TIL that the characters of Vasquez in Aliens (1986) and the stepmother in Terminator 2 (1991) were played by the same actor, Jenette Goldstein, apparently donning brownface for the earlier role

I think the groundbreaking part was Dan O'Bannon’s note in the Alien script that gave us more amazing characters in Aliens.

“At the start of Dan O'Bannon’s script for Alien, there’s a note that few other screenplays contain: “The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women.” It’s a line that fundamentally altered the nature of the film, affecting everything from the presentation of its characters to the way Ridley Scott and his team approached casting, and it was certainly for the best.”

source here

Haha I read that originally as "they be robots and have removable arms and legs that fit erybody else."

That's fascinating though. I must say I like Aliens much better. I rarely revisit Alien but I might do in the near future.
- Imho, they are different genres altogether.
  
  Alien is a real horror-movie, while Aliens leans more towards the action-movie genre, of course retaining horror elements, but it doesn't quite play on the body-horror and fear of the unknown as much as the first part does.

It might not seem like it now but Vasquez was a groundbreaking character at the time.

Expand on that
- Badass female grunt soldier treated by her fellow soldiers as a soldier first and foremost.
- Badass strong female character with more depth than what was normally portrayed in Hollywood. Ripley being another.
- Aliens didn't exactly break new ground in strong female characters (except perhaps with Ripley as lead), but it was an early very popular movie that had strong female characters who weren't dependent upon men to save them so it was pretty good for representing women as something other than Hollywood's standard of the time. Not great mind you because the only way either of them managed to achieve that is by making both of them (especially Vasquez, Ripley at least had some nuance) act like traditional male characters, but it was a big step.

I knew I made this for a reason

!lv426@lemmy.ml
You .mixed up the movies
Most people are assuming that her default skin tone is that of the foster mother. Pretty sure with enough makeup and studio lighting you canake a naturally tanned person look pretty pale.

I see from the comments that apparently it was makeup. I wonder to what extent this is makeup, since after all, ALL actors on set wear make up. I have a similar skin complexion and if I sunbathe for a week I'll look like Vasquez too.

Well, to be fair, blackface is also a type of makeup
The fact that they tanned her is not the issue. The fact that they tanned her to play an ethnicity she is not, is the problem. Especially during an era where people of that ethnicity were lucky to be typecast in something.

I know it's before this time, but Martin Sheen had to change his name to get work in Hollywood because nobody would hire someone with a Hispanic sounding name.
- Charlie
- James Roday Rodriguez did the same before he got his role in Psych.

I wrote an article about how Jim Carrey used greenface (very offensively too) during the filming of "The Mask", but hardly anyone cared.

He's not even an amphibian!

Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?
No, have you?

She was bad ass

That movie is one of the best sources for quotes.

"This little girl survived ... with no weapons and no training. Right?"

"That's great! WHY DON'T WE PUT HER IN CHARGE?!?"

She's also in Titanic, but in a very small role as an Irish mother.

Just curious, is it offense that she dyed her hair reddish and has Hollywood freckles for the Irish role?
- Irish. Trying to muster one fuck to give but just can't manage it unfortunately.
  
  Side note: She's a great actress.
- Bit weird. Irish people tend to have dark hair and pale skin.
SMH my head, so now she's doing irish face? Potato face? No wait, now I'm being racist
And Lethal Weapon

I think shes got a company now that is making extra comfy bras.

Was it makeup? Lighting can do a lot too…

It was, even though apparently one of her parents is of Brazilian and Moroccan descent.

This is mildly racist in two different directions. There was clearly an assumption of what a "private Vasquez" should look like they were shooting for. She was allegedly cast partially because she was in the right shape for the character already. These days they would have gotten an actor in shape that looked like the ethnic stereotype they had in mind, probably.

Which is still kinda more messed up than just having cast her, kept the character and just not spray tan her. Didn't even have to change her name. I don't speak for American latinos, but from where I stand the visual design of the character seems like a much bigger issue than the casting.
- A lot of ppl were saying if you need a disabled role, hire a disabled person, if you need this and that hire someone with that exact trait. That's not the point of acting. The point of a good actor is that they can change for every role.

The ‘80s was just like that. Fun while it lasted but I am glad we have moved on and it is somewhat shameful to look back on now. I have so much nostalgia for the Short Circuit movies but I will never show them to my Indian husband, Fischer Stevens.

Lol!
Let your husband be the judge of whether he's missing out or not.

If I recall, she also thought "Aliens" was about illegal aliens or some shit.

Didn't Schwarzenegger wear mudface in Predator?

Didn't she play tough hispanic space marine in another movie too?

nvm: I'm thinking of Michele Rodriguez from Fast and Furious, resident evil, and a fair bit of other movies I thought was same actress.