There’s a big issue in Hollywood that everyone can see, but no one seems to be bothered to do anything about. Narrative erasure of people of colour just doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon, having popped up most recently in the news with the first trailer of Scarlett Johansson as a Japanese character in the live-action adaptation of the manga Ghost in the Shell. The world is reeling.
For some reason, there’s a stigma in Hollywood in using actors that are actually members of the minorities they are supposed to represent. Eddie Redmayne as a trans woman (which also implies that trans women are just men pretending to be women), Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily (a Native American character) and Tilda Swinton’s casting as a Tibetan actor in Doctor Strange. Apparently according to Hollywood, the whole world is just inexplicably white, and there’s nothing which will change that perception.
What sparked the most outrage this week was the reveal that the producers had tested using Special FX to make the actors in the movie look more Japanese instead of, you know, just CASTING ASIAN ACTORS. Going that far with the whitewashing is so ridiculous, and takes up far too much effort when there are so many great Japanese actresses out there who would be amazing for the role Scarlett Johansson is playing.
Fellow Marvel Cinema actress Ming-Na Wen has voiced her opinion on twitter.
Nothing against Scarlett Johansson. In fact, I’m a big fan. But everything against this Whitewashing of Asian role.? https://t.co/VS6r6iish9
— Ming-Na Wen (@MingNa) April 14, 2016
It’s pretty clear the whole world is getting pretty fed up with Hollywood’s insistence on portraying our multicultural, diverse planet as white, and we’re hoping they’ll catch on soon and start representing the actual world.
