Summary
David Oyelowo defends the portrayal of Jesus as a Black man in The Book of Clarence, highlighting the historical inaccuracies in previous white portrayals of Moses and Jesus. Some have been critical of The Book of Clarence’s portrayal of Black Jesus. Oyelowo sees the film as an opportunity to tell a Black story through their own perspective.
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The Book of Clarence star David Oyelowo defends the film’s portrayal of Jesus as a Black man. Directed by Jeymes Samuel, the film tells the story of a man named Clarence who is struck by the power of the Messiah and soon risks everything in his life in pursuit of a divine existence. In addition to Oyelowo, The Book of Clarence stars LaKeith Stanfield, Anna Diop, Omar Sy, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michael Ward, Nicholas Pinnock, James McAvoy, Alfre Woodard, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
The Book of Clarence is set for wide release on January 12.
Speaking with MovieWeb, Oyelowo addresses the controversy surrounding The Book of Clarence’s portrayal of a Black Jesus Christ. Responding to those offended by the concept of a Black Jesus, Oyelowo says “I just hope they were as offended by Charlton Heston as Moses and Robert Powell as Jesus.” He sees The Book of Clarence as the opportunity to tell a Black story “through our perspective and our lens with our music and our bodies and our humor and our accents.” Check out the full quote from Oyelowo below:
“Well, I just hope they were as offended by Charlton Heston as Moses and Robert Powell as Jesus. You know, that’s all I have to say. I mean, we can stop it there. Jesus came for the entire world. And for us as Black people, you know, I don’t think it’s a secret to anyone just how much our culture, our race, has been impacted by Christianity as well. So this is our opportunity to tell our story through our perspective and our lens with our music and our bodies and our humor and our accents. And anyone who doesn’t like it can go and watch Charlton Heston.”
Why The Book of Clarence’s Critics Are Misplaced
While Jesus, historically, likely had brown skin, the iconography of Jesus Christ has positioned the figure of a white man. The Book of Clarence challenges this portrayal by putting Pinnock, who is Black, in the role of Jesus. While this choice may actually be close to the historical reality of Jesus, The Book of Clarence’s Jesus casting has upset some people along the way.
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By using Heston and Powell as examples, Oyelowo draws out the irony in this criticism. Both Moses and Jesus were of a darker skin tone, but have been played copious times by white actors, including the examples Oyelowo gives. This historical inaccuracy should, in theory, enrage audiences, but audiences have kept fairly quiet in regards to these other films. This fact points out the inherent racism of the criticism of Black Jesus, for it is not a question of accuracy, but of viewers willfully denying the whitewashing that has gone on in the religious figure’s past.
Thus, those who criticize the casting in The Book of Clarence are vastly misguided in their ridicule. The Book of Clarence will do work to break the status quo of historical portraits of Jesus by casting a non-white actor. Hopefully, the film will accomplish this with success as The Book of Clarence prepares for release.
Source: MovieWeb
The Book of Clarence
The Book of Clarence is a comedy-drama film by writer and director Jeymes Samuel. Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) finds himself in awe of the arrival of Jesus Christ and the miracles he provided in Jerusalem in 29 A.D. Hoping to free himself of his life of poverty; he acts as a false Messiah sent by god to capitalize on the situation.