Ghost In The Shell (2017)

I really love this series GITS

I feel that maybe the U.S. is possibly being kind of double standard-ish on this white washing thing. I mean if Japan bought the rights to remake an American movie, like say The Matrix for example, and they decided to make it an all Asian cast, the Americans wouldn't rake them over the coals for it, and say "how dare we sell them the rights to remake our movie, and they decide to yellowwash our characters!"

You’re not going to like this:

K thanks, that's a really good example. I bet that no Americans are going to complain about yellowwashing with the Unforgiven remake, and I bet no Japanese are going to complain about it either.

So why are people making such a big deal out of whitewashing with Ghost in the Shell?

Might be the context given within the film...



Another reason might be that a lot of these mangas up for Americanized remakes have the very identity of Japan (post-WW2) as a theme. It’s integral to the story, the characters reflecting the culture’s evolution.

There’s also a desire for more diversely led blockbusters. People get upset if a black actor takes on a traditionally white role and here you have the perfect opportunity for someone like Rinko Kikuchi or Tao Okamoto but, instead, you get a white, blonde actress.

Well it seems to place in a futuristic multicultural city with all races in it. So if that's the case, as it seems to be in the clips and trailers, I thought maybe a white protagonist is not so bad, if all the races are mixed in the city.

I’m curious about what the reception will be to Robert Rodriguez’ Battle Angel movie. The lead will be played by a Latina actress and many of the supporting roles will be given to Black and Latino actors, not Asian.

“White hero fatigue” is becoming prevalent.

In other words, I can’t wait for the Hamilton movie.

It looks like he is setting it in a Latin type setting, so maybe if he changes the setting entirely, he will be okay? When Martin Scorcese remade Infernal Affairs, no one complained about whitewashing in that one, so maybe as long as the filmmaker changes the setting entirely, then audiences accept it?

Yeah, justify the change.

It's because the US is not a white country, it is a multi-ethnic country. If US were a white country like, for instance, Lithuania or Poland which are nearly 100% white, then nobody would complain about white-washing but the US has a very large Asian population so one would theoretically expect US movies to use Asian actors to portray Asian characters.

In other countries people don't care much about the race of the actors. In Japan they made movies about a Roman architect using an obviously Japanese actor nobody complains and that's it. But the US is a racialist society, that is a culture that cares about accurate "ethnic representation". I think that's actually a problem: people shouldn't care that much about "racial accuracy" because human races don't really exist.

Oh okay. But there a lot of other races living in Japan as well. If this is why the U.S. has more of a problem with it, then how come they are just complaining of white washing now?

When Hollywood remade Asian movies like Infernal Affairs, or The Ring for example, no one complained of white washing. What makes Ghost in the Shell the exception?

Something like Akira I would agree theres a clear cultural link, the setting dealing with the rebuilding after a WW2/WMD like disaster and social decline afterwards. Ghost in the Shell though(well at least Oshii's films) for me are actually the reverse, the setting is deliberately made as multicultural as possible to the degree I think its actually not that connected with Japan as we know it, design wise it those films have more in common with somewhere like Hong Kong IMHO as well as a healthy dose of LA 2019..

Not to mention as well that besides being a Cyborg Oshii's major was deliberately designed to have a western mannequin like look that's played off of in that famous street montage scene. Johansson ironically looks incredibly similar to that design.

I mean whitewashing is a wider issue but I think this was a poorly chosen target to round on based IMHO on ignorance of the material. There is too much of the media today(especially on the net) desperately fishing for attention and looking for scapegoats rather than truly showing interest in big issues.

As far as the film itself goes I think the main debate is really whether it should have been turned into a $100 million blockbuster or not although honestly I think were not lacking for smaller budgeted more serious sci fi in recent years(Ex Machina being the obvious example). As an action blockbuster I thought it was pretty well made, the odd clunky line or plot point but generally interesting to look at(not just stuff lifted from the anime either) and well acted.