Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall bombed both critically and commercially in mid-January, and a large part of that can be placed at the feet of Matt Damon. Not for any standard reason like a shoddy performance or weak acting, though.
No, his “white man saves China” shtick brought together the wide spectrum of film critics, respected historians and the internet’s most thin-skinned trolls, in an outpouring of sheer outrage against blatant Hollywood whitewashing.
They shouldn’t have been all that surprised, though: whitewashing is nothing new in the cinematic world, with everyone from bucktoothed neighbors to transplanted sci-fi heroes getting the racially dividing treatment.
Here, we present what we like to call “a short history of cinematic whitewashing” – which sounds boring, but is really the five most obvious examples of Asian characters being given the concealer treatment.
Dragon Seed (1944)
Back in the good old early 20th century, an anything-goes attitude meant Asia’s “exotic” flavor could be easily channeled by anyone with a keen mind, a bit of imagination, and uh, a lot of scotch-tape. A well-to-do white author writing best-sellers about interracial couples living in China? Sure, par for the course.
And so was adapting her books, into a movie where Katharine Hepburn tapes her eyes sideways to play a cheongsam-wearing local. It’d be atrocious, if half the cast didn’t get in on the game, veterans like Walter Huston and Akim Tamiroff capping it off with Fu Manchu-moustaches and funny little oriental hats.
The Conqueror (1956)
John Wayne as Genghis Khan. That’s all we really need to say, isn’t it? OK, maybe a little more. By the 1950s, historical epics were all the rage – Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis – and cowboy standard Wayne, wanted to get in on the game, fighting for and surprisingly winning the role of the notorious Mongolian leader.
The only problem was, he proceeded to play the role exactly as he did every other: southern drawl, rancher gait and absolutely zero Asian qualities. The film is probably more infamous for its tragic circumstances – filmed on a nuclear test site and eventually giving nearly all its crew cancer – but that still doesn’t excuse Wayne’s atrocious turn, nor the awful race-based casting.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Cinematic whitewashing isn’t really ever aiming for prejudice. It’s mostly subtle, with characters delicately re-appropriated for a Caucasian-centric public. But sometimes, just sometimes, it’s full on racist.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s all but defined the ’60s – pop-art on-screen, with a timeless romance and an iconic lead character with Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly.
But the World War II propaganda aspects of its source novel were hemmed a little too closely, and Mickey Rooney as the bucktoothed, slant-eyed, half-blind, broken-English Japanese neighbor not only feels scandalous, but downright offensive. It’s the only obvious dark spot on an otherwise classic.
Short Circuit (1986)/Short Circuit 2 (1988)
As the progressive ’70s rolled round, whitewashing began to creep back into its dark hole. Movies got gritty, casting actual Asians in roles made for them. But the greed-is-good ’80s soon saw weaker minds once again prevail, and the worst offender by far (in this South Asian writer’s opinion): Fisher Stevens in the Short Circuit movies.
The bias isn’t just based on personal ethnicity, but on their child-friendly aspects. Indian tykes everywhere no doubt, fell into the trap of thinking one of their kind could actually star in a cool robot movie.
It was only when the bad accent-mask was painfully ripped off, to reveal nothing more than a short man in brown-face, did everything change. Not for the greater public, mind you, just me, really.
Ghost In The Shell (2017)
The 21st century has been especially disgraceful for whitewashing, and one would almost think we’d become a little racist, what with our immigrant-hating kingdoms and White House dictators. Damon’s Great Wall, Tilda Swinton as the Himalayan Ancient One in Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch as Sikh-born Kahn in Star Trek Into Darkness, Max Minghella as a real-life Indian developer in The Social Network – the list goes on.
Ghost In The Shell is coming this year, but it’s already facing the whitewashed wrath. The original is about as Asian as things get: Japanese cult manga, ground-breaking anime, Hong Kong-inspired locations, Eastern philosophy-based story. Most of that’s been downright ignored with its big-screen adaptation, and Scarlett Johansson’s casting as the dark-haired, obviously originally Asian lead sent netizens into a rage.
And it only gets worse, with Michael Pitt and Juliette Binoche as her Japanese-moniker colleagues. It’s almost as if we’ve gone back 100 years – which is to say, history often repeats itself.
The description of Ghost in a Shell is horribly inaccurate. If you ever saw the anime or live action "translation" you should know better what you’re talking about. SPOILER for whoever hasn’t seen it but the Japanese name of the original character is irrelevant as neither the body nor name reflects the actual race of the "ghosts" original form. In fact it’s part of the theme that the ghost be placed into synthetic being.
The original anime portrays Kusanagi with blue eyes, white skin, and a long thin nose stereotypical of Euro-descent, however the name is Japanese, in the live action her name is English sounding and her original mother in the movie is clearly east-Asian assumedly of the native Japanese population since it takes place in a future Tokyo. That pretty much destroys the argument that it’s white-washed. Of anything the fact that a "white" shell was chosen for the majors body adds to the subtextual/philosophical depth of the story.
I don’t know what "Asian" stereotype neo-colonial fantasy was seen in the original but the Japanese have a long historical interaction with "the West" and even borrow directly from European and West Asian philosophy and mythology so this pseudo-oriental image is nonsense to begin with. The second anime in fact quotes a French philosopher who underlines some of the main themes. The cyberpunk sub-genre transcends in many ways now due to globalization which makes it’s narratives that much more relevant.
I fear it this one went one went right over peoples heads and it’s sad to me. The original director felt Scarlett was best person to cast and even spoke out against the allegations and still this fashionable critique remains. I guess that’s where the money is. It’s a shame though, Ghost in a Shell could be the strongest piece of Science-fiction released in "the West" since the Matrix which was already biting off the Japanese original.
(in case my last post didn’t get through) You don’t see the problem because you likely benefit from the status quo both in seeing yourself represented https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120530100105.htm and because actors that look like you/how you’d like to look inherently get the most opportunities regardless of actual talent https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/24/arts/hollywood-diversity-inclusion.html
(in case my last post didn’t get through) You don’t see the problem because you likely benefit from the status quo both in seeing yourself represented https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120530100105.htm and because actors that look like you/how you’d like to look inherently get the most opportunities regardless of actual talent https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/24/arts/hollywood-diversity-inclusion.html
(in case my last post didn’t go through) Wrong on both internal and external levels. *Internally,* Motoko’s past may be a mystery, but the franchise still made physical differences between Asians and Europeans, regardless of "anime-style," the franchise’s focus is still Japanese in location, (imagine "Jane Excalibur" being a Korean national who woke up in England and get the weirdness) *and* cultural-coding (see article) as it’s as much of a product of real-life Japan’s tech revolution in the ’80s as "24" is of post-9/11, plus the 2017 movie outright states, "yeah she was an ethnic Japanese whose brain was put into a White shell." *Externally,* White actors still get inherent opportunities/advantages over talented POC counterparts even/especially if the character isn’t White https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/24/arts/hollywood-diversity-inclusion.html and it *does* have an effect on the audience https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120530100105.htm so Johanssen may have a valid argument about sexism in Hollywood, but her being White still gives her an edge.
Wrong on both an internal and external level. Internally, while her past and name’s a mystery, the franchise’s still culturally *coded* Japanese, set in Japan, (imagine the inverse if "Jane Excalibur" was a Korean national just because they woke up in England and notice the weirdness,) still made clear differences between Japanese and White people and *especially* a product of the real-life distinctly Japanese tech revolution of the ’80s in the same way post-apocalyptic franchises like "The Walking Dead" relate to post-9/11 and The Great Recession, so yes, it’s still whitewashing and the movie, itself outright admits "yeah, she was once a Japanese woman and put into a White woman’s body." *Externally,* https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/24/arts/hollywood-diversity-inclusion.html AND https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120530100105.htm White actors already get opportunities/advantages their talented non-White counterparts don’t to the extent that they get first dibs even/especially if the characters aren’t White, leaving the proverbial scraps to the latter, which also affects the viewers who want to see themselves as heroes just the same.
You left out the 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. Very heavy on the whitewash.
Please. Whitewashing is specifically for a traditionally non-white role. Kusanagi is in no way definitively Japanese. Her name is an alias (she can’t remember her real name), she has no revealed parentage/ancestory, and she is in a ROBOT BODY which does not have a race. If that’s not enough, her robot body does not share characteristics with the distincly Japanese characters in the manga/anime/movies (see Saito, Pazu, Aramaki), but it DOES share some Caucasian characteristics and when the puppetmaster copies her body completely, its even more Caucasian.
You cannot call this whitewashing. As for the other characters, afaik they’re even less distincly Japanese. The Laughing Man is hacker that is famous for inhabiting multiple bodies and jumping between them. Dr. Ouelet is by no means a major character (or even a recurring characer?), her last name is French afaik, and she has no canonical history to my knowledge.
Last I checked, whites were almost single-handedly responsible for modern civilization.
And last I checked, the Romans and Greeks were white.
As for barbarism, you guys skin dogs alive and eat rhino horns to get hard. ‘Nuff said.
Ail Davies – Entertaining and no big deal!! Heck, let Kim Jong Il himself play George Washington. Entertainment, no big deal.
sadasdas
Let’s have a Kim Jong Il lookalike to play George Washington . That might be entertaining 😉 Yea. what’s the big deal?
Neanderthal like and potato eyes.The worst is their natural repulsive strong body odour. Eeewwww…
The Great Wall of China is not the only thing that is being whiten by Hollywood. Don’t forget the pyramids of Africa(Egypt, Suden) and there civilization. Attempts have been made to discredit the builders of the pyramids of the civilizations of Mexico, Central America, by saying that it was aliens that build them or that aliens gave them the knowledge. As I understand the biblical Hebrews were also whiten.
What’s the big deal?
It’s just entertainment after all.
Yeah, but they call us "round eyes" and "monkey faces," so it’s all good.