misstique
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Post by misstique on Apr 12, 2017 16:28:14 GMT
The funny thing is that it's mostly the Americans who are complaining about the whitewashing in "Ghost in the Shell". I saw many Japanese viewers being interviewed about this and they all did not mind that Scar Jo was cast as the main lead. Many actually were quite happy as they love Scar Jo. While there may be few Americans who enjoy watching Asian movies with all Asian actors, there are MANY MANY Asians who enjoy watching American movies with all American actors. Hollywood movies have an international appeal, unlike movies made in other countries. Hollywood actors and actresses are well known and loved all over the world. Asians who live in Asia don't really care about whitewashing in Hollywood movies that much. When I lived in Asia, we didn't give a crap about diversity, we just wanted a good movie with good actors. If we wanted to watch movies where our race was well represented we watched locally made movies. If we wanted to watch movies with Japanese actors we watched Japanese movies. Same thing with Chinese movies. It wasn't until I moved to North America that I kept hearing complaints about diversity and racism and sexism in movies. Maybe it's because North America is just a lot more diverse in it's population. And it's not a bad thing. I'm just pointing out it's mostly North America (and a few other first world countries) who make a big deal out of diversity in movies whereas majority of Asia (especially 3rd world countries and other parts of the world for that matter) don't really seem to care much. Thank you! Finally someone who understands what I've been saying. Like you said, I was just pointing out that it is Americans who are complaining about whitewashing in that movie and not the Asians. And as you said, it's probably because America is more diverse than say Japan or China. I know that in many countries, the people actually have become so used to seeing white leading stars in movies that they love it and want it even today, even though they themselves are not white. In Africa people are big fans of the action stars like Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Van Damme and watch their movies a lot more than those of black action stars. |
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Post by Skaathar on Apr 12, 2017 22:58:25 GMT
Asians who live in Asia don't really care about whitewashing in Hollywood movies that much. When I lived in Asia, we didn't give a crap about diversity, we just wanted a good movie with good actors. If we wanted to watch movies where our race was well represented we watched locally made movies. If we wanted to watch movies with Japanese actors we watched Japanese movies. Same thing with Chinese movies. It wasn't until I moved to North America that I kept hearing complaints about diversity and racism and sexism in movies. Maybe it's because North America is just a lot more diverse in it's population. And it's not a bad thing. I'm just pointing out it's mostly North America (and a few other first world countries) who make a big deal out of diversity in movies whereas majority of Asia (especially 3rd world countries and other parts of the world for that matter) don't really seem to care much. Thank you! Finally someone who understands what I've been saying. Like you said, I was just pointing out that it is Americans who are complaining about whitewashing in that movie and not the Asians. And as you said, it's probably because America is more diverse than say Japan or China. I know that in many countries, the people actually have become so used to seeing white leading stars in movies that they love it and want it even today, even though they themselves are not white. In Africa people are big fans of the action stars like Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Van Damme and watch their movies a lot more than those of black action stars. I think most Americans (and Canadians) don't realize how diversity (or the lack of) in a movie isn't really a big deal for most other countries. You need to live in these countries to see the difference. Most people are just happy to watch movies, they're not interested in finding proper representation in a movie or to idolize a fictional character in a movie. It's probably also because when you watch a foreign movie, you expect majority of the actors to be comprised of the local population. For example, you watch a Japanese film you expect majority of the actors to be Japanese. Watch a film made in Hong Kong and you expect majority of the cast to be Chinese. So when watching an American film we expect to see majority of the cast to be American, but because majority of the population in America is caucasian we're not exactly surprised if most of the roles are given to caucasian actors. I mean, caucasians make up what, 60% of the population in the US? Whereas the next most populous group (Hispanic) makes only 16%. Though to be fair, I'd still prefer that they stick to the source material as much as possible. I prefer of course if the actor chosen actually looks like the character they're supposed to be portraying, but I don't care much about race as long as they look the part. And just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from, I'm half Asian and half latino (hah, goodluck finding a representation of that specific racial combination). |
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bb15
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Post by bb15 on Apr 13, 2017 18:27:11 GMT
The funny thing is that it's mostly the Americans who are complaining about the whitewashing in "Ghost in the Shell". I saw many Japanese viewers being interviewed about this and they all did not mind that Scar Jo was cast as the main lead. Many actually were quite happy as they love Scar Jo. While there may be few Americans who enjoy watching Asian movies with all Asian actors, there are MANY MANY Asians who enjoy watching American movies with all American actors. Hollywood movies have an international appeal, unlike movies made in other countries. Hollywood actors and actresses are well known and loved all over the world. Asians who live in Asia don't really care about whitewashing in Hollywood movies that much. When I lived in Asia, we didn't give a crap about diversity, we just wanted a good movie with good actors. If we wanted to watch movies where our race was well represented we watched locally made movies. If we wanted to watch movies with Japanese actors we watched Japanese movies. Same thing with Chinese movies. It wasn't until I moved to North America that I kept hearing complaints about diversity and racism and sexism in movies. Maybe it's because North America is just a lot more diverse in it's population. And it's not a bad thing. I'm just pointing out it's mostly North America (and a few other first world countries) who make a big deal out of diversity in movies whereas majority of Asia (especially 3rd world countries and other parts of the world for that matter) don't really seem to care much. What you write about makes sense. - Japan and China/Hong Kong make their own films with Asian actors and have their own film awards. * In the US there is massive push to give every minority group their representation in Hollywood movies. - This has led to an extreme kind of political correctness where even when the source material for a movie has a Caucasian looking character, there is still pressure on the Hollywood studio to cast the film role for a minority actor. This is the situation with Ghost in the Shell. Major looks Caucasian in the source material. Same with Batou. - Yet the push for diversity has led to the demand that these characters should have been played by Asians. It's a no win situation for the studio. Ghost in the Shell has been slammed because it did not completely follow the story in the anime. And I'm sure Major and Batou played by Asians would also have been criticized for not being true to the source material. Imo at least, BB ;-) |
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deeznutz
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Post by deeznutz on Apr 15, 2017 21:08:20 GMT
Looked fine in it to me don't get the big deal
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Post by lenlenlen1 on Apr 20, 2017 19:47:29 GMT
* In the US there is massive push to give every minority group their representation in Hollywood movies. - This has led to an extreme kind of political correctness where even when the source material for a movie has a Caucasian looking character, there is still pressure on the Hollywood studio to cast the film role for a minority actor. This is the situation with Ghost in the Shell. Major looks Caucasian in the source material. Same with Batou. - Yet the push for diversity has led to the demand that these characters should have been played by Asians. It's a no win situation for the studio. Ghost in the Shell has been slammed because it did not completely follow the story in the anime. And I'm sure Major and Batou played by Asians would also have been criticized for not being true to the source material. Imo at least, BB ;-) I'll add this: As to what Major "looked" like in the anime... it's unclear what the intent was in terms of her "looks" since it was a cartoon and that kind of artwork can be subject to interpretation, but her name is Motoko Kusanagi which is Asian (Japanese to be specific if I'm not mistaken) so...
But, the issue of it being a double edged sword for the studio making the American remake is true. Let's be honest, if they had hired all Asian actors for the entire cast the movie would have bombed even worse than it did. Not because Asian actors aren't talented, but rather because an American audience wouldn't have taken to it.
What the studios need to do is cultivate actors of different backgrounds so that they can run the gamut of bankable stars. Right now there is no Asian actor/actress the studio would trust to open a big budget major motion picture the way that they believe a Scarlet Johansen would, or a Tom Cruise or a Denzel Washington. That's partly the studios fault for not cultivating them. They're out there (Maggie Q anyone), its just that the studios haven't built them up.
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theynine
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@theynine
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Post by theynine on Apr 21, 2017 3:39:18 GMT
The brain belonged to Motoko Kusanagi,
her shell could be made to look like anybody,
even...Scarlett Ingrid Johansson.
An actress whos been in some money making projects
that theoretically could have drawn an audiance to see
a live action remake of a classic anime movie from 1995.
Unfortunately for the filmmakers on this project,
more people opted for the BOSS BABY cartoon instead.
They found a baby in a business suit more entertaining
than those cool brain sucking geisha spider robots.
To each his own.
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bb15
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@bb15
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Post by bb15 on Apr 21, 2017 4:06:08 GMT
* In the US there is massive push to give every minority group their representation in Hollywood movies. - This has led to an extreme kind of political correctness where even when the source material for a movie has a Caucasian looking character, there is still pressure on the Hollywood studio to cast the film role for a minority actor. This is the situation with Ghost in the Shell. Major looks Caucasian in the source material. Same with Batou. - Yet the push for diversity has led to the demand that these characters should have been played by Asians. It's a no win situation for the studio. Ghost in the Shell has been slammed because it did not completely follow the story in the anime. And I'm sure Major and Batou played by Asians would also have been criticized for not being true to the source material. Imo at least, BB ;-) I'll add this: As to what Major "looked" like in the anime... it's unclear what the intent was in terms of her "looks" since it was a cartoon and that kind of artwork can be subject to interpretation, but her name is Motoko Kusanagi which is Asian (Japanese to be specific if I'm not mistaken) so...
That is also the name of the character played by Scarlett Johansson. So what is the point of having an Asian person looking like a Caucasian in the comics, the anime and the live action movie? - It shows the science fiction idea of fully enhancing a human with technology. Motoko Kusanagi's brain was put into a new body. By having the body of Major be Caucasian makes it clear there was a drastic change in her body. - The new body looking Caucasian is a clear message that Motoko Kusanagi's enhanced body was completely different from the original body. That should have nothing to do with this movie. - I've seen many Asian films with Asian actors in theaters. I own copies of several of those movies. I pay to support Asian actors. - But the bottom line is Major looks Caucasian in the comics / anime and should be played by a Caucasian actress. Imo at least, BB ;-) |
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Post by itsthatguyme on Apr 21, 2017 9:59:48 GMT
First off. Why make this movie ? Why?! Who is the target audience? It's a 90's Anime movie. Which means those who remember it are in their mid to late 30's or older. Nobody in that age bracket goes to the movies anymore. It just doesn't seem like a movie that could make $$. The story is too abstract. That said. I haven't seen it. Nor do I care to. Didn't they learn anything from Lucy or even Aeon Flux?
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Post by itsthatguyme on Apr 21, 2017 10:02:38 GMT
Not seems like a cheap attempt to parade Scarlett Johansson around in a body suit. That's it.
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medjay
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Post by medjay on Apr 21, 2017 11:57:27 GMT
First off. Why make this movie ? Why?! Who is the target audience? It's a 90's Anime movie. Which means those who remember it are in their mid to late 30's or older. Nobody in that age bracket goes to the movies anymore. It just doesn't seem like a movie that could make $$. The story is too abstract. That said. I haven't seen it. Nor do I care to. Didn't they learn anything from Lucy or even Aeon Flux? They learned from Lucy that it made a ton of money. The studio chopped up Aeon Flux. Who knows how popular the director's cut would had been. |
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Post by Commander_Jim on Apr 21, 2017 12:26:59 GMT
White washing is insulting to white people. It assumes that a white person would only watch a movie if it starred white people.
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Post by itsthatguyme on Apr 21, 2017 15:00:55 GMT
It's not as if this is a NEW phenomenon. Hollywood has been casting whites in " ethnic" roles since the Cowboys and Indian days. If Hollywood thought White America wanted to see an all Asian casted movie and that it would make $$ then they would cast it. It's that simple. There's no conspiracy to it. No big secret. Are they wrong about this ? Hard to say. Seeing as they don't have the vision or balls to do it. There are a few exceptions but rarely. Asians just aren't that BANKABLE yet. They will be soon though , given the current Demographics. It's MIDDLE AMERICA that they base their earning potential on though. These are the states that actually go to the movies and that are mostly all white.
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Post by itsthatguyme on Apr 21, 2017 15:05:09 GMT
Of course they don't care. They wanna see an American chic pounce around in a skin tight body suit. Plus Asians wanna be Americans. That's no secret. That's why they learn English and get eye surgeries so they don't look as " Asian " The funny thing is that it's mostly the Americans who are complaining about the whitewashing in "Ghost in the Shell". I saw many Japanese viewers being interviewed about this and they all did not mind that Scar Jo was cast as the main lead. Many actually were quite happy as they love Scar Jo. While there may be few Americans who enjoy watching Asian movies with all Asian actors, there are MANY MANY Asians who enjoy watching American movies with all American actors. Hollywood movies have an international appeal, unlike movies made in other countries. Hollywood actors and actresses are well known and loved all over the world. Asians who live in Asia don't really care about whitewashing in Hollywood movies that much. When I lived in Asia, we didn't give a crap about diversity, we just wanted a good movie with good actors. If we wanted to watch movies where our race was well represented we watched locally made movies. If we wanted to watch movies with Japanese actors we watched Japanese movies. Same thing with Chinese movies. It wasn't until I moved to North America that I kept hearing complaints about diversity and racism and sexism in movies. Maybe it's because North America is just a lot more diverse in it's population. And it's not a bad thing. I'm just pointing out it's mostly North America (and a few other first world countries) who make a big deal out of diversity in movies whereas majority of Asia (especially 3rd world countries and other parts of the world for that matter) don't really seem to care much. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 15:25:43 GMT
"whitwashing" is not the problem. The problem is the movie was just not that good and having a white lead had nothing to do with it. In fact, I thought ScarJo was actually one of the good things about the film. People need to stop losing sleep over this.
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Post by Terrapin Station on Apr 21, 2017 15:32:20 GMT
I'd bet anything that what's really fueling complaints about "whitewashing" is non-white actors (and their agents, managers, etc.) in the US who want bigger/better paying film roles. They're looking for angles to increase their chances of getting those roles, so if they can help influence an already PC-bent culture to accept the idea, that's going to help them reach their goals in the long run.
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Post by Skaathar on Apr 21, 2017 21:15:20 GMT
Of course they don't care. They wanna see an American chic pounce around in a skin tight body suit. Plus Asians wanna be Americans. That's no secret. That's why they learn English and get eye surgeries so they don't look as " Asian " Asians who live in Asia don't really care about whitewashing in Hollywood movies that much. When I lived in Asia, we didn't give a crap about diversity, we just wanted a good movie with good actors. If we wanted to watch movies where our race was well represented we watched locally made movies. If we wanted to watch movies with Japanese actors we watched Japanese movies. Same thing with Chinese movies. It wasn't until I moved to North America that I kept hearing complaints about diversity and racism and sexism in movies. Maybe it's because North America is just a lot more diverse in it's population. And it's not a bad thing. I'm just pointing out it's mostly North America (and a few other first world countries) who make a big deal out of diversity in movies whereas majority of Asia (especially 3rd world countries and other parts of the world for that matter) don't really seem to care much. People will always want what they don't have. That's why caucasians spend money for tanning salons and getting their hair dyed brunette. They are no different from other races in this regard. |
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medjay
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@medjay
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Post by medjay on Apr 22, 2017 5:24:45 GMT
I'd bet anything that what's really fueling complaints about "whitewashing" is non-white actors (and their agents, managers, etc.) in the US who want bigger/better paying film roles. They're looking for angles to increase their chances of getting those roles, so if they can help influence an already PC-bent culture to accept the idea, that's going to help them reach their goals in the long run. They are not that important, it's the nutso press. |
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Post by lukelovesfilm34 on Apr 22, 2017 6:59:40 GMT
It would help if the writing of these movies was any good. I mean, they don't care about what they're putting on film. They just think audiences just want to see pretty effects or pretty women. They need a feeling of human connection with the lead, no matter who is playing the character.
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bb15
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Post by bb15 on Apr 22, 2017 8:51:21 GMT
That said. I haven't seen it. Nor do I care to. Hmm... It's certainly your privilege to post multiple comments about a movie you have not seen. BB ;-) |
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Post by thenewnexus on Apr 22, 2017 17:20:05 GMT
Better choices for the Major   This guy totally is Batou  Kuze ain't white either Glad this film bombed,whitewashed trash and did not cast proper actors |
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