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Dakota Fanning is facing some major backlash over a preview of her latest film, “Sweetness in the Belly” and now she is coming to her own defense!
Hey it’s Emile Ennis Jr. here with Clevver News and the first clip of Dakota Fanning’s latest film “Sweetness in the Belly” was just released and she is not receiving the kind of response I’m sure she was hoping to.
Quick context, “Sweetness in the Belly” is movie adaptation of the novel By Camilla Gibbs which is about a white European girl who is raised Muslim in Ethiopia.
Dakota is now facing “whitewashing” claims and backlash after this teaser was released.
Many people on Twitter are upset saying things such as:
“Sweetness in the belly” is so dirty lmaoooo they knew damn well”
And this person who tweeted:
I don’t know how this shit still shocks me, but what is this mess. Dakota, I’m not Fanning.
And while there are more reactions where those came from, Dakota is speaking out in defense of her taking on the role.
In her Instagram story, she clarified her role in the movie, saying “I do not play an Ethiopian woman. I play a British woman abandoned by her parents at seven years old in Africa and raised Muslim”.
She continues by saying “This film was partly made in Ethiopia, is directed by an Ethiopian man and features many Ethiopian women. It was a great privilege to be a part of telling this story.”
It premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival which starts today
And after the premiere, I’m sure we’ll see how critics respond to her role in the film
But as of now, Dakota already has some people backing her decision to take this role.
Like this person who said “Sweetness in the Belly is a wonderful book… The main character is a white woman raised in Africa. Because most of her life and formative years were in Harar, Ethiopia, I can see why they’re dubbing her “white Ethiopian” though it’s hard to swallow.”
Another said “Dakota Fanning playing her in the film version is def not whitewashing. Not sure why the article portrayed it that way.”
And “All the outrage for Dakota Fanning playing a white Ethiopian in the film version of Sweetness in the Belly is nonsense. She hasn’t taken a role from a black actor. The character is white in the book.”
So this might be a case of the classic handing in a book report without actually reading the book, guys.
At the same time, maybe we should be making the stories of actual Ethiopian people instead of white europeans in Ethiopia.
But I didn’t write the book, so I don’t know!
What do you guys think? Is Dakota in the right for taking this role? Or should she have steered clear? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below
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