I'm not sure there's much overlap between the objectors to Othello being replaced by a white woman and objectors to a 'new' agent 007 being cast alongside established Bond stereotype Daniel Craig.

Which is a moot point really, since my original point was that the objection was for whatever reason to the scripting and casting decision itself, not to the possibility that the filmmaker might be insincere in supporting black characters (there are people who rail against Hollywood for that, but they tend to be dismissed as obsessively 'woke' themselves)

In the movie Bond retires and another agent is given his code number - she is not playing James Bond (obviously).

Well the established book character was not recast, he's just working alongside a black female secret agent, so it definitely seems like anyone opposed to the most recent Bond film based on her presence is simply opposed to black female secret agents in general.

"White woman doing Othello" has been attempted fairly regularly in recent years, and people do indeed object to it - for two reasons.

One is that it's allegedly racist in itself ("It's a black role for a black actor") and the other that it's superficial tokenist wokeism and against the natural order of things. ("It's a black role for a black actor.")

In related news There was controversy in the UK this week about a famous Jewish actor complaining that former Israeli premier Golda Meir might be played in a new movie by a non-Jewish woman.

I find this all quite strange. The whole point of art is imagination. Expecting actors who are playing to a stereotype to actually be that stereotype makes as much as demanding that only real retired spies can play James Bond, and only real time travellers can play Doctor Who.

But perhaps that's not a popular view. These roles are tribal totems and morality markers, and casting against that reveals how they operate.

The real problem is the nature of status and hierarchy. Conservatives get very uncomfortable when status and hierarchy are challenged, and many liberals assume they're challenging status and hierarchy when really they're just challenging a certain ordering, and not the abstract principle.

Personally I find too much US media output has a lot in common with plain old everyone-is-a-warrior fascism. I'm really bored by big dumb movies and TV shows which are all about spurting blood and super-athletic ultra-violence in the pursuit of some dystopian Randian mix of self-defence and self-interest.

I don't care if the actors are male, female, white, non-white, gay, trans, or cyborgs. I do care about what they're doing, and most of it isn't that interesting.