Recently rumors started to appear online that in the next reboot of Spiderman titled Spiderman: Homecoming, Mary Jane Watson, a Caucasian woman with red hair and the love interest to Peter Parker in the comics, would be played by actress Zendaya. A little background on Zendaya for those who do not know of her: she is an African American singer and actress who is mostly known from her Disney Channel shows, placing second on her season of Dancing with the Stars, and her 2013 self titled album "Zendaya." When the news broke of her casting, many fans were up in arms saying she did not fit the part because of her skin color.

This reasoning is where I became confused. Many people forget that there are so many movies that have cast white actors or actresses instead of how their characters are depicted in the material they are based on. Examples of this include "Breakfast at Tiffany's" where Mickey Rooney played Holly Glightly's Asian landlord, "The Big Wedding" where Ben Barnes plays a Colombian and used brown-face makeup for his role, and even movies that are coming out soon such as "Doctor Strange" where the character known as the Ancient One is from an area near the Himalayas was given to Tilda Swinton and although the gender swap can be appreciated as female leads and roles in superhero movies are becoming a higher demand, the role could have possibly gone to someone who looks the part.

So why should it matter that Zendaya may have the part of the iconic role of Mary Jane in the next reboot? All you have to do is Google white-washing in films and the first link gives a small list of just a handful of white actors or actresses taking on roles not specifically made for their skin color. If it really is a big deal for a woman of color to play a character who is white, why is it that you never see people make a big deal out of when a white actor or actress take on roles not suited to their skin color? If the rumors are true and Zendaya is taking on the iconic role of Mary Jane Watson in the second reboot of Spider-man, then I applaud Jon Watts, who is directing the movie, for choosing to step outside of the norms and casting Zendaya in the role.