The Importance of Astrid Being White
The first teaser and behind-the-scenes clips just dropped for the new live-action "How to Train Your Dragon". I deeply question this choice, especially since it looks to be an almost perfect recreation of the animated version. But that's not the point of this post. No, I want to discuss the most controversial casting choice in the film- choosing a black girl to play Astrid. I've seen some discourse around this online, even the comments from the director, and I'd like to share my two cents because I think Astrid's race is important. The Setting The movies make a very big deal about the fact that these guys are Vikings. They live in a Northern European based society. The fact is that most Scandinavians (the area the Vikings were from) are white, fair skinned, and blonde. Astrid is not only traditionally pretty, she's accurate to the area. Not only that, but there's no evidence of there being any black Vikings. If there were, I would bet they would be fai...
