was Idris Alba the right PERSON to play Roland.
He is a fine UK actor and was outstanding in Luthor, loved his performance. But is Roland black here for the sake of it? With the "PC" thing of making a character "non white" or "no longer white", we have had rumours of Mr Elba set to play James Bond and Dr Who. Making the character black for the sake of it. Why not make him Chinese, Indian, or an Eskimo?
Is Roland white in the books? The gunslingers in those towns, in the World Moved On, based on Wild West towns would have all been white Americans. Susannah/Detta/Odetta was black, and is stated as so. Roland, Eddie and Jake are white. Mr Elba as Roland in this post apocalyptic world has a big dose of Denzel Washington as Eli about him.
There are many actors who could have portrayed this role more like the book. Not quite a Clint Eastwood way, but closer to that kind of world. In a way this "let's make the character black", "let's have a white character played by a black actor" is the most offensive things of all. Offensive to blacks and white. Offensive to Chinese and Indians.
And probably offensive to the Eskimos as well. Hell, if James Bond, originally taken to be a white Englishman, then altered to be half Scottish/half Swiss, why couldn't he be descended from Greenland inuits? Makes as much sense as making his ancestors from Africa.
