Legit question, why not cast Sigourney in an Expendables movie? That sounds bad ass.Sleekit said:
Ghost in the Shell Casting Shows We Need More Than White Feminism
- Thread starter roseofbattle
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Comparing the film industry of an almost entirely monoethnic nation to that of one of the most polyethnic ones isn't a very useful perspective IMO. Even were it something they wanted to do, Japanese studios would have a really difficult time finding a large cast of talented European or American actors that speak fluent Japanese. The reverse is not true.Soviet Heavy said:
Now, this movie in general doesn't bother me as much on this issue because the themes that the show cover are pretty much completely divorced from Japanese history or culture. By and large, GotS is an anime take on the cyberpunk genre, and since that started in the west anyway(Canada, specifically), I'm not too worried about the show being re-re-adapted using a white cast. A much greater travesty is the dub for the anime Steins;Gate, where they completely erased all traces of Japanese otaku culture from the show, which was half of what the show was actually about.
Eh, maybe so. Maybe Stallone is just too scared to ask a girl taller than him to join in the movieSleekit said:actually i thought that too while writing itcrimson5pheonix said:but given its a Stallone controlled "testosterone fueled" franchise i doubt it would turn out well in the end.
That wasn't much to go on but I like what I saw, it kind of looks like more SAC might be on the way.Liam Steel said:
I see that we're all glossing over the more important issue here. There is less than a .01% chance of this movie being good no matter who is cast in any role. This movie shouldn't be happening period but since it is just remember this: There is still tons of other good to absolutely excellent Ghost in the Shell material out there and this movie as shit as it inevitably will be isn't going to affect the pre-existing material.
EDIT: I take that back, SAC Major has brown eyes.
This is a ramble done on my smart phone, apologies for the incoherency:
Okay, I know I'm going to get flack for pointing this out...but the character she's playing is a brain living in a mechanical husk. She could literally be played by any ethnicity or gender for that matter and it would make sense for the rules of this universe.
In the original animated movie, she's very detached and calculating. She doesn't really see her body as a sacred vessel that represents all that she is and believes in. She sees her body as a tool to be used for her job. She doesn't really have a concept of modesty or shame for her form because she doesn't really care what she looks like so long as she can do her job.
I feel like this movie is going to be very Westernized much in the same way that Dragon Ball Evolution was. I get the feeling like this is going to be a bad sci-fi script repurposed and using only names and locations of the source material.
Now is whitewashing a character wrong? I don't think so necessarily, not with this character or this setting where she could literally look like anyone if she wanted to. Would it be more authentic to the source material if she was Asian? Again, maybe, maybe not. This movie is being made by Hollywood for Americans with American sensibilities. Dragon Ball E deviated heavily from the source material because some suit in a board meeting convinced other suits that no one was going to want to watch a proven best-selling story the world over, and instead, they had a better story in mind. One that tested really positive in all of the right demographics they were trying to hit.
Scarlett Johannsson got the role because she's off of the success of the Marvel movies. She's easily identifiable to the American audience this movie is being made for and most likely Dreamworks was nervous that their return on investment would be minimal if they couldn't get a highly recognizable actress to play the starring role.
TL;DR: Casting choice is a product of the Hollywood system. Whitewashing doesn't necessarily apply to the character of Kusuragi as she's a brain in a machine and can look however she wants. This movie will most likely pull a DBE and be completely unfaithful to the source material anyways so who cares if an Asian actress doesn't get her name dragged down with this production? Most would call me pessimistic, I prefer to call myself realistic.
Okay, I know I'm going to get flack for pointing this out...but the character she's playing is a brain living in a mechanical husk. She could literally be played by any ethnicity or gender for that matter and it would make sense for the rules of this universe.
In the original animated movie, she's very detached and calculating. She doesn't really see her body as a sacred vessel that represents all that she is and believes in. She sees her body as a tool to be used for her job. She doesn't really have a concept of modesty or shame for her form because she doesn't really care what she looks like so long as she can do her job.
I feel like this movie is going to be very Westernized much in the same way that Dragon Ball Evolution was. I get the feeling like this is going to be a bad sci-fi script repurposed and using only names and locations of the source material.
Now is whitewashing a character wrong? I don't think so necessarily, not with this character or this setting where she could literally look like anyone if she wanted to. Would it be more authentic to the source material if she was Asian? Again, maybe, maybe not. This movie is being made by Hollywood for Americans with American sensibilities. Dragon Ball E deviated heavily from the source material because some suit in a board meeting convinced other suits that no one was going to want to watch a proven best-selling story the world over, and instead, they had a better story in mind. One that tested really positive in all of the right demographics they were trying to hit.
Scarlett Johannsson got the role because she's off of the success of the Marvel movies. She's easily identifiable to the American audience this movie is being made for and most likely Dreamworks was nervous that their return on investment would be minimal if they couldn't get a highly recognizable actress to play the starring role.
TL;DR: Casting choice is a product of the Hollywood system. Whitewashing doesn't necessarily apply to the character of Kusuragi as she's a brain in a machine and can look however she wants. This movie will most likely pull a DBE and be completely unfaithful to the source material anyways so who cares if an Asian actress doesn't get her name dragged down with this production? Most would call me pessimistic, I prefer to call myself realistic.
Yeah, just came here to say this exactly. We already have a kickass asian actress.Trishbot said: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!)
But nope, Hollywood sure likes to whitewash anything foreign they get their hands on.
Trishbot said: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!)
Except Scarlett Johansson is fine with nudity and Rinko Kikuchi isn't and the major does not have a nudity taboo.
I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, it's awesome that female-centric movies are getting the green light more and more. That is unquestionably a good thing.
But yeah, I do wish Hollywood felt financially comfortable with casting a non-white person in a non-white role. I understand why Johansson was cast, she's a box office behemoth, but it doesn't make the loss of a role tailor-made for an Asian actress any less annoying.
It's a complicated issue that probably won't matter much in this case, anyway. The odds of this not only getting off the ground but being any good are pretty slim, if other American live-action animes are any indication (except for you, Speed Racer. You'll be my guilty pleasure forever).
But yeah, I do wish Hollywood felt financially comfortable with casting a non-white person in a non-white role. I understand why Johansson was cast, she's a box office behemoth, but it doesn't make the loss of a role tailor-made for an Asian actress any less annoying.
It's a complicated issue that probably won't matter much in this case, anyway. The odds of this not only getting off the ground but being any good are pretty slim, if other American live-action animes are any indication (except for you, Speed Racer. You'll be my guilty pleasure forever).
Agreed, lately this site has been getting overloaded with more and more clickbait opinion-pieces.Abomination said:
Indeed, Hollywood (and America in general) is still thinking thirty years in the past. Despite the fact that Asia is increasingly becoming more important in terms of movie sales, they still don't seem to get this. This is why diversifying is something they're going to be forced to do in the future, which is why they should just get it over with now. Instead of casting someone white as chalk like Scarlet, they could have cast Kikuchi who became quite the star after Pacific Rim. And that's before we get into how the white male demographic is being usurped in America itself due to how racial mixing is occurring and diversifying the population. Might as well stop gimping your market potential.
I have no problem with the casting. We don't know to what extent the movie is going to follow the 1995 anime. But even if we did, I still don't have a problem. It's just an anime movie. It's not like it's about a historic figure and the race of the characters matters like if someone had cast Denzel Washington to play George Washington.
There's a double standard here. Most people on The Escapist (I remember this) claimed that they wouldn't have a problem with a black James Bond, despite him being an iconic character with a long history. The dude is Scottish. But you have a problem with this all of a sudden? With an anime character being played by a non-Asian? Really? Do you really?
There's a double standard here. Most people on The Escapist (I remember this) claimed that they wouldn't have a problem with a black James Bond, despite him being an iconic character with a long history. The dude is Scottish. But you have a problem with this all of a sudden? With an anime character being played by a non-Asian? Really? Do you really?
"But you guys! Motoko Kusanagi uses an android body! That means that she can be whatever ethnicity that she wants to be!"
This is total tripe.
This reasoning does nothing more than excuse the problem; it makes up a reason for Hollywood to continue casting white actors and actresses in roles where not only could a minority have just as easily have filled, but would have been more appropriate to the source material.
Completely ignoring the facts that:
1. Motoko Kusanagi's body was built in Japan as a standard model, intentionally to be as inconspicuous as possible.
2. The entire setting is located in Japan. With Japanese characters. With Japanese themes, philosophies, politics, etc.
So can we please stop excusing this bullshit? Can we just have the strong, female, Asian main character this story is supposed to feature and stop trying to make excuses to have yet another Caucasian actress instead?
This is total tripe.
This reasoning does nothing more than excuse the problem; it makes up a reason for Hollywood to continue casting white actors and actresses in roles where not only could a minority have just as easily have filled, but would have been more appropriate to the source material.
Completely ignoring the facts that:
1. Motoko Kusanagi's body was built in Japan as a standard model, intentionally to be as inconspicuous as possible.
2. The entire setting is located in Japan. With Japanese characters. With Japanese themes, philosophies, politics, etc.
So can we please stop excusing this bullshit? Can we just have the strong, female, Asian main character this story is supposed to feature and stop trying to make excuses to have yet another Caucasian actress instead?
The thing is excluding Aris, The Major was born Japanese but then became more and more Machine till however as time went on depending on the lore her nationa Identity became less of a defining characteristic.Aggieknight said:
The first movie put it more bluntly but till the end of the movie when she combined with the entity born of the internet and fused with it, she was searching for her own Identity or at the very most never saw her self defined by what she was.
As we've see she can swap bodies (before she still kept her original cyberbrain to do it but again - depending - can now move her consciousness between vacant bodies without a source) so having her white isn't to far-fetched, especially when you think about the lores migration history and globalization of Japan around the time the war happened, though she was cybernetically enhanced before that from what I understand.
Saying all this If it was possible I'd prefer a mostly Japanese cast set in Japan, themes and politics of the series is from that perspective.
And Jessica Alba has a no-nudity clause and yet was cast as Nancy in Sin City, and nobody is frothing at the mouth saying she ruined the film.P-89 Scorpion said:Trishbot said: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!)
Except Scarlett Johansson is fine with nudity and Rinko Kikuchi isn't and the major does not have a nudity taboo.
Besides, it's not like the Major spends the vast majority of her time giving the audience full frontal. I watched several seasons of Stand Alone Complex where she kept her clothes on 99% of the time.
99% of the jobs with the highest serious injury/death rates are done by men
in the US the life expectancy gap between men and women is around 5 years in favor of women
when until people claiming to care about "equality" address those concerns they don't deserve to be taken seriously
in the US the life expectancy gap between men and women is around 5 years in favor of women
when until people claiming to care about "equality" address those concerns they don't deserve to be taken seriously
Seriously dude? This has nothing to do with any of that. You want to talk about that, go make a post about it somewhere else on the forum; this discussion literally has 0% to do with that conversation.rembrandtqeinstein said:
Bond is not defined by his ethnicity.Adam Jensen said:
He?s British.
He?s male.
He?s handsome and charming.
He?s also been interpreted by several different actors and, ultimately, it?s become more and more heavily implied that each Bond is a different person altogether. Reinterpretations of that character?s race are bound to happen. Commonly, as well, you?ll find a looot more black men in Britain than Caucasians in Japan. By at least ten times. A black Bond makes sense, to a certain extent. It's not a stretch and it only would only help to reinvent and explore the character in new ways.
Well not quite. In this specific case they're making a big budget movie and need to get buts in seats, Scarlett Johannsson is a big draw so it makes sense. Also this is American $$$ adapting a Japanese property, so it's likely they'll just take the same concept and set it in New York instead of Tokyo or something, therefore the characters will be representative of the US and you can't really call it 'white washing'... except maybe this is set a decent amount in the future and ethnic diversity in the US increasing so it could be seen as that if the rest of the cast is white, but that's a different topic.Toilet said:
But, we're just looking at a box office draw leading role here, the film industry is much bigger than that and the problem is more of a top to bottom thing. I see this pretty well first hand living in a film industry city (Vancouver) with my girlfriend who's an Asian actor at the TV one liner level. With a large Asian population in Vancouver there's a lot of Asian actors, and it's certainly more of a challenge to be seen for regular roles and not just 'dim sum waitress' or something like. Which in her case those auditions tend to be a bit of a disaster as she's not Chinese and her attempt at Asian accents are pretty bad!
I'd say what people want here are to be able are for roles to be more colourblind so anyone can be seen regardless of race. An example of an inspiratonal actor for my gal is from the much internet maligned TV show Scorpion, is Jadyn Wong who plays the mechanical genius Happy. The show doesn't do a single thing about the fact that she's Chinese and she could easily be swapped out in the role for someone who was white, black, hispanic, etc etc.
Like I said, this specific example is okay because Scarjo is a lead attraction, but Hollywood needs to open up from top to bottom in the manner of my Happy example.
I'm not arguing about Bond. I even have an idea of my own which black actor could play him perfectly. I'm just using him as an example of why ethnicity doesn't matter in this case.Kaiser0120 said:
Excuse me while I recycle a comment I made for the original new story...
Oh crap! Better go burn down Tumblr before the Social Justice Wankers start bit-
Let's just ignore the fact that there's a movie in theatres RIGHT NOW that stars a young black actress play a character that is traditionally portrayed as a ginger.
Also, since we're talking about Japan, let's just ignore the fact that Akira Kurosawa directed not one, not two, but three different movies based on the work of William Shakespeare. Also, forget about the two Miyazaki movies that are based off of English novels.
Also, this anime based off of Anne of Green Gables. Seems it's open season on us gingers.
But, I mean, come on, it's not like the Japanese would ever make an TV adaptation of a American comic book francise and cast a Japanese actor as the traditionally white lead right?
If you're still salty about ScarJo playing the Major, then I suggest you go hang out with the dudes who are still angry over Idris Elba playing a Norse God.
Oh crap! Better go burn down Tumblr before the Social Justice Wankers start bit-
fix-the-spade said:
The Almighty Aardvark said:
kael013 said:
Psst... Scarlett is actually a brunette, and I hate your guts for making me Google 'scarlett johansson natural hair color'. Still, it's not as bad as when I started typing this out.MirenBainesUSMC said:
MirenBainesUSMC said:
Aw fuck I'm too late.RolandOfGilead said:
Two words: Black Annie.roseofbattle said:
Let's just ignore the fact that there's a movie in theatres RIGHT NOW that stars a young black actress play a character that is traditionally portrayed as a ginger.
Also, since we're talking about Japan, let's just ignore the fact that Akira Kurosawa directed not one, not two, but three different movies based on the work of William Shakespeare. Also, forget about the two Miyazaki movies that are based off of English novels.
Also, this anime based off of Anne of Green Gables. Seems it's open season on us gingers.
But, I mean, come on, it's not like the Japanese would ever make an TV adaptation of a American comic book francise and cast a Japanese actor as the traditionally white lead right?
If you're still salty about ScarJo playing the Major, then I suggest you go hang out with the dudes who are still angry over Idris Elba playing a Norse God.