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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Apr 1, 2017 13:45:21 GMT -5
The 8 main excuses Hollywood uses for racially insensitive casting – and why they're BSLinkIf you've been wondering why the talented Steven Yeun still has to audition for five lines in a B-grade movie, this article will provide valuable insight as to why.
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Post by Ripley on Apr 1, 2017 13:53:06 GMT -5
Yes exactly- The mAtt Damon film, The Wall is another example of whitewashing in that brown people (Chinese) depended upon a white man to save them. This infuriates people of color when stories and legends were changed for films in white whites are given savior roles actors of color or the same ethnicity could have taken just as easily.
Moana, by Disney, hired consultants to work with artists and writers on things as small as tattoos, hairstyles, myths, cultural truths and to make sure everything was correct and inoffensive, one reason why it has enjoyed much success from critics and at the box office.
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Post by dark sister on Apr 1, 2017 18:58:06 GMT -5
That's a great article, my only complaint is referring to Iron Fist as "whitewashing." It isn't. Danny Rand was always a rich white kid. It's the "white savior" trope that show used that's problematic.
Whitewashing is the only reason I won't go see Ghost in the Shell. A Japanese woman should've gotten that role. No one else.
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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Apr 2, 2017 15:15:34 GMT -5
That's a great article, my only complaint is referring to Iron Fist as "whitewashing." It isn't. Danny Rand was always a rich white kid. It's the "white savior" trope that show used that's problematic. Whitewashing is the only reason I won't go see Ghost in the Shell. A Japanese woman should've gotten that role. No one else. Ghost in the Shell only made $19 million domestically which please me. It'll make it's money back internationally but for now I'm happy.
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Post by dark sister on Apr 2, 2017 16:32:23 GMT -5
That's a great article, my only complaint is referring to Iron Fist as "whitewashing." It isn't. Danny Rand was always a rich white kid. It's the "white savior" trope that show used that's problematic. Whitewashing is the only reason I won't go see Ghost in the Shell. A Japanese woman should've gotten that role. No one else. Ghost in the Shell only made $19 million domestically which please me. It'll make it's money back internationally but for now I'm happy. That is insanely low for a film like that. Johansson's Lucy even opened to 40M. It also makes the studio look stupid because "we need this global white girl to sell our movie." Well, she didn't and if you had used a Japanese actress, you could've made some more money because I do think the whitewashing complaints made people not want to throw their money at it.
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Post by Ripley on Apr 2, 2017 17:07:53 GMT -5
The Wall opened strong in China but did not do that well. I wanted to see it, but Matt Damon saving China just makes me want to gag so I passed. Constance Wu, lead actress of Fresh Off The Boat has spoken a lot about whitewashing and how Asian actors get sidelined. She has addressed it loudly and often, which is a risk for her and other Asian actors to do. I admire her for that but having a hit show with FOTB gives her some leeway.
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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Apr 2, 2017 17:13:43 GMT -5
Ghost in the Shell only made $19 million domestically which please me. It'll make it's money back internationally but for now I'm happy. That is insanely low for a film like that. Johansson's Lucy even opened to 40M. It also makes the studio look stupid because "we need this global white girl to sell our movie." Well, she didn't and if you had used a Japanese actress, you could've made some more money because I do think the whitewashing complaints made people not want to throw their money at it. I would love if a mass boycott due to whitewashing was the main reason for the less than stellar box office, but I don't have that much confidence in the general public. That being said, I do think it played some part. Seeing this movie wasn't high on my list, but combine the whitewashing with ScarJo's asshatery comments on the subject and it got a hard nope from me. Vanity Fair Is a Disappointing Ghost in the Shell the Nail in the Coffin of Hollywood Whitewashing?Link
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Post by Ripley on Apr 3, 2017 11:59:03 GMT -5
Slate weighs in , using some of the same examples : "The Seven Strategies for Defending Your Problematic TV Show or Movie—and Why They Don’t Work" "Marvel’s Iron Fist premiered on Netflix last week, finally introducing the last member of the quartet who will make up the core cast of The Defenders debuts later this year. But the show’s arrival was overshadowed by controversy over casting English actor Finn Jones, whose Danny Rand is a superhero whose powers hinge on mastering kung fu and Asian mysticism—even after a passionate campaign for Netflix to cast an Asian American actor instead. This is hardly the first time racially insensitive casting has dominated the conversation about a television show or movie’s debut—the upcomingThe Ghost in the Shell, an adaptation of the manga series by Masamune Shirow, has already been similarly lambasted for casting Scarlett Johansson as a character Japanese in both name and appearance. But what makes the saga of the Iron Fist controversy notable is the wide variety of excuses and explanations that Jones offered up in interviews to defend his casting, rather than just sticking to one. And while a publicist really should have intervened long before Jones got around to blaming the election for Iron Fist’s poor reception, the ordeal proved that stars are still strangely unprepared to have serious conversations about casting controversies, even when, in 2017, they should come to expect them as inevitable. If Jones had been adequately prepared, for instance, he would already have known that none of his excuses was going to be effective, because, for the most part, we’ve already heard them before. And yet Jones isn’t an exception: Actors, directors, and studios keep dredging up these same failed talking points every time this happens, in spite of the fact that they almost always fan the flames instead of dousing the fire. So, let’s say that you, like Jones, are an actor or filmmaker or studio head whose project has been called out as problematic. Maybe the complaints are perfectly justified. Maybe they’ve been blown out of proportion. Regardless, you now find yourself in the undesirable position of having to defend your casting/screenplay/direction to reporters and fans. Here are some of the tactics you’ll almost certainly turn to while trying justify your involvement—and more importantly, why they don’t convince anyone..." link
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Post by Ripley on Apr 4, 2017 18:19:59 GMT -5
"Actress Michele Selene Ang has spoken powerfully about the problem of “whitewashing” in the entertainment industry — without opening her mouth. The star of “13 Reasons Why” posed for an Instagram post in a new T-shirt protesting Hollywood’s practice of using white actors to play characters who were originally people of color. The black shirt simply lists the first names of four white actors — Scarlett (Johansson), Emma (Stone), Tilda (Swinton) who have all played Asian characters. It also displays the name “Matt,” in reference to Matt Damon, who came under fire for playing a white savior in “The Great Wall,” released in December. The shirt was created by Will Choi for a variety show at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles called “Asian AF,” Teen Vogue reported this week. Complaints about whitewashing have mounted with several high-profile casting choices, including Johansson’s lead in “Ghost in the Shell,” based on a Japanese manga character. Stone played Alisson Ng, a woman of Hawaiian and Asian heritage in “Aloha” in 2015 and Damon played the lead in “The Great Wall” of China...." link
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Post by Ripley on Apr 5, 2017 16:52:21 GMT -5
Slate-finally! Surprising no one- Paramount Executive Admits Whitewashing Controversy Hurt Ghost in the Shell at the Box Office "It’s becoming harder and harder to defend whitewashed casting by claiming that a well-known movie star helps a movie’s chances at the box office. Ghost in the Shell, the live-action remake of the 1995 anime movie of the same name, took home a disappointing $19 million at the domestic box office over its opening weekend. Now, the studio is conceding that the controversy over casting Scarlett Johansson as a character Japanese in both name and appearance played a role in the film’s dismal showing. “We had hopes for better results domestically,” Kyle Davies, Paramount's domestic distribution chief, told CBC News. “I think the conversation regarding casting impacted the reviews.” Those reviews were certainly not glowing—the film currently holds a measly 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, and many critics did acknowledge the whitewashing controversy in some way. Ghost in the Shell didn't do itself any favors by working in a bizarre, apparently self-aware twist ending, which tried to make the racially insensitive casting part of the plot. As Davies tells it, in casting Johannsson, the studio had to balance between “honoring the source material” (as in, casting a lesser known Japanese actress to play a Japanese role) and “[making] a movie for a mass audience” (as in, casting a bankable and thus white movie star). “That’s challenging, but clearly the reviews didn’t help.” It would be disingenuous to suggest that whitewashing was the only factor contributing to Ghost in the Shell’s financial underperformance. But even by Davies’ own admission, the casting played a significant role in tanking the movie’s performance by negatively impacting its reviews and thus jeopardizing its mass appeal. And that flies in the face of one of the most common defenses for whitewashing that there is: a need for bankable white actors to ensure a project’s success. Casting a white actor in an Asian role is no guarantee that the film will be profitable—just look at The Great Wall, which, while technically not an example of whitewashing in the traditional sense, was still marketed as a white savior narrative in North America, and then took in only $21 million at the domestic box office...." link
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Post by merelei on Apr 6, 2017 16:11:10 GMT -5
Guys I might get a bit of flack for this, but I haven't seen a blockbuster movie in Y E A R S. They're realizing they're a useless dying industry and they're trying to keep it fresh and new with REMAKES (snore) that are unneeded, and with actors who they know they'll bring in guaranteed money just because it's them.
I say give more funding to the independent filmmakers and make Hollywood suck its own putrid shit.
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Post by dark sister on Apr 7, 2017 19:52:18 GMT -5
Guys I might get a bit of flack for this, but I haven't seen a blockbuster movie in Y E A R S. They're realizing they're a useless dying industry and they're trying to keep it fresh and new with REMAKES (snore) that are unneeded, and with actors who they know they'll bring in guaranteed money just because it's them. I say give more funding to the independent filmmakers and make Hollywood suck its own putrid shit. No flack. In a way, I understand the studios perspective. When you're putting a lot of money down on a film, you want to know it'll sell. No one wants a John Carter But the other side of it is how do you know this new person won't sell? They need the chance to do that. Jennifer Lawrence had an Oscar nom for an indie film pre: Hunger Games but I don't think anyone expected her to take that franchise where it did. Ghost in the Shell in particular should've had a Japanese actress. Rinko Kikuchi would've been my pick. She's Oscar nominated and has stared in enough movies released state side to at least make the studio feel comfortable. Maybe it wouldn't have been a huge hit in the states, but I think it would've opened higher than 19M and Globally it would have done better, especially in Asia.
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