Zoë Kravitz speaks out against racial stereotyping in Hollywood

Zoë Kravitz has spoken out against racial stereotyping and the lack of representation in Hollywood.

The 29-year-old actress revealed that she will often read scripts where the majority of characters are white – and is keen to ‘shift things’ in the movie industry.

Speaking to her Big Little Lies co-star Reese Witherspoon in Harper’s Bazaar’s October issue, she said: ‘I’m not necessarily trying to point the finger at anyone.’

Opinionated: Zoë Kravitz spoke out against racial stereotyping in Hollywood… as she went bare-faced in a completely unretouched Harper’s Bazaar cover

She added: ‘I just want to make these writers, most of whom are probably white, aware of the things that affect me and likely affect other people as well. 

‘I’m trying to speak my mind and shift things so Hollywood can be more conscious about things.’

The actress went on: ‘My biggest pet peeve is when I read scripts that have character descriptions like “Stacy, 22, perky,” then you get four pages in and see, “Sarah, 22, African-American” which makes it clear that everyone else is white.’

On growing up biracial and her grandmother, Roxie Roker’s legacy of inspiring change, she said: ‘When I got older I realized, “Oh, that’s why it was a big deal that my grandmother was married to a white man on the show [The Jeffersons]”.’  

Speaking out: The 29-year-old actress revealed that she will often read scripts where the majority of characters are white and is keen to 'shift things' in the movie industry

Speaking out: The 29-year-old actress revealed that she will often read scripts where the majority of characters are white and is keen to ‘shift things’ in the movie industry

‘I had mixed parents, so I didn’t see it as a big deal. Then when I was educated about what the world was like, I was like, “This is a huge deal.” It was brave of her to go there. I don’t think her intention was to shake things up. It was actually her truth: She was married to a white man.’ 

Zoë showed off her natural beauty in the completely unretouched cover for Harper’s Bazaar.  

Reese Witherspoon, who was interviewing her, asked: ‘I’m learning so much about you. For some celebrities, the fact that your shoot was about unretouched images would be more frightening than facing a pack of wolves. Did you have any anxiety about that?’

Shift: She added: 'I just want to make these writers, most of whom are probably white, aware of the things that affect me and likely affect other people as well'

Shift: She added: ‘I just want to make these writers, most of whom are probably white, aware of the things that affect me and likely affect other people as well’

Zoë replied: ‘I was a little scared when they told me. What scared me most was that I was scared about it… [but after retouching] you’re like, “That is 100 percent not what I look like!”

The Divergent actress shot with wild wolves for the magazine shoot, which was set in the desert.    

‘Funnily enough, I grew up with wolves,’ Zoë said. ‘My mom [Lisa Bonet] loves them. When I was a kid, we had a half-wolf, half-husky and a malamute. I grew up with these big dogs, and they were my pals. So it wasn’t completely foreign to me, which is funny. 

‘Now my mom has two wolf dogs. They are like full-on wolves, they live in this big beautiful pen on the property, and she just has this wonderful connection with them. Her relationship with her animals goes way beyond considering them pets. They become her children.’

Natural beauty: Zoë showed off her natural beauty in the completely unretouched cover for Harper's Bazaar, admitting that she was 'scared' about baring all 

Natural beauty: Zoë showed off her natural beauty in the completely unretouched cover for Harper’s Bazaar, admitting that she was ‘scared’ about baring all 

Kravitz also touched on the pros and cons of social media in regard to progressing representation.

‘Social media connects us in a beautiful way and holds people accountable for their actions, for their decision-making in casting or for an ignorant joke or story line,’ she said. 

‘It’s great that there’s this big responsibility now, but at the same time I feel like social media is really dangerous because it becomes easy to point the finger at things. 

‘I think it makes artists afraid to take chances or to play something different than themselves because they’re going to be told that it’s inappropriate. As an actor, I find that scary.’

Baring all: Zoë said: 'I was a little scared when they told me. What scared me most was that I was scared about it… [but after retouching] you're like, "That is 100 percent not what I look like!"

Baring all: Zoë said: ‘I was a little scared when they told me. What scared me most was that I was scared about it… [but after retouching] you’re like, “That is 100 percent not what I look like!”

 

 

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