A twitter-storm has erupted and enveloped Scarlett Johansson this week over her casting in the Hollywood remake of Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell.
On Thursday, the first visuals of Johansson playing cyborg policewoman Major Kusanagi hit the web to an onslaught of rumblings calling the film out for “white-washing” a Japanese anime character.
High-profile critics like that of actress Ming-Na Wen from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and comic-book writer Jon Tsuei took to social media to deplore the casting and reinforce the need for Asian actresses and actors to be the face of their own stories.
“Ghost in the Shell, while just one film, is a pillar in Asian media,” Tsui wrote.
Ghost In The Shell, while just one film, is a pillar in Asian media. It’s not simply a scifi thriller. Not to me, not to many others.
— Jon Tsuei (@jontsuei) April 15, 2016
Top Comments
On the fence here, because if we take it to the extent that no should okay another race we may be missing out on someone who is perfect for the part because they are an amazing actor or physically look or have a similar charisma to the character, eg I personally thought Ben Kingsley did a good job of Ghandi. Also it can get people to watch a movie that they wouldn't normally watch. For instance if Gandhi had been played by an Indian only the art house crowd would have watched but instead Kingsley attracted white audiences who then became enlightened as to what Indians suffered.
On the other hand maybe a lot if Indians thought a white Jew an insulting choice to play their worshipped leader, I don't know or maybe they knew indian actors who they thought would have done a better job.
Also there aren't enough Asian actors on screen. The only woman I can think of who is a movie star is Lucy Lui, and personally I'm not a fan of her acting, so I think maybe Hollywood can broaden the field to at least one more Asian actress! (Sarcasm font!)
But seriously there does need to be more diversity and certainly I would think its a ridiculous stretch to make Scarlett look Japanese.
The irony is that a good looking person is a good looking person regardless of race, for every guy who lusts over Scarlett plenty of them will still think a lot if Japanese women are totally hot.
Of course no one should be hired just on looks, yada, yada, but we all know the reality here Hollywood (and the majority of the public) want their blockbusters to have attractive women, but this is where Hollywood don't get it, that any beautiful woman from any country will get a guys attention. I know some of it is about name recognition, but then eve Scarlett started out as an unknown and someone took a risk on her.
I saw a doco recently about an Aussie Asian woman talking about her lack of confidence growing up and only seeing non Asian faces in mags etc. the irony was that she was a stunning beautiful woman. It occurred to me though that if someone said that to her she probably would have just thought they were being polite and probably wouldn't have believed it. She was much better looking than some of the white models/celebs she was talking about. And that's my view as a white Australian. Of course it shouldn't be a competition as every one should be valued equally but I honestly couldn't help but think what's wrong with things when someone stunning beautiful like her isn't on the cover of magazine.
I hate to say this but beauty tends to transcend racism, for instance someone might hate a particular race but 9 times out of 10 if someone beautiful of that race walks down the street they won't be able to help admiring their looks. So I don't think hiring good looking POC is really the risk that Hollywood, fashion mags etc really think it is.
And there was similar 'outrage' when American Renee Zelleweger was cast to play the very British Bridget Jones.
It is a bit different in that Renee Zelleweger could get away with being British.
But imagine if Jackie Chan was cast to play the Man from Snowy River. While it may make the movie more interesting and funny :-), it is pretty obviously not the correct casting.