistan War/ the Middle East: You Broke It, You Bought It War, depending on your personal naming proclivity).

The movie's cast is excellent: alongside Fey are Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, and Billy Bob Thornton. Also excellent actors are Christopher Abbott (Charlie from Girls) and Alfred Mollina (Dr Octopus from Spider-Man 2, as well as some grown-up movies).

What's weird about their casting is that they're playing Afghans.

In case you've forgotten, this is what Christopher Abbott and Alfred Mollina look like. Source: Sony Pictures

This hasn't escaped attention, so inevitably Fey was asked about it at a talk hosted by the New York Times. She replied that she had, of course, realised the move would be controversial so had asked the directors to try and cast Afghan actors.

Sadly, this is the pretty standard response, which in accordance with tradition she followed by noting that these actors were absolutely the best available for the role. But then she said this:

"I try to make myself feel warm about it in the fact that Afghans are Caucasian. It's Caucasians playing Caucasians. If you really wanted to go to the mat on it, you could say it's not any different than an Aussie playing a Brit. Although I'm sure people feel that it is."

Correct! People do feel that it is. That's possibly to do with this being a fairly textbook example of cultural appropriation, where white writers, directors and producers cast white actors to take on the roles of people of colour, thereby reducing them to brown-coloured sterotypes and profiting from it in the meantime.

Not to mention that actors of colour frequently bemoan the limited roles available to them in an industry overly focused on telling the stories of white cishet men, and that there must be many talented Afghan actors dying for a big break.

Ultimately the reason this is so disappointing is that Fey herself has championed the destruction of the male grip on entertainment, reiterating time and time again that movies could tell better stories about women and for women, and that female writers and directors are equipped to do so. That women who made not be blonde-haired and blue-eyed might also have something to bring to our screens. And it would have been nice to see her extend that to actors of colour too.