tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4948817819712174430.post1701180004748219246..comments2022-11-10T05:50:23.593-05:00Comments on Nerdette At Large: United I stand: Boycotting Asian WhiteWashing in Film and CinemaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09178728400149635053noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4948817819712174430.post-10515127485508941802016-05-05T21:05:46.747-04:002016-05-05T21:05:46.747-04:00Exactly, what you wrote! (Warning: This is gonna b...Exactly, what you wrote! (Warning: This is gonna be long) With Ghost in the Shell, while whitewashing sucks, whitewashing AND yellowface is so much worse. I would find it more bearable if Scarlett Johansson had been cast to play a character not named Motoko Kusanagi, who isn't Japanese, and where the location isn't in Japan. I haven't yet received a straight answer from the defenders of the casting choice why it's so important that those features be part of the film, but that they don't want an actual Japanese actress to play the role. The A-list argument is often trotted out, which completely ignores that Hollywood will cast lesser known White actors for large budget films, to whom I point to Shailene Woodly going into Divergent and Kristin Stewart going into Twilight, never mind Daisy Ridley in Star Wars, Chris Pine in Star Trek, Sam Worthington in Avatar, and Chris Hemsworth in Thor. The role of Kusanagi practically screams Rinko Kikuchi, who does action and who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her portrayal as Chieko Wataya in Babel; so, she can act. Why not the same consideration?<br /><br />For Doctor Strange, there are several issues at play, like the one you mentioned regarding cultural appropriation. Cargill should have gone all the way, or not at all. Either keep Tilda Swinton as a Celtic Ancient One, but strip out all of the Asian cultural elements, like her look, clothing, and other trapping, and move the location to somewhere not in Asia. Also, have Strange's magic have its basis in European Sorcery and not in Eastern Mysticism. The other route would be to keep the Ancient One as an Asian which shouldn't have been problematic since the location has been set in Nepal, as George Takei pointed out. Besides, Tibet is the home of Buddhism, not the art of sorcery. For this, I like James Hong, who played the sorcerer Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China. While that was a rather light-hearted and semi-comedic depiction, the filmmakers could have played off the sorcerer part, but with a serious take in direct contrast to the prior role.<br /><br />One thing that annoys me is the cop-out counter-argument that asks where's our outrage when White characters are recast as Black, like with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in the Avengers. I addressed one guy who took up that banner, by pointing that he's based upon the Earth-1610 Ultimates 'alternate' universe where Nick Fury is Black versus the 'original' Earth-616 universe where Nick Fury is White and is still White comic book source material, that, 'no', the Ultimates comic books came out a decade before the Avengers movie, and that race doesn't transcend alternate universes, so take it up with the gods of the comic book multiverse. <br /><br />Someone told me of a defender of whitewashing who suggested the hypothetical instance of a White guy being cast as John Shaft. Which, I guess the guy didn't comprehend that with movies like Shaft, and other Blaxploitation movies, there's the coopting of the theme and/or message (a Black hero fighting on behalf of Blacks against the systemic, institutionalized racism on the parts of Whites who are the ones in power), which I don't think is okay to do, so it's not simply a matter of swapping out a Black person for a White person. It changes the whole narrative of the story; it becomes that Blacks need a White champion.<br /><br />Anyway, that's my input, thoughts, and feedback. Yes, we do need to stick together. It's like a lot of the defenders of whitewashing and yellowface don't understand, either through deliberate ignorance or denial.<br /><br />RWRTWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16089788942820391930noreply@blogger.com