Whitewashing in live action anime

Kaneda

Kaneda

Member
Perhaps a controversial topic, but what are your thoughts on whitewashing when anime comes to the big-screen? 

What's whitewashing? Quite simply it's taking a white actor and putting them in a role written for an actor of colour. 

Notable examples; Nat Wolff cast as Light Yagami in Death Note and Scarlett Johansson cast as Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell.

I assume its to make these stories more accessible to western audiences but I think its utterly wrong to force popularism on art. What are your thoughts?
 
Blackangel said:
i really didn't get this
am i an idiot to not to know what this whitewashing is about. can you explain me a little more?
@grungie @ace @madarauchiha @naiwen @blackrose
Click to expand...
No, please don't call yourself an idiot. "What's whitewashing? Quite simply it's taking a white actor and putting them in a role written for an actor of colour." An example would be having a white actor play Shaft or Apollo Creed. These are roles designed for black actors. Same here with white actors being given roles that should be played by Japanese actors.
 
Kaneda said:
No, please don't call yourself an idiot. "What's whitewashing? Quite simply it's taking a white actor and putting them in a role written for an actor of colour." An example would be having a white actor play Shaft or Apollo Creed. These are roles designed for black actors. Same here with white actors being given roles that should be played by Japanese actors.
Click to expand...

thank you for saying that sweetheart.
but do you mean something like the characters that sides with the good ones? like main protagonists being white and antagonists being black?
 
No, sorry, perhaps I am not explaining it very well. Let's use Scarlett Johansson cast as Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell as an example. This is a role which should be played by a Japanese actor. It's a Japanese character in a Japanese story yet Hollywood decided to cast a white actor to play the role rather than being authentic to the source material.

Some other examples:

Batman Begins (2005) - In the Batman film, actor Liam Neeson plays Ra's al Ghul who in the Comic books was portrayed as of Middle Eastern or East Asian.

Dragonball Evolution (2009) - In the film based on the Japanese manga Dragon Ball, actor Justin Chatwin plays the lead character Goku.

Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) - In the Biblical epic film, actors Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver and Aaron Paul play Biblical figures who are of non-European origin. Director Ridley Scott said about his casting, "I can't mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I'm just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn't even come up."

The Lone Ranger (2013) - In the Western film, actor Johnny Depp plays the Comanche sidekick Tonto. Depp has claimed on several occasions that he has some Cherokee or Comanche ancestry.
 
i finally got this
you are talking about the origin and the era an anime is taken and also about the country. it makes sense now to me.
 
I agree with that man.
Think of it this way, Japanese actors are good but if you have mixed blood in live action, more people would pay attention to it.
 
i am not sure how to say this
but that's not good kaname. only for popularity why go through so much trouble?
 
What Kaname posts is the exact reason why this happens. See the quote from Ridley Scott about Exodus: Gods and Kings: "I can't mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I'm just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn't even come up."
 
Kaneda said:
What Kaname posts is the exact reason why this happens. See the quote from Ridley Scott about Exodus: Gods and Kings: "I can't mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I'm just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn't even come up."
Click to expand...
 
It's just the truth man.
People just want the results and they don't care about how they do about it.
 
I'm replying because I'm tagged: I don't care. I'm neither white nor "Asian" so when somebody takes an IP and wants to change it to fit into their own culture there's nothing wrong with it. Besides L was black in the film. And the FMAB film had a Japanese cast for a story that takes place in and around Germany so there's that.
If a story is closely tied to its culture and origins then sure, don't "white-wash" it. If not then it doesn't matter. Death Note could take place anywhere. Ghost in the Shell could take place anywhere.
 
Re: Death Note I respectfully disagree. The concept of a death god is very common in Japanese lore, and therefore comes with a set of expectations or rules. Setting the story in Seattle and using non-Asian actors removed that context. It's like ripping the heart out of a story and leaving a lifeless corpse in its place.

"If a story is closely tied to its culture and origins then sure, don't "white-wash" it. If not then it doesn't matter."

Death Note is tied closely to Japanese culture.
 
Kaneda said:
Re: Death Note I respectfully disagree. The concept of a death god is very common in Japanese lore, and therefore comes with a set of expectations or rules. Setting the story in Seattle and using non-Asian actors removed that context. It's like ripping the heart out of a story and leaving a lifeless corpse in its place.

"If a story is closely tied to its culture and origins then sure, don't "white-wash" it. If not then it doesn't matter."

Death Note is tied closely to Japanese culture.
Click to expand...

Death Gods aren't exclusive to Japanese culture. There are Death Gods where i'm from. It's a minor specific thing that can be easily glossed over. The concept of a Death God is not alien to the general population.
 
I’m Japanese and I don’t give a crap.

Here’s what kills me:

White person plays a Japanese character = bawwww white washing how racists

Japanese person plays white character = ermagerd such diversity,

What I don’t understand, is that usually it’s white people that get upset about this more than the actual poc that is being defended.
 
i haven''t watched a movie in ages and i don't really pay attention to shows so doesn't matter to me
 
In my opinion it really doesn't matter. It's actually more interesting to see how the character portrays themself when given such a role to
 
Honestly a lot of anime characters look simply plain white, so hard to whitewash most of them. And I don't think our movie industry is well setup to cover most races fairly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top