Ghost in the Shell Casting Shows We Need More Than White Feminism

[roseofbattle]

Ghost in the Shell Casting Shows We Need More Than White Feminism

Hollywood has a bad problem with casting women; it has an even worse problem with casting women who aren?t white.

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[P-89 Scorpion]

Japan the 8th most populated country in the world (were 98.5% are Japanese) is a minority LOL.

 

[Aggieknight]

Maybe my memories of GitS is awry, but isn't Motoko Kusanagi a robot, not a person. If that's the case, can't she be any race/ethnicity/etc that her "creator" wants?

I ask because Scarlett, besides being extremely hot, looks a heck of a lot like Motoko. Ergo the casting makes sense to me.

Hollywood does have a problem with whitewashing, for example - the recent Exodus and Noah movies, but I don't see this as a case.

 

[Popido]

Hear hear. Lynch the white cis witch.

Remember the old times and accept your guilt.

Maybe they just wanted a big name lead rather than act of racism.

Maybe my memories of GitS is awry, but isn't Motoko Kusanagi a robot, not a person. If that's the case, can't she be any race/ethnicity/etc that her "creator" wants?

She has the mass produced doll look and has hard time identifying herself.

 

[Liam Steel]

as a fan of Asian cinema...they do have their own industry y'know...plenty of (extremely famous and accomplished) Asian women cast there...

there's more to the world than the Hollywood zeitgeist...and i see no reason why Hollywood should not equally serve its own (primarily home) market demographics.

that said it would be nice if Ghost in the Shell was an international production...but US audiences don't generally go to see foreign language films afaik.

The problem is, increasingly Hollywood is serving a world market. Particularly these big blockbusters may make more money overseas than stateside. It does both a disservice to the material and it's audience to halfass the casting. I mean assuming they stay true to the political landscape is this going to still take place in Japan but have an entirely white American section 9?

Fortunately there's a new Ghost in the Shell anime to look forward to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUEktyhOSxg

 

[Abomination]

The selected Scarlett Johansson because she's hot as hell, fits the figure, puts bums on seats, and let's not get into how so many anime characters look "white" anyway.

This isn't a racist issue in the slightest and it isn't even a feminism issue. Motoko Kusanagi has always been a woman, this role would be filled by a woman in any scenario.

What kind of bullshit clickbait topic is this anyway?

RACISM!

FEMINISM!

COLLECT VIEWS!

PROFIT!

 

[Popido]

Fortunately there's a new Ghost in the Shell anime to look forward to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUEktyhOSxg

Another? I hope this has nothing to do with Arise.

The selected Scarlett Johansson because she's hot as hell, fits the figure, puts bums on seats, and let's not get into how so many anime characters look "white" anyway.

This isn't a racist issue in the slightest and it isn't even a feminism issue. Motoko Kusanagi has always been a woman, this role would be filled by a woman in any scenario.

What kind of bullshit clickbait topic is this anyway?

RACISM!

FEMINISM!

COLLECT VIEWS!

PROFIT!

I believe this is the writer that also deals with all the GamerGate/Social Justice news. Yes, I remembered that right.

Spoiler: TopazFusion

Escapist has posted their news article on the Intel thing

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.868408-Intel-Working-with-Feminist-Frequency-IGDA-to-Bolster-Diversity-in-Tech

Gah, nothing against Carly, but I've tended not to really enjoy reading her articles much lately. It's difficult to explain but she really lets the opinion seep through her writing. It is more subtle in this one but there's a certain spin she's putting on things that isn't really wrong. I just think it's rather underdeveloped.

She also seems to get given the lion's share of the GamerGate articles...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/gamergate#tagsgamergate

Not sure why.

 

[JennAnge]

"I understand why DreamWorks would cast a white woman, but I can't wait to live in a world where that reasoning is no longer acceptable. "

Yup.

And yes, Kusanagi could actually be of any race, gender or mechazoid she chooses her shell to be. It won't be complete BS that Johansson should play her. It's just that this was a golden opportunity to front an Asian actress. I understand the financial and investment logic behind that decision but I do not have to like it.

If they wanted to make an action flick with Johansson, that's great, she rocked Lucy, and I am all for more female leads in movies, but I sorta wished they could have picked another IP.

 

[Liam Steel]

Fortunately there's a new Ghost in the Shell anime to look forward to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUEktyhOSxg

Another? I hope this has nothing to do with Arise.

Same creators dunno which canon it follows.

as a fan of Asian cinema...they do have their own industry y'know...plenty of (extremely famous and accomplished) Asian women cast there...

there's more to the world than the Hollywood zeitgeist...and i see no reason why Hollywood should not equally serve its own (primarily home) market demographics.

that said it would be nice if Ghost in the Shell was an international production...but US audiences don't generally go to see foreign language films afaik.

The problem is, increasingly Hollywood is serving a world market. Particularly these big blockbusters may make more money overseas than stateside. It does both a disservice to the material and it's audience to halfass the casting. I mean assuming they stay true to the political landscape is this going to still take place in Japan but have an entirely white American section 9?

Fortunately there's a new Ghost in the Shell anime to look forward to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUEktyhOSxg

i agree to a certain extent but a truly global film industry is very far away...and would require "western" audiences to be far more accepting and knowledgeable of "stars" from other parts of the world than it is atm.

to my mind perhaps the only person in Hollywood with a truly global mindset (from an east-west bridge kinda pov) atm is weirdly Keanu Reaves and sadly his last two project were...not a good as good as the could have been.

also he looks "a bit asian" due to his Hawaiian and Chinese ancestry...

See my hope would have been to use Batou as a bridge character, esentially bait and switch the US viewer into seeing a movie with some big name star. But then the lead is a Japanese actress.

In either case I get what your saying, I can understand Hollywood wanting to play it safe.

 

[shadowmagus]

I'm not looking forward to the movie, mostly because I don't think Hollywood can do the anime any true justice. What is worse though is that when they cast ScarJo, I knew these kind of opinion pieces were on the horizon. Not that I necessarily agree or disagree with them but because they always sound so whiny, "oppressed", and read like they belong on a tumblr blog, but with an editorial staff.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Like I said in the other thread on this, I don't have a problem with Johansson playing the Major. This is set after World War 4, they could set it in denmark and it wouldn't make much of a difference.

To put this into a strange reverse perspective, look at the live action adaptation of Attack on Titan coming out. The majority of the cast in the manga are ethnically white and much of the scenery is based on European designs. It's a big deal that Mikasa is one of the few asian people left in the world.

Then the japanese film industry makes their live action version and they cast all asians in the role of technically white people.

 

[Trishbot]

You know who I think would be awesome in the role, but Hollywood won't go with her for "reasons"?
Pacific Rim's Rinko Kikuchi.

(No! Don't! It makes TOO much sense!)

 

[Norix596]

This was my thought too; the ONLY way that this could be fit in well would be if it became a subplot about Kusanagi for some reason having recently been using a Caucasian looking body model (after all they can look like whatever they want when they're full prosthetic) and the other Japanese characters really have an issue with this or try and get her to fess up about why she's "ashamed of" or "hiding" her ethnicity and how much concepts such as that matter in the setting at the time now that people can replace their bodies at will.

However what I EXPECT to see is a movie that takes place in the United States with the attending primarily white actors without reference to Japan in the vein of All You Need is Kill -> Edge of Tomorrow etc.

 

[Toilet]

as a fan of Asian cinema...they do have their own industry y'know...plenty of (extremely famous and accomplished) Asian women cast there...

there's more to the world than the Hollywood zeitgeist...and i see no reason why Hollywood should not equally serve its own (primarily home) market demographics.

that said it would be nice if Ghost in the Shell was an international production...but US audiences don't generally go to see foreign language films afaik.

"asians" are 4.75% of the US population according to wikipedia ("whites" are 72.41%) people like to see representations they can equate with themselves.

there's not much potentially culturally affecting value to a film that fails at the box office...

the "draw" of specific headliners is an important factor both in terms of securing production and eventual economically viable success.

atm the fact Hollywood is prepared to make women the headline in blockbuster action movies and the audience is prepared to go along with it is a good thing.

in short Scarlet puts bums on seats...is trailblazing in that respect to a certain extent (given the types and size of film projects she is and is going to be involved in)...i see very little to condemn about that.

Rinko Kikuchi might be good...in a recent "visible sense"...but can she do that kind of work?..and how many people would actually go see a Rinko Kikuchi headlined move compared a Scarlet one ?

far less is the uncomfortable real world answer to that...

...and at the end of the day this a billion dollar business we're talking about not a school play.

This, it's a non issue and definitely not a feminist issue. It's a western American take on a Japanese property so it's not an issue if a white, extremely popular ScarJo is cast as the lead. If there is a big huge outcry from Japan or the nip community then we get to ponder if we're awful for "whitewashing".

All depends if it's an American adaption of another countries property which Ghost in the Shell is or if it's an American movie set in a place that is distinctly ethnic like Exodus, Last Airbender ect ect. I half bet that this American Adaption of Ghost in the Shell will be set in a big USA city.

Almost makes me think if people would be mad if there was an American Ace Attorney movie, have a think.

 

[roseofbattle]

The selected Scarlett Johansson because she's hot as hell, fits the figure, puts bums on seats, and let's not get into how so many anime characters look "white" anyway.

This isn't a racist issue in the slightest and it isn't even a feminism issue. Motoko Kusanagi has always been a woman, this role would be filled by a woman in any scenario.

What kind of bullshit clickbait topic is this anyway?

RACISM!

FEMINISM!

COLLECT VIEWS!

PROFIT!

Instead of jumping to "clickbait," maybe read the article and see that Hollywood has always placed its star power on male actors and now white female actors. There are Asian actors who are repeatedly denied roles. Yes, Johansson could conceivably do this role well. Does it have to be her? No.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

snip

Fortunately there's a new Ghost in the Shell anime to look forward to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUEktyhOSxg

Ooooh, nifty. It looks like the character design is different from Arise. That's usually code for a different continuity.

EDIT: http://kokaku-a.jp/movie/message.html

This is from the movie site. I don't read Japanese (if someone here does, that'd be nice), but the SAC movie sticks out.