General Discussion

Half-Century Man

(5,279 posts) Tue Apr 19, 2016, 01:38 AM Apr 2016

Twitter Explodes after Hollywood Whitewashes Classic Anime Series

Fans of the classic series have taken to Twitter to air their grievances against the whitewashing of the upcoming Ghost in the Shell live-action movie. The remake is being produced by Paramount for an American audience, and they cast Scarlett Johansson (a very non-Asian actress) as the historically Japanese character of Major Motoko Kusanagi, even referring to her only as “the Major” in much of the promotional material to obscure the character’s ethnic origin.

http://usuncut.com/news/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing/

I have been a fan of GITS for more than a decade. since just after the Japanese release of the first movie (tokurode, which pales in greatness when compared to the manga).

Why is it so hard for the moneyed elite to accept that people come in different shades of skin tone and from different cultures?

18 replies

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Twitter Explodes after Hollywood Whitewashes Classic Anime Series (Original Post) Half-Century Man Apr 2016 OP

Hollywood is still predominantly about white males. Too bad Ghibli Studios didn't animate it. Hekate Apr 2016 #1

Huge franchise Half-Century Man Apr 2016 #2

Well, after what Shyalaman did to Avatar... Unsurprised. Scootaloo Apr 2016 #3

yeah....nt Half-Century Man Apr 2016 #4

Oh for fuck's sake... Sen. Walter Sobchak Apr 2016 #5

I think cultural appropriation is bullshit too. romanic Apr 2016 #7

Why is this movie being made anyway? redgreenandblue Apr 2016 #6

In "Attack on Titan", caucasian characters were played by asian actors. So there. DetlefK Apr 2016 #8

It's more about proven box office performance than ethnicity, I suspect. eShirl Apr 2016 #9

I hear that Mickey Rooney will play the pivotal role of Mr. Yunioshi. Orrex Apr 2016 #10

That would be an epic casting coup. MrsMatt Apr 2016 #11

Details, details. Orrex Apr 2016 #13

It's all about the internatioal market. That film is not produced 'for an American audience' but for Bluenorthwest Apr 2016 #12

maybe I need to rewatch ghost in the shell... Javaman Apr 2016 #14

If you can name one Japanese female actor with the drawing power of Scarlett then please speak up GOLGO 13 Apr 2016 #15

Relying on the draw power of stars instead of the draw power of a good movie Half-Century Man Apr 2016 #18

Well, she was in Lost In Translation KamaAina Apr 2016 #16

That was Bill Murray. You are waaaaaay off. Orrex Apr 2016 #17

Hekate

(90,704 posts)

1. Hollywood is still predominantly about white males. Too bad Ghibli Studios didn't animate it.

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 01:57 AM

Apr 2016

Half-Century Man

(5,279 posts)

2. Huge franchise

Reply to Hekate (Reply #1)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 02:15 AM

Apr 2016

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=1590

14 Anime movies or series
1 live action movie
2 manga sries

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)

3. Well, after what Shyalaman did to Avatar... Unsurprised.

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 02:33 AM

Apr 2016

Half-Century Man

(5,279 posts)

4. yeah....nt

Reply to Scootaloo (Reply #3)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 02:34 AM

Apr 2016

Sen. Walter Sobchak

(8,692 posts)

5. Oh for fuck's sake...

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 04:53 AM

Apr 2016

Movies are localized all the time, shall we go lecture Bollywood about cultural appropriation for their horrendous remake of Fight Club?

romanic

(2,841 posts)

7. I think cultural appropriation is bullshit too.

Reply to Sen. Walter Sobchak (Reply #5)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 06:12 AM

Apr 2016

But i don't think that's what this whole debacle is about. It's more about taking a really great Japanese anime series and turning it into a shitty generic American Michael Bay-esque piece of shit movie and slapping the GITS name onto it.

redgreenandblue

(2,088 posts)

6. Why is this movie being made anyway?

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 06:02 AM

Apr 2016

The Anime film is decent as it is. We never asked for this...

Oh, cash of course

DetlefK

(16,423 posts)

8. In "Attack on Titan", caucasian characters were played by asian actors. So there.

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 06:14 AM

Apr 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Titan_%28film%29

eShirl

(18,494 posts)

9. It's more about proven box office performance than ethnicity, I suspect.

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 06:56 AM

Apr 2016

All comes down to $$$ in the end.

Orrex

(63,213 posts)

10. I hear that Mickey Rooney will play the pivotal role of Mr. Yunioshi.

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 07:08 AM

Apr 2016

MrsMatt

(1,660 posts)

11. That would be an epic casting coup.

Reply to Orrex (Reply #10)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 07:37 AM

Apr 2016

Considering Mickey Rooney has been dead for two years.

Orrex

(63,213 posts)

13. Details, details.

Reply to MrsMatt (Reply #11)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 07:48 AM

Apr 2016

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)

12. It's all about the internatioal market. That film is not produced 'for an American audience' but for

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 07:43 AM

Apr 2016

a global audience and that is a very important aspect of much of the casting fuckery we see in films today. I'd rather avoid naming nations and the races and types they would rather not see in films but I think most people can add up some obvious things. LGBT characters are not going to be welcome in countries that literally outlaw LGBT people and execute us. Such a film is not even going to be allowed in all countries. So when the goal is 'box office in all countries' they must in fact market to bigots and racists and sexists. And the top name has to be a Big Star.

China is a huge market for films. Do you think China loves to see Japanese military figures as heroes in films? You do the math.

Javaman

(62,530 posts)

14. maybe I need to rewatch ghost in the shell...

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 09:09 AM

Apr 2016

I really wasn't all that impressed when I first saw it.

that aside, white washing of an Asian "classic" anime is just business as usual in moron hollywood.

GOLGO 13

(1,681 posts)

15. If you can name one Japanese female actor with the drawing power of Scarlett then please speak up

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 01:51 PM

Apr 2016

Hollywood movies are international at this point. GITS is going to played everywhere worldwide. This is going to be a big Hollywood production which means big time $$$$ is involved.

No studio is going to back any multi-million dollar production with an unknown/untested star being responsible for drawing audiences with no fan base. Johansson is not only one of the most recognizable stars in the world, but has a respectable reputation for playing fierce action roles. Not only is she the right star for this role, she's the right star for right now. Besides she's playing a human/cyborg hybrid, where the only "human" part left of her, is her brain. Give us a break.

They got the legendary Beat Takashi to play Section 9 chief Aramaki. This is very cool.

Half-Century Man

(5,279 posts)

18. Relying on the draw power of stars instead of the draw power of a good movie

Reply to GOLGO 13 (Reply #15)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 03:17 PM

Apr 2016

A lot of big stars became big stars due to a breakout role in a great movie. And now, there won't be a Japanese break out star.

I have the Manga sitting behind me on a shelf. It takes place in a pretty diverse Japanese city. The majority of the Caucasians in the story are Russians. There is a health population of mixed ethnicity people. Major Kusanagi is ethnic Japanese, it is an integral part of the story.
The first line of the entire series/franchise/story/capitalistic electro-dystopian nightmarescape is

It is the near future. The world has become highly information-intensive, with a vast corporate network covering the planet, electrons and light pulsing through t. But the nation-state and ethnic groups still survive.
And on the edge of Asia, in a strange corporate conglomerate-state called "Japan"....

But the huge international audience that has accepted the story as originally presented for more than a decade (so much so that one of the mega corporations in Hollywood is willing to risk a fraction of it's vast wealth to assimilate the work of others to make more wealth) is going to be shocked, bothered, or turn away from something they love because the main character stayed true to the story line?

Whatever..........

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

16. Well, she was in Lost In Translation

Reply to Half-Century Man (Original post)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 02:12 PM

Apr 2016

Orrex

(63,213 posts)

17. That was Bill Murray. You are waaaaaay off.

Reply to KamaAina (Reply #16)

Tue Apr 19, 2016, 02:13 PM

Apr 2016

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