Last week, the live-action adaptation of the anime Ghost in the Shell opened to poor reviews and a disappointing opening at the box office. That such a big-budget movie flopped is notable after not only backlash surrounding the casting of Scarlett Johansson as a Japanese character, but also after multiple other controversies surrounding whitewashing of other Asian-inspired movies and shows, including The Great Wall (which starred Matt Damon in ancient China), Marvel’s Iron Fist (in which a skinny white guy becomes the savior of a mystical Asian land and mansplains kung fu to an Asian woman who owns a dojo), and Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the anime Death Note.
It’s common for the U.S. to remake foreign stories – Power Rangers was initially a Japanese property, as were the Ring and Grudge movies and even Star Wars (George Lucas was inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s movie Hidden Fortress). But movies like Ghost in the Shell go further by going out of their way to draw from Asian culture while explicitly forcing the narrative to focus on white people.
(Source: Screen Rant)
There were allegations that Paramount considered digital effects to make white actors look more Asian and an absolutely bizarre plot twist to justify Johansson in the lead role of Ghost in the Shell. Edward Zo claimed he was told to his face not to audition for Death Note because Netflix refused to consider Asian actors for the lead. Another Asian-American actor, Lewis Tan, was considered for the lead role of Iron Fist, but was rejected in favor of Finn Jones – even though the character is supposed to be a martial arts champion and Tan actually is a martial artist, while Jones is not and the white actor “was learning the fight scenes 15 minutes before we actually shot them.” Marvel defended the casting because Danny Rand is white in the comics, but this argument ironically falls apart when you consider that they were perfectly willing to disregard canon when they cast Tilda Swinton as a canonically Tibetan character in Doctor Strange. There were even reports that the script for the live-action Mulan almost had a white male lead.
The conventional wisdom is that Hollywood needs to cast white stars to make money. But none of these projects have actually been successful, critically or commercially. The Great Wall flopped in the U.S. Iron Fist has a dismal 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is especially embarrassing considering Marvel’s other Netflix shows were all very well-reviewed. (Lewis Tan did get cast as a villain in one episode, and got better reviews for his single scene than Jones.)
This isn’t a new phenomenon either: the movie adaptations of Dragonball Z and Avatar: The Last Airbender were also criticized for casting white actors as Asians, and they famously sucked. Meanwhile, movies like Hidden Figures and Get Out—breakout hits without established stars like Johansson – have proven that people of color actually can sell movies.
Get with the times, Hollywood. Do everyone a favor and stop whitewashing Asian roles. Seriously. It would be the best for everyone involved – including you.
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