I see commenters are repeating the same excuse Asians say about their colorism. I highly disagree it started as discrimination against people working outside 5,000 years ago.

But rather the horrific invasions they had 5,000 years ago of pale skinned invaders from the west. Followed by the hierarchy of oppression we have seen repeatedly throughout history from other pale skinned invaders.

Wait... Shang Chi is considered a "darker skin asian man"? Brand new thought for me. Yeezus.

This casting was 110% to save CGI budget on the eyes

What we really need is live action Static Shock

Now that the show has come out i personally think that aaron was made to play John Stewart jr

Honestly, having lighter eyes probably helped as John Stewart is often depicted with bright green eyes.

They pretty much use the same shade for every black comic book character 😂

Viola Davis should have been Nina Simone. Physically more appropriate and also, Viola is 10x the actress. I’m praying for the day a Black director will do another Nina Simone biopic.

after watching 5 episodes of the lanterns tv show, the reason for aaron pierre's casting as a lighter-skin black character is actually touched upon in the story. he was made fun of by his darker-skinned brothers (besides the fact that he was privileged to be chosen as the future heir of the green lantern ring) because of his lighter complexion and demeanor that is not exactly indicative of the black experience in the 90s mostly due to his super-abusive mental conditioning by his parents into not being afraid (as one of the main requirements of earning the ring).

in a life-threatening incident, john was healed by the show's mystery character and mystery tech after suffering near-fatal burns and before the treatment, he uttered along the lines of "if i come out white, the deal is off" and when asked about what if he came out darker, he said his brothers will never let him hear the end of it. colorism is pretty much a part of - at least in this version of john stewart - his character's backstory and ethos.

"White at night, but Black in light" is an insane line 😂 Jayden going through some things I see

Im glad you brought up Michael B. Jordan, because to me, Aaron P. is a summer afternoon walk away from being the same shade as him. Yet I've never heard a single person call Killmonger lightskin. Its got to be the eyes.

They calling him High Yellow Lantern now 😂😂

Coming back a year later, they definitely cast him cause they watched Rebel Ridge. That whole movie may as well be an audition for what they wanted out of him.

I have to disagree with John Stewart being B tier at least for anyone who grow up in the 2000s with the amazing justice league cartoon. He is the Green Lantern to us.

It’s funny cause as a kid John Stewart was my first green lantern through Justice League and I never even knew there was the white one until way later.

while colorism has inarguably been bolstered by global white colonialism, it's worth mentioning that colorism within south and east asian cultures goes back thousands of years before any contact with anglo people. this doesn't contradict with anything you say in the video, just trying to add more nuance. i invite anyone with more familiarity on this topic to chime in. it's a topic which is admittedly beyond the scope of this video, as colorism seems like a widespread 'human' problem which has been dogging us for generations... great video!

Whose algorithm sent them here after last night’s mini-mention of colorism in episode 5?! 😂

19:59 "low key i think some of ya'll woudn't have complained if it was michael b jordan, but i'mma hold that"
Don't hold it! lmao, f*ck the peace, open the can of worms

Time to be That Guy: colourism in China and Japan has definitely been influenced by white global supremacy, but it dates back thousands of years, well before white colonialism, and is linked (as it was in Europe, until the 20th century made international travel more accessible to celebrities) to tanned skin being associated with outdoor work and pale skin being associated with wealth and aristocracy.

The only lightskinned black superhero I can think of is sunspot, and it is extremely controversial because he originally had dark skin and got lighter in the 2000s because of a different artistic interpretation (sunspot is afro brazilian so the artist wanted him to look whiter/ mixed because I guess they didn't realize that you can have brazilians with dark skin)