I could go on and ON about the wrong choices in the bbc series, specifically WITH Simon and Roger (as most lotf fans do) and how Roger's character in specific is constantly portrayed wrong. Roger's character is often quite literally erased from the story in certain adaptions; for example, in the graphic novel most of the scenes with Roger were excluded. This made the line between being an important character and a background character start to bleed because he was often not even in the main storyline.
In the series, Roger is seen as an active, likeable boy. He is liked by the rest of the boys and has no trouble with getting along with them โ while in the book Roger is typically quiet and reserved. He's made to be a slightly off-putting boy because he is so quiet and even brooding! Making him someone who can get along with the others and have them see him as a regular boy completely erases his ENTIRE character!! He is essentially just watered down to a mischievous boy with no morals whatsoever which is why so many of the bbc fans (who haven't read the book) claim he is ONLY sadistic. Him being white is also a big reason as to why I think he is so favored in the bbc fandom while not having significant impact to the show or even not having much character as a whole. He is a white, blonde boy (absolutely no hate to his actor, he is wonderful at acting!!) and therefore, he is going to gain more fans because of white supremacy.
I don't have much to say about Simon personality wise, because I personally enjoyed how his character was portrayed and I thought the slight changes were nice! However! Him being white, ONCE AGAIN, ruined a lot of it. Simon's actor did an AMAZING job with him, but I don't think it was anywhere near the right choice. Another thing I do not agree with it the excessive lean towards Jack and Simon in the series. I personally love Jimon but it was not handled well here at all. To take away the scenes with Simon and Ralph just to give the same scenes to a white boy and a white boy is incredibly disrespectful and honestly seems racist.
What truly bothers me is the fact that.. it was never like they DIDN'T have the actors to properly portray Simon and Roger? They HAD perfect actors for the role but instead casted them as background characters. Make it make sense? Why are we casting white actors to play POC characters when we already have POC actors.. that are being casted as background characters. It's so mind boggling. And the NERVE some people have to complain about Ralph being dark-skinned and cry that it's inaccurate to the book when both Simon and Roger have NEVER ONCE been portrayed accurately. They have ALWAYS been casted as white but never once did these same people complain about that? We are genuinely devolving.
Sorry for the bad writing LOL I'm autistic and cannot properly write for the life of me but I hope my message is clear here. this is so fucking insane
